Magellan Aerospace signs agreement for work on F-35

LE BOURGET, France—Magellan Aerospace says it has signed an agreement with BAE Systems for work on the F-35 Lightning II program worth as much as $1.2-billion.

The firm, headquartered in Mississauga, Ont., will produce more than 1,000 sets of horizontal tails for the Conventional Take Off and Landing (CTOL) variant of the F-35 program over a 20-year period.

The agreement was announced at the 2013 Paris Air Show.

Magellan says it will produce F-35A horizontal tail assemblies using components that require advanced composite manufacturing, machining capabilities and strict quality standards.

The majority of the components used for the assembly are produced in Magellan’s divisions.

The horizontal tail production has a potential value of more than $1.2-billion over the life of the program.

Magellan has achieved sales of more than $100-million on the F-35 program to date.

“At Magellan, we are proud to be an integral part of the F-35 supply chain,” Magellan president and CEO Jim Butyniec said in a statement.

“We’ve produced parts that are flying on all three variants, and for planes that will fly in four of the partnering nation’s air forces (and) we look forward to seeing the first Magellan-built horizontal tail assembly fly on a production F-35 in early 2014.”