More Military Business on Vought's Horizon.

Despite losing JSF, executives are optimistic about defense market growth

As it seeks to solidify its role in the commercial aviation sector, Vought Aircraft Industries also hopes to increase its share of military business, said company executives.

Since it became an independent company nearly one year ago, Vought, based in Dallas, has remained primarily a supplier for the commercial aviation industry. During the next five to 10 years, however, the plan is to grow from a 70/30 ratio of commercial-military work to an even 50/50, said Gordon Williams, Vought's president and chief executive officer, in an interview during the 44th Paris Air Show, where his company was making its first appearance since Northrop Grumman Corp. sold Vought to the Carlyle Group, a private investment firm in Washington, D.C.

Vought specializes in aircraft wings and large vertical and horizontal structures.

"Our goal is to have a 50/50 balance between military and commercial. If we get too much of either, things get our of wack," said Vernon H. Broomall, the company's vice president for technology and business development. Vought's annual military sales range from $300 million to $400 million, out of $1.2 billion in overall sales.

Both Williams and Broomall agreed that Vought "missed the boat" when it was left out of the Joint Strike Fighter competition. The JSF could be the largest military aircraft program this century, and Vought would have wanted to participate, but was unable to do so, because, when the JSF teams were formed, the company was still owned by Northrop Grumman.

Northrop Grumman joined Lockheed Martin's JSF team before it sold Vought. Vought's absence from JSE, Williams said, is "a hangover from having been owned by Northrop Grumman. ... When we left [Northrop], it was too late." During the five-year period when Vought was part of Northrop, "our percentage of military business went down significantly," said Broomall. "Now, we are independent again. So our intention is to bring back more military business."

Military aircraft prime contractors are more interested in systems integration and electronics work than in manufacturing, said Williams. "They make very little of the airplane, [but] they put it together and they support it." For Vought, that opens up new opportunities to provide components that the primes don't want to build themselves, he said.

"Our strength must be [to help primes] transition from development to production," said Williams. "We purposely avoid spending money to develop design capabilities." Lockheed, Boeing, Northrop Grumman have those skills. "We concentrate on manufacturing skills to help those primes take the design into production. To do that, you need to be on the leading edge of new material system, new manufacturing processes," said Williams. The key to success in this market, he explained, is to come up with ways to lower the costs and the weight of aircraft components.

Looking ahead, Williams said, "there is not a whole lot of new aircraft starting in the next five years." But Vought expects to become involved in re-manufacturing programs, working with Pentagon prime contractors.

Both Northrop Grumman and the Boeing Co. are among Vought's top military customers "We are the largest supplier to Boeing for the C-17 Globemaster [cargo airplane for the U.S. Air Force]," said Broomall. Vought makes the engine nacelles, accessory doors, vertical and horizontal stabilizers, the rudders and elevators and the aerial refueling receptacle. In July 1997, Boeing and Vought signed a $1.9 billion deal for production of major components for 80 C-17s over a six-year period.

Under contract to Northrop Grumman, Vought provides components for the U.S. Air Force's E-8C Joint STARS surveillance aircraft, the Navy's E-25 Hawkeye maritime radar plane and makes the all-composite wing assembly for the Air Force's Global Hawk unmanned airplane (UAV).

"We see a great future in Global Hawk," said Broomall. He predicted that up to 50 wings could be built, assuming that Global Hawk is sold internationally. "We are still studying that market segment. It's a new area," he said. Even though Vought is participating in the Global Hawk program, "I can't say we understand [the UAV sector] ," he said.

"In my old Air Force career, I was involved with UAVs," Broomall said. But the technology "wasn't there. ... They crashed a lot." Systems such as Global Hawk appear to "work very well," he said. The U.S. Air Force plan is to buy six Global Hawks.

Another source of new military business could be the U.S. Navy's P-3 Orion program. Vought was selected by Lockheed Martin to provide new or remanufactured P-3 wings, assuming that the Navy decides to replace its older airplanes and chooses Lockheed as the prime contractor.

The aircraft subassemblies industry has undergone a rapid consolidation in recent years, said Broomall. Vought has two main competitors: GKN Aerospace, in the United Kingdom, and The Aerostructures Co., in Nashville. The latter, like Vought, is owned by the Carlyle Group.

In Europe, Vought is interested in working with Airbus. "We are always in discussions with Airbus," said Williams. So far, however, "we have not found a fit" between the two firms.

According to Broomall, there is a possibility that Vought could become involved in the Airbus-led A400M European military transport plane. Airbus, he said, is interested in selling the A400M in North America. "We may get to the point that we can help them sell that airplane in the United States."

Vought employs more than 5,000 workers in five assembly plants located in Dallas; Hawthorne, Calif.; Stuart, Fla.; Milledgeville, Ga. and Perry, Ga, Most of its commercial work involves components for Boeing's entire line of passenger jets and for Gulfsrream regional and business jers.