U.S. Air Force Chooses Honeywell for Secondary Power Support

Honeywell will provide end-to-end logistics support for U.S. Air Force secondary power systems on seven aircraft types and ground based auxiliary power systems under an exclusive 10-year performance based sustainment contract just announced by the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA). The contract is valued at $1.036 billion.

The company will support secondary power systems on Air Force F-15, F-16, A-10, B-1B, B-2, E-3 and C-130 aircraft, as well as ground systems used to power aircraft on the ground, per Steven Williams, Honeywell vice president for Defense & Space Americas Aftermarket.

“We’re excited about this opportunity to continue a highly successful public-private partnership with the Air Force,” Williams said. “Over the past decade, we have built a strong team with the Air Force and DLA teams, which have enabled Honeywell to deliver superior results, including dramatic improvements in availability rates and backorders. These and other improvements have resulted in significant cost-savings for the Air Force and the American taxpayer.”

The Secondary Power Logistical Solutions Program was the Air Force’s first subsystem-level Performance Based Logistics (PBL) program and Honeywell received a PBL of the Year award for its work on the program in 2017.

Secondary power systems, or auxiliary power units, are turbine engines that provide pneumatic and shaft power that can be used to start an aircraft’s main propulsion engines and provide electrical and hydraulic power for critical aircraft systems on the ground and in flight. Honeywell engineers developed the first auxiliary power system in the mid-1940s and the company has produced more than 95,000 so far for a wide range of military and civilian aircraft.