ONERA Plans to Close Down Two of Its Sites

PARIS (France), May 4, 2018, Author: Galina Zdravkova (Bm), Photo: ONERA

The French national aerospace research center, ONERA (Office National d’Etudes et Recherches Aérospatiales), plans to close down two of its sites under a broad restructuring plan, reported Defense News.

ONERA is a public research establishment that has 8 major facilities in France. The restructuring plan involves closing of two facilities at Meudon and Chatillon near Paris. The staff will be moved to the Palaiseau headquarters on the Saclay plateau, which is a high-technology business park also in the suburbs of Paris.

The Chatillon site consists mainly of offices for the staff.

The Meudon facility, besides offices, includes also a wind tunnel which is among a park of wind tunnels around France, used by the engineers of ONERA for confidential aerodynamic tests of combat aircrafts, missiles and civil airliners. Now it must be decided what to be done with that tunnel.

In 2018 ONERA plans to invest €28 million in modernization of the capabilities, of which €5.2 million will go to the large capacity and high-speed S1MA wind tunnel of the Modane facility in the French Alps.

At a press conference on 3rd May, the Chairman and CEO of ONERA, Bruno Sainjon, said that the reorganization is part of the “structural outlook” for 2018.