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Composites Fuel Aerospace Market

3/3/2008

As the commercial aerospace industry uses a higher percentage of composite content (glass or carbon reinforced polymers) in its vehicles to take advantage of the material's improved strength and lighter weight, companies manufacturing such components are expanding in various ways. For instance, Park Electrochemical Corp. has opened its new advanced composite materials "Pioneer Plant" located on Pioneer Road in Jurong, Singapore totaling 32,000 square feet. The new facility will focus on the development and manufacture of advanced composite materials for the aerospace industry in Asia.

AAR CORP. is also significantly expanding its composites manufacturing operations with the lease of a 90,000 square-foot facility located at the McClellan Business Park, formerly McClellan Air Force Base, in Sacramento, California. AAR will occupy the portion of the McClellan facility formerly used by the U.S. Air Force for manufacturing composite replacement aircraft parts. The expansion provides more than four times the company's current composites manufacturing capability through additional equipment and added capacity at the facility.

Headquartered in Clearwater, Florida, AAR Composites has a 27 year history in the development, design, engineering, tooling and fabrication of advanced composite structures for the aviation and transportation industries. AAR Composites operates as part of AAR's Structures and Systems segment, which currently accounts for approximately 25% of the Company's sales.

Diamond Aircraft has received a $19.6 million strategic repayable investment from the Government of Canada for research and development (R&D) of its D-JET personal light jet. The company will manufacture the innovative, new, all-composite (carbon fiber) five-seat aircraft at its facility in London, Ontario, where the D-JET R&D program is based. The Canadian government’s investment project will be funded from the new Strategic Aerospace Defense Initiative (SADI). SADI supports strategic industrial research and pre-competitive development (R&D) projects in the aerospace, defense, space and security industries.