RTI International Metals, Inc. (RTI) CEO Dawne Hickton says the company prepared itself for domestic budget cuts and lower defense spending. In addition to supplying titanium mill products and specialty metal components to the aerospace & defense sector, RTI International also serves the energy and medical device markets.
“At one point in time, if you went back four years, the defense portion of our business was almost 40% of what we were doing. Now, that included aircraft as well as armored vehicles and cannons and tanks. In fact, we today still supply on the M777 howitzer,” Hickton says. “But as we saw the writing on the wall with the reducing defense budgets, we really focused on trying to diversify ourselves.”
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Hickton says RTI made an acquisition that helped the company diversify into the medical device market. She said the defense market remains important, but only represents 40% of RTI’s business today. She says RTI International Metals focuses on key defense projects that require titanium, such as the Joint Strike Fighter Program.
“We think we have a very strong position on the programs of the future…where we are today, the Joint Strike Fighter is still a strong program that’s getting a lot of support in Washington,” Hickton says. “Longer term, cyber technology is really where the defense strategy is going, and so today, we work with satellite systems, and we work on radar systems. This is where the defense portion of our business is going to be focused in the future.”
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