Australian Aerospace is the only helicopter producer in Australia and New Zealand and a subsidiary of the Eurocopter, which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of EADS, the largest aerospace and defence company in Europe. The Company can trace its heritage in Australia back to 1927 and is backed by the strength and expertise of Eurocopter and EADS.

Australian Aerospace employs approximately 600 people and has a turnover of AUD 661 million with facilities in Adelaide, Auckland, Bankstown, Brisbane, Darwin, Moorabbin, Oakey, Redcliffe, Richmond.

The company assembles, supplies and maintains military and civil aircraft for the Australian and export markets. Australian Aerospace is assembling and testing 18 of the 22 Tiger ARH helicopters and 42 of the 46 MRH90 troop lift helicopters for the Australian Army.  It also supports the Socata fixed wing aircraft and assembles the EC120B civilian helicopter at its centre of excellence in Brisbane for the Southern Hemisphere. It also has a maintenance contract with the Royal Australian Air Force for its fleet of Caribou and P-3C Orion transport and reconnaissance planes.

Australian Aerospace has a wide scope of responsibilities for the AIR 87 Tiger Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter program. These include management of the acquisition program, development and implementation of the training program, configuration management, engineering, document control, assembly and test of the aircraft along with through life logistic and maintenance support.

A new purpose built facility was constructed at Brisbane International Airport Aerotech Park adjacent to the current Caribou Support facility and accommodates the Assembly and Test Activity and become the headquarters for the acquisition and through life support activities. The Tiger assembly program commenced in April 2003 and extend until 2008.

The Management Team for the MRH90 Project is based in Brisbane and the assembly of these aircraft in Australia will be made at the same facility used for the ARH Tiger. The first four MRH90's will be assembled in France whilst the remaining MRH90's will be assembled at the Brisbane facility. The first MRH90 is scheduled for delivery in December 2007 and the final helicopter, MRH 46 will be delivered in July 2014.

To capitalise on the skills that will be developed through the Tiger Program and to expand the Australian Industrial base, Australian Aerospace is also assembling and testing a new generation civilian helicopter at the new Brisbane complex. This aircraft is the Eurocopter EC120B Colibri which commenced assembly mid 2003. The initial production rate will be 3 aircraft per quarter with the capability of producing up to 24 per annum.

There are currently in excess of 340 Eurocopter helicopters flying in Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific region (this includes 13 different models). New helicopters sales, logistics and technical support and on-line maintenance are controlled from the civil head office at Bankstown Airport in Sydney.

The Bankstown facility has a fully equipped dynamic component overhaul and blade repair facility and is now a Eurocopter centre of Excellence for helicopter technology and deep level maintenance, both locally and for Asia & Japan. The export in this region of these activities for the Eurocopter product range is rapidly expanding.

Australian Aerospace has extensive capability and experience in the deep maintenance, modification and through life support of military aircraft. Current programs are the deep maintenance and occasional intermediate maintenance of the RAAF P-3C and deep and intermediate maintenance of the Caribou fleet. Australian Aerospace is a member of The P3 Accord providing upgrade maintenance & logistics support of RAAF AP3C fleet. Between 1997 and 2001 Australian Aerospace carried out the Project Kestrel Life extension program for the New Zealand P-3 fleet to extend the life to 2020. The RNZAF Kestrel program gained Australian Aerospace the NZ Defence Industry Award for Excellence in 2001. At this time Australian Aerospace is the only company in the world to perform this modification and are currently involved in discussions with other P3 operators contemplating life extension programs for aged P3’s.

The reorganised Australian Aerospace offers Australia and the region a strong, dynamic and capable aerospace organisation with access to the world wide resources and expertise of the EADS Group.
EADS products include not only the Eurocopter range of aircraft, but the Eurofighter, A400M Heavy Airlifter, Multi Role Tanker Transport, UAVs, missiles, satellite systems and launch rockets, the CASA military transports and the Airbus airliners.

The EADS product range and significant investment in facilities and personnel in Australia enables it to be very competitive in competing for many of the defence projects in the region. These include Air Refuelling, Trooplift Helicopters, Navy Helicopters, Heavy Airlifter, P-3 Major Refurbishment, Tactical UAVs, Coastwatch services, Mobile Bridges, Mobile Hospitals, and many others.