Jenoptik receives contract for series production from US Navy

The series production contract for Jenoptik amounts to a volume of about 3.3 million US dollars and will run for two years. It is based on a development order from 2010. The generator controller will be used in the entire fleet of transport helicopters type CH-53E from fall 2015 and will control the power supply aboard the helicopter. Jenoptik will produce these controllers at its Wedel and Essen sites in Germany and will deliver them to the US Naval Supply Systems Command, a logistics division of the US Navy. “This series production contract is an important step for the internationalization of our Defense & Civil Systems division. It provides lasting confirmation that our innovative solutions also attract attention in the US military market”, says Jenoptik President & CEO Michael Mertin. With a view to its internationalization, the Jenoptik Group focuses primarily on the growth regions of Americas and Asia/Pacific. The helicopter CH-53 version -E has been used by the US Armed Forces since 1981 and will probably remain in service until at least 2025. An important milestone preceding the current series production contract was the inclusion of the generator controller in the US Department of Defense program “Foreign Comparative Testing”. In this program, the US Armed Forces test technologies and products which exhibit a high degree of technological maturity and are used by allied nations. From an exchange of experience with the German Federal Armed Forces, the attention of the US Navy was drawn to the reliability of the generator controller from Jenoptik. As a result thereof the controller was included in the “Foreign Comparative Testing” program in 2009. The solution provided by Jenoptik has increased the reliability of this helicopter component.