Cobham wins CH-53K helicopter deal

Cobham has been awarded a contract by Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation to manufacture advanced composite components and assemblies for the main rotor blades of the US Marine Corps’ CH-53K heavy-lift replacement helicopter.

Cobham’s Antenna Systems unit, under which all composites operations have now been consolidated, will manufacture all leading- and trailing-edge details and precisely locate and bond the details onto the main rotor-blade spar.

The contract could be worth up to $25m (£17m), depending on how many CH-53K helicopters are built by Sikorsky for the US Marine Corps.

Work under this contract will be done initially at Cobham’s facility in San Diego, California. Full-scale production will take place at the company’s new composite manufacturing facility in Suffolk, Virginia, which is scheduled to become operational in early 2010.

‘This is an anchor programme for our business with Sikorsky and establishes Cobham’s composites business as a supplier to three United Technologies Corporation subsidiaries,’ said Fred Cahill, vice-president of Cobham Antenna Systems.