GE Aviation Systems.

Smiths Aerospace was formerly one of four business units of Smiths Group plc.

Smiths Group

Smiths Group plc is a global engineering company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It has operations in over 50 countries and employs around 23,550 staff....

, an engineering company and constituent of the FTSE 100

FTSE 100 Index

The FTSE 100 Index, also called FTSE 100, FTSE, or, informally, the footsie , is a share index of the 100 most highly capitalised UK companies listed on the London Stock Exchange....

 share index. However, it was announced on January 15, 2007 that Smiths Group was divesting Smiths Aerospace to General Electric for US $4.8 billion. Smiths Aerospace, which was an important supplier, became an operating subsidiary of GE Aviation. This acquisition reportedly gives the combined unit the clout to resist pricing pressures from its two largest customers, Boeing Commercial Airplanes

Boeing Commercial Airplanes

Boeing Commercial Airplanes designs, assembles, markets and sells large commercial jet aircraft and provides product-related maintenance and training to customers worldwide...

 and Airbus

Airbus

Airbus SAS is an aircraft manufacturing subsidiary of EADS, a European aerospace company. Based in Blagnac, France, surburb of Toulouse, and with significant activity across Europe, the company produces around half of the world's jet airliners....

. Analysts further assert that it will enable General Electric to acquire assets similar to those it desired in its failed bid for Honeywell

Honeywell

Honeywell International, Inc. is a major conglomerate company that produces a variety of consumer products, engineering services, and aerospace systems for a wide variety of customers, from private consumers to major corporations and governments....

 in 2000. GE Aviation closed the transaction on May 4, 2007.

Products

• Its electronic and mechanical systems businesses include integrated modular avionics, flight management and stores management systems, recording and analyzing of voice, video and data. Crew information and mission planning. Other products include power generation and distribution, fuel gauging, management and aerial refueling systems and environmental conditioning. Systems essential to aircraft performance includes flight controls, thrust reversers, landing gear and hydraulic systems.
• The engine component capabilities include engine ring technology, supplying complex gas turbine engine components to every major engine program worldwide.
• The company also operates a global customer services organization that supports 1,500 customers in 140 countries through a network of local centers.

The company is involved with Boeing

Boeing Integrated Defense Systems

Boeing Defense, Space & Security formerly known as Boeing Integrated Defense Systems is a unit of The Boeing Company responsible for defense and aerospace products and services. Boeing Integrated Defense Systems was formed in 2002 by combining the former "Military Aircraft and Missile Systems"...

's KC-767

Boeing KC-767

The Boeing KC-767 is a military aerial refueling and strategic transport aircraft developed from the Boeing 767-200ER. The tanker received the designation KC-767A in 2002, after being selected by the US Air Force initially to replace older KC-135Es...

 and F/A-18E/F Super Hornet

F/A-18E/F Super Hornet

The Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet is a twin-engine carrier-based multirole fighter aircraft. The F/A-18E single-seat variant and F/A-18F tandem-seat variant are larger and more advanced derivatives of the F/A-18C and D Hornet. The Super Hornet has an internal 20 mm gun and can carry air-to-air...

, Lockheed Martin

Lockheed Martin

Lockheed Martin is an American global aerospace, defense, security, and advanced technology company with worldwide interests. It was formed by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta in March 1995. It is headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, in the Washington Metropolitan Area....

's F-35 Lightning II

F-35 Lightning II

The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II is a family of single-seat, single-engine, fifth generation multirole fighters under development to perform ground attack, reconnaissance, and air defense missions with stealth capability...

, F-22 Raptor

F-22 Raptor

The Lockheed Martin/Boeing F-22 Raptor is a single-seat, twin-engine fifth-generation supermaneuverable fighter aircraft that uses stealth technology. It was designed primarily as an air superiority fighter, but has additional capabilities that include ground attack, electronic warfare, and signals...

, and C-130J Hercules

C-130 Hercules

The Lockheed C-130 Hercules is a four-engine turboprop military transport aircraft designed and built originally by Lockheed, now Lockheed Martin. Capable of using unprepared runways for takeoffs and landings, the C-130 was originally designed as a troop, medical evacuation, and cargo transport...

, and the Eurofighter Typhoon

Eurofighter Typhoon

The Eurofighter Typhoon is a twin-engine, canard-delta wing, multirole combat aircraft, designed and built by a consortium of three companies: EADS, Alenia Aeronautica and BAE Systems; working through a holding company, Eurofighter GmbH, which was formed in 1986...

. Smiths engine components equip many major military and civil gas turbine engines, providing critical technologies from intake to exhaust.

History

Smiths Aerospace was formed from the takeover of TI Group

TI Group

TI Group plc was a holding company for specialised engineering companies. It was based in Abingdon, Oxfordshire. It was registered as Tube Investments in 1919, combining the seamless steel tube businesses of Tubes Ltd, New Credenda Tube , Simplex and Accles & Pollock. In 1928 Reynolds Tube joined...

's aerospace activities, including firms such as Dowty Rotol

Dowty Rotol

Dowty Rotol is a British engineering company based in Cheltenham specialised in the manufacture of propellers and propeller components. It is owned by General Electric, forming part of its GE Aviation Systems division.-History:...

.