PALMDALE PLANT TO INCREASE WORKLOAD.Byline: Jim Skeen Daily News Staff Writer Tracor Flight Systems Inc. will perform more subassembly sub·as·sem·bly n. pl. sub·as·sem·blies An assembled unit forming a component to be incorporated into a larger assembly. work for McDonnell Douglas' MD-95 airliner at its new Palmdale plant under a $27 million contract, company officials announced Wednesday. The contract expands Tracor's role as a subcontractor One who takes a portion of a contract from the principal contractor or from another subcontractor. When an individual or a company is involved in a large-scale project, a contractor is often hired to see that the work is done. on the 100-passenger airliner intended as a successor to the venerable DC-9, and provides more work for the company's 100-plus Palmdale employees. Tracor established its Palmdale plant - in a former B-1B bomber bomber Military aircraft designed to drop bombs on surface targets. Aerial bombardment can be traced to the Italo-Turkish War (1911), in which an Italian pilot dropped grenades on two Turkish targets. subassembly building that had been vacant for more than seven years - after winning a $30 million contract from McDonnell Douglas McDonnell Douglas was a major American aerospace manufacturer and defense contractor, producing a number of famous commercial and military aircraft. It merged with Boeing in 1997 to form The Boeing Company. in July. ``This additional contract has established Tracor as a major supplier of aircraft structures,'' said David L. Lawrence
David Leo Lawrence , president of Austin, Texas-based Tracor Flight Systems. ``This work will be performed in our new Palmdale facility, which will house both McDonnell Douglas contracts.'' Palmdale officials are hopeful Tracor will be the start of an influx of commercial aerospace work. Palmdale officials are now looking at Boeing, which recently acquired Rockwell's aircraft and space operations, to see if the commercial aircraft giant will bring aircraft subassembly work to the city to ease the backlog of airliner orders at its Seattle plants. Earlier this month, John McLuckey, president of Boeing North American North American named after North America. North American blastomycosis see North American blastomycosis. North American cattle tick see boophilusannulatus. , said the company was considering Palmdale as a site for commercial aircraft work, but no announcement was expected for a month or two. The Tracor contract announced Wednesday is for the manufacture of more than 400 y-barrel assemblies. The y-barrel assembly is the lower part of the fuselage and houses the main landing gear, fuel, hydraulic and electrical lines. The contract awarded in July was for joining wing halves for the MD-95. Since winning that contract, Tracor has been training employees and building the necessary tools for the project. The first wing half structures are expected to arrive in Palmdale this month, company officials said. The MD-95 is described as a 21st century version of the McDonnell Douglas twin-engine DC-9, which first flew in the 1960s, and is intended to meet more stringent government noise and emission requirements and provide lower operating costs operating costs npl → gastos mpl operacionales for the airlines. Tracor said industry forecasts show a need for at least 2,000 airliners of its type over the next 20 years. Tracor is leasing a 20,000-square-foot manufacturing plant on 8.8 acres at 30th Street East and Avenue P, just south of Air Force Plant 42. The lease agreement runs through the year 2005. The building was previously used by Vought Corp., a subcontractor to Rockwell International Rockwell International was the ultimate incarnation of a series of companies under the sphere of influence of Willard Rockwell, who had made his fortune after the invention and successful launch of a new bearing system for truck axles in 1919. during the development and construction of the B-1 bomber fleet in the 1980s. The building is owned by the Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. Department of Airports. Tracor also has a plant at the Mojave Airport, which employs about 150 people. At its Mojave plant, the company converts retired F-4 fighters into QF-4 drones for use as targets for the U.S. Air Force. Tracor has a $93 million contract to convert a total of 144 F-4s into drones, with deliveries stretching into 1998. |
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