STRICTLY BUSINESS: SABRELINER, NAVY PACT TO CONTINUE

Navy officials had their first look at a modified T-39N aircraft in June 1991 at the Perryville Municipal Airport.

They apparently liked what they saw.

Since then, the Navy has used the T-39Ns for its Undergraduate Naval Flight Officers training program at Pensacola, Fla. Until 1997, the training program was under a contract with Sabreliner Corp, with Sabreliner providing maintenance and pilot contract services.

A year ago, the Navy purchased the 17 T-39Ns it had used for $42.5 million. Under the agreement, Sabreliner would continue to provide aircraft maintenance and pilot contract services through the fall.

That maintenance and pilot contract agreement has been extended another five years.

Sabreliner Corp., headquartered at St. Louis, has received word from its primary contractor, Raytheon Aerospace of Madison, Miss., that it has been awarded the "follow-on subcontract" to provide major inspection and repair services to the fleet of 17 Sabreliner aircraft being used by the Navy.

The contract, says Sabreliner chairman and chief executive officer F. Holmes Lamoreaux, could have a value of $55 million.

And the best news for the Southeast Missouri area, is that the services will be provided primarily at Sabreliner's facility at the Perryville Airport, assuring that the jobs will remain in the area and that Sabreliner will continue contributing to the regional economy.

The five-year subcontract builds upon an eight-year contract in which Sabreliner initially purchased and reconditioned the Sabreliner aircraft for use by the Navy. The aircraft are used for training navigators and bombardiers in the use of modern radar equipment.

The new contract calls for Sabreliner to continue inspection and repair services for the original 17 UNFO aircraft and eight CT-39G aircraft that will be used for non-radar training. The additional aircraft are the military version of the commercial Sabreliner aircraft.

Sabreliner will also conduct periodic Aircraft Condition Inspections (ACI) for all 25 aircraft. This is an intense inspection of the aircraft that entails disassembly and stripping of all paint, detailed visual and mechanical inspection, repair, reassembly and repairing of the aircraft.

All major work on the aircraft and engines will take place at Perryville. Meanwhile, normal line service will be provided by Raytheon Aerospace, in Pensacola.

Sabreliner's affiliation with the Navy dates back to 1990 when the company was awarded a $242 million UNFO contract to converted the former Sabreliner business jet T-39 into the UNFO aircraft, designated as the T-39G.

The T-39s were well-suited in their role as radar training aircraft because the Sabreliner aircraft were originally designed to rugged military specifications. Sabreliner, which no longer produces aircraft, engineered and performed additional structural enhancements to the T-39Ns to extend their use up to 30,000 hours of flight. The Navy flies each of the planes about 1,000 hours a year.

Employment at the Perryville plant fluctuates from 45 to 300. Current employment at Perryville is 213. Sabreliner has an engine test cell at the Perryville plant that can test engine performance on a wide variety of turboshaft, turboprop and turbojet engines.

Sabreliner's Perryville plant and facilities consist of 31.6 acres, with 128,000 square feet under roof.

The UNFO program includes air-to-air intercept training, air-to-ground radar mapping and navigation training and non-radar navigation training. Each aircraft can accommodate three students and two instructors.

Sabreliner was formed as a separate entity 15 years ago when partners of Wolsey & Co., a New York and St. Louis merchant banking firm, acquired the assets of the Sabreliner Division of Rockwell International Corp. This included the Perryville facility, which had been a part of the Rockwell Corp.

Although Sabrliner is relatively new, the history of the Sabreliner aircraft spans more than 40 years. The first Sabreliner was the T-39, developed for executive transport. Another Sabreliner aircraft, the Model 40, was introduced in 1963.

Sabreliner today is a diversified aviation service, maintenance and modification firm servicing a wide variety of government, military, corporate, airline and cargo aircraft, engines, systems and components through its network of subsidiaries.

The company and its subsidiaries have annual sales of more than $280 million and employ more than 2,000 people at 13 facilities in seven states.

Sabreliner has more than 200 employees at its Perryville facility.

B. Ray Owen is business editor for the Southeast Missourian.