35th America's Cup: Airbus gives wings to Oracle Team USA

Airbus and Oracle Team USA want to join forces to win the 35th America's Cup. To this end, the two partners have formed an alliance in which they will contribute their respective expertise. They made the announcement at a joint press conference in New York this morning.

Skipper Jimmy Spithill, who already triumphed with Oracle in 2010 and 2013, emphasised the importance of cooperation for his team. Very often, design and construction are the "decisive factors for victory", he said.

"The new America's Cup catamarans are lighter and faster than before. Powered by a wing rig, they fly over the water on hydrofoils. They are as much aeroplanes as boats, so I know how much we can learn from the experience of the engineers at Airbus." The partnership, he said, was "a huge advantage" for his already favoured syndicate.

The Cup protocol and the class rules of the new AC 62 limit the teams' freedom of design by regulating many of the design parameters for the wings, rudder and fuselage. However, the advantage of the collaboration between Oracle Team USA and Airbus is all the more significant in the points that are variable. This applies not only to aerodynamics, but also to structural analysis, control hydraulics and measurement technology, where the aviation company is a world leader.

For Airbus, the engagement with the American defenders is also a prestige gain.

Oracle had previously tended to seek proximity to its competitor Boeing. Eight years ago, the Cup syndicate set up its shipyard in Anacortes in the state of Washington, not far from Boeing's headquarters and right next to Janicki Industries, a supplier to the US aircraft manufacturer, as Julian Guthries reports in his book "The Billionaire and the Mechanic", which is well worth reading.

Airbus CEO Fabrice Brégier was correspondingly proud of the partnership with Oracle. "By taking on an extreme technology and sports project of this magnitude, we are expanding our capabilities and further strengthening our agility," he emphasised in New York.

The enthusiasm and commitment with which his developers are approaching the partnership is "simply overwhelming", said Brégier, adding with a smile: "The biggest difficulty might be getting them to work on aeroplanes again afterwards."