Changhe Aircraft is the base for development and manufacture of the helicopter in China. Now the company has the production capabilities such as final assembly, flight test, aero avionics, machining, heat treatment, surface treatment, sheet metal, mechanics & welding, tube fabrication, aircraft repair and so on. Changhe Aircraft has initially set up a complete development system for Concurrent Engineering and has applied proven PDM technology. “Helicopter CIMS Project” listed into National 863 Plan had been qualified by the state and had been awarded with the honor title of “Advanced Model Unit For Application of National CIMS Project”.

1. Sheet Metal Press:

Changhe Aircraft has various kinds of sheet metal forming equipment of 200 sets. Following the development of 30 years, Changhe Aircraft has proficiently mastered the forming technologies for various aircraft sheet metals, such as press, spinning, extrusion bending, skin stretching,brake,

heating press, rolling, drop hammer forming, tube bending, and tube end forming and welding. The company also has the capabilities for the fabrication of large or medium sheet metal parts of various materials such as structural steel, high temperature alloy steel, stainless steel, aluminum alloy, titanium alloy, copper alloy, etc.

2. Machining:

Changhe Aircraft has nearly 260 sets of machining machines, among which N/C machines cover a big proportion. The company has CATIA workstations and applicable engineering analysis software in the N/C programming, and has established the whole system for N/C machining. In recent years, the company has carried out application study on NC technology of high efficiency & precision for complex one-piece structural part in certain aircraft models and has achieved the better effect. Changhe Aircraft has also carried out the study on high-speed cutting technology for aluminum alloy and composite material in cooperation with domestic universities with regard to high-speed cutting and has achieved some industrial leading technical results, which was highly praised by the related departments of the state and AVIC II.

3. Composites:

Now these new advanced facilities such as N/C Gerber Ply cutter, large automatic autoclaves, heating press and oven are introduced. At present, the state-of-the-art for the fabrication of composites parts in Changhe Aircraft no matter in dimension or in performance are in the domestic leading position, which basically meets the requirements of part fabrication for various types of helicopters at present and for several years in the future. In recent years, Changhe Aircraft has studied and applied some advanced composite fabrication technologies which symbolizes a major breakthrough from the types of composite parts fabricated and traditional moulding technologies and reaches or approaches worldwide advanced state-of-the-art level in composite fabrication.