Restructured Kaman Makes Show Appearance

Kaman Aerospace Corp. is making its first international show appearance since reorganizing its helicopter and aerospace businesses into three new business units: Helicopter Programs, Aerostructures Subcontracting, and Helicopter Subcontracting.

The move is a key element in plans by company president Joe Lubenstein to expand and diversify the business. "I believe KAC can derive real benefit from defining separate businesses around our product lines that will fix accountability for growth and business health," Lubenstein said in describing the changes.

Helicopter Programs is based on the Super Seasprite naval helicopter and K-Max specialist lifting helicopter which is now diversifying into police support duties in Peru. The new Kaman unit handles manufacture of MD500 and MD600 series airframes for MDHI and is seeking similar work from other companies.

Aerostructures Subcontracting has been boosted by the recent acquisition of PlasticFab, a leading supplier of custom-engineered composites, advanced plastic components and complex assemblies for commercial and military applications. KAC has plants in Connecticut (Bloomfield and Moosup), Florida (Jacksonville) and Kansas (Wichita).

Kaman helicopters active in this part of the world include the SH-2G Super Seasprites based aboard ships of the Australian and New Zealand navies. The latter's aircraft have recently begun sea trials as a prelude to operational deployment.

The K-Max began by making a niche for itself as a logging helicopter, carrying tree trunks from inaccessible locations, but its suitability for wider roles was demonstrated in tests funded by the U.S. Navy to evaluate ship-to-ship re-supply. In a further naval application, it has just completed a contract to recover torpedoes fired during a U.S. fleet training exercise.

By Paul Jackson