Howard French | Journal Inquirer

Connecticut aerospace companies, ranging from Vernon's 50-employee Soldream Inc. to East Hartford-based jet engine giant Pratt & Whitney, will be promoting their products at Australia's Avalon Air Show the week of Feb. 27.

The U.S. Department of Commerce Export Assistance Center in Middletown has organized a delegation of companies from Connecticut and other northeastern states to travel to Australia for the Avalon Air Show, Anne S. Evans, commerce department district director said.

One of Pratt's major products, its F135 military engine, will be front and center as the F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter makes its first appearance in the Australian air show. The plane, built by Lockheed Martin, uses the Pratt engine exclusively.

Two of the state-of-the-art combat aircraft will be flown there from their U.S. base, where Australian pilots are being trained, the air show website says. The planes will be part of the air show's "extensive ground display of military aircraft," the website adds.

The Royal Australian Air Force has ordered 72 of the planes.

Soldream, founded in 1992, is a subcontractor for Pratt and several other aerospace companies as well as the Defense Department. The company in 2010 moved from Tolland to its 25,000-square-foot plant at 129 Reservoir Road, Vernon.

The regional northeastern U.S. delegation also includes Interpro Technologies of Deep River, Specialty Cable Corp. in Wallingford, and Connecticut Coining Inc., of Bethel, Evans said. They will be joined by similar companies from New York to Vermont, she said.

Evans said the last such trade mission to Australia in 2013 paid dividends for the local companies that took part.

"That mission had an aerospace/defense component, but also included a number of other companies in the software, medical device, and tourism sectors," Evans said. A number of those companies have been doing business in Australia over the more than three years since the trade show, she said.

Evans said her office is working closely with Australia's State of Victoria to arrange for companies from Victoria and other parts of Australia to share exhibit space with the Northeast USA exhibit. There also will be a number of "pre-arranged one-on-one meetings" for the northeast contingent with potential Australian customers and partners.

U.S. Rep. Joseph D. Courtney, D-2nd District, has worked with the Commerce Department to forge a business relationship with Australia, Evans said.

In September, Courtney hosted a breakfast meeting in Washington, D.C., for the Victoria member of parliament who is head of their business and trade department, she said.

Victoria, in turn, is hosting a luncheon for the U.S. companies on Feb. 27 that will include a session on doing business with the Australian defense forces, Evans said.

Courtney has led several trade trips abroad since 2009, taking Connecticut companies to Belgium, Great Britain, and Israel.

The Connecticut District Export Council is organizing the Australian trip, with each company paying its own costs, Evans said.

"There is no government funding for this trip," she added.

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State's aerospace companies to head to Australian air show - Hartford Business