In our Suppliers’ Spotlight series, the best in British engineering and manufacturing and members of Team AW149 UK tell their story.

Team AW149 UK is Leonardo’s onshore supply chain for the AW149 helicopter. Featuring more than 70 companies from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, Team AW149 UK members play a vital role in the latest-generation AW149. 

Chelton’s headquarters is in Marlow, Buckinghamshire, which is its main design and manufacturing facility for antennas and avionics. The company’s research and development facility in Redhill, Surrey is focussed on LTE-based aircraft radio and land products. In addition, Chelton is located in Newmarket, Suffolk, where it develops non-flight qualified microwave antenna products. Chelton spans the globe through offices in the US and Asia, and has a sister company based in Finland. The company employs almost 500 people across its sites.

Founded in 1947, Chelton became a key innovator within the avionics industry through its work on investigating the challenges surrounding the noise in aircraft communications caused by the discharge of electrostatic, which built up on the surfaces of an aircraft during flight. The company then introduced an innovation called ‘Driwicks’ that bled away any static build up without the need to impregnate the wicks with conductive solution between flights.

“Chelton pursued the world of antennas, seeing a niche market in the military world; we were able to design our first self-complete communications antenna for military use. The UHF antenna went on to become the standard fit for UK-based military aircraft,” noted Luca Pelazzo, Antennas Business Unit Manager at Chelton.

He continued: “By the 1970s, Chelton had made antenna-making an art form through the combination of UHF and VHF antennas for the US military market and the first radio silent tuneable antenna.”

Chelton has worked with Leonardo over many decades dating back to the 1970s when its antennas were on board the Wessex helicopter.

“Being a British company, Chelton is immensely proud to supply our highly engineered advanced avionic systems to a platform built here in the UK. Partners such as Leonardo secure hundreds of jobs across our three UK locations,” Luca Pelazzo explained.

“We love working with organisations who are at the top of their game in what they do, because it’s their customers who will benefit the most from this combined innovation. 

“Modern rotorcraft are exploring new technology integrations, which is driving Chelton to invest in new product development to improve the performance, reduce the weight or introduce the latest technologies such as embedded antennas and LTE/5G for mission critical communications.”

Today the company offers a range of products from nose to tail including Direction Finding systems; TETRA and LTE-based aircraft radios, conformal and embedded antennas, as well as products for land defence.

For further information, please visit https://www.chelton.com.