Collins selected to supply ACES 5 ejection seats

The Air Force has awarded a sole supplier contract to Collins Aerospace to supply 3,018 ACES 5 ejection seats under the Next Generation Ejection Seat contract. The value of the contract was redacted in the Justification & Approval notice. One other company submitted a bid, believed to be Martin Baker, but the Air Force said it would delay installation by 26 months if it was awarded to anyone but Collins. Martin Baker would require 22 sled tests to certify any seat they offer, where Collins has been testing for several years, and only has 8 tests remaining to certify their seat.

The seats will replace the ACES II seats used in the F-15, F-16, F-22, A-10, and B-1. The seat is currently used in the B-2, and will be installed in the T-7A.

The US Air Force (USAF) plans to award a sole source contract to Collins Aerospace to deliver 3,018 examples of its ACES 5 ejection seats for installation in the service’s fleet of Boeing F-15, Lockheed Martin F-16, Lockheed Martin F-22, Boeing A-10 and Boeing B-1Bs.

The Next Generation Ejection Seat contract has been valued by Collins as worth hundreds of millions of dollars, though the USAF blacked out the contract ceiling award in a redacted Justification and Approval (J&A) notice it posted online on 2 October. The J&A was signed off by the service’s head of acquisition, Will Roper, assistant secretary of the USAF for acquisitions, technology and logistics, on 26 September.

The leading alternative to Collins Aerospace’s ACES 5 ejection seat was Martin-Baker’s Mk16 ejection seat, which is used on all variants of the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightening II.

www.flightglobal.com...

Wasnt MB selected to retrofit some legacy aircraft types?

a reply to: Blackfinger

They supply the F-35 seat, and have been selected for several Korean programs.

Also newer F16,s.