Canadian avionics house CMC has more tools in its box these days as it strives to position itself as a first-tier integrator. This January’s acquisition by its US parent Esterline of Barco’s defence and aerospace division will broaden existing product offerings for the Montreal-based business, as well as introducing entirely new technologies.
The acquisition, announced last year, sees Barco – which provides visualisation products across a range of markets – exit aerospace and defence, and its $200 million-revenue portfolio in those areas split between Esterline CMC, which gets the avionics, and another Esterline business unit based in Everett, Washington, which takes on defence and air traffic control displays.
“The synergies are huge,” says Claude Chidiac, vice president customer support and strategic development. Although CMC produces its own cockpit primary displays and multifunction control display units, for instance, Barco provides an “injection of a broad product line” and new customers, particularly in Europe, where the Belgium-based firm is well established, he says. As part of the package, CMC will also gain a repair facility in the region for the first time.
Although the increased product offering will help push CMC up the value chain by allowing it to bundle different solutions to compete with the likes of Honeywell or Rockwell Collins as a prime for integrated avionics contracts, the business is also content to operate as a tier-two, says Chidiac. Among its customers at this level is Honeywell, for whom it supplies GPS receivers for the Primus range of glass cockpits.
However, CMC has also had success selling directly to original equipment manufacturers. At Heli-Expo earlier this month, it announced that its CMA-9000 flight management system and its CMA-5024 GPS landing system sensor had been selected as the navigation system for the new Airbus Helicopters H160 (previously the X4).
CMC – which traces its roots to the Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company of Canada, set up in 1903 and later named Canadian Marconi Company – has been part of $2 billion-turnover US defence contractor Esterline since 2007. Although it is fully integrated, CMC remains a distinct brand within the business.
In terms of markets, CMC is split roughly 50/50 between defence and commercial applications. “We have always tried to maintain that split,” says Jean-Michel Comtois, vice president government sales and public affairs. “Defence is very much alive for us.” CMC remains well-positioned in the trainer market, for example, where it supplies the integrated cockpit on the Beechcraft T-6B, which is being pitched at potential international customers.
CMC is also focused on emerging markets, such as the one for low-cost intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance platforms in regions such as the Middle East and North Africa. It supplies much of the technology, including the Cockpit 4000 avionics suite and integration of sensors including an electro-optical/infrared camera, on the Iomax Archangel-armed ISR aircraft – based on the Thrush 710P two-seat crop duster – that was unveiled at the Paris air show in 2013.
“It’s effectively a manned UAV,” says Comtois: a low-cost airframe that has “state of the art sensors and can fire munitions”. He adds: “It means Middle Eastern and North African countries which have a need to patrol their borders and territories can send this aircraft to hover for six to eight hours at 15,000ft at a fraction of the cost of a [General Atomics Aeronautical Systems] Predator. It is easy to operate and maintain and has opened up a whole new segment for us.”
Sweeping changes in communications, navigation, surveillance and air traffic management systems (CNS/ATM) also present an opportunity for CMS both in the commercial and military sphere, says Comtois. “The upcoming mandates in Europe in 2017 and 2020 in North America are requirements for which we have products,” he says. “Over the next five years we expect to make major progress with customers who need to update avionics to stay within the controlled airspace of the future.”
Source: Flight International
