Applied Aerospace and PCX create US flight and space hardware group

by Clarence Oxford
Los Angeles CA (SPX) Dec 04, 2025

Applied Aerospace and PCX Aerosystems have merged to form Applied Aerospace and Defense, a single supplier focused on precision hardware and systems for aircraft, rotorcraft, satellites, launch vehicles, and missile defense programs across military, commercial, and scientific markets.

The combined company draws on more than 120 years of engineering and manufacturing activity in mission critical aerospace and defense systems. Its workforce now exceeds 1,300 employees operating in 1.3 million square feet of production and integration space across nine facilities in five US states.

Operations span metal, composite, and polymer manufacturing, targeting structures and components designed to operate in demanding aviation, spaceflight, and maritime environments. The company is US owned and positions itself as one of the largest domestic providers of these specialized capabilities within the defense industrial base.

"The new Applied Aerospace and Defense is forged in heritage, trusted in action, driven by mission, and engineered for agility," said Trip Ferguson, the newly appointed Chief Executive Officer. "Our blue-chip customers and partners can expect the same experienced team, commitment to quality, and precision hardware, structures, and complex assemblies that they have come to trust."

The company notes that aerospace platforms are undergoing rapid technological change in sectors such as crewed aircraft, unmanned systems, missile defense, and commercial spaceflight. Applied Aerospace and Defense supports programs-of-record as well as emerging efforts and states that its scale allows it to back long-running contracts while its organizational structure enables response to new mission requirements.

Applied Aerospace and Defense's capabilities build on Applied Aerospace's work developing precision systems and structures for aviation, space, maritime, and defense customers over more than 70 years. That business manufactures composite, metallic, and polymer structures including fuselage and wing assemblies, actuated control surfaces, nose cones, fairings, landing legs, radomes, high-gain antennas, satellite bus structures, solar array hardware, optical sensor platforms, and deployable systems for satellites and spacecraft.

The legacy Applied Aerospace operation has supplied hardware to long-standing customers such as Northrop Grumman, RTX (Raytheon), Lockheed Martin, and BAE Systems (Ball Aerospace). It has twice shared in the Robert J. Collier Trophy for contributions to NASA deep space exploration missions, reflecting its role on major US space programs. The main Applied Aerospace campus in Stockton, California covers 25 acres, with additional operations in White Salmon, Washington and Huntsville, Alabama.

PCX Aerosystems contributes flight-critical assemblies for rotorcraft and fixed-wing aircraft, with core strengths in engineering, precision metal machining, and integration of complex dynamic systems. Its product set includes rotor-head assemblies, power transmission gears, landing gear assemblies, external fuel tank systems, engine and structural airframe components, composite parts, and refueling probes.

PCX directly supplies major aerospace primes such as Boeing, Sikorsky, General Electric, Bell, and agencies of the US government. In space and missile markets, PCX also manufactures proprietary propellant and high-pressure tanks used on advanced spacecraft, launch vehicles, and missile platforms. Founded in 1900, PCX operates facilities in Connecticut, California, and Massachusetts.