LAI Signs Multi-Million Dollar Frame Agreement To Manufacture JSF Components

LAI International, Inc. (Scottsdale, AZ), a strategic supplier of precision components and subassemblies for original equipment manufacturers, recently entered into a multi-year, multi-million-dollar frame agreement to manufacture structural components for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.

The company is a leading contract manufacturer of precision-engineered components and assemblies for aerospace, power generation, defense, medical and other advanced technology industries. The company?s technology, engineering and manufacturing solutions are used to build components for airframes, aircraft engines, power generators, defense systems, medical devices and other mission-critical applications.

LAI signed a manufacturing contract with Kongsberg Defence Systems, Norway, for producing structural components on vertical fins on the advanced attack aircraft F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Jet. The contract has a potential value of several million dollars through 2014.

LAI will use its advanced waterjet machining capabilities to process the titanium vertical tail fin components, including parts on the vertical fin identified as a spar, crank and bell. The components will be processed at LAI?s manufacturing facility in Westminster, MD. ?We solved Kongsberg?s requirements for dimensional accuracy and processing speed, cutting the 10-inch thick titanium forgings,? said major accounts manager Thomas Sterner. ?Our multiple machines and 24/7 capacity makes us an ideal partner as F-35 production increases.?

LAI also has a multi-year contract to manufacture 21 different highly engineered, precision-machined titanium and aluminum structural panels that fit on the airframe of three variants of the advanced attack aircraft F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Jet ? a Conventional Take-Off and Landing aircraft for the U.S. Air Force, a Carrier Variant for the U.S. Navy; and a Short Take-Off and Vertical Landing aircraft for the U.S. Marine Corps and the Royal Navy.

LAI has developed strategic relationships with leading global OEMs and operates five U.S. manufacturing facilities, with locations in Minneapolis, Phoenix, Tucson, Westminster, and Scarborough, ME ? all of which are ISO 9001 and AS9100 certified. The company offers NADCAP-certified non-conventional machining processes and has developed innovative applications in advanced machining processes, including waterjet cutting and drilling, laser cutting, drilling, welding and heat-treating, EDM drilling, CNC EDM, high-speed EDM, conventional CNC machining, five-axis CNC machining and precision grinding. LAI also provides gage calibration, tooling production, air-flow inspection and additional manufacturing services.

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