General Dynamics Mission Systems-Canada this week contracted Kaman Aerosystems’s Air Vehicles and MRO division to implement the program to upgrade SH-2G Super Seasprite helicopter for Peru’s Navy. Work on the upgrades is expected to run through 2018 under a contract worth around $39.8 million and involves extensive remanufacturing of the multi-mission helicopter.
Although the name Kaman is most closely associated with helicopters, the company has created an expanding portfolio of products and manufacturing services that have penetrated into many corners of the aerospace industry, resulting in the company becoming a top-tier supplier to many important aircraft programs. Kaman is featuring a cross-section of its capabilities at Farnborough (Hall 3 Stand D50), with diverse components displaying composite and metal expertise, as well as large and complex aircraft and aero-engine structures.
Kaman operates from 17 locations around the world. One that is expected to draw interest at Farnborough is the tooling center of excellence established in 2014 by the company’s Aerosystems Division in Burnley, UK. The facility houses a 20-meter (66-foot), five-axis CNC gantry milling machine that can produce tooling for large aircraft components such as the Airbus A350 wing.
Meanwhile, Kaman has placed its K-Max utility heavylift helicopter back into production. Characterized by its intermeshing “egg-beater” rotor arrangement, the K-Max found favor with commercial operators, notably in the logging industry. The company previously built 38 before shutting the line in 2003. Two of them were operated in Afghanistan on an extended trial by the U.S. Marine Corps in an unmanned configuration devised by Lockheed Martin.
In June 2015 it was announced that production would re-start to satisfy renewed demand, including an order received last November from Lectern Aviation in China for two helicopters to be used for fire-fighting. The first aircraft from the re-opened line is due to be delivered next year.