One year after the launching of the cooperation program with China on the EC175, the multi-national, multi-skill work group has completed its job and will no longer be physically present at Marignane. Development work will now continue using a“virtual” platform.

"Everything has gone very quickly and remarkably well,” stated Richard Dubreuil, assistant to the EC175 Program Director.
“We passed the PDR (Preliminary Design Review) on 5 December 2006 - one year, day for day, after the signing of the cooperation contract with China.”
The work environment in Marignane was excellent and it only took the French and Chinese engineers 12 months to define a completely new helicopter.

The EC175, which will be in the six metric ton category between the Dauphin and Super Puma families, will complete the Eurocopter range.
“The work performed to date has culminated in a precise breakdown of roles,” said Philippe Legendre, the EC175 project manager.
“The interfaces between the subassemblies assigned to Eurocopter and its Chinese partners are perfectly defined, and now we can move on to the next step.”
The Chinese engineers have now bid farewell to their colleagues, and the next step will be insured by a virtual multinational, multi-skill work platform that will use secure data links and broadband connections to connect Marignane to the different work sites in China. Each partner will develop its sub-assemblies using a digital model as a common base.

“In both technical and work cycle terms, our responsibilities have been perfectly defined,” continued Mr Legendre. “We have now begun the development and prototype production plans.”
The next major step will be the CDR (Critical Design Review) set for the last quarter of 2007, when the bulk of the work will then shift from the design offices to the production centers.
Three prototypes will be built – two in France and one in China – with a maiden flight scheduled for 2009 in Marignane. Marketing activities will be conducted simultaneously by both partners based on a geographical breakdown of the areas of responsibility.

“However, each partner will manufacture the sub-assemblies it has developed for the entire fleet,” insisted Mr Dubreuil.
“This is a commercial agreement that offers many advantages because it creates a winwin situation for us all – both French and Chinese alike.”