in 2003, airbus and the kaskol group created an airbus engineering centre in russia, which started with 30 engineers and since has emerged as a model of success for airbus’ globalisation strategy. it was the first engineering facility to open in europe outside the company's home countries. equipped with state-of-the-art communications equipment and linked with airbus engineering sites in france and germany, the facility performs extensive work in disciplines such as fuselage structure, stress, system installation and design. in 2011, the centre employs some 200 engineers who have completed over 30 large-scale projects for the a320, the a330/a340 and the a380 programmes. russian engineers also performed more than half of all design work on the a330-200f freighter, with its activity related to fuselage structure design, floor grids installation and junctions design. the centre currently is involved in the a320neo sharklets design development and numerous design works for the a350 xwb programme.