HAWDE Five Axis Wing Surface Drilling Machine

The Horizontal Automated Wing Drilling Equipment (HAWDE) machine is an enabling technology for automated drilling of large aircraft parts. HAWDE is a five axis drilling machine that operates over the upper and lower surfaces of eight wings, each more than 40 meters long and four stories tall. The machine accesses the entire A380 wing using a combination of elevators and a machine transporter that carries the machine from surface to surface. HAWDE drills holes in spars, butt splices, and rib feet in the wing box final assembly jigs for A380.