Kaman Corp. produces and/or markets widely-used products for various commercial firms and the military. The company announced today that the helicopter division of its subsidiary, Kaman Aerospace, has been awarded a five-year contract with a potential value of $53 million to build composite helicopter blade skins and skin core assemblies for Bell Helicopters.

President and CEO of Kaman Corporation, Neal J. Keating, spoke about the contract award, “We are delighted by this opportunity to work with Bell Helicopter in producing world-class rotorcraft. This is further evidence of our ability to leverage our OEM (original equipment manufacturer) capabilities in support of other helicopter manufacturers.”

Mary Simmerman, Senior VP of supply chain management at Bell, said, “Kaman has the skills and competitiveness we require in the composite blade-manufacturing arena. We expect this to be a positive agreement for both companies.”

All work will be performed at the Kaman HeliworX full-service aerospace innovation and manufacturing support center. In addition to Bell, some of the biggest names in aerospace, including Sikorsky and Northrop Grumman, receive manufacturing support from HeliworX.

Backed by Kaman’s infrastructure and expertise, HeliworX is the only subcontractor with the OEM advantage capable of offering design/analysis, manufacturing, and test and flight solutions for companies that require an experienced outsourcing option. Other capabilities at HeliworX include: integration, composite and metallic manufacturing, final assembly, rotor blade manufacture, erosion protection and a sand erosion test facility.

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