Special Products was best known for the construction of the Alouette 1 satellite, which made Canada the fourth spacefaring nation.
[1][3] However, through the 1990s the space industry underwent a period of intense consolidation and SPAR was largely locked out of the market.
In 1997, seeking a path to diversification, SPAR purchased CAE Aviation's aircraft maintenance operations, in Edmonton, formerly Northwest Industries.
They also handled the complete overhaul of the Royal New Zealand Air Force's 40-year-old Lockheed C-130 Hercules aircraft.
SPAR performed several avionics upgrades and a Depot Level Inspection and Repair (DLIR) for the Royal Canadian Air Force CL-41 Tutor aircraft flown by the Snowbirds acrobatic team.
SPAR's Edmonton facilities and workforce (both the City Centre and the International Airport locations) were permanently shut down at the end of summer 2009, after over four decades of production and service.