The breadth of military programme capabilities at Smiths Aerospace is evident in the array of multi-million-dollar agreements announced by the transatlantic engineering group in the past few days.
Deals unveiled in the run-up to the show and on the first day cover work on US F-15, F-16 and F-35 combat aircraft, Japan's new P-X maritime patroller, US Army UH-60 and CH-47 helicopters, and US Coast Guard HH-60s and HH-65s.
Smiths Aerospace has been selected by Lockheed Martin to participate in tests of performance-based logistics (PBL) during the first phase of F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) low-rate initial production.
Approach
PBL is a US defence department management approach that assigns roles and responsibilities as necessary to ensure there is a clear allocation of accountability for total system performance. Under PBL, the JSF industrial base will receive incentives to improve the supportability of the fleet while reducing total ownership costs.
Smiths' practical experience of PBL includes the management of more than 400 weapon and shop-replaceable assemblies for US Navy F/A-18, AV-8B and F-14 aircraft.
Achievements include a reduction in the number of back-orders from 420 to zero in less than six months, lowering the lifecycle cost of supporting the aircraft by more than 20%.
The US Air Force has just awarded Smiths two contracts worth nearly $28 million for the supply of more than 9,500 divergent nozzle seals and nearly 12,000 segment assemblies for the F100-220 engines powering US F-15s and F-16s. Deliveries are to begin early next year. Smiths also provides the rear-fan duct, augmentor nozzle support, synch ring and additional flaps and seal assemblies for the F100.
Patrollers
The stores management system for Japan's 80-aircraft fleet of P-X maritime patrollers is the subject of a contract valued at more than $40 million. Due to enter production in 2008, the system includes Smiths' new Universal Stores Control Unit (USCU) and is designed to accommodate hundreds of current and future precision weapons.
Recent helicopter business covers US Army UH- 60 Black Hawks and CH-47 Chinooks, and Coast Guard HH-60 Jayhawks and HH-65 Dolphins.
Smiths has won a $5 million contract to install and demonstrate a health and usage monitoring system (HUMS) on US Army UH-60L Black Hawks. The HUMS will acquire, store and process aircraft structural, engine, drive train, electrical and voice data. A crash-survivable cockpit voice and flight data recorder will be an added aid to incident prevention and investigation.
Source: Flight Daily News
