Boeing and Airbus are carving up most of Spirit AeroSystems between them, but the aerostructures supplier has other customers, like Textron.
We have seen how the January door plug blowout accident of a 737 MAX-9 led Boeing to decide to reacquire its former Boeing Wichita aerostructures operations – now Spirit AeroSystems. Making this happen involved long negotiations with Airbus since Spirit makes key structures for its aircraft, too.
But Spirit has more customers, beyond Boeing and Airbus. The supplier also makes parts for Northrop’s upcoming B-21 Raider bomber. Plus, Spirit makes the fuselage of the V-280 tiltrotor, a Bell (Textron) military aircraft.
We have seen that Airbus wasn’t keen for Boeing to have any kind of control over major aerostructures for its aircraft, and the same seems to be the case for Textron. Boeing sided with Lockheed (Sikorsky) to compete against Bell/Textron for the FLRAA (Future Long-Rance Assault Aircraft) U.S. Army program.
Textron Drops Spirit, Stays Clear of Boeing
Bell/Textron beat Lockheed and Boeing in the FLRAA program, which will replace the Sikorsky UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter. Despite protests from Lockheed and Boeing, more recent decisions upheld the Bell- V-280’s victory in the competition.
But with much of Spirit AeroSystems’ U.S.-based operations going to Boeing, Textron seemingly isn’t keen for Boeing to have a role in its V-280 program. Textron and Boeing previously partnered in the V-22 Osprey tiltrotor program.
So, it now seems that Textron is in advanced talks to acquire the V-280 fuselage work package from Spirit. However, buying this work package doesn’t mean that Textron will actually take over any specific Spirit installations.
According to Aviation Week, Textron could decide to bring the manufacture of the V-280 fuselage in-house or look for another supplier. It could take another year before Boeing and Airbus finish the process of absorbing their respective Spirit AeroSystems operations.
Beyond its Textron partnership for the V-280, Spirit has a contract to make the cabin of the Lockheed/Sikorsky CH-53K helicopter. Pursuing military contracts has been one of the company’s goals over the years, in an effort to reduce its dependence on Boeing.
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