BFGoodrich has detailed a new strategy for its ejection seat business after stringing together a succession of deals to make it the USA's sole domestic producer in the sector.
The company bought Boeing's ACES II ejection seat product line in November, following its 1998 acquisition of United Propulsion's Stencil seat line, and has agreed to buy IBP Aerospace, which is working with Russian manufacturer Zvezda to Westernise the K-36 ejection seat.
BFG plans to consolidate ejection seat engineering at its Phoenix, Arizona-based Safety Systems division, and manufacturing at its AIM crew seat unit in Boulder, Colorado.
A plant set up by IBP in Hartford, Connecticut, to manufacture the K-36 seat will be retained, says Bill Walthall, Safety Systems vice-president.
BFG's major competitor, the UK's Martin Baker, plans to establish a US plant, initially to upgrade its US Navy NACES seat, but later to produce seats for the US market. Both companies are competing to supply ejection seats for the 3,000-aircraft Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) programme, as well as for Northrop T-38 and F-5 upgrades.
Walthall says BFG plans to offer Westernised K-36/3.5A seats for the JSF and T-38/F-5 and develop a "fourth-generation" ejection seat in two to three years' time.
Source: Flight International
