Airbus aims to halve testing time for next aircraft, executive says

Thierry Raffy, Airbus's vice president of test and analytics engineering, says the manufacturer is challenging itself to halve testing time for its next aircraft. In an opening keynote at the Aerospace Test & Development Show in Toulouse, he named three approaches to get there: fully virtual testing, hybrid testing that keeps real hardware in the loop with simulation around it, and automation.

The Open Testing Forum ran over two days as part of the exhibition, with more than 30 presentations and two panel discussions. Organisers said more than 2,000 visitors came to the MEETT venue in Toulouse. Frédéric Marchetto, deputy director of strategy for the aerospace sector at Aerospace Valley, told the audience the exhibition had grown 20% on the previous year to 150 exhibitors.

Most presentations fell under four themes: hybrid testing, artificial intelligence, data handling, and new sensing and measurement technologies. A fifth, hydrogen, served as a preview of the hardest testing problems still to come, including what hydrogen will demand of sensors.

The forum opened as an Airbus A350F flew overhead on its first flight. Marchetto called the timing a symbol for the start of the show.