- Spar Aerospace
SPAR Aerospace, a
Canadian aerospace company, led the development of theCanadarm for theNASA Space shuttle program.History
The Edmonton based company L-3 Communications/SPAR (Special Products and Applied Research) Aerospace Ltd. was formed by the merger of
de Havilland Canada ’s Special Products division (i.e.Alouette 1 ) andAvro Canada 's Applied Research unit (i.e.CF-105 Arrow ). SPAR Aerospace Ltd. expanded into Western Canada by taking over CAE Aviation Services inEdmonton, Alberta . Shortly after, SPAR's robotics division located inBrampton, Ontario was acquired byMacDonald Dettwiler , while the MRO division in Edmonton was acquired byL-3 Communications .SPAR's major projects currently include the complete overhaul of the
Royal New Zealand Air Force 's 40-year-oldC-130 Hercules aircraft which will allow them to fly the aircraft until 2012. Other customers include theRoyal Norwegian Air Force ,United States Coast Guard , andGreece 'sHellenic Air Force . SPAR does minor avionics work for theCanadian Forces Air Command CL-41 Tutor aircraft flown by theSnowbirds acrobatic team.Current Facilities
*
Edmonton, Alberta
*Mississauga, Ontario
*Trenton, Ontario
*Venice, Italy References
* [http://www.space.gc.ca/asc/eng/about/csm_complete.asp Canadian Space Agency]
* [http://www.spar.ca/aboutus/mississauga.htm L3 SPAR Aerospace Limited]
* [http://thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0000051 Aerospace Industries of Canada]
* [http://www.technet.pnl.gov/dme/robotics/utility.stm Light Duty Utility Arm ]
* [http://torontoaerospacemuseum.com/media/TorontoAviationHistory.html Toronto Aviation History]
* [http://iar-ira.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/flyers/spr01sp_e.html Aviation History]
* [http://www.avroland.ca/al-vz9.html Avrocar]
* [http://www.gadp.com/wscasestudies/Triceratops%20Case%20Study%20-%20Jan06.pdf Sara]
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