On the Record With
TOM CULLIGAN, VP & GENERAL MANAGER, HONEYWELL DEFENSE & SPACE

"When you peel back the skin of an aircraft you find Honeywell everywhere. From the brains of the cockpit to electrical controls, power management, even engines-we're everywhere." So says Tom Culligan, vice president and general manager of Honeywell Defense & Space, which accounts for almost one third of Honeywell's $10 billion aerospace business.

And he would like to be everywhere, upgrading that equipment, replacing it or servicing and maintaining it.

"We do a great deal that makes an airplane get up and go," he said. Or a rocket. Honeywell has seen its equipment installed on almost everything that's flown in space, and now it's bidding to manage the U.S. Air Force launch sites at Vandenberg and Cape Canaveral as well.

Culligan is at Farnborough to tell prospective customers what Honeywell can do to make their military equipment last longer. He brings with him Honeywell's VIA computer architecture for the Boeing 777 that will likely find its way into the C-5 upgrade, and the company's expertise in C-130 upgrades.

"We can provide everything the customer needs, whether overhaul and repair, upgrade, or logistics management," he told Show News. Honeywell is also involved in upgrades of the F-15, Apache Longbow and F-16 cockpit displays, as well as engine upgrades to the T53 and T55 engines in the UH-1 Huey and CH-47 Chinook helicopters respectively. The UH-1, for example, sees shaft horsepower grow to from 1,400 to 1,800, while time-between-overhaul is extended to a commercial-like 5,000 hours.

But the major contract coming up is the upgrade to the USAF's fleet of up to 600 C-130 Hercules transports. Honeywell has made proposals to the four teams bidding as prime contractor-Lockheed, Boeing, BAE Systems and Raytheon-to supply anything from components to system solutions. Honeywell can do the same for the other 600 or so C-130s around the world, he said.

Honeywell has many other areas of expertise that fall into Culligan's bailiwick. Among them: making dumb bombs smart with precision navigation kits, and flight safety avionics such as enhanced ground proximity warning, and TCAS collision avoidance systems.

"These are really taking off after a couple of accidents in the U.S.AF with VIP aircraft, and as the U.S. goes, so goes the rest of the world," Culligan said.
Logistics management is another major Honeywell skill. Culligan points with pride to the way Honeywell manages 50% of the U.S. Marines' pre-positioned rapid deployment equipment around the world, and to its $190 million, 10-year contract with the U.S. Navy to manage its fleet of 1,200 Honeywell APUs.
Coming up are major logistics management contracts in Australia and Canada.

"All this outsourcing is intended to leave the warfighters to fight the war. But as contractors we go right up to that edge," he said.