Supply Chain

Lockheed Martin announced on Dec. 28 that it had delivered 120 F-35As in 2020, a year complicated by supply chain disruptions of the program’s global production system.

Aerospace supplier Moog has acquired avionics provider Genesys Aerosystems of Mineral Wells, Texas, from McNally Capital and Genesys managers for about $77.7 million, the companies announced late Dec. 21.

The agreement on the all-cash transaction includes a $5 per share, pre-closing special dividends to Aerojet’s shareholders, reducing the post-dividend value of the deal to $4.6 billion.

Private equity firm Charger Investment Partners late Dec. 15 announced it had acquired a majority stake in Advanced Composite Products and Technology.

Despite the pandemic, the industry continued to make progress in sustainability, space, aviation safety and more.

Aerospace and defense supplier Curtiss-Wright announced Dec. 3 that Lynn Bamford, currently president of the company’s Defense and Power Segments, will become CEO on Jan. 1 under a planned transition that sees current CEO and Chairman David Adams retiring by May 2022.

Japan’s roles in the defense and commercial aviation supply chains make it a powerhouse.

Blank-check company Genesis Park Acquisition has been seeded with $150 million through its initial public offering and is on the hunt for aerospace or aviation services businesses to buy.

Ask the Editors: Pentagon’s Ellen Lord says she is focused on protecting the supply chain and helping the acquisition system adapt.

Additive manufacturing machine maker 3D Systems said it is on the verge of finishing one of the world’s largest, fastest most precise powder metal 3D printers for U.S. Army Research Laboratory use toward long-range munitions, helicopters, air and missile defenses.

The opportunity for other areas of the economy to grow are more numerous as the world emerges from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Germany is the first Eurofighter partner nation to top up its orders; Spain will follow in 2021.

The new chief executive of Kaman, which recently downsized to focus on aerospace and defense, expects to pursue mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and to implement a new business operating system to squeeze higher margins out of the supplier’s operations.

Triumph Group will at least announce the sale of the rest of its aerostructure business before April 2021, if not close on the deal, the supplier’s chief executive asserted Nov. 5.

Fallout from commercial aviation business lost could eliminate businesses, create opportunities.

The contract with a $700 million ceiling value could result in orders for up to 2.906 ACES 5 ejection seats over the next decade, beginning with a task order to replace the ACES 2 seats in the Boeing F-15 fleet.

Francisco Gomes Neto talks with Aviation Week in his first interview for the aerospace trade press.

M&A activity among major A&D players is picking up again, but this time they are shedding assets or tacking on specialties.

Why Honeywell Aerospace’s chief sees a bright future for the industry despite today’s COVID-19 woes.

The San Diego-based company announced winning a contract on October 29 for a program that provides professional services for U.S. federal agencies.

AE Industrial Partners, a private equity firm with an aerospace and defense focus, is growing its military space business with a new acquisition that serves the Pentagon’s desire to tap into small-form, new-space developments.

As DARPA transitions software tool kits designed to reconfigure battlefield networks on the fly, the military needs a new pool of contractors that can provide information technology services in a combat support role.

The Air Force has previously confirmed that the Common Mission Control Center (CMCC) at Beale can operate Northrop Grumman RQ-4 UAS, and Aviation Week has reported that it also operates a secret, stealthy, Northrop-designed UAS commonly called the RQ-180.

If the current fragile jetliner market worsens, the U.S. and other governments might feel pressure to reconsider their nonintervention.

The ODIN Base Kit (OBK)—comprised of two transportable cases weighing less than 70 lb. each—replaces an 800-lb. server rack of the Lockheed Autonomic Logistics Information System (ALIS).