Participation for the Themis launcher

The Société Anonyme Belge de Constructions Aéronautiques (SABCA) has just announced that it will participate in the development of the European demonstrator Themis. Belgian industrialists accompanied Belgian Federal Secretary of State Thomas Dermine (Federal Secretary of State for Recovery and Strategic Investments, in charge of science policy) to France last week. On September 20, SABCA and ArianeGroupe signed a development partnership for the Themis reusable launcher demonstrator. SABCA, with its aerospace experience, will be in charge of the actuation systems and the engine support structures of the future Themis (within which the actuation systems are integrated).

SABCA CEO Thibauld Jongen said in particular, "The agreement signed today reinforces SABCA's positioning as a pioneer in actuation systems and integrated structures, which are our flagship products. After the signature of the Ariane 6 production contract in 2020, this agreement with ArianeGroup once again confirms Sabca's status as a European center of excellence in the field of space vehicles."

A word about SABCA

SABCA was founded in 1920 in Belgium and is in fact one of the oldest companies in the aeronautics and aerospace sectors in the world. In fact, it is the second oldest company to have kept its name since its creation, just behind Boeing. It is part of the Orizio Group, whose name was recently changed (related article). It participates in many fields:

• military aeronautics: maintenance of Danish, Belgian, USAF F-16s stationed in Europe, construction of F-35 horizontal tails, MQ-9 drone radomes,...
• civil aeronautics: fuel tanks for the Falcon 6X, tail cone for A330s, electromechanical actuators for A350-900s and A350-1000s,... In this regard, it is the first company to have developed and built an electromechanical actuator for Airbus.
• drones: SABCA has achieved a major European first by transporting in one of its X8 drones human tissues between a hospital and a laboratory in Antwerp (Province of Antwerp, Belgium),...
• aerospace: front skirt, rear skirt, electromechanical actuators for engines,.. on Ariane 5, participation in Vega and Vega C, a robotic arm on the ISS, Ariane 6, etc.

Thanks to its experience, its development and production capacity, SABCA is part of the "Tier 1" companies in the aeronautics/aerospace field since it has the ability to deliver not just parts but a whole part of an aircraft, facilitating the construction for Airbus, Gulfstream, etc. For example, for the A400M tactical transport aircraft, it builds and delivers in one piece the flap supports (part fixed under the wing) of the A400M, the mobile part that deploys when the pilot needs the flaps and of course, the actuator allowing the necessary movement of the mobile part.