Portugal news – Portugal is investing around 100 million euros to produce the first Portuguese aircraft, the LUS222.
What is the first Portuguese aircraft that will start production in 2026?
The first aircraft fully produced in Portugal, the LUS 222 aircraft, will be produced in Ponte de Sor, that is in the district of Portalegre, in Portugal’s Alentejo region. The LUS222 is a light regional aircraft whose engineering is already being developed in the Alentejo region. The first fully Portuguese aircraft will have 19 seats, 2,000 kilos of cargo capacity and a range of 2,000 kilometers.
A representative from the CEiiA Engineering and Development Center, that is one of the entities involved in the consortium, stated that the investment in Portugal’s LUS 222 aircraft project was around 100 million euros.
The Alentejo council and EEA Aircraft, that is the leading company in the consortium, have signed the deed for surface rights for the construction of the LUS222 aircraft factory. The total factory area will be around 35,000 square meters, with a covered area of around 18,000 square meters.
What is Portugal’s Ponte de Sor aeronautics cluster?
The municipality of Ponte de Sor in Portugal’s Alentejo region is an aeronautics cluster that comprises three mobilizing agendas under the EU Recovery and Resilience Plan which represent a total of more than 200 million euros.
1 - The production of Portugal’s first aircraft, the LUS222, is part of the Aero.Next mobilizing agenda that also includes the production of unmanned aircraft for a total investment of 140 million euros.
2 - Portugal’s Aero.Next mobilizing agenda comprises not only the first aircraft to be fully produced in Portugal, the LUS 222 aircraft, but also the production of AI Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS). Portuguese aerospace company TEKEVER, that is the European market leader in AI Unmanned Aerial Systems, will produce the UAS ARX unmanned aircraft at the Ponte de Sor Municipal Aerodrome.
3 - Portugal’s second mobilizing agenda, Neuraspace, aims to help resolve problems related to space debris with a radar being built in Ponte de Sor with an investment of around 20 million euros.
4 - Portugal’s third mobilizing agenda, Newspace, will lead to the production of microsatellites and represents an investment of around 60 million euros within the scope of the EU PRR.
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