Aircraft Q4’03

Sales in the Aircraft segment were $108 million in the quarter, up 12%, from a year ago. This $11 million increase, though, is the net of a $23 million increase in the military business and a $12 million decline on the commercial side. Total military aircraft sales for the quarter were $81.3 million, an increase of 40% from the year previous

The most dramatic military sales increase was a $12.3 million increase in the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Program. Total sales for the quarter were $18.3 million. Our team on the primary flight controls, which includes Parker Hannifin and Hamilton Sundstrand, had a very productive quarter. On that contract, we’ve completed designs, built hardware and we’re now in integration testing. We’ve also begun work, along with our partner Curtiss-Wright, on the leading edge flap system. We’ve completed design reviews on the A and B versions of the airplane and hardware is planned for delivery next spring. We’re just now getting started on the wingfold actuation system for the Navy version.

In addition to the F-35, we saw sizable increases in the quarter on the F-18 and the V-22. We’ve started production on the Indian Light Combat Aircraft and we are building flight control actuators for six airplanes. And, last, but by no means least, we had a 12% increase in military aftermarket revenues to a total of over $29 million.

On the commercial aircraft side, revenues were down 31% to a total of $26.9 million. OEM revenues to Boeing Commercial were a very soft $7.2 million, 42% lower than the year previous. In addition, we had a very light quarter in business jet activity, and it compared to a very big quarter at the end of last year.

For the quarter, the commercial aftermarket was down slightly. The total this year was $11.9 million compared to $12.6 million in the fourth quarter of last year.

Aircraft Fiscal ‘03

For the entire year, total sales of $404 million in Aircraft were up 12% from the year previous. This is an increase in dollar terms of $45 million. However, once again, it’s the result of a bigger increase in the military side, $64 million, and a $19 million decline in the commercial side.

The big increase in the military side was, of course, the Joint Strike Fighter. Sales were $54 million this year, compared to $11 million a year ago - so, an increase of $43 million. These revenues do include work done by our partners, Parker Hannifin, Hamilton Sundstrand and Curtiss-Wright. But over half of the revenue is work done in our Company.

The other major increase for the year was in the V-22 program. Sales of over $30 million were more than double last year. F-18 sales of $31 million for the year were remarkably close to last year. Sales on the F-15 were up some because of sub-assemblies sold to Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, the manufacturer of the F-15 in Japan. Sales of controls on military engines were up about $3 million to a total of almost $14 million.