Meggitt Safety Solutions has contracted Dynatech International/MPX Holdings LLC to distribute the company’s fighter jet canopy actuator with a proactive focus on growing international sales, according to a Dynatech statement.
Officially known as the F-16 Canopy Actuator and Linkage system, an actuator is like the hinge for a fighter jet’s canopy, allowing it to open and close. A Dynatech company spokesman said Thursday older actuators have a propensity of failing due to the stresses that pilots put on them by taxing down runways with canopies open. Meggitt’s new actuator is more durable and reliable product because the company added a created a new link connecting the actuator to the canopy, the Dynatech spokesman said.
Dynatech will act as the stocking distributor of Meggitt’s canopy actuator for the F-16A and F-16C single seat variants. Dynatech said Meggitt currently holds a sole source replacement contract with the Air Force for its worldwide F-16 fleet. Dynatech has about 20 canopy actuators in stock and buys units in the 10s and 20s, the spokesman said. It can take about one year to manufacture a canopy actuator due to special metals and parts.
Meggitt Safety Systems, a division of Meggitt PLC, develops extreme environment fire and overheat protection systems, mineral-insulated cables and electro-mechanical actuators for aerospace, defense, industrial and nuclear applications. Dynatech is an exclusive and authorized distributor for numerous original equipment manufacturers (OEM), supporting military operators and maintenance, repair and operations (MRO) worldwide with turbine engine and aircraft spare parts, among others.
Eaton [ETN] also manufactures canopy actuators for F-16A/C variants. The company said in an undated press release it was once awarded a $5.7 million Air Force contract to retrofit more than 400 of the Air Force’s F-16A/C variants. The contract was a follow-on to an original contract award received in October 1999, affecting 240 aircraft. F-16s are developed by Lockheed Martin [LMT].