As noted a few weeks ago, there have been big changes at Chelton recently. ANN's Aero-TV crews caught up with Chelton's Gordon Pratt at the 2008 AEA Convention and got a little more detail about this means. As previously detailed, the two business units within Cobham's Avionics and Surveillance Division, Chelton Flight Systems (CFS) and S-TEC, are to be merged to create an "avionics center of excellence" based in Mineral Wells, TX. The move is part of Cobham’s drive to develop a fully integrated cockpit and improve its customer focus.

The newly-integrated business unit will operate under a single management team by the end of 2008, according to Cobham officials. Those representatives add the capabilities of CFS and S-TEC are highly complementary, with products from both businesses certified together on more than 500 aircraft types. Combined, the two businesses have certified equipment and systems on some 2,000 makes/models of fixed and rotary wing aircraft for the general and business aviation markets.

S-TEC was acquired by UK-based Cobham at the beginning of 2008. The company employs 180 people and operates out of a 10-acre engineering and production campus at the Mineral Wells Airport. The S-TEC facility currently has a 57,000 square foot administration, engineering and manufacturing plant and a 28,000 square foot hangar, which houses the company’s flight operations.