Parker Meggitt (Meggitt Ltd) is a British aerospace and defence technology company.
Based in Coventry in the UK, Meggitt was founded in 1948 as a machine tool producer. It was formerly known as Meggitt before being acquired in 2022 by the Parker Aerospace Group of Parker Hannifin, an American motion and control technologies giant. Parker Hannifin has two reportable business segments: its Diversified Industrial Segment (DIS) and its Aerospace Systems Segment (ASS). Defence business is conducted across both segments. For example, the DIS segment sells products to both original equipment manufacturers and distributors serving the aftermarket replacement market, including military clients, while the ASS sells airframe and engine components and systems to aircraft manufacturers including for military craft.
The company posted 2020 revenues of US$ 1.49 billion, 42% of which was for defence business, according to the last annual report for which data was presented for Meggitt separately. Parker Hannifin, more generally, posted 2024 sales of US$ 19.9 billion in fiscal year 2024, US$ 13.6 billion of which was in its DIS segment, and US$ 6.1 billion of which was in its ASS segment. Of the latter, US$ 2.05 billion was for Defence original equipment manufacturers and the defence aftermarket.
Parker Meggitt employs 9,000 people at 41 sites worldwide. 35 of these are in the US, and 8 are in Europe, including in the UK at Coventry, Stevenage, and Fareham.
Military aircraft
Parker Meggitt produces a range of equipment for military aircraft and helicopters including but not limited to: flight displays, fuel systems and tanks, brake control systems, accelerometers, ammunition handling, weapon scoring and weapon training systems, and wheels and brakes.
Meggitt’s equipment is used on numerous military aircraft including the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (produced by Lockheed Martin with Northrop Grumman and BAE Systems), the Eurofighter Typhoon, the Dassault Rafale fighter jet and the Airbus A400M. For example, in 2020, it obtained a US$ 15 million contract with Chemring Australia to supply flare countermeasure assemblies for the F35 fighter jet, and in 2019, it signed a contract with Lockheed Martin to supply rudder pedal assemblies on the F-35. In 2020, Meggitt obtained a UK£ 4.2 million contract with BAE Systems to supply radome technology for the Eurofighter Typhoon.
It also produces the air data system found in Boeing Apache helicopters (see below). As such, Meggitt’s products are involved wherever these aircraft are found, which includes in numerous military theatres worldwide, particularly Yemen and Gaza.
Meggitt also produces Weapon Training Systems to train pilots on these craft. For example, its range of ‘tow targets’ “take the shape and signature for any range of threats that are needed for training.” In 2020, Meggitt’s training division Meggitt Training Systems obtained a US$ 78 million contract for multi-mission indoor and outdoor training facilities “in an unspecified Middle Eastern country.”
Land vehicles
Parker Meggitt produces a range of equipment for military land vehicles including but not limited to: actuators, ammunition handling, electric motors, fuel systems and tanks, power generation and retention systems, weapon scoring and weapon training systems. For example, Meggitt produces the thermal management system for the General Dynamics M1A2 Abrams Tank, the main battle tank used by the US Army and variations of which are produced globally.
Space
Meggit designs and manufactures instrumentation to monitor space vehicle propulsion systems on space-bound craft.
Missiles and Drones
Meggitt had a drone-focused subsidiary, Meggitt Target Systems, which was acquired by QinetiQ in 2016. Its key products included the Banshee drone, originally developed in the 1980s. Banshee drones have been operational in more than 40 countries.
Meggitt has previously sold targeting equipment to the UAE’s ground-to-air defence forces, Intelligence Online reports. In 2016, Meggitt won a UK£ 100 million contract to deliver defensive weapons for the Royal Navy’s Type 26 Global Combat Ship.
Controversies
Israel and the Palestinian territories
Meggitt’s role in the production of Israel’s Apache attack helicopters was revealed by the Guardian in 2006. Several key Apache components were identified as being produced in the UK, including the air data system manufactured by Meggitt.
