Spar Aerospace
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SPAR Aerospace, a Canadian aerospace company, led the development of the Canadarm for the NASA Space shuttle program.
[edit] 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) and Avro Canada's Applied Research unit (i.e. CF-105 Arrow). SPAR Aerospace Ltd. expanded into Western Canada by taking over CAE Aviation Services in Edmonton, Alberta. Shortly after, SPAR's robotics division located in Brampton, Ontario was acquired by MacDonald Dettwiler, while the MRO division in Edmonton was acquired by L-3 Communications.
SPAR's major projects currently include the complete overhaul of the Royal New Zealand Air Force's 40-year-old C-130 Hercules aircraft which will allow them to fly the aircraft until 2012. Other customers include the Royal Norwegian Air Force, United States Coast Guard, and Greece's Hellenic Air Force. SPAR does minor avionics work for the Canadian Forces Air Command CL-41 Tutor aircraft flown by the Snowbirds acrobatic team.
