A unit of Britain’s Meggitt PLC is getting a boost from the military’s push to overhaul and repair older weapons.
Irvine-based Meggitt Western Design Inc. is nabbing work for programs such as Boeing Co.’s Future Combat Systems and the Army’s helicopter maintenance program.
Meggitt Western Design has doubled annual sales to about $70 million in the past three years, said Charles Panasewicz, vice president of marketing for Meggitt Defense Systems.
Meggitt Defense Systems is made up of three businesses in Orange County, including Meggitt Western Design, and four others outside California.
“We’ve achieved a real good critical mass for growth and profitability,” he said.
The company scored a $44 million contract in September from a subcontractor to make the ammunition system for one of Boeing’s Future Combat Systems manned vehicles.
The contract is set to give Meggitt Western Design work through 2012.
Earlier this month, Meggitt Western Design also won a $3.1 million initial contract to build the ammunition systems for the Marine Corps’ Cobra attack helicopters.
It’s set to design, make and test the automatic ammunition system prototypes for the Marines’ AH-1W/Z Super Cobra attack helicopter.
“The gun system that has been on the Cobra for some years has been experiencing some reliability issues,” Panasewicz said. “The Marine Corps is looking to us to solve this.”
The automated ammunition system stores and transfers 20 mm bullet cartridges into a Gatling gun,or machine gun,mounted on the helicopter, spokesman Dietrich Volkland said.
Meggitt Western Design could see more work come from the contract if the design goes into production, according to Panasewicz.
“It’s a really nice win because it portends a long relationship with the Marines,” Panasewicz said. “These small development contracts take on a life of their own and live for years.”
The Marines have a fleet of about 180 Cobra aircraft that are set to receive Meggitt Western Design’s improved ammunition systems, Panasewicz said.
The Cobra has been the Marines’ main attack helicopter for decades.
Meggitt Western Design specializes in “linear linkless” ammunition systems,they automatically feed a chain of ammunition into a gun and then store the empty bullet shells.
Such systems are used on the military’s ships, tanks and helicopters.
“On the attack helicopters, in order to help pilots and crew multitask, you have to have a reliable feed system,” Volkland said. “It’s making sure the timing is impeccable.”
Meggitt Western Design’s ammunition equipment also is found on the Army’s Stryker Mobile Gun System and its AH-64D Apache attack helicopter.
With the contract wins, the company is set to grow.
Meggitt Western Design plans to add a handful of engineers during the prototype phase, and then hire about 30 more workers when the ammunition system goes into production.
The company is operating out of a 40,000-square-foot building at 16952 Millikan Ave. in Irvine.
Parent Meggitt is combining three local units,in Fullerton, Tustin and Irvine,and moving them to the Irvine Spectrum.
The three local units will take over a 157,000-square-foot complex and work under the Meggitt Defense Systems name.
The other two OC facilities have about 50,000 square feet of space each. They also do design and production of weapons training products and military decoys.
The combined company is expected to do about $100 million in sales next year and employ 250 people, Panasewicz said.
As the contracts roll in, the company said it plans to hire up to 20 mechanical and thermal engineers.
“The doors are open,” Panasewicz said.
Meggitt Western Design has 110 workers in Irvine, Panasewicz said.
