Spotlight on industry: Vought Aircraft Industries Inc.

Sea Power, Feb 2002 by Peterson, Gordon I

Sea Power: Vought Aircraft has a long record of building innovative combat-- proven aircraft for the Navy and Marine Corps-including the HU Corsair of World War It and the record-setting FSU Crusader fighter. Do you see a relationship between this heritage and your current military aircraft programs?

Smith: Yes, I certainly do. Vought Aircraft Industries is a privately held, integrated enterprise combining the aerostructures design-and-- manufacturing capabilities of Vought Aircraft Company, Northrop Corporation, and Grumman Corporation. Industry pioneers-- Chance Vought, Jack Northrop, and Leroy Grumman, respectively-- founded all of these companies.

Of these pioneers, Chance Vought started his aircraft company in 1917. Little did he know that his small company would later give rise to such aviation legacies as the F4U gull-winged Corsair-of which more than 5,000 were built during World War II.

Following the Vietnam conflict in the mid-1970s, Vought shifted focus and emerged as a major subcontractor to prime aircraft manufacturers. Today, we build large structures such as empennages, wings, doors, and control surfaces. In almost 90 years, our name has changed many times, but our work has remained consistently strong.

Following acquisition by Northrop Grumman in 1994, Vought returned to the ranks of independent manufacturers in 2000. How has this transition affected your company?

Before we became a part of Northrop Grumman, we were an independent company, so the transition was not a difficult one for us. Vought excels as a "tier 1 " integrator-filling the gap between prime contractors and traditional build-to-print subcontractors by providing large, complex aerostructures assemblies on a turnkey basis.

Our resources are sized and structured to provide our customers with any combination of capabilities and services required-from design-to-performance specifications to build-to-print manufacturing, or anything in between.

What are some of your more important military programs?

Our legacy as a military prime contractor provides us with a depth of experience and knowledge that we feel is advantageous as a subcontractor. Vought is the largest subcontractor on the C-17 [U.S. Air Force transport aircraft]. We manufacture the horizontal and vertical stabilizers, control surfaces, universal aerial refueling receptacle slipway installation, nacelles, and engine buildup for this amazing transport. Our thrust reverser design allows the aircraft to operate out of short airfields. On the B-2 Spirit [long-range bomber], we were responsible for about one-third of the airframe as one of three team members. Vought builds the wings for the Global Hawk unmanned air vehicle. In addition, we produce various structures for the F/A-1 8E/F, E-2C, and V-22.

Vought was selected last summer by Northrop Grumman Corporation to manufacture the wings for the Global Hawk unmanned reconnaissance system's air vehicle [UAV]. With UAVs playing a critical role in the success of U.S. combat operations in Afghanistan, do you anticipate further growth in this product line?

We believe that the entire arena of intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance [ISR] is staged for significant growth. All types of ISR platforms and capabilities are in short supply relative to the need in Afghanistan and the other key areas around the globe where we need to know what is happening. As September 11th has shown us, we can never again afford not to know what our enemies are planning.

UAVs in general, and Global Hawk specifically, have capabilities that can provide us with persistent, real-time ISR and battlespace situational awareness without endangering pilots. To capitalize on this market segment, we are investing in the capabilities and processes, such as low-cost composites, that will make us competitive in designing and producing UAV airframes. The need for these UAV platforms is critical, and the push is to shorten the normal development cycle. Consequently, we are building alliances now with the ISR prime contractors and with other key first-tier suppliers so that we can hold up our end in the rapid development of new systems and accelerated transition to production once new system requirements are defined.

John Douglass, the president of the Aerospace Industries Association, recently projected a major decline in aerospace sales for 2002 as the result of September's terrorist attacks. Do you expect that projected increases in aerospace military sales will help to cushion this projected sales reduction in the civil sector?

Over time, we aim to increase our military business to balance the portfolio of commercial work here at Vought. Due to the downturn in the commercial air transport market, we are experiencing a slowdown in sales for 2002, and probably 2003. Boeing, our largest customer, largely drives our sales.

Sales for the C-17 and Global Hawk programs that we support will maintain or make a slight increase in the next few years. Further, we are discussing with a number of customers how we might help them on military projects.