Eaton Aerospace president Bradley Morton can now be considered an armed man. After a contract signing on Monday with Aerostaff Australia and Production Parts, two Australian companies that will build attachments for Eaton under its F-35 Joint Strike Fighter work package, Morton received a ceremonial boomerang to mark the occasion.
The Australians too received a “gift” of sorts — industry observers say it’s the largest aerospace program the country’s fledgling aerospace industry has ever participated in, giving the Australians the distinction of building 1/6 of the JSF wing by part count. The contracts are also helping the JSF lead Lockheed Martin satisfy its goal of balancing contributions from the nine JSF partner nations. Australia chipped in for $150 million for the first phase of the program, and the country is considering buying 100 of the conventional takeoff and landing variants of the aircraft to augment or replace its F-111 and F/A-18 fleet.
Why attachments? Geoffrey A. Reed, Eaton’s strategic account manager, says it’s because attachments, which account for about two-thirds of Eaton’s JSF work, fall within the competency of the Australian companies. Each JSF holds about 300 brackets as part of the wing fluid delivery system, says Reed. A third Australian company, not yet named, will also produce similar parts. Reed says each contract will generate about $200,000 each for the Australian companies through the JSF system development and demonstration phase of 15 flying aircraft, and at least $3.25 million for the first 465 aircraft through 2014. Annual revenues would be $15 million for continued production after that date. —John Croft
