Gulfstream Aerospace

Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation is a producer of several models of private jet aircraft. Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation has been a unit of General Dynamics since 2001.

Gulfstream's main facility is located in Savannah, Georgia, United States. Other facilities are located throughout the United States including; Appleton, Brunswick, Dallas, Las Vegas, Long Beach, Minneapolis, Washington, D.C., Westfield, and West Palm Beach. Gulfstream currently operates two facilities outside the United States, one in Luton, England and the other in Mexicali, Mexico.

Among the Gulfstream facilities several are partnered with GDAS sites (General Dynamics Aviation Services). Gulfstream/GDAS co-sites are;Dallas, Las Vegas, Minneapolis, Westfield, and West Palm Beach.

History

The Gulfstream brand first appeared in 1957, when Grumman engineers completed the design for the turboprop-driven Gulfstream I, which had its maiden flight on August 14, 1958. In 1967 Grumman moved the Gulfstream corporate jet operation to Savannah. The company experienced a series of mergers and buyouts during the 1970s, leading eventually to Gulfstream becoming its own entity in 1978. General Dynamics bought the company in 1999. The company has produced more than 1,500 aircraft for corporate, government, private and military customers around the world. More than one-quarter of Fortune 500 companies operate Gulfstream aircraft.

File:Swq2.jpg

Gulfstream Aerospace SWQ expansion. Aerial View. Savannah, Georgia

In the local economy Gulfstream is Savannah's largest manufacturer and contributes in a variety of ways to community affairs, especially education. The company supports and partners with the Georgia Institute of Technology's branch campus in Savannah, Savannah Technical College, and the Savannah College of Art and Design.

In 2006, Gulfstream announced an expansion of its Savannah plant and projected the creation of 1,100 new jobs by 2013.

Mergers and acquisitions

The success of the Gulfstream I program lead to development of the bizjet Grumman Gulfstream II. In 1978, Grumman sold Gulfstream to Allen E. Paulson's American Jet Industries, renaming the company Grumman American. The purchase of Rockwell's Aero Commander program completed the formation of the new Gulfstream Aerospace.

In 1985, Chrysler acquired Gulfstream with Paulson remaining in charge but a few years later Paulson teamed up with Ted Forstmann and his associates to buy the company back. Then in 1999, General Dynamics acquired Gulfstream from Forstmann Little and, in 2001, acquired Galaxy Aerospace from Israeli Aircraft Industries (IAI). Their production lines, located in Israel, are used to co-produce the G150 and G200, formerly sold independently by Galaxy.

Current products

As of 2007, Gulfstream currently produces six models of private aircraft:

• G150 - based on the IAI Astra SPX.
• G200 - based on the IAI Galaxy.
• G350/G450 - based upon the Gulfstream IV-SP.
• G500/G550 - based upon the Gulfstream V.
• G650 - new wide-cabin business jet.

Former products

• Grumman Gulfstream I (a twin turboprop business aircraft)
• Grumman Gulfstream II (this, and all subsequent Gulfstreams, are twin engine business jets)
• Gulfstream III
• Gulfstream IV
• Gulfstream V

References

Notes

Bibliography

• The New Georgia Encyclopedia

See also

• Pilatus Aircraft
• Piaggio Aero
• Beechcraft

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Gulfstream Aerospace

• Gulfstream History
• Gulfstream Web Site
• Patents owned by Gulfstream Aerospace. US Patent & Trademark Office. Retrieved on December 5, 2005.

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This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Gulfstream Aerospace".