Credit: ArianeGroup
ArianeGroup will transfer responsibility for the assembly of Ariane 6 Vinci upper-stage engines from Vernon, France, to Lampoldshausen, Germany. The agreement, signed on 24 October, will also see the transfer of responsibility for the development of the Ariane 6 oxygen turbopump from Avio’s headquarters in Colleferro to Vernon.
While the 24 October ESA press announcement stated that the new agreement “completes a decision between Germany, Italy, France, and ESA signed on 18 December 2024,” the groundwork for that decision had already been laid years earlier. It was initially approved during proceedings at the ESA Ministerial Conference in late 2019, as noted in a French National Assembly question-and-answer exchange from 2021 that included questions about the move potentially resulting in the loss of 600 jobs. In its response, the company noted that while the production of Prometheus engines would allow it to retain a few, it had a “voluntary departure plan” to reduce its workforce by 527.
In addition to clarity on the cuts to its workforce, the ArianeGroup statement to the French National Assembly also included a justification for the transfer, stating it would “optimise the competitiveness of Ariane 6,” helping to secure the “financial viability of Ariane 6 with a rate of 7 launches per year.”
Each Vinci engine for Ariane 6 will now be assembled, integrated, and tested at Lampoldshausen. To support this process, a new production facility will be built, the plans for which were unveiled in the announcement on 24 October. The engines will then be transferred to Bremen for integration with the rocket’s upper stage. The stage will then be shipped to the Guiana Space Centre in French Guiana aboard the Ariane 6 transport vessel Canopée.
According to ArianeGroup, its new facility in Lampoldshausen will be capable of delivering up to twelve Vinci engines per year. It did not, however, provide an indication of when the facility would be completed.