Sabreliner Corp. Delivers 50th P-3 Center Wing Assembly

August 14, 2008

Sabreliner Corp. has delivered the 50th Center Wing Assembly for use in the Navy's fleet of P-3 Orion maritime patrol and reconnaissance aircraft. All 50 of the assemblies built by Sabreliner were completed on or ahead of their contractual delivery schedule.

The lower Center Wing Assembly forms the bottom of the aircraft fuselage where it is joined to the wings.  Sabreliner builds the assemblies under a license from the aircraft's original equipment manufacturer, Lockheed Martin.

Sabreliner produces P-3 Center Wing Assemblies in support of the U.S. Navy and other federal agencies.  Current customers include Lockheed Martin, ARINC, L3 Communications and BAE Systems.

The assemblies measure more than 10 feet by 10 feet and weigh 500 pounds.  When completed, they are crated and placed on truck beds for delivery to specified depots where they are installed on aircraft being prepared to return to service. 

In the past, Sabreliner has purchased the nine large manufactured sheet metal planks that comprise much of the assembly, but the company recently began building some of them at its nearby St. Mary manufacturing center and expects to produce all of them by next year.  

In addition, Sabreliner builds much of the tooling being used by various P-3 depot operations centers to perform wing repair, restoration, removal and replacement.  The company recently began work on P-3 Special Structural Inspection Kits that depot centers will install to repair and replace components in known high fatigue areas, allowing the aircraft to continue to operate safely.

Sabreliner Corp. is a proven provider of a wide variety of civilian and government aviation services, as well as an acknowledged leader in aviation production support.  The company has more than 375 employees and 360,000 square feet of aviation maintenance, manufacturing, processing and repair facilities at three service locations in Missouri and one in Kansas.  Its headquarters are in St. Louis.