Cobham boosts presence in air-to-air refuelling market

Interavia Business & Technology, Dec, 1995 by Nick Cook

There is no complacency at Cobham about the strength of FRL's position. Group chief executive Gordon Page is only too aware that success in this highly specialised market is based on the sound relationships that FRL has forged with its government customers. A formal agreement has just been reached to provide up to 75 US Air Force KC-135R tankers with wing-mounted Mk 32B hose-drogue pod units to supplement their existing single-point fuselage booms. The requirement was reinforced by the lessons of the 1991 Gulf War, when the benefits of multi-point tanking, as demonstrated by the UK Royal Air Force's VC10 fleet, were all too apparent.

Twenty of the USAF's 59-strong KC-10A fleet are already equipped with the Mk 32B. The USAF has around 600 KC-135 single point tankers, one-third to two-thirds of which could receive the Mk 32B upgrade. It is huge potential business.

The Sargent Fletcher acquisition and integration into FRL was carried through with the full knowledge and support of the US military. As well as consolidating FRL's hold in the USA, the deal introduced the company to the helicopter air-to-air refuelling market, an area in which Sargent Fletcher had developed unique expertise. As rapid mobility and special operations take greater root in current military thinking, FRL's AAR capabilities (FRL also builds RPVs, towed targets, drop tanks, fuel system components and radar displays) will assume ever more importance in international planning and procurement - or so the company hopes. The Mk 32B is steadily gaining acceptance in the world marketplace - Australia, Canada and France are existing customers and Malaysia recently signed a $15 million contract to give some of its C-130 transports tanking roles. More Far and Middle East customers are expected shortly.

The Sargent Fletcher take-over was one of a number of recent acquisitions in the Cobham consolidation process. "We want to maintain and extend our position as world leaders in certain niche markets," chairman Sir Michael Knight told Interavia. These core areas include: air-to-air refuelling; high technology antennas and direction-finding equipment (through its rapidly expanding Chelton subsidiary); Carleton Technologies' life support and environmental control systems for high-performance air and space craft coupled with Hymatic's cryogenics and fluid control capabilities; and the provision of contract aviation services (see box). Interim results for the half year, announced in early October, show that the strategy is working: profit before tax was up over 14 per cent to [pounds]14.1 million.

RELATED ARTICLE: FLIGHT REFUELLING AVIATION

FRL and Flight Refuelling Aviation (FRA) account for 50% of Cobham plc activity. FRA conducts EW training, threat simulation and target towing work on behalf of the UK MoD, as welI as maritime surveillance for a number of UK authorities. Total turnover of the FRA group of companies is around [pounds]75 million per year. "This business was born out of the hard lessons of the Falklands war," says FRA managing director, Colin Jones. FRA won its first contract the following year in 1983 and was established as an independent company within the then-FR Group (it changed its name to Cobham last November) in 1985.

FRA not only modifies, repairs and overhauls its own fleet, but also offers a complete service to other customers. It is teamed with British Aerospace, Rolls Royce and Boeing to offer Nimrod 2000 for the Royal Air Force's Replacement Maritime Patrol Aircraft. An FRA/Serco joint venture operates the major servicing contract for Nimrods at RAF Kinloss. The company is currently modifying 13 RAF VC10 passenger aircraft into multi-role passenger/tankers.