thedrifter
12-05-07, 07:20 AM
Keeping old military jets flying is growing business
By Tim Logan
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
12/05/2007
Ste. Genevieve — In a factory here, a row of horizontal stabilizer fins hangs on a rail. On tables across the room, dozens of wing flaps sit in various stages of disrepair.
They're pieces of a decades-old KC-135 Stratotanker, built for the Cold War and battered by years of heavy flying and exposure to the elements. But they need to be good as new, because the Air Force plans to fly that plane for years to come.
And that is why those twin stabilizers are here, trucked to this department store-turned-aerospace body shop an hour south of St. Louis, for a thorough going-over to spot and fix corrosion, cracks and other defects that could ground this plane.
This is what's known in the plane-making business as depot maintenance work, where a plane is taken out of service, pulled apart and inspected piece by piece. And while it's not as sexy as building new fighter jets, it is a fast-growing part of the aerospace industry as Pentagon budgets tighten and the Air Force tries to squeeze new life out of an aging fleet.
It is the kind of work that has led Boeing's Support Systems division to grow at least 9.5 percent in each of the last five years and more than double in revenue since 2001, to $6.1 billion a year. And for some local companies, like Sabreliner Corp., which runs that factory in Ste. Genevieve, it has become a business model.
The Clayton-based manufacturer of the 1970s-era business jet that bears its name, Sabreliner now does about 60 percent of its work on military maintenance projects. That will grow next year when its KC-135 work doubles under a new subcontract with Boeing, which in September won a 10-year, $1.1 billion deal to maintain the aerial refueling tankers.
"Aging aircraft is a fact of life," said Jim Meier, Sabreliner's vice president for government services. "We've found that to be our niche."
At two factories in southern Missouri — the one in Ste. Genevieve and another in Perryville — Sabreliner has about 300 employees stripping, testing and repairing an array of aging planes: the T-34 Navy trainer, the C-21 transport, and some Vietnam-era A-4s. At a third facility in St. Mary, it makes hard-to-find spare parts for the planes, many of which have been out of production for decades, for its own use and for bigger customers like Boeing.
"People just don't stock this stuff on the shelf anymore," said David Bauman, Sabreliner's vice president for Southeastern Missouri operations. "You can't buy just one."
All told, Meier said Sabreliner expects government work to climb to three-quarters of its business in the next few years, and it is expanding to keep up, adding new workers and investing in new facilities. The privately-held company is expecting revenue of $60 million in this fiscal year ending June 30, and $85 million the year after that.
There's a lot of demand right now.
While most Air Force planes aren't as ancient as the Eisenhower-era KC-135s, they're still old: The average age is 24 and many are reaching the upper end of their original service life. Some have been getting heavy use with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. And that's taking a toll, analysts say, pointing most recently to the up-and-down status of the F-15, which has been grounded en masse while investigators study cracks in support beams that may have caused one to break up last month over southern Missouri.
Air Force brass have been pushing hard for money to replace the F-15s and other aging planes but have met resistance in Congress, where they compete for funds with the Army and Marines on the ground in Iraq.
"We cannot win tomorrow's fight without recapitalization, and we cannot sacrifice victory in today's fight to prepare for tomorrow," Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne told Congress recently.
While lawmakers weigh that dilemma and eventually launch the long, slow process of building new planes, there will be good work to be had keeping the existing planes in the air.
And some of that work will be here in Ste. Genevieve, where Sabreliner's work crews scan wing flaps for fractures and scour away rust by hand, leaving 50-year-old metal shiny.
"When they go out the door," Meier said, "we want them to look brand new."
tlogan@post-dispatch.com | 314-340-8291
Ellie
By Tim Logan
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
12/05/2007
Ste. Genevieve — In a factory here, a row of horizontal stabilizer fins hangs on a rail. On tables across the room, dozens of wing flaps sit in various stages of disrepair.
They're pieces of a decades-old KC-135 Stratotanker, built for the Cold War and battered by years of heavy flying and exposure to the elements. But they need to be good as new, because the Air Force plans to fly that plane for years to come.
And that is why those twin stabilizers are here, trucked to this department store-turned-aerospace body shop an hour south of St. Louis, for a thorough going-over to spot and fix corrosion, cracks and other defects that could ground this plane.
This is what's known in the plane-making business as depot maintenance work, where a plane is taken out of service, pulled apart and inspected piece by piece. And while it's not as sexy as building new fighter jets, it is a fast-growing part of the aerospace industry as Pentagon budgets tighten and the Air Force tries to squeeze new life out of an aging fleet.
It is the kind of work that has led Boeing's Support Systems division to grow at least 9.5 percent in each of the last five years and more than double in revenue since 2001, to $6.1 billion a year. And for some local companies, like Sabreliner Corp., which runs that factory in Ste. Genevieve, it has become a business model.
The Clayton-based manufacturer of the 1970s-era business jet that bears its name, Sabreliner now does about 60 percent of its work on military maintenance projects. That will grow next year when its KC-135 work doubles under a new subcontract with Boeing, which in September won a 10-year, $1.1 billion deal to maintain the aerial refueling tankers.
"Aging aircraft is a fact of life," said Jim Meier, Sabreliner's vice president for government services. "We've found that to be our niche."
At two factories in southern Missouri — the one in Ste. Genevieve and another in Perryville — Sabreliner has about 300 employees stripping, testing and repairing an array of aging planes: the T-34 Navy trainer, the C-21 transport, and some Vietnam-era A-4s. At a third facility in St. Mary, it makes hard-to-find spare parts for the planes, many of which have been out of production for decades, for its own use and for bigger customers like Boeing.
"People just don't stock this stuff on the shelf anymore," said David Bauman, Sabreliner's vice president for Southeastern Missouri operations. "You can't buy just one."
All told, Meier said Sabreliner expects government work to climb to three-quarters of its business in the next few years, and it is expanding to keep up, adding new workers and investing in new facilities. The privately-held company is expecting revenue of $60 million in this fiscal year ending June 30, and $85 million the year after that.
There's a lot of demand right now.
While most Air Force planes aren't as ancient as the Eisenhower-era KC-135s, they're still old: The average age is 24 and many are reaching the upper end of their original service life. Some have been getting heavy use with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. And that's taking a toll, analysts say, pointing most recently to the up-and-down status of the F-15, which has been grounded en masse while investigators study cracks in support beams that may have caused one to break up last month over southern Missouri.
Air Force brass have been pushing hard for money to replace the F-15s and other aging planes but have met resistance in Congress, where they compete for funds with the Army and Marines on the ground in Iraq.
"We cannot win tomorrow's fight without recapitalization, and we cannot sacrifice victory in today's fight to prepare for tomorrow," Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne told Congress recently.
While lawmakers weigh that dilemma and eventually launch the long, slow process of building new planes, there will be good work to be had keeping the existing planes in the air.
And some of that work will be here in Ste. Genevieve, where Sabreliner's work crews scan wing flaps for fractures and scour away rust by hand, leaving 50-year-old metal shiny.
"When they go out the door," Meier said, "we want them to look brand new."
tlogan@post-dispatch.com | 314-340-8291
Ellie