Vought Aircraft Industries, Inc.
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Vought Aircraft Industries, Inc. (www.voughtaircraft.com) is one of the world’s largest independent suppliers of aerostructures. Headquartered in Dallas, the company designs and manufactures major airframe structures, such as wings, fuselage subassemblies, empennages, nacelles and other components for prime manufacturers of aircraft. Vought has annual sales of approximately $1.6 billion and about 6,700 employees in nine U.S. locations: Brea, Calif.; Dallas and Grand Prairie, Texas; Everett, Wash.; Hawthorne, Calif.; Milledgeville, Ga.; Nashville, Tenn.; North Charleston, S.C.; and Stuart, Fla.
Background
The Vought name extends back to the military aircraft company founded by aviation pioneer, Chance Milton Vought. In 1917, with Birdseye B. Lewis, Vought organized the Lewis & Vought Corp. Among the more than 15,000 aircraft produced by Chance Vought’s legacy companies, some notable ones include the VE-7 Bluebird, the OS2U Kingfisher, the F4U Corsair, the F-8 Crusader, and the A-7 Corsair II.
Today, Vought Aircraft Industries is a major subcontracting partner on many commercial and military aircraft programs. The company offers a full range of design, testing, manufacturing and support capabilities. Vought is positioned as a Tier I Integrator – filling the gap between prime contractors and traditional subcontractors by providing large, complex aerostructures on a turnkey basis.
To supplement internal competencies, Vought leverages a global supply base and forms dedicated enterprise teams to collectively offer exactly what customers need for a specific program.
Commercial Programs
Boeing
The largest segment of Vought’s commercial aircraft business is structural airframe work. The company has work share on virtually every Boeing jetliner in production.
Through its heritage companies, Vought has built major structures for the 747 since its beginning in 1968. These include the main fuselage section, doors and the tail section. The fuselage is the largest single subcontract on the 747 aircraft. It consists of 28 major panels and includes 11 doors and 110 floor beams. Each fuselage shipset is delivered from Vought’s Hawthorne facility to Boeing by rail in 13 custom oversized railcars. The 747 tail section, built in Dallas, includes the aft body section, the vertical and horizontal stabilizers, rudders and elevators. The combined length of the 747 fuselage and empennage sections built by Vought results in 189 feet of structure.
As with the 747, Vought had been a part of the 757 program since it began, producing the complete tail section – the aft body section, vertical and horizontal stabilizers in Dallas, graphite composite wing spoilers in Milledgeville, and door assemblies in Stuart. In July 2004, Vought delivered the last of the 1,050 shipsets to Boeing for the completion of the 757 program.
For the 767 widebody aircraft, Vought manufactures the center wing section in Stuart and the horizontal stabilizer in Dallas. Both operations have been a part of the 767 program since its inception in 1979, with first deliveries in 1981. In 2001, Vought was selected to manufacture the aft body section of the 767 through the year 2010.
Vought also produces spoilers, inboard trailing-edge flaps and various machine components for the Boeing 777 airliner. The composite parts are constructed in the Milledgeville plant. Vought builds nacelle components for the 747, 767 and 777 airplanes in Milledgeville. That work includes fan cowl assemblies, composite thrust reverser and inlet panels, and other composite components. The company also makes aircraft doors and a variety of machine components for the 747 and 767 airplanes.
Boeing 787 Program
In November 2003, Boeing named Vought as one of its structural partners for the Dreamliner, responsible for building aft fuselage sections 47 and 48. A year later, Vought and Alenia North America formed a joint venture to support the Dreamliner. The joint venture, called Global Aeronautica, LLC, integrates fuselage sections from Vought, Alenia Aeronautica S.p.A. of Italy and other structural partners, which together represent more than 60 percent of the 787 fuselage.
Vought selected Charleston International Airport as the location for its new, 342,000-square-foot manufacturing facility. The 380-acre site in North Charleston, S.C., was chosen based on several factors, including access to a deep-water port, airport and rail system infrastructure, and readily available land and workforce.
Global Aeronautica integrates 787 fuselage structures in its new 334,000-square-foot building co-located with the Vought facility. Groundbreaking for these two facilities took place in February 2005. Grand opening celebrations for these South Carolina facilities took place in 2006 (June 8 for Vought; Dec. 5 for Global Aeronautica). Initial deliveries to Boeing began in 2007.
In March 2008, Vought signed an agreement with Boeing for the sale of its interest in Global Aeronautica. Closing will occur following receipt of regulatory approvals. The sale has no impact on the adjacent Vought facility.
Airbus Programs
Vought is the largest U.S. manufacturer of aerostructures for Airbus. The company's Nashville facility provides various wing components -- some measuring more than 100 feet long -- for the A330/A340-300-500-600 programs.
In 1988, the company became the first major U.S. supplier to Airbus with the award of wing components for the A330/A340 commercial airplanes. The A330/A340 family of long-range aircraft offers a single basic airframe in several versions, with two or four engines, to achieve operating efficiencies. The company's work in Nashville fostered technical innovation with transatlantic computer interface for design, low-voltage electromagnetic riveting (LVER) and automated drill cell for composites. Deliveries for the A330/A340 began in 1990, with more than 800 wing component units shipped to date.
The company also has played a role in the Airbus A319/A320 family of aircraft. From 1997 to 2007, Vought built and delivered more than 600 upper wing panel assemblies for the popular single-aisle A319/A320.
Business and Regional Jets
Vought designed and built the GV wing under a revenue-sharing agreement with Gulfstream Aerospace Corp. Today Vought builds the integrated wing for the Gulfstream’s latest fleet of large-cabin, ultra-long-range business jets, the Gulfstream G550 and G500. Manufactured in Vought’s Dallas facility, the integrated wing (94 feet long) includes the electrical, hydraulic and fuel systems. Vought and a worldwide team of its suppliers provide the complete wing assembly, including flaps, ailerons, leading edges and trailing edges.
For the Gulfstream G350 and G450 series business jets, the company’s facility in Nashville builds the aircraft wing, and the Vought site in Stuart, Fla., produces its nacelle system. The Nashville site was responsible for the complete wing design for the Gulfstream IV series, delivering more than 500 wing shipsets. The Nashville site has been a key supplier to the Gulfstream family of aircraft since 1965. The company built more than 265 GII wings and 235 GIII wings.
Vought’s Nashville site manufacturers the upper and lower wing panel assemblies for the Cessna Citation X business jet. In May 2008, Cessna selected Vought to build the wing for its new large cabin business jet, the Citation Columbus 850. Production test articles are scheduled for delivery beginning in 2010, with deliveries scheduled to start in 2011. Cessna plans to achieve Federal Aviation Administration certification by the end of 2013, with customer deliveries beginning in 2014. Cessna is a unit of Textron Inc.
Military Programs
C-17 Globemaster III
Vought is the largest subcontractor to Boeing on the U.S. Air Force C-17 Globemaster III transport. In Dallas, Vought produces C-17 engine nacelles, the tail section and aerial refueling slipway panel. The large, complex nacelles embody the company’s long-standing, innovative work in acoustics, composites and high-temperature materials. The Milledgeville facility produces ailerons, elevators and rudders. The company’s facility in Brea provides components for the aircraft’s internal wing structure.
The Air Force has contracted with Boeing to buy 202 of the long-range C-17 transports, which covers deliveries from Vought through the third quarter of 2009.
Global Hawk
The U.S. Air Force RQ-4A/B Global Hawk is an unmanned air vehicle (UAV) that performs autonomous high-altitude surveillance and reconnaissance missions. Vought delivered two prototype RQ-4 Block 10 Global Hawk wings under its initial contract with Northrop Grumman. The first was delivered in March 2001. Additionally, Vought has delivered nine RQ-4 Block 10 Global Hawk wings under its Low Rate Initial Production (LRIP) contract with Northrop Grumman.
In September 2002, Northrop Grumman selected Vought to build an enhanced wing for the RQ-4 Block 20 Global Hawk. Vought’s work includes design development, fabrication, assembly and structural testing of the new wing. Vought delivered its first enhanced RQ-4 Block 20 wing in July 2005. Since then, Vought has built a total of 10 production wings for the RQ-4 Block 20 Global Hawk. Follow-on production contracts are authorized through 2010. In 2006, Vought also completed the assembly and testing of the RQ-4 Block 20 Ultimate Loads Test (ULT) wing.
C-5 Galaxy
In September 2002, Vought received a contract for manufacturing new flight control surfaces for the C-5 Galaxy aircraft. This Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (ID/IQ) contract was awarded by the U.S. Air Force Warner Robins Air Logistics Center to support the plan of operating the C-5 through 2040. Assembly work under this contract is performed at Vought’s facility in Dallas. The company’s facility in Brea provides wing panels for the C-5.
In July 2004, Vought was awarded a second IDIQ contract by WR-ALC for additional structural components. This contract, with a potential value of $471 million, is for the manufacture of 128 wing and fuselage parts for the C-5. Initial deliveries under this IDIQ began in 2005, with subsequent orders that could extend production deliveries through 2013.
BLACK HAWK
In January 2005, Vought announced its first contract with Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. to manufacture cabin structures for variants of BLACK HAWK helicopters. Three years later, the company was awarded a multi-year contract with Sikorsky covering the production of cabins for UH-60L, M and MH-60S variants through the year 2012. Planning and manufacturing for the BLACK HAWK structures is done at Vought’s Dallas facility. The military helicopter market represents an expanded business base for Vought.
During peak production, Vought anticipates delivering 1,800 pounds of structure every two manufacturing days to Sikorsky in Stratford, Conn., for final assembly. The cabin structure consists of approximately 3,600 parts made from aluminum, titanium and steel. Each cabin structure is approximately 19 feet long by 100 inches wide by 100 inches high.
Other Programs
In addition to the C-17, Global Hawk, C-5 and BLACK HAWK programs, Vought manufactures structure for a number of other military aircraft. This product line continues to grow as a result of the acceptance of “best commercial practices” for U.S. military aircraft programs due, in part, to Vought’s performance on the C-17.
Vought is the largest structures supplier to the Bell Boeing team for the V-22 Osprey, a tilt rotor aircraft for the U.S. Marine Corps. The company’s Dallas facility produces the empennage, ramp and ramp door. In addition, Vought’s Milledgeville facility builds V-22 side skin assemblies, sponson and main landing gear panels.
Vought’s facility in Nashville produces the empennage for the C-130J Hercules military transport aircraft. The company has delivered more than 2,400 empennage sections since becoming a supplier to the C-130 program in the 1950s.
Other military products include E-2C wing panels and components; and EA-6B wing panels and components.
Vought’s facilities in Stuart and Milledgeville produce nacelle systems and components for a number of commercial jets. As a subcontractor to G.E. Middle River Aircraft Systems, Vought designed and fabricates the transcowls for the CF6-80C2 and CF6-80E1 engines. The CF6 transcowls are used on widebody aircraft built by Boeing (747, 767) and Airbus (A300, A310). The company also builds nacelles currently used on the Hawker Beechcraft 800 and the Dassault 50 Falcon jets. As a subcontractor to Goodrich, Vought has designed and builds the fan cowl doors for the CFM56 engines used on the Airbus A340.
For additional aftermarket support, the company has an FAA- and JAA-certified repair station in Milledgeville for maintenance, repair and overhaul of composite products. In addition, the Stuart facility has an FAA- and EASA-certified repair station for various aircraft components.
05/08
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