Honeywell [HON] is growing its commercial and international space business to offset future changes in the military launch business.
Honeywell Vice President of Space Systems Kurt Meister said Monday the company’s international portfolio has grown from a few million dollars about five years ago to nearly $50 million or $60 million today. Meister expects this portfolio to grow to about $100 million yearly in the next four or five years.
Honeywell is moving mostly to Europe in its international expansion, Meister said, but it also has customers in Japan, Finland, India, South Korea and even Russia, of which the company supplies modest, low-capability pieces of equipment.
Honeywell’s international expansion comes at a critical time in the company’s business. A slump in Defense Department launches is anticipated in the near future as the Air Force works through a glut of satellite launches. United Launch Alliance (ULA), a major purchaser of components from Honeywell, also plans to retire the Delta IV around 2018-2019 while phasing out the Atlas V in time for its next-generation Vulcan launch vehicle. Honeywell also supplies components for the Atlas V.
Meister said Honeywell has not only signed a deal to provide guidance and navigation units to ULA for use on Vulcan, but it will also have equipment on Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) and Orbital ATK [OA] launch vehicles. Meister did not provide details on Honeywell’s Vulcan contract and requests to Honeywell for comment were not returned by press time Monday.
“We won’t have a gap in revenue,” resulting from the Delta IV retirement and slowing of DoD launch missions, Meister told reporters at the company’s Washington office.
James Muncy, founder of independent space policy consultancy PoliSpace, said Monday while Honeywell’s revenues might be affected by the move to Vulcan from making boxes for both the Delta and Atlas, he expected the company to benefit from streamlining production to just one set. Muncy also said ULA had been funding upgrades to Atlas V avionics that would be common avionics for all systems, including the Delta IV. When Vulcan happens, Muncy said, Vulcan would inherit those common avionics. ULA did not respond to multiple requests for comment by press time Monday.
Honeywell is providing Lockheed Martin [LMT] guidance and navigation units for use on its Orion human spaceflight capsule that will eventually be launched on top of NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS). Honeywell, he said, was recently awarded a display contract for Orion. Honeywell is also providing Orion’s flight deck, Meister said, as the company continues its “large presence” in human spaceflight.
Honeywell designed and developed Orion’s command and data handling hardware, navigation systems and core operating software used in last December’s first flight test, called EFT-1. These systems work together for Orion’s overall flight management, building on Honeywell’s existing technology developed for commercial aircraft.
Honeywell also has products in the space exploration field, Meister said, as its inertial products are on “virtually” every probe the United States has launched. Honeywell, he said, was fundamental to guiding the last lander on Mars. The company also provides control and semiconductor solutions for the productive use of space, according to a company statement.