TAE Aerospace has announced the acquisition of two companies as it continues to expand its sustainment operations.
The company announced on September 4 it had acquired the rights to take over the operations of Victoria-based Kidde Aerospace and Defence Australia Pty Ltd (KADA), a UTC Aerospace Systems company (UTAS). Completion of the transaction is expected to occur by the end of September.
The deal includes an agreement with UTAS that will see TAE Aerospace designated as the only licenced overhaul facility in Australia, New Zealand and much of the region for certain UTAS businesses.
About half of KADA’s business supports the Australian Army’s fleet of land vehicles, including the M1A1 Abrams, ASLAV, Bushmaster and Hawkei. KADA also services a number of aircraft customers including Qantas, for which TAE Aerospace currently supplies wheel and brake MRO services, as well as Virgin Australia aircraft, military transport helicopters and others.
TAE Aerospace Chief Strategy Officer Darren Hutchinson said the opportunity to take on KADA’s capabilities arrived as the company was looking for ways to expand its service offer to land-based operators, as well as airlines.
“It has been part of our growth strategy for a while now to look for interoperability between the platforms we service – particularly between air and land-based platforms, but also marine in the future,” Hutchinson said.
“Four years ago, we signed an agreement for total logistics support of the AGT1500 tank engine that powers the Abrams main battle tank for the Australian Army,” he added. “At the time it was considered unusual for an aerospace company to work on a tank engine, but they are both gas-turbine engines and operate in a similar way.”
Hutchinson said that the company’s transition from air to land-based platforms has proved successful for both TAE Aerospace and Army, and that having local, in-country support has delivered significant benefits in responsiveness, cost and turnaround time.
The acquisitions come just days after TAE announced it had acquired a former hardware warehouse at Bundamba in Queensland for its expanded gas turbine maintenance, repair, overall and upgrade (MRO&U) business.