Week in review (10/27 to 11/2)

Major changes continue in the aerospace industry, and the latest is of interest to the Gulf Coast aerospace region. Bombardier's aerospace operations in Northern Ireland, Morocco and Texas, are being sold to Kansas-based Spirit AeroSystems in a deal valued at $1.1 billion.

The Canadian company put the factories up for sale in May as part of a reorganization drive. The three operations have a combined total of some 4,000 employees, with about 3,600 of them in the Northern Ireland Belfast operation.

Spirit is a major supplier to Airbus and Boeing. Earlier this year the company said it wanted to do more work for Airbus. Buying Bombardier's Northern Ireland operation is part of that strategy.

The wings for the A220 are made at the Belfast plant and it also supplies other Airbus parts, particularly engine covers. The Texas operation being purchased is a maintenance, repair and overhaul facility in Dallas. (Stories: BBC, Financial Times, Bombardier)

Airbus earlier this year expressed some interest in buying the Belfast plant. In May Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury said that this would be an option for Airbus, effectively leading to the manufacturer taking control of the wing production for its A220 airliner, as well as engine covers for its A320 series.

Purchase of the Belfast operation would have added to Airbus’s operations in the UK, which include wing manufacture for most of its commercial aircraft products at Broughton, North Wales, as well as production and design of wings at Filton, near Bristol. (Previous post)

In June, Bombardier said it would sell its regional jet business to Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd (MHI) for $550 million in cash. That marked the Canadian plane and train maker’s exit from commercial aviation. Montreal-based Bombardier had combined its aviation units to focus more on profitable business jets and passenger rail cars, after facing a cash-crunch in 2015 while bringing its flagship commercial jet to market. Bombardier will continue to assemble its regional jet planes (CRJ), but will stop making the aircraft in the second half of 2020 after delivering its remaining orders. (Previous post)

Bombardier last year agreed to make Airbus a majority partner in a partnership that builds the A220, the former Bombardier CSeries. That partnership led to the creation of a new A220 assembly line in Mobile, Ala.

Contracts – F-35
Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co., Fort Worth, Texas, was awarded a $7 billion modification to a previously awarded contract. This modification provides for the procurement of 114 F-35 aircraft for Air Force, Marine Corps and Navy; non-Department of Defense (DoD) participants, and Foreign Military Sales (FMS) customers.

Work will be performed in Texas, California, Florida, New Hampshire, Maryland, the United Kingdom, Italy, and Japan, and various locations outside the continental U.S. and is expected to be completed in March 2023.

Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co., Fort Worth, Texas, also was awarded a $10.6 million modification to a previously awarded contract. This modification provides for the development and delivery of an enhanced simulator database and project management support for the F-35 aircraft in support of the government of Japan.

The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting activity for both contracts. Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is home of an F-35 training center and F-35 reprogramming labs.

Contracts – other

The Superior Forge & Steel Corp., Lima, Ohio; and Ellwood National Forge, Irvine, Pa., were awarded $90 million multiple award contracts. These contracts provided for the procurement of GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrators BLU-J 27C/B Penetrator warhead case assemblies with associated components. Work will be performed at Lima and Irvine and is expected to be complete by Oct. 28, 2027. The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity. … General Dynamics Information Technology Inc., Fairfax, Va., was awarded a $46.1 million modification to a previously awarded contract to execute Award Term 4 for integrated logistics support for multiple Foreign Military Sales customers. Some of the work will be performed in Pensacola, Fla. The Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting activity.