Spirit plans $20 million expansion at S. Oliver plant

Spirit AeroSystems has pulled a $20 million construction permit for the building where it manufactures a part of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner.

The permit, filed with Sedgwick County last week, lists the project as a “New Defense Manuf. Facility for Spirit.”

But a Spirit spokesman said Monday the construction permit is not specifically for a defense program “but for current and future growth opportunities.”

No other details on the project were available.

The work is planned at Building 3-224R on Spirit’s campus on South Oliver. That building is Spirit’s Composite Manufacturing Facility, where it fashions the composite forward fuselage of the 787 wide-body jetliner.

Earlier this year, Boeing raised Spirit’s monthly 787 production rate from 10 forward fuselages a month to 12.

On the defense side, Spirit is preparing to restart work on Lockheed Martin’s Sikorsky CH-53K heavy lift helicopter for the Marine Corps. Spirit builds the composite fuselage of the new helicopter.

Spirit also was tapped by Northrop Grumman as a subcontractor on the B-21, the Air Force’s new Long Range Strike Bomber program. Spirit has not identified what work it will be doing on the B-21, but CEO Tom Gentile said this summer the program could represent a “material portion” of defense work for the company in the future.

Spirit’s other defense programs include the Boeing KC-46 air refueling tanker, which is built from the airframe of a 767, the forward fuselage of which and other parts Spirit manufactures for Boeing, and the Navy’s P-8A Poseidon maritime surveillance jet, which is built from a Boeing 737 airframe. Spirit manufactures 70 percent of the 737 for Boeing.

Spirit also has built a prototype V-280 Valor tilt-rotor aircraft fuselage for Bell Helicopter. The V-280 is Bell’s entrant for a future competition to supply the Army with its next generation of airborne medium-class troop carriers.

This story was originally published December 19, 2016 at 4:19 PM with the headline "Spirit plans $20 million expansion at S. Oliver plant."