Hartford Business Journal

16 HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | AUGUST 24, 2026 (Left) Dan Bielefield, vice president of sales, and Steve Wilson, owner of Crescent Manufacturing, stand outside the 20,000-square-foot expansion the company is building at its Burlington facility. HBJ Photo | Steve Laschever Full Throttle Commercial, defense demand fuels strong growth for CT aerospace manufacturers Lightning II. At Sikorsky, the Stratford-based helicopter maker is fulfilling a $10.85 billion, five-year U.S. Navy contract to build up to 99 CH-53K heavy-lift helicopters for the U.S. Marine Corps. Stamford-based Hexcel Corp., which makes advanced composite materials used in commercial and military aircraft, recently said it is adding workers and restarting previ- ously idle manufacturing assets as aircraft production increases. Hexcel's commercial aerospace sales rose 18.3% in the second quarter, driven by higher aircraft production including the Airbus A350 and A320neo and Boeing 787 and 737 MAX. The growth is also showing up in Connecticut's trade data. Connecticut exported $430 million in aircraft parts in June, up 21.4% from the same month a year earlier, according to the Observatory of Economic Complexity, an international trade data platform. The Observatory reported that aircraft parts were Connecticut's largest export in 2025, totaling $5 billion and accounting for about 28% of the state's $17.7 billion in total exports. The surge extends well beyond Connecticut. The U.S. aerospace and defense industry surpassed $1 trillion in annual revenue for the first time in 2025, according to accounting and consulting firm PwC. U.S. aero- space and defense exports reached $172.7 billion last year, up 25% from 2024, according to the Aerospace Industries Association. The industry also generated about $500 billion in economic value in 2025, representing 1.6% of U.S. gross domestic product, the association said. Longtime aerospace analyst Richard Aboulafia, managing director at AeroDynamic Advisory, said it will take time for the indus- try's manufacturing capacity to catch up. "It'll take years to get supply in line with demand," Aboulafia said. What makes the current cycle particularly unusual, he said, is that surging military demand is hitting the aerospace supply chain while commercial aircraft manu- facturers are trying to dramatically increase production. "Defense worldwide has been on a massive tear and that's pressuring everybody," he said. That includes efforts to replenish munitions depleted by global conflicts, including those in Iran and Ukraine, while many countries are also increasing defense spending and expanding their military capabilities. At the same time, commercial air travel has reached record levels, while airlines are modernizing their fleets with newer, more fuel-efficient aircraft, contributing to historically large order backlogs. "The binding constraints remain supply chain performance and work- force capacity, and closing that gap By Harriet Jones hjones@hartfordbusiness.com T he next time you settle into an airplane seat, there's a chance it's fixed to the aircraft with a fastener made in Burlington. Crescent Manufacturing is in the midst of tripling its factory footprint to meet soaring demand for its products, the biggest expansion in its more than 60-year history. In 2021, the company generated about $5.5 million in annual sales. Last year, sales reached $15.6 million, and Crescent now has a $24 million order backlog, with lead times for some products stretching beyond a year. The trajectory of the small Connecticut manufacturer reflects an unusually broad aerospace boom that has been building since the industry emerged from the COVID-19 downturn. Commercial and military aerospace demand are surging at the same time — an unusual conver- gence in two markets that have often followed different cycles — straining suppliers while creating new oppor- tunities for growth and investment in Connecticut. Aerospace companies are accus- tomed to boom-and-bust cycles, but industry veterans say there are signs this one is different. "If you look at the aerospace industry, the demand has just taken off everywhere. We're just kind of trying to hold on," said Crescent's Vice President of Sales Dan Bielefield. "We need more room, we need more equipment, we need more people, we need more parts produced every week," he said. Easing congestion Crescent currently produces between 3.5 million and 5 million parts a week and is trying to boost output to as many as 7.5 million to keep pace with demand. Seat fasteners are a relatively new product line for Crescent, which makes a wide range of precision screws and metal fasteners used in the interiors of aircraft made by Boeing and Airbus. The company also supplies parts for military applica- tions, including drones and missiles. About 20% of Crescent's sales are overseas. The company's 20,000-square-foot expansion represents an investment of more than $3 million and will bring its Burlington footprint to 30,000 square feet. Crescent owner Steve Wilson, who bought the business in 2005, said the additional space is long overdue. Huge wire coils, the compa- ny's primary raw material, currently have to be stored off-site because there isn't enough room at the Burlington factory. "You can barely walk through, it's so congested," he said. "We have to shut machines down and move things around to put wire coils in place." Finding enough workers pres- ents another challenge. Chief Financial Officer Aron Stevenson said the 50-employee company is continually hiring, but Connecticut's tight manufacturing labor market means much of the additional output will have to come from increasing productivity through lean manufacturing techniques. "We're always looking for process improvement," Stevenson said. "Changing the way we move parts through the factory, all sorts of stuff just to try to eliminate handling, eliminate queue times as much as possible and allow parts to flow as efficiently and quickly as possible from the machine out the door." Ramping up Crescent's growth is part of a much broader surge in aerospace manu- facturing, with major companies such as Pratt & Whitney and Sikorsky ramping up production and pushing increased demand through hundreds of Connecticut suppliers. Pratt & Whitney recently said it has received more than 800 orders for its geared turbofan engine since the beginning of 2026. The engine is being supplied to more than 90 airlines worldwide. On the military side, the East Hartford-based engine maker was recently awarded a $1.3 billion contract to produce spare parts for the F135 engine that powers the F-35 Richard Aboulafia

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