Delta company delivers first set of wings for U. S. navy’s F- 35
Lockheed Martin contract a boon to aerospace industry; Canada expected to buy 65 jets
The first set of wings for the carrierbased version of the F- 35 stealth fighter has been built by a British Columbia company and is ready to be shipped out next week.
The Avcorp Industries Ltd. contract is one of two F- 35 Lightning II contracts to local aerospace companies that are expected to bring hundreds of millions of dollars in revenues and dozens of jobs to British Columbia’s aerospace industry.
Sixty- five Canadian aerospace companies are part of the $ 383- billion US Joint Strike Fighter Program as a result of Canada’s decision to purchase 65 of the aircraft, being developed by U. S. aerospace giant Lockheed Martin, according to the federal government.
Delta- based Avcorp specializes in components for commercial and military aircraft and its contract with Lockheed Martin is to deliver from 230 to 340 sets of outboard wings — the portion that folds for storage aboard aircraft carriers — over the next 10 to 15 years. The wings are to be shipped in sets to Lockheed Martin’s Fort Worth, Texas assembly plant. They are for the U. S. navy’s version of the multi- role F- 35 Lightning II.
“We anticipate the value will be over $ 500 million and will create 50 to 75 direct and indirect jobs,” Avcorp president Mark van Rooij said Thursday in an interview.
Avcorp, he said, is one of the few companies in North America with the capacity to build such complex components from high- tech materials.
It is one of the leading companies in Western Canada’s aerospace industrial cluster that, according to a 2009 survey by Deloitte & Touche LLP, contributes $ 3.7 billion a year in revenues to the economies of the four western provinces. And it is one of two companies in B. C. with contracts to develop the stealth fighter, a next- generation fighter/ bomber that is expected to be in service for the next 40 years.
From its plant in Aldergrove, the second company, Advanced Integration Technology ( AIT), is constructing something called an electronic mate and assembly system, a high- tech positioner frame that precisely joins components in the factory with laser accuracy. AIT’S contract is for $ 3 million and although it is providing no new jobs, AIT general manager Steven Taylor- Lewis said in an interview that the F- 35 contract sustains the jobs of the company’s 65 highly skilled employees. If it weren’t for the F- 35, “we would probably be looking at scaling back,” he said.
Further, everything from sandblasting and painting the assembly frames, to nickel plating and machining is subcontracted to local shops, he said.
The positioners are to be shipped to Italy, where they will be installed at the production line for aircraft being built for the Italian armed forces.
It is the second contract AIT has had for the F- 35. It also built positioning systems for Lockheed Martin’s Fort Worth assembly line, the same line that will be using Avcorp’s outboard wings.
Van Rooij said the economic effect of the B. C. aerospace sector often gets overlooked in this province, where resource industries dominate the economy. He also said finding enough skilled people for the sector “can be a challenge.”
From shop floor workers to engineers and managers, the sector needs people and is working with institutions like the University of B. C. and BCIT on training programs.
The local industry is thousands of kilometres from Ontario and Quebec, the hub of the Canadian aerospace industry, but it is only a two- hour drive from Boeing’s plant in Washington state. Although Avcorp and AIT have had contracts with the eastern Canadian aerospace sector, it’s no surprise that both companies have been part of the development of Boeing’s commercial airliners.
Julian Fantino, associate minister of National Defence, visited the two B. C. plants Thursday to mark the shipments.
“Canada’s decision to participate in the Joint Strike Fighter Program is resulting in additional opportunities for Canadian workers that otherwise would not have existed — including right here in British Columbia,” Fantino said in a news release.
“I am pleased to join the skilled Canadian workers at AIT and Avcorp today whose world- class expertise is having a direct impact on supporting our country’s long tradition of contributing to international stability alongside our allies.”
Canada joined the Joint Strike Fighter program in 1997, to replace the current fleet of CF- 18s. It has been a highly controversial project.
The Department of National Defence maintains that purchasing the F- 35 will ensure Canada remains inter- operable with its major allies — which have also made commitments to buy the plane — into the middle of this century.
The cost of the multinational project — the single largest fighter aircraft program in history — has been climbing and is expected to exceed its $ 383- billion US budget. Production is expected to top 5,000 aircraft.
The Harper government maintains the purchase cost alone for the 65 aircraft will be about $ 75 million each. However, the parliamentary budget officer has suggested that Ottawa will likely end up spending twice as much.