Adding three new product licenses in the first half of 2016, Melbourne, Florida-based Extant Aerospace has further expanded the portfolio of legacy avionics, electronics and electro-mechanical products that it manufactures and supports under license from leading OEMs. Under the agreements, the Florida-based company has acquired all inventory, special tooling and test equipment, as well as exclusive IP rights, to continue producing, repairing and supporting the products, which are installed in a wide range of military, commercial and general aviation aircraft. These include the B-1 and B-2 bombers, as well as the Beechcraft 1900, the Boeing 747 and 757 airliners, the C-5, C-17, C-130 transports, F-15, F-16, F-18 fighters, T-6A trainer and Falcon 50 and 900 business jets.
The newly licensed products encompass 300 parts and assemblies span communications, control, display, sensing, power and navigation technologies, with products including power supplies, battery chargers, communications terminals, temperature sensors, mission and flight data recorders, navcom panels, and primary flight displays. These licenses bring Extant’s portfolio to more than 2,500 distinct aerospace electronics and avionics part numbers.
“Our business model provides immediate cash and frees resources for OEMs to redirect to other initiatives, and…enabled us to successfully manage obsolescence, and support and sustain the products for years to come,” said Extant CEO Jim Gerwien.
For two or three major OEMs, Gerwien maintained, Extant is now an established part of their product management process. This means that it shoulders full responsibility for supporting their customers to the extent that, “We’re effectively stepping in to be that OEM.”
Having to support so many varied products, and with fluctuating rates of production, means that Extant has to be extremely flexible and efficient. This requires a highly skilled workforce, said Gerwien. It has to maintain detailed processes, with full supporting documentation, for rates of manufacturing that can be spasmodic. But having such a diversified product range also insulates the company from fluctuating marketing conditions.
To accommodate the anticipated additional orders the new licenses will spark, Extant has added more than 2,000 square feet to its manufacturing and test facilities. The company also announced it has won a five-year Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity contact, valued at up to $62 million, from the U.S. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center for parts for the AN/ALE-47 Counter Measures Dispenser System. o