How COVID-19 Has Affected Defense Production

Dassault suspended final assembly of its Rafale fighter and Falcon business jet at the French company’s Bordeaux-Merignac facility on March 18, with parts manufacturing halted four days later. A gradual reopening began on April 3. In addition, the training center in charge of foreign customer pilots resumed operations on April 6. Dassault had arranged training flights for Indian pilots, to allow the company to meet its contractual delivery obligations.

Cellphone activity, or the lack of it, helped the world understand that Russian defense industrial activity was facing a downturn, according to news reports. Salyut, which makes parts for Russia’s Sukhoi Su-27 Flanker family of fighters and China’s Chengdu J-10 fighter has 2,000 fewer people in the factory than normal. Hydromash, which makes landing gear parts, hydraulics and cylinders for the Su-30MK Flanker fighter and Su-34 Fullback fighter-bomber, also has seen a reduction of 2,000 people at its factory.

Several subsidiaries of the Chinese state-owned Avic, which manufactures People’s Liberation Army Air Force aircraft, said on their websites that the company resumed full aircraft production on Feb. 10 after an undisclosed shutdown period.

The Indian home affairs ministry announced it had allowed Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL) to resume manufacturing operations as an essential defense service on April 28, but with curtailed staff, use of staggered shifts and under strict safety guidelines. The company is screening the body temperature of workers at all locations and is employing telework wherever possible. HAL reportedly had stopped work on March 23 with the imposition of a nationwide lockdown. HAL produces a wide range of military aircraft and helicopters for the Indian military.

On March 4, Lockheed Martin stopped production of F-35 components at a Mitsubishi Heavy Industries factory in Japan and ordered employees at another F-35 facility in Italy to work from home. Both facilities reopened just over a week later.

BAE closed its UK facilities to the majority of its employees in mid-April and has diverted a portion of its remaining capacity to the production of personal protective equipment and other healthcare items.

Tata Boeing Aerospace Ltd., responsible for making AH-64 Apache fuselages for Boeing at a facility outside Hyderabad, has also reportedly faced slow-downs related to the coronavirus pandemic.

Leonardo restricted staff access to some of its plants to protect employees and business from the coronavirus pandemic but kept most of its 40 factories in Italy running. Leonardo has acknowledged experiencing problems with the shipment of helicopters due to flight restrictions from the Italian coronavirus lockdown, the CEO Alessandro Profumo explained during an earnings call.

Airbus halted production and assembly activities at its plants in France and Spain for four days on March 17, as governments in both countries declared a state of emergency due to the coronavirus pandemic. The closure was extended to April 9 in Spain. The plants then ran at reduced capacity for essential commercial, defense and space programs. Airbus also slowed activities at its wing plants in Germany and the UK, adapting to production levels at its plants in France and Spain. Airbus paused production at its German sites in Bremen through April 27 and Stade through April 11, while maintaining support services.

On March 23, Boeing announced it would implement a production pause at its facilities across Washington state. The main Everett plant reopened in April after a four-week shutdown. The Everett facility produces a variety of Boeing civil airframes that are later modified for military use, including as the KC-46A Pegasus and P-8A Poseidon.

Boeing closed its Ridley Park production facility on April 2 for 17 days as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. The facility is responsible for the production of the CH-47F Chinook, MH-139A Grey Wolf and V-22 Osprey.