GRACE Aerospace produces parts and components for aircraft like the T-45 Goshawk, a highly modified version of the British BAE Systems Hawk land-based training jet aircraft.
Amphenol CIT ' s growing product portfolio supply the future of Commercial Aerospace.
Amphenol CIT
The roots of Amphenol CIT go back to 1940, when a company known as Tensolite began to manufacture miniature insulated wire and cable, including wire used to electrically heat the gloves and flight suits of World War II Air Force pilots.
In 1959, Tensolite became part of Carlisle Companies, which eventually relocated its operations to St. Augustine in 1987. In 2008, the company morphed into Carlisle Interconnect Technologies( CIT), with its St. Augustine plant specializing in making high-performance wire, cable and connector solutions for the aerospace, military, medical tech and industrial markets.
Amphenol acquired Carlisle in 2024, and the company became known as Amphenol CIT( Cable & Interconnect Technologies). Along with its St. Augustine headquarters, the company has facilities in Wisconsin, Washington, China and Mexico that specialize in various high-tech manufacturing and engineering work.
The St. Augustine facility’ s association with NASA began with developing cable, cable assemblies and connectors for the Apollo 11 moon landing mission in 1969. In recent years Amphenol CIT has been a supplier for NASA’ s Deep Space Exploration Systems, whose goal is to develop missions to the moon, Mars and beyond.
The St. Augustine facility currently has 640 employees.
GRACE Aerospace
GRACE Aerospace, based in Jacksonville at its 34,000-square-foot facility in the Cecil Commerce
Center, is a build-to-print aerospace manufacturer and systems integrator that supports the U. S. Department of Defense, NASA and other large contractors.
Build-to-print is a manufacturing model in which a manufacturer produces parts or components based
strictly on engineering designs and specifications provided by a client.
GRACE Aerospace was founded in 2001 in Long Island, New York by Robert Carlo and a group of partners to fulfill a need in Grumman’ s F-14 fighter jet program, which initially supplied the U. S. Navy.
Looking to expand their opportunities a decade later, GRACE turned to Florida, home to 2,000 aerospace and aviation companies as well as Naval Air Station Jacksonville, the third-largest naval base in the country. When GRACE discovered NAS Jax had a need for intricate, custom electronics work that could be turned around quickly, GRACE was able to fulfill that role, and in 2015 the company established a presence in the Jacksonville area. In 2018, Grace Aerospace moved its headquarters from New York to Jacksonville.
Today the company employs approximately 65 people. Pauline Sevigny, daughter of Robert and Laurel Carlo, joined GRACE Aerospace in 2017. She became its president in 2020, and she and her parents now own the company.
Rick de Yampert is a freelance writer living in Palm Coast, Florida. Previously he was a writer for 30 years at daily newspapers in Florida, Tennessee and Alabama.
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