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Sponsored by: Air Industries Group
May 6, 2025 Business Profiles 2025

Air Industries Group

With roots dating back to the early days of World War II, the Sterling Engineering Corp. has been a fixture in northwest Connecticut for over 80 years. Once family owned, Sterling Engineering is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Air Industries Group, a New York Stock Exchange-listed corporation.

Its 75,000-square foot-facility in the midst of Litchfield Hills employs some 50 people. But the number is set to grow: Sterling Engineering is looking to hire as it responds to recent contract awards and pursues business in new markets.

Sterling Engineering manufactures turbine engine components for both flight and ground power applications, as well as complex assemblies for rotorcraft and submarines. Its client base spans domestic and international OEMs.

Sterling is a vital supplier to Sikorsky Aircraft in Stratford, for example, and to Pratt & Whitney in Hartford. The company’s products support the Sikorsky Blackhawk, the new CH-53K Heavy Lift helicopter, the Pratt & Whitney Geared Turbo-Fan jet engine and many other important aerospace platforms.

Sterling Engineering was born in 1941 when a former toolmaker named John Lavieri decided to convert his Connecticut farm for use as a small machine shop contributing to the U.S. war effort. He started out making tools and evolved into the production of components for jet engines. The business took off and passed through three generations before being sold in 2015 to Air Industries Group, a growing publicly traded company based on Long Island. Air Industries eventually folded Sterling Engineering into several related companies it had acquired in Connecticut but kept the Sterling name.

While Sterling Engineering’s roots are in military aviation, as is the bulk of its business today, commercial aviation is becoming an increasingly important business segment. Sterling Engineering focuses on jet engine components for commercial airliners, and for turbines on the ground used to generate electric power. The company also is hoping to make inroads among manufacturers of private jets.

Given the potential business ahead, Sterling Engineering is seeking to dramatically expand its operations, perhaps doubling the size of its facility in Barkhamsted and doubling employment.

Sterling Engineering also will introduce new products, including landing gear. This will bring a new product line and new expertise to the Connecticut manufacturing supply chain and will drive diversification.

Portions of the expansion are already in the works thanks to considerable investments in the facility over the last few years.

In 2023 the company invested approximately $2.5 million in state-of-the-art machinery and in solar panels that now cover most of the roof. In 2024, with the assistance of Northrop Grumman and the U.S. Navy, the company bought and relocated a specialty welding machine critical to producing arresting gear for the U.S. Navy’s E-2D Advanced Hawkeye radar aircraft, a carrier-based plane. An additional investment of over $2 million in new machinery was made in January 2025 to support new contract awards.

Business for the company is, indeed, looking up.

ADDRESS: 236 NEW HARTFORD ROAD,BARKHAMSTED, CT 06063

PHONE: (860) 379-3366


WEBSITE: WWW.AIRINDUSTRIESGROUP.COM


TOP EXECUTIVE: LUCIANO MELLUZZO


PRODUCT OR SERVICE: AEROSPACE COMPONENTS


NO. OF EMPLOYEES: 48 +/- IN CT AND 180 COMPANY WIDE


YEAR FOUNDED: 1941