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Aviation History
1994
1994 - 0960.PDF
HEADLINES Northrop weighs up Vought acquisition BY RAMON LOPEZ IN WASHINGTON DC Northrop is considering an option to acquire all of Vought Aircraft now that it has won the bidding war against Martin Marietta for control of Grumman. Northrop has the option, be ginning in September 1995, to acquire the remaining 51% of Vought Aircraft from partner Carlyle Group. Kent Kresa, Northrop's chairman, president and chief executive says: "We will start looking at that very carefully in light of the Northrop/Grumman merger. It is our option. It is premature to say how it will come out." Northrop and Carlyle be came partners in Vought in 1992, when they acquired the company at the time of the break-up of LTV. Vought man ufactures structures for mili tary and civil aircraft and is developing the wing of the Gulfstream GV, as a risk- sharing partner. Northrop may itself be the subject of an unfriendly take over bid, however. Analysts are speculating that the Northrop/ Grumman combination may at tract the attention of other US aerospace giants such as Martin Marietta, Boeing, McDonnell Douglas, or Lockheed, either individually, or as part of a take-over partnership. Northrop has agreed to pur chase all of Grumman's out standing shares for $62 per share cash, or about $2.17 bil lion in total. The deal was struck after Martin Marietta, refusing to enter into a bidding war for Grumman, declined to increase a $55 per share offer. Grumman had originally snubbed a $1.75 billion bid from Northrop and accepted Martin Marietta's offer. In 1993, Northrop and Grumman together would have had combined sales of over $8 billion, a firm business backlog in excess of $13 billion and more than 40,000 employees. The new company will be known as Northrop Grumman BY MARTIN STREETLY Airwork has been forced to repair modification work undertaken on part of the Royal Air Force's Lockheed C- 130 fleet, after the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) complained about below standard work manship. The UK military-mainte nance specialist, acquired by Shorts late in 1993, is still heavily embroiled in a row with the Ministry over alleg edly irreparable damage it caused to RAF Panavia Tor nado F.3 fighters during a fa tigue-index modification pro gramme. The latest row is a further blow to the company's credibil ity in the wake of the Tornado affair — although both con tracts are believed to have been secured before the Shorts take over. It also provides ammuni tion for opponents of the Government's air force-mainte nance privatisation policy. The current troubles centre on the company's work to fit Loral-built ALQ-157 infra-red Corporation. Kresa says that Northrop would follow through on its earlier statement to consider establishing the headquarters of the electronic- business component of Northrop Grumman on Long Island, present site of Grum man's headquarters. Goals set by the new com pany include a lead position in integrated reconnaissance- strike and battle-management systems. The aerospace giant would hope to be a world-class designer of tactical and surveil lance aircraft and a major player in surveillance, elec tronic-warfare and combat sys tems. Under the terms of an agree ment, Martin Marietta will receive $50 million from Grumman for accepting Northrop's larger offer. Grum man is also responsible for $9 countermeasures equipment to 19 of the RAF's 60-strong Her cules transport fleet. The ministry says that the problem was identified midway through the programme, when "lower-than-expected" stan dards of workmanship were discovered in fitting the system — consisting of two trans mitter units on the outside of the Hercules, plus a power- supply unit, filter assembly and pilot-control indicator. The problem relates to "scalloping of secondary load-bearing structures", says the MoD. A re work package has been agreed, and Airwork will pay. The Hercules will suffer no long-term affects to their life span, says the MoD. This is in contrast to the F.3s — some of which are ex pected to be written off. Al- i Group/division 1993 sales , ($m) Grumman 5,063 e Aerospace 1,965 - Electronics 636 f Informantion services 657 g Vehicles 36 Backlog 6,000 , Northrop 5,063 Aircraft 4,114 Electronics 711 Missiles/UAV 274 11 Services 79 i Backlog 6,91 ir million in expenses incurred by > Martin Marietta in the take- ;- over battle. Martin Marietta recently ;- marked the first anniversary of ll its acquisition of General Elec- n trie's aerospace businesses, and g is buying the General Dynam- l- ics' space-launcher business. • 9 See Business Analysis, P20. o though the full extent of the :- damage is claimed by the MoD to still be under investigation, e the final bill could run to over y £100 million. n Airwork parent company i- Shorts says that the company e "...is in discussion with the n customer over certain aspects j- of the contract which are in )f dispute". Installation of the r- infra-red countermeasures d units is part of a wider defen- e sive-aids-suite modification on ig RAF Hercules including fitting g radar warning receivers. NEWS IN BRIEF SEXTANT EXPRESS Bombardier has selected Sex tant Avionique to supply the flight-control systems for the Global Express long-range business jet. Under a risk- sharing agreement with the Canadian company, Sextant will be responsible for de sign, integration, certifica tion and manufacture of the complete primary and secon dary flight-control systems. WESTINGHOUSE WIN Westinghouse Electronic Systems has won a $15.2 million US Army contract to develop and build the high- resolution radar. The radar is to be used on the Penta gon's long-endurance un manned aerial vehicle. RAF takes countermeasures against Airwork Airwork embarrassed over RAF C-130 6 See News Analysis, P26. FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 13 - 19 April, 1994
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