 DALLAS, JULY 26, 2005 – Five years ago, a well-known name in the aerospace industry re-emerged when Vought Aircraft Industries was created as a new company.
Vought Aircraft Industries was formed on July 24, 2000, when Northrop Grumman sold its aerostructures business to The Carlyle Group, a private investment firm based in Washington, D.C. The company's vision five years ago remains the same today -- to be the global partner of choice for integrated airframe structures.
Initial efforts in 2000 involved re-establishing the Vought brand in the marketplace. In 2001 and 2002, Vought won significant new military contracts. In 2003, Vought expanded its customer portfolio with the acquisition of The Aerostructures Corp. With the acquisition, Vought became one of the largest structures suppliers to Airbus. As 2003 drew to a close, Vought was officially named to Boeing's Dreamliner team.
In February 2004, Vought announced plans to consolidate operations in Texas to reduce operating costs and enhance the company's long-term competitiveness. All affected employees were offered the opportunity to relocate to Dallas. Later that year, Vought and Alenia North America established a joint venture, Global Aeronautica, to integrate more than 60 percent of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner fuselage. The companies also announced the development of a new "greenfield" site in South Carolina to support the 787 program. Vought will manufacture the aircraft's aft fuselage in a building co-located with the Global Aeronautica integration facility at a 380-acre site in North Charleston, S.C.
In January 2005, Vought entered the helicopter market by receiving its first BLACK HAWK contract with prime contractor Sikorsky Aircraft Corp., a subsidiary of United Technologies Corp. Vought's contract has a potential value of $1.3 billion for 1,100 shipsets of cabin structure delivered over 15 years. Vought Heritage
Vought benefits from an industry legacy going back to the first producers of military aircraft in the United States. The company's name extends to the entity founded by aviation pioneer, Chance Milton Vought, in 1917. His VE-7 Bluebird made the first takeoff from a U.S. Navy carrier, the USS Langley, on Oct. 17, 1922.
Chance Vought also introduced the Corsair name into aviation when he christened his O2U-1 observation biplane in 1926. Among the more than 15,000 aircraft produced by Chance Vought's legacy companies, some notable ones include the amphibian scout/observation aircraft, the OS2U Kingfisher; the F4U gull-winged Corsair; the F-8 Crusader jet; and the A-7 Corsair II.
Vought Today
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 in excess of $1.3 billion and more than 6,000 employees in seven U.S. locations.
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