Military Programs : Triumph Aerostructures - Vought Aircraft Division

Triumph Aerostructures - Vought Aircraft Division is the largest subcontractor to Boeing on the U.S. Air Force C-17 Globemaster III transport. In Dallas, Triumph Aerostructures produces C-17 engine nacelles, the tail section and aerial refueling slipway panel. The large, complex nacelles embody the company’s long-standing, innovative work in acoustics, composites and high-temperature materials. The Milledgeville facility produces ailerons, elevators and rudders. The company’s facility in Brea provides components for the aircraft’s internal wing structure.

The U.S. Air Force RQ-4A/B Global Hawk is an unmanned air vehicle (UAV) that performs autonomous high-altitude surveillance and reconnaissance missions. The company delivered two prototype RQ-4 Block 10 Global Hawk wings under its initial contract with Northrop Grumman. The first was delivered in March 2001. Additionally, Triumph Aerostructures - Vought Aircraft Division delivered nine RQ-4 Block 10 Global Hawk wings under its Low Rate Initial Production (LRIP) contract with Northrop Grumman.   

In September 2002, Northrop Grumman selected the company to build an enhanced wing for the RQ-4 Block 20 Global Hawk. Triumph Aerostructures - Vought Aircraft Division’s work includes design development, fabrication, assembly and structural testing of the new wing. The company delivered its first enhanced RQ-4 Block 20 wing in July 2005.  In 2006, the company completed the assembly and testing of the RQ-4 Block 20 Ultimate Loads Test (ULT) wing. 

Northrop Grumman’s RQ-4N, a maritime derivative of the RQ-4B Global Hawk unmanned air vehicle, will be the platform for the U.S. Navy’s new Broad Area Maritime Surveillance Unmanned Aircraft System (BAMS UAS) program. Triumph Aerostructures - Vought Aircraft Division announced in September 2008 that it will supply the wings for this platform aircraft. When operational, the BAMS UAS will play a key role in providing commanders with a persistent, reliable picture of surface threats, covering vast areas of open ocean and littoral regions. 

Since 2002, Triumph Aerostructures - Vought Aircraft Division has been manufacturing new flight control surfaces and structural components for the C-5 Galaxy aircraft. The Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (ID/IQ) contracts were awarded by the U.S. Air Force Warner Robins Air Logistics Center to support the plan of operating the C-5 through 2040. Assembly work under this contract is performed at the Jefferson Street facility in Dallas.    

In January 2005, Triumph Aerostructures - Vought Aircraft Division announced its first contract with Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. to manufacture cabin structures for variants of BLACK HAWK helicopters. Three years later, the company was awarded a multi-year contract with Sikorsky covering the production of cabins for UH-60L, M and MH-60S variants through the year 2012. Planning and manufacturing for the BLACK HAWK structures is done at Triumph Aerostructures - Vought Aircraft Division’s Dallas and Milledgeville facilities. The military helicopter market represents an expanded business base for Triumph Aerostructures - Vought Aircraft Division. 

The facility in Nashville produces the empennage for the C-130J Super Hercules military transport aircraft, the most widely used cargo plane in the world today. Launched in the mid-1950s, the plane is the longest running military airlifter program in the world. The four-engine turboprop serves the air forces of more than 60 nations in some 70 variants. Triumph Aerostructures - Vought Aircraft Division is one of only three companies that has been on the C-130 program since its inception. To date, the company has delivered more than 2,300 C-130 empennage sections to prime contractor Lockheed Martin. 

Triumph Aerostructures - Vought Aircraft Division is the largest structures supplier to the Bell Boeing team for the V-22 Osprey, a tilt rotor aircraft used primarily by the U.S. Marine Corps. The company’s Dallas facility is responsible for the engineering, design and production of the Osprey’s empennage, ramp and ramp door.  Its Nashville site produced the first 62 shipsets for the V-22 before the program transitioned to Dallas. In addition, Triumph Aerostructures - Vought Aircraft Division’s Milledgeville facility builds V-22 sponsons and main landing gear panels.