Source | Hawthorn Aero Inc.

Spintech Holdings division Hawthorn Aero Inc. (Miamisburg, Ohio, U.S.), a high-rate production partner for the aerospace and defense industry that manufactures composite airframes and structural assemblies, is investing $16.5 million to expand its Ohio production campus. The project, backed by $2 million in state grants, will grow the company’s facility to approximately 150,000 square feet and add an estimated 279 jobs.

The expansion will increase Hawthorn Aero’s capacity for advanced aerospace structures and integrated defense systems. Initial production will support the AGM-188A Rusty Dagger precision cruise missile, with added capacity also intended for future work on autonomous aircraft, precision-guided munitions, and other next-generation aerospace and defense programs.

Funding comes through two JobsOhio programs: a $1 million Aerospace and Defense Opportunity Grant and a $1 million Economic Development Grant, the latter supporting facility expansion, production equipment, infrastructure and workforce growth.

The expanded facility sits near Wright-Patterson Air Force Base and the Air Force Research Laboratory in Ohio’s Dayton region, an established aerospace and defense manufacturing hub.

Source | Eve Reverse

Can natural fibers help make heavy-lift unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) silent? This is one of the questions Eve Reverse (Delft, Netherlands) will explore in the the AEERO (Adaptable and Efficient Electric ducted fan for Resilient lOgistics) project.

Supported by the Netherlands Enterprise Agency and the Eurostars program — part of the Eureka Network — AEERO will develop an integrated electric ducted-fan propulsion module for heavy-lift UAVs. Eve Reverse will focus on natural fiber and hybrid composite solutions aimed at reducing vibration and noise, while also contributing to a propulsion system with a lower environmental impact.

The project brings together:

• Eve Reverse — natural fiber and hybrid composite development.
• Acodyne (Copenhagen, Denmark) — project lead and developer of the electric ducted-fan system.
• Danish Technological Institute (DTI, Taastrup) — materials, design optimization and manufacturing.
• The Royal Netherlands Aerospace Centre (NLR) — aerodynamic analysis and design, noise reduction and testing.

By combining propulsion technology, aerospace engineering and advanced composite development, Eve and partners aims to take the system from an early prototype toward a validated propulsion module.

Learn more on LinkedIn.

High-temperature prepreg. Source | Teijin Carbon

Teijin Carbon America Inc. (Greenwood, S.C., U.S. and Rockwood, Tenn., U.S.) is focused around enabling high-rate composites manufacturing for next-gen aerospace and defense applications at CAMX.

Building on its aerospace heritage, Teijin Carbon highlights a portfolio of material solutions designed to support industrialized composites manufacturing, including rapid-cure prepregs, resin infusion systems and thermoplastic composite (TPC) technologies engineered for efficient processing, robust performance and compatibility with high-rate production environments.

A key focus is enabling structural performance while meeting the demands of modern manufacturing systems. Materials must deliver mechanical properties such as stiffness, strength and durability, while also allowing for reliable processing, reduced cycle times and scalable production. Teijin Carbon emphasizes application-driven material development, treating fiber, resin and process as an integrated system.

These capabilities are relevant to aerospace structures, urban air mobility (UAM), unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), satellite systems and defense platforms, where lightweight design must be combined with cost-competitive and repeatable production.

Teijin Carbon also continues to expand its portfolio of carbon fiber materials and semi-finished products, supporting manufacturing approaches ranging from thermoset processing to thermoplastic welding and high-rate automated production systems.

A separate highlight is Tenax, a short carbon fiber made from repurposed fiber materials for reinforcing thermoplastic compounds. Designed to support circular economy goals, the product is intended to offer strong mechanical properties and a reduced CO₂ footprint, along with traceability through what the company describes as its first digital product passport (DPP) — a transparency tool aligned with the European Green Deal.

Defense manufacturing is perhaps the fastest growing market for additive manufacturing today. But how is 3D printing already being used to serve defense needs, and what opportunities are there for newcomers? What materials, tools and processes are significant? And how is AI shaping what AM can deliver? 

Hear it straight from suppliers and manufacturers who are already immersed in this critical supply chain at IMTS—The International Manufacturing Technology Show. 

Join us on Tuesday, September 15, for a half-day workshop tackling everything from 3D printing with refractory tungsten to scalable drone manufacturing to physical AI integrated with additive manufacturing. 

Your ticket for the AM+ Workshop also includes access to the IMTS exhibit halls for the full week:

Register for AM+Workshop: Aerospace & Defense 

Here’s the lineup of speakers and sessions:

• Tungsten 3D Printing - New Manufacturing Capability for Defense Applications | Jonathan Buckley - JEOL USA, Inc.
   
• Affordable Methods for Making Additive Manufacturing More Reliable | Onome Scott-Emuakpor - Hyphen Innovations
   
• Topic TBD | Ed Tackett – EOS North America
   
• The Next Area of Defense Manufacturing: AI-accelerated Slicing and Data Processing Pipeline for LPBF | Thomas Pomorski - Ursa Major
   
• Producible by Design: Agentic Physical AI for Additive Manufacturing, from Factory to Field | Adam Smith - InfinitForm, Inc.
   
• Drones: Full Stack Solutions For Compliant, Scalable Production Using Stratasys Additive Manufacturing | Conrad Smith - Stratasys

Whether you’re AM-curious or a current user interested in entering this market we hope to see you there. 

Source | Albany Engineered Composites

Albany Engineered Composites (AEC, Rochester, N.H., U.S.) and A&P Technology (Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.), known for its precision braided composite reinforcement technologies, are partnering to explore and develop advanced braided composite manufacturing solutions for both current and next-generation aerospace and defense applications.

The collaboration brings together two highly complementary manufacturing technologies — A&P Technology's braided composite architectures and AEC’s advanced resin transfer molding (RTM) expertise — to accelerate the industrialization of lightweight, highly integrated composite structures capable of supporting future production requirements for commercial and defense aircraft. Aerospace manufacturers are seeking larger integrated composite structures to reduce assembly complexity while enabling higher production rates. Braided composite preforms combined with automated RTM provides an attractive pathway toward scalable manufacturing.

“Future aerospace platforms demand manufacturing technologies capable of simultaneously improving performance, reducing recurring cost and scaling to production rates the industry has not previously achieved,” says Chris Stone, president of AEC. “By combining A&P Technology’s deep expertise in advanced braiding with Albany’s RTM capabilities, we are creating a force multiplier for our customers, accelerating the transition from innovative textile architectures to repeatable, production-ready composite solutions.”

“Together, we can offer composite solutions not only at enabling rate but also with enabling cost and performance benefits,” adds Andy Head, president of A&P Technology. “We look forward to meeting customer challenges together.”

The companies intend to collaborate on research, technology development, manufacturing process maturation and commercialization opportunities focused on purpose-designed braided composite structures for current and next-generation aeroengine platforms, commercial aircraft, advanced air mobility (AAM) blades and structures, collaborative combat aircraft (CCA), and solid rocket motor nozzles.

Sources | Wisk Aero (top), Business Wire (center) and Archer Aviation (bottom)

The Boeing Company (Arlington, Va., U.S.) and Archer Aviation (Santa Clara, Calif., U.S.) have signed definitive agreements in which Archer will acquire Boeing’s Wisk Aero (Mountain View, Calif., U.S.), SkyGrid (Austin, Texas, U.S.) and Insitu (Bingen, Wash., U.S.) subsidiaries. The deal will combine complementary capabilities developed over decades in autonomy, electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft and unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), and will create an end-to-end physical AI platform for aerospace and defense.

Wisk, SkyGrid and Insitu have pioneered and incubated core autonomous flight technologies for the future that, in combination with Archer’s air taxi, UAS and AI technologies, will “bring new and innovative solutions to the market,” Wisk Aero reports. These companies, boasting nearly two million combined flight hours, are expected to bring a deep autonomy foundation to Archer’s ZEE AI platform. “This is the next big step forward in becoming a diversified platform, rapidly growing our revenue base and bringing scale to our business,” notes Archer founder and CEO Adam Goldstein. 

In conjunction with the transaction, Boeing and Archer are entering into a collaboration and technology-sharing arrangement through which Boeing will retain access to the Wisk core autonomous flight technology for its current and next-gen commercial and defense aircraft. The transaction allows Boeing to retain strategic upside through its stake in Archer and simultaneously focus current and future investments into Boeing’s core businesses.

Wisk has designed, built and flown six generations of eVTOL aircraft, amassing 1,700-plus flight tests. Over the past 16 years, its team team has developed autonomy capabilities powered by a next-gen flight-control computer, sensor suite and radar system designed for certification in civil and potential defense markets.

Insitu designs, develops and manufactures uncrewed aircraft systems (UAS) used in intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance. Its product portfolio spans high-performance, cost-effective, resilient, VTOL-capable UAS and AI-enabled software solutions. With offices in the U.S., Australia, the U.K. and the UAE, Insitu has manufactured and fielded more than 3,500 UAS and provides operations and support networks in every hemisphere of the globe.

SkyGrid has built a ground-based, aircraft-agnostic air traffic management solution. SkyGrid enables safe integration, scalable automation and coordinated traffic management that is necessary for commercialization across the aviation ecosystem.

Source | ATLAS 

CompSTLar is leading the organization of the ATLAS Cluster event, “Wings of Change: Navigating the Future of Sustainable Aerostructures,” set for Sept. 17, 2026, at the Aragon Institute of Technology (ITA, Zaragoza, Spain). The 1-day workshop will draw together researchers, industry representatives and other stakeholders working across the composite aerostructures value chain. Though it is hosted in person, the event will also be livestreamed via MS Teams, extending participation to composites and aerospace professionals across Europe and beyond.

The ATLAS Cluster — Advanced Technologies for Lightweight Aerostructures and Sustainability — links five Horizon Europe projects focused on advanced composites and sustainable aerostructures: CompSTLar, TOSCA, PLEIADES, pAIramid and HyperMorpH. Organizers say the workshop is designed to gather researchers, industry representatives and experts to exchange knowledge and discuss the future of lightweight, sustainable and intelligent aerostructures. 

The day opens with a keynote from Inés Villa Martínez, cluster manager for the Aragonian Aerospace Cluster (AERA, Zaragoza, Spain), addressing priorities, challenges and pathways for the future of aerospace structures. Four themed sessions follow:

• Session 1: Cruising Towards Circularity — recyclable resin systems, conductive bio-based composites and multicycle recycling of vitrimers, including a keynote from Berta Gonzalvo, research director at AITIIP Technology Centre (Zaragoza, Spain), on enzymatic recycling of composite laminates.
• Session 2: Autopilot Assembly — automated fiber placement (AFP), machine vision inspection, photonic sensing and continuous carbon fiber additive manufacturing (AM) for aerospace parts.
• Session 3: Navigating the Digital Sky — digital twins, physics-informed AI, digital threads and multiscale reliability models supporting aerospace certification.
• Session 4: Landing Innovations — a roadmap discussion and a panel on integrating the five projects’ innovations for Europe’s future aircraft, followed by a networking session.

Registration details and the full agenda are available through ITA’s event page. 

Tekever uses carbon fiber prepregs and other composites in its weight-optimized autonomous unmanned aerial systems (UAS) including (bottom left, clockwise) the AR3, AR5, AR6 and future ARX platforms. Source | Tekever

Tekever (Lisbon, Portugal) has unveiled its AR6 family of heavy-lift autonomous aircraft and expanded its composites manufacturing partnership with iCOMAT (Bristol, U.K.) to support production of its existing AR5 unmanned system.

According to Tekever’s announcement, the AR6 expands the company’s autonomous portfolio into the heavy-lift class, positioned for civil applications such as logistics, medical support and disaster relief as well as military missions including casualty evacuation and crewed-uncrewed teaming. Designed and built in the U.K. with local SME partners, the AR6 delivers a U.K. sovereign solution for heavy lift autonomy, with production due to start by the end of 2026 in Tekever’s Swindon manufacturing hub.

Leveraging distinctive propulsion technology, the AR6 features a maximum takeoff weight of 700 kilograms and is designed to carry 200-kilogram payloads over distances of ≈500 kilometers — a step up from the roughly 100-kilogram and 1- to 5-kilometer range that Tekever says defines the current heavy-lift eVTOL market.

The company attributes this performance gain to digitally controlled hydraulic pump and motor technology developed by Flowcopter (Edinburgh, Scotland) in place of the battery and electric-motor systems that typically constrain payload in larger-sized eVTOL platforms. “If you try to use conventional hydraulics, you do not have enough control and you lose a lot of energy,” explains Karl Brew, Tekever U.K.’s managing director, in a July 2026 Aviation Week article. He claims that with Tekever’s approach, "You save all your energy because you’re not losing it in the system."

Use of composite materials

“Tekever is using the best composite materials available — some developed locally, some sourced from further afield,” says Tiago Nunes, Tekever's platforms director, in an interview with UncrewedSystems.com about the company’s AR3 platform, first launched in 2022. He adds that every part of the aircraft — including wings, fuselage and other structural components — has been optimized to eliminate unnecessary weight and complexity.

Tekever uses autoclave-cured carbon fiber-reinforced prepregs because they provide an optimal fiber–resin ratio, but with a focus on putting material only where it’s needed. He notes that carbon fiber is a strong reflector of radar energy because of its electrical conductivity, while potential alternatives such as glass and aramid fiber are better in this respect but have lower strength-to-weight ratios. “Where we need radio frequency transparency, we’ll use glass fiber,” says Nunes. “For components that need impact resistance or specific wear properties, we’ll go with aramid. Every material decision is driven by the function of the part in question.”

Tekever says it consider resins as elements of the prepreg material, which it chooses based on the performance needed from the composite and how it works with the company’s autoclaves and processing parameters. Also in the UncrewedSystems.com report, Ricardo Mendes, Tekever’s CEO, adds that composites remain central to the company’s approach, even as it explores next-generation materials, including metamaterials now at technology readiness level (TRL) 7.

Manufacturing expansion

That materials focus runs alongside Tekever's manufacturing expansion. On July 22, Tekever and iCOMAT (Gloucester, U.K.), known for its rapid tow shearing (RTS) fiber placement process — announced an expanded partnership to support production and industrialization of the AR5 unmanned aerial system. The deal falls under OVERMATCH, Tekever’s £400 million industrial expansion program aimed at scaling manufacturing capacity and strengthening the U.K.’s sovereign defense industrial base. The two companies signed a memorandum of understanding to explore further collaboration on composites manufacturing, drawing on iCOMAT’s Gloucester and Swindon, U.K. operations (see these facilities in March 2026 news on iCOMAT’s expansion into the U.S.). Both companies are backed by the NATO Innovation Fund.

“Delivering autonomous capability at scale requires a resilient industrial ecosystem,” says Scott McClelland, deputy director of Tekever’s defense unit, adding that partnerships like the one with iCOMAT help strengthen the U.K. supply chain as OVERMATCH expands production.

Evangelos Zympeloudis, CEO of iCOMAT, says the companies’ shared backing from the NATO Innovation Fund positions them to show how technology developers and advanced manufacturers can scale capability together, and that iCOMAT expects its role to grow as AR5 production volumes increase and future Tekever platforms are developed.

Source | Avanco Composites

Avanco Composites (Herford, Germany) has developed a press-fitted carbon fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) retaining sleeve designed to secure permanent magnets in high-speed rotors without adhesives or added thermal stress. The company demonstrated the design in a project with partner WEKA Elektrowerkzeuge (Neubulach, Germany), and positions the sleeve for rotor applications spanning the automotive, industrial and aerospace sectors.

In a LinkedIn post, Avanco reports that the sleeve’s proprietary press-fitting process generates high preload against the rotor, securing the magnets and preventing lift-off at high rotational speeds. The process introduces no thermal stress during assembly and requires no adhesive bonding to hold the sleeve in place, with the design suited to rotor diameters ranging from 30 to 300 millimeters. Learn more on Avanco’s LinkedIn page.

Source: Nikon Advanced Manufacturing

Beehive Industries, an American manufacturer of advanced propulsion systems for uncrewed aerial defense applications, has announced a multi-unit purchase of NXG 600E metal additive manufacturing systems from Nikon SLM Solutions, a unit of Nikon Advanced Manufacturing. The self-funded investment equips Beehive with ultra-large-format printing capacity that is currently limited in the domestic market.

The NXG 600E is the largest machine manufactured by Nikon SLM Solutions. Each system features a build envelope of 600 × 600 × 1,500 mm and twelve 1-kW lasers, designed for high-throughput serial production of large metal components. Beehive is operating one machine dedicated to Constellium's Aheadd CP1 aluminum and a second dedicated to Ti 64 (Ti-6Al-4V), enabling the company to manufacture whole vehicle bodies, large substructures for satellites and other large components for aerospace, defense and space customers.

Both CP1 aluminum and Ti 64 are widely used in defense, modern space and aerospace manufacturing, particularly paired with additive manufacturing. The addition of these systems is designed to solidify Beehive's vertically integrated engineering, additive manufacturing and testing capabilities, promoting rapid, efficient access to domestic serial production for mission-critical components.

"There is a heavy overlap between the customers who rely on Beehive's propulsion solutions and those who require advanced aerospace printed solutions," says Darius Ehteshami, chief operations and finance officer at Beehive Industries. "By investing proactively in these machines, Beehive is positioned to provide aerostructures and parts that enable our customers to fly higher and fly faster. This is Beehive doubling down on our history of large-format additive manufacturing, supporting our customers in both the aerospace and defense area and in space."

"Manufacturers supporting today's defense programs require production technology that can scale quickly and reliably," says Hamid Zarringhalam, CEO and general manager of Nikon Advanced Manufacturing. "Beehive Industries has built an impressive business around advanced propulsion and aerospace manufacturing, and we're proud to support their continued growth with the NXG 600E platform. Our companies are deeply committed to enabling and scaling the defense industrial base, and this represents a key step in delivering the advanced manufacturing capabilities that are crucial to the United States and our allied partners."

"This investment marks the natural evolution of our company, seamlessly carrying our legacy of large-format expertise forward into the next generation of manufacturing for our external parts customers across the space, defense and aerostructures sectors," says Jonaaron Jones, president of additive parts sales at Beehive Industries.

The announcement follows close on the heels of Beehive’s recent acquisition of two Ohio machine shops for further vertical integration of its metal part production capacity. 

Material placement alternative for full coverage by FPP (right) in relation to a “close to geodesic” AFP placement (left). Source | Cevotec

For decades, automated fiber placement (AFP) has been the benchmark for automated composite layup in aerospace manufacturing, reports Cevotec (Unterhaching, Germany), the developer of fiber patch placement (FPP) technology. But, says the company, not every composite part is well suited to AFP.

“As geometries become more three-dimensional, radii tighten or multiple materials must be combined within a single layup, the strengths of AFP can become its limitations,” explains Thorsten Groene, CEO and co-founder of Cevotec in a LinkedIn post. He points to a familiar industry pattern as a result: automation projects stall, manual layup persists and production scalability remains a workforce bottleneck.

In a recent article, Cevotec raises the question of whether AFP is being asked to solve problems outside its original design intent. The company proposes an alternative it calls robotic lamination, enabled by FPP, in which robots place, drape and conform composite plies — maintaining required fiber orientation across complex 3D geometries — rather than requiring the part to adapt to the process.

The article lays out where AFP remains the more suitable automation method and where robotic lamination may open up automation opportunities previously considered impractical. Topics covered include:

• Why tight radii, double-curved surfaces and multi-material sandwich layups — combining prepreg skins, core materials such as Nomex honeycomb or PMI foam, and adhesive film interlayers — push AFP toward its operating limits.
• How FPP’s patch-based placement approach is designed to produce more uniform laminate thickness and localized fiber-orientation control on complex geometries compared with continuous tape placement.
• Results from a horizontal tail plane (HTP) fairing demonstrator built under the ACoSaLUS project, which Cevotec reports showed a 25% reduction in deflection under line load compared with a serial reference part, alongside roughly a 5% increase in composite skin mass 
• Cevotec’s continued development of robotic lamination, including placement trials on steep-edge, sandwich-core taper geometries with taper angles of 30° and 45°

For the full technical breakdown, including figures illustrating AFP gap-coverage strategies versus FPP patch placement, read Cevotec’s original article.

Read more Cevotec coverage on CompositesWorld.

Climate Impulse's Bertrand Piccard and Raphaël Dinelli. Source | fannyLoison

In a significant endorsement, Stéphane Séjourné, executive VP of the European Commission and Commissioner for Prosperity and Industrial Strategy, has granted the European Commission’s official patronage to Climate Impulse. Led by explorer Bertrand Piccard and composite materials engineer Raphaël Dinelli, the project aims to achieve the world’s first non-stop, zero-emission flight around the globe in 2030, powered entirely by green hydrogen. The EU’s endorsement demonstrates the bloc’s drive to pair climate leadership with industrial strength.

The pioneering project announced in 2024 aims to transform the aviation sector and beyond by offering innovative solutions in areas considered hard to decarbonize. Just in February 2026, engineers performed a full-scale structural test of the aircraft wing’s main spar, the “backbone of Climate Impulse.” Climate Impulse is backed by its main partners, Syensqo, OCP Group and Mohammed VI Polytechnic University (UM6P), and official partners Breitling and Orange.

At a time when global momentum on climate action is facing increasing headwinds, the EU’s endorsement sends a clear signal: Europe remains firmly committed to accelerating the transition to a climate-neutral future through innovation and clean technologies.

“Climate Impulse is a testament to European ingenuity: our ability to push the boundaries of science, engineering and innovation to make possible what seemed impossible just yesterday,” says Séjourné. “Europe has always progressed thanks to its pioneers, researchers and industrialists; this project is further proof of that.” 

“Climate Impulse is first and foremost an engineering challenge. To achieve a non-stop round-the-world flight powered by green hydrogen, we must integrate and optimise technologies that have never before been combined in an aircraft of this scale and mission profile,” says Raphaël Dinelli, co-founder and head of engineering, Climate Impulse. “The project requires advances in hydrogen storage, fuel cell integration, energy efficiency, lightweight composite materials and aircraft systems architecture.” 

The patronage serves as a catalyst for dialogue between institutional, scientific and industrial leaders, fostering the collaboration needed to accelerate a more sustainable aviation. It also underscores the urgency of modernizing aircraft fleets and advancing cleaner, more efficient heavy transport, while sending a clear signal to investors, innovators and partners across the continent: Europe stands behind the pioneers who open new paths.

The lunar surface photographed on April 6, 2026 during the Artemis II lunar flyby. Source | NASA

Composite materials have always been enablers of the space economy. Their exceptional strength-to-weight ratio, resistance to radiation and thermal extremes, and design versatility make them indispensable for nearly everything that flies beyond the atmosphere — from the use of carbon fiber for liquid oxygen (LOX) tanks to the honeycomb core sandwich panels of satellite bus structures. In just the past year, the New Space market has not only continued to grow, but has become a domain of urgency.

According to a 2025 World Economic Forum report, the space economy is expected to be worth $1.8 trillion by 2035 as satellite- and rocket-enabled technologies proliferate globally — an opportunity that translates into sustained and growing demand for composites at every level of the supply chain. According to BIS Research (Fremont, Calif., U.S.), the global advanced space composites market is forecast to grow from $1.47 billion in 2023 to $4.61 billion by 2033 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 12.11%.

Another large driver is the role dominance in space is playing in defense. Perhaps no theme was more prominent at the 2026 Space Symposium — the 41st installment of the event — than urgency driven by geopolitical competition. Space Systems Command’s Lieutenant General Philip Garrant, whose California-based command oversees a $15.6 billion budget, delivered a blunt assessment: the era of deliberate acquisition timelines is over. Rival space nations have improved their military space capabilities to the point where U.S. satellites are at genuine risk if warfare reaches orbit, and the response has been to adopt what Garrant called “a wartime footing” for acquisition.

Major General Stephen Purdy, top space acquisition adviser to Air Force Secretary Troy Meink, echoed this, describing the billions of venture capital and private equity dollars now flowing into the sector as accelerant for a new generation of defense-oriented space programs.

The defense imperative shapes the broader market narrative in other ways. Where NASA was once the gravitational center of composites innovation in space, that pull is now shared between civil and defense programs. Panelists at the symposium noted that the Pentagon is scouring commercial capabilities to buy services rather than build its own new constellations — a shift that expands the addressable market for new space composites suppliers while increasing the emphasis on high-rate, repeatable production.

In the meantime, NASA’s Artemis program continues to generate composites demand, not only through its own mission cadence but through the commercial partnerships it anchors. At the Space Symposium’s Ignition Day session, NASA officials described an ambitious upcoming launch schedule that will bring more commercial partners to the lunar surface than ever before. Carlos Garcia-Galan, NASA’s program executive for the Moon Base, told the audience that the agency has released multiple requests for information for commercial partners capable of building communications and position-navigation-timing networks, providing power systems, and developing spacecraft and landers capable of 8-megaton capacity — all areas where composites play enabling roles.

The bottom line? The growing demand for space applications continues to ripple through the composites supply chain in both volume and performance requirements. CompositesWorld’s coverage of the sector over the past year has involved a range of applications enabling rocket launches, lunar lander missions and satellite constellations, among other applications.

Launchers and propulsion systems

The launcher segment continues to be where the most dramatic composites advances are concentrated, driven by the need to simultaneously reduce structural mass and increase payload , and carbon fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) structures are central to that pursuit. For example, composite pressure vessels are being used in fuel delivery systems to meet the challenges of cryogenic propellant management. LOX, liquid hydrogen (LH₂) and liquid methane all require containment structures that resist permeation, maintain integrity at temperatures approaching absolute zero and survive the mechanical loads of launch while contributing minimal weight.

Addcomp robotic AFP systems are laying the path for NordSpace launch vehicle tanks and primary structures.
Source | NordSpace

In Canada, NordSpace (Markham, Ontario) crossed a significant milestone in June 2026 with the installation of large-scale robotic automated fiber placement (AFP) systems in its Advanced Manufacturing for Aerospace Lab (AMA Lab). Working with Addcomp — the equipment division of Bespline (Sherbrooke, QC, Canada) — NordSpace is bringing in-house AFP manufacturing of flight tanks and primary structures for its Tundra light-lift launch vehicle, while scaling toward its Titan medium-lift platform. The technology enables linerless Type 5 tanks made entirely from composites using AFP, reducing vehicle dry mass in a program segment where margins are, as the company notes, very slim. NordSpace’s R&D agenda encompasses tanks up to 15 meters long and multiple meters in diameter, cryogenic propellant compatibility, and application of the same techniques to engine jackets, interstages, thrust structures and fairings — essentially the full structural architecture of a launch vehicle.

Under the CRETAN project, a shared cryogenic bulkhead tank promises to reduce weight up to 30% for space launchers, touting a significant competitive advantage. 
Source | Aciturri Aerostructures

In June 2026, Sonaca Spain (formerly Aciturri Aerostructures), a Tier 1 supplier for the design, production and assembly of complex structural assemblies, announced completion of an integrated Type 5 space tank demonstrator featuring a shared cryogenic bulkhead design. The innovation promises up to 30% weight reduction for space launchers compared to conventional tank approaches, which is a significant competitive advantage for European launch programs seeking to reduce structural mass. The achievement, part of the ESA-supported CRETAN project, focuses on advanced Type 5 composite tanks for fuel and LOX.

In May 2026, Infinite Composites (Albuquerque, N.M., U.S.) announced an equipment expansion that augments automated production of large composite tanks, rocket motor casings, tubes and other high-performance structures with new winders, rail systems and metering machines. The expansion positions the company to meet growing demand from launch vehicle and satellite propulsion programs.

Co-consolidated integral carbon fiber/low-melt polyaryletherketone (CF/LMPAEK) flanges form a continuous thermoplastic material system with the tube body, eliminating the metallic hardware and adhesive interfaces that conventional cryogenic line assemblies require. Source | herone GmbH

Herone GmbH’s (Dresden, Germany) braided carbon fiber/low-melt polyaryletherketone (CF/LMPAEK) tube system, featured in a CW article by Stewart Mitchell , addresses another aspect of propulsion systems: cryogenic fuel lines. Combining tape braiding and press molding in an automated process, the thermoplastic composite (TPC) tubes achieve 50-60% weight reduction versus conventional metallic fuel lines for LH₂ aircraft and space launcher applications. The company’s approach eliminates traditional joints, bellows and O-rings by co-consolidating flanges and fittings directly into the tube structure, reducing both weight and potential failure points. The double-wall, vacuum-insulated design also integrates a metallic permeation barrier within the composite wall itself. The use of LMPAEK enables welding, a capability that supports both manufacturing efficiency and potential on-orbit repair.

At the systems level, European research programs continue to advance the state of composite cryogenic tank manufacturing. Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Technology and Advanced Materials IFAM (Bremen, Germany) completed its HYTANK research project in June 2026, led by Airbus Operations GmbH (Hamburg, Germany), producing surface pretreatment, barrier coating and automated assembly processes for large-format, double-walled LH₂ tank structures. Although targeting aviation, the processes developed are applicable to space launcher tanks — and the work represents the kind of fundamental manufacturing science that will enable the next generation of composite propellant containment.

Dawn’s Aurora spaceplane. Source | Dawn Aerospace

Reusable space transportation

This past year also saw advances in reusable spacecraft and launch systems — vehicles designed to return to Earth where they are refurbished and redeployed with the goal of reducing the cost of spaceflight.

In June 2026, Dawn Aerospace (ChristChurch), a New Zealand-Dutch aerospace company, closed a $25 million Series B funding round at a $195 million valuation, led by Balerion Space Ventures. The company has established itself as a provider of nontoxic chemical propulsion, with more than 200 thrusters deployed on 50+ satellites, and recently made history with what was reported as “the first privately developed aircraft to fly supersonic since the Concorde.” With revenue growing over 90% in the past year, Dawn plans to expand its operations significantly, including an in-orbit refueling service called Loop launching in 2028 and a Mach 3.7 flight program in Oklahoma beginning in 2027.

In April 2026, China’s Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALT, Beijing, China) unveiled a 5-meter-diameter composite propulsion cabin, the largest single-piece composite structure ever produced in China for reusable launch vehicles. The module is composed of more than 60% composite materials and is engineered to withstand thousands of tons of axial pressure. Remarkably, the structure went from design to delivery in just 7 months, thanks to a highly parallel and collaborative R&D approach. CALT leadership views this milestone as a significant step forward in advancing China’s aerospace capabilities and scaling up production for future missions.

In October 2025, Inversion Space (Los Angeles, U.S.), a California-based reentry startup, unveiled its flagship lifting body spacecraft Arc, capable of delivering cargo from orbit to any location on Earth in under an hour. The vehicle can carry up to 500 pounds of payload, remain in orbit for up to 5 years and withstand speeds exceeding Mach 20 — making it suitable for defense, medical and emergency applications. Fully reusable and AI-powered, it can land within 50 feet of a target and cover a reentry range exceeding 1,000 kilometers. The company is targeting its first orbital flight in 2026, with long-term plans to deploy constellations of the spacecraft for rapid cargo access in critical scenarios.

Rocket Lab is to acquire Iridium in a deal that merges launch, satellites, spectrum and global communications capabilities. Source | Rocket Lab, Iridium

Satellites: Production rate as a design requirement

Demand for composites for satellite production continues to intensify. The defining challenge of satellite constellation programs is no longer technical feasibility; it is production rate. Thousands of satellites must be manufactured, integrated and launched to fill the constellations that underpin broadband internet, navigation, Earth observation and increasingly, space-based defense architectures. This production imperative has brought automation and design for manufacturability into the foreground.

In October 2025, market intelligence group Novaspace (Paris, France) released the 28th edition of its annual space market report, forecasting the launch of more than 43,000 satellites by 2035 and a $665 billion market in manufacturing and launch services. Five mega-constellations are expected to account for 66% of launches, while defense spending remains the economic anchor at 48% of total market value.

In July 2026, Rocket Lab Corp. (Long Beach, Calif., U.S.) announced a definitive agreement to acquire Iridium (McLean, Va., U.S.), a global satellite communications provider, in a cash and stock deal valued at approximately $8 billion. The acquisition is being described as one of the most transformative deals in the space industry, combining Rocket Lab’s launch and satellite manufacturing capabilities with Iridium’s established global network, spectrum and partner ecosystem. The merged company aims to become a vertically integrated U.S. space entity, expanding into markets such as satellite IoT, direct-to-device communications and positioning, navigation and timing services. The transaction is expected to close in mid-2027, pending regulatory and stockholder approvals.

A prime example of the work taking place on constellation satellite programs is MDA Space’s Aurora satellite series. Airborne Aerospace B.V. (The Hague, Netherlands) and Bercella Srl (Parma, Italy) are supplying high-precision composite substrates for Sparkwing solar arrays — key components of the Aurora satellites. Airbus (Toulouse, France) is to supply more than 200 Sparkwing solar arrays. The fleet nature of the Aurora program and the involvement of multiple automated tape laying/fiber placement (ATL/AFP) suppliers shows that constellation-scale production rewards companies that have automated, repeatable manufacturing over those relying on labor-intensive hand layup.

Deployable on-orbit solar array using smart composite materials. Source | Suzhou Zenix Composites

Innovation in solar array technology itself is advancing rapidly. In May 2026, Suzhou Zenix Composites Co. Ltd. (Zenix, Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, China) announced a deployable on-orbit solar array made using smart composite materials that self-deploys and locks in position, achieving 30% conversion efficiency with a power-to-mass ratio 2-3X higher than traditional rigid panels. The rollable flexible array concept addresses one of satellite design’s enduring constraints: the need to package maximum solar power generation into minimal launch volume.

Composite materials are also playing a role in thermal management solutions for satellite design. In June 2026, Blueshift (Spencer, Mass., U.S.), a developer of thermal protection materials, was named winner in the commercialization category of the Aviation Week Space Tech Challenge Awards for its AeroZero tapes — thin, flexible thermal protection tapes designed for low-Earth orbit satellites and other aerospace applications. The tapes offer significantly lower thermal conductivity and diffusivity compared to traditional polyimide tapes, addressing the extreme temperature swings LEO satellites experience up to 16 times per day.

A new approach for high volumes of small satellite structures uses low-CTE, low-cost CFRP cellular core, robust single-ply skins and modular panel systems to cut lead time, labor and cost for reflectors, solar arrays and more. Source | Rock West Composites

Off-the-shelf material solutions

All of this demand for new space applications, particularly for satellite programs, is driving the need for faster production, lower costs and high-performance materials suited for high-volume manufacturing.

To that end, three veteran composite suppliers — Patz Materials and Technologies (PMT, Benicia, Calif., U.S.), A&P Technology (Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.) and Rock West Composites (RWC, San Diego, Calif., U.S.) have partnered to develop a lower-cost, reduced-labor approach for lightweight, high modulus CFRP cored panels used in applications including satellite optical benches, solar array substrates, reflectors and modular building blocks for main structures.

By combining A&P’s QISO braided fabric with PMT’s Apex cellular core, the collaboration reduces material use and labor significantly, bringing core costs to one-tenth of traditional honeycomb alternatives while maintaining the low coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) and high stiffness required for space applications. RWC has validated the approach through structural and radio frequency (RF) reflectivity testing, confirming near-equivalent performance to heritage materials for solar array substrates and reflectors. The innovation also compresses design-to-production timelines from years to weeks and can cut materials qualification time from up to a decade down to just 1 year.

High-temperature solutions

Space flight not only requires lightweight material solutions, but also materials that can withstand extreme temperatures, including those during reentry. This requirement along with the need for high-temperature solutions for hypersonic aerospace and defense applications are driving demand for high-temp materials including ceramic matrix composite (CMC) structures capable of surviving sustained high-velocity atmospheric flight.

As CW executive editor Ginger Gardiner reported in August 2025, the high-temp materials landscape is being reshaped by new players proliferating across materials and manufacturing capacity, driven by demand from both space and defense programs that require materials capable of operating at temperatures beyond the reach of polymer matrix composites (PMC). A growing number of new materials, suppliers and manufacturing processes have emerged globally — from oxide fiber producers and prepreg systems to advanced C/C-SiC and ultra-high temperature CMC (UHTCMC) technologies. Key innovations focus on reducing production time and cost through automation, eliminating infiltration steps and enabling scalable manufacturing for higher part volumes.

ORNL’s Steven Guzorek demonstrates the lab’s hybrid 3D printing method, which deposits an integration layer and composite material directly onto flexible nylon fabric, creating a mold-free, flat-to-foldable structure that reduces production costs and increases design flexibility. Source | Amy Smotherman Burgess/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

On-orbit manufacturing and additive advances

One of the more forward-looking threads in composites’ New Space story involves manufacturing not on the ground, but in space itself. In May 2026, The Shenyang Institute of Automation (SIA CAS) unveiled an advanced manufacturing method for CF/polyetheretherketone (PEEK) composites designed for use in space, combining pultrusion molding with laser transmission welding to create strong, reliable structural components in zero-gravity environments. The technology addresses key challenges in on-orbit construction, including efficient fabrication and durable component connections, while overcoming limitations of traditional bonding methods. A scaled-down parabolic antenna truss prototype was successfully built to validate the approach, demonstrating its potential for automated assembly of large space structures such as solar power stations, antennas and lunar base components.

In June 2026, researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL, Oak Ridge, Tenn., U.S.) demonstrated a patent-pending hybrid 3D printing method that enables origami-inspired composite structures without the need for molds, integrating fiber reinforcement with a claimed 90% reduction in cost. While not space-specific, such advances in mold-less composite fabrication have direct application to the low-volume, high-mix nature of new space hardware production.

Meanwhile, NASA’s Thermoplastic Development for Exploration Applications (TDEA) program is exploring how TPC could be used to build structures directly in orbit or on the Moon. Stewart Mitchell reported in August 2025 on a NASA collaboration with Agile Ultrasonics (Columbus, Ohio, U.S.) in which researchers have been developing and testing ultrasonic welding techniques to join carbon fiber-reinforced thermoplastic composite (CF/TPC) components under the extreme conditions of space. Early results are promising — welded structural brackets exceeded load requirements, with failures occurring in the base material rather than at the weld joint itself. While challenges around temperature measurement, bond quality detection and environmental testing remain, the program is laying critical groundwork for future in-space construction and assembly capabilities.

Firefly Blue Ghost lunar lander. Source | Firefly Aerospace

To the Moon

At the 41st Space Symposium, panelists described the lunar surface as being at an inflection point, comparing it to a continent-sized expansion of the Earth’s economy. Financial opportunities including in situ resource utilization, mining and even the relocation of data centers were discussed as near-term rather than distant possibilities.

For composites suppliers, the potential to support manufacturing of lightweight lunar landing struts, propellant tanks, habitat shells and/or thermal protection systems (TPS) represents a meaningful and growing opportunity.

Firefly Aerospace (Cedar Park, Texas, U.S.), which featured prominently in CW’s 2025 coverage as the company responsible for the Blue Ghost lunar lander, has continued to expand aggressively. In May 2026, the company announced it had doubled its Texas campus, adding 144,000 square feet of space and a cleanroom 4X larger than its previous facility. The expansion enhances its carbon fiber composites, propulsion, robotics and 3D printing activities — infrastructure needed to scale production of both its Elytra orbital vehicle and future lunar landers.

In July 2026, Firefly announced it has secured a $144 million NASA CLPS contract for its sixth lunar mission, targeting a 2028 launch to deliver three NASA science instruments to the Moon’s near side. The company plans to complete the mission in approximately 2 years — half the time of previous efforts — by using its proven lander design, which incorporates composites in structural panels, support struts and lander legs. The mission aims to demonstrate that commercial lunar delivery can be rapid, repeatable, and reliable, supporting NASA’s Artemis program and Moon Base initiative.

Urgency and scale

What makes the 2026 landscape of composites in New Space distinctive compared to a year ago is the combination of urgency and scale. The ATA CFT Guangzhou Co. Ltd. (Guangzhou, China) 2025 global carbon fiber composites market report, released in June 2026, documented record demand of 224,510 metric tons globally — with the composites fabricating index reaching its strongest reading of the year in June 2026, climbing to 57.6 on a surge in new orders according to the Gardner Business Index. While aerospace and defense are not the only drivers of that figure, the sustained expansion of New Space programs contributes meaningfully to carbon fiber demand, particularly for aerospace-grade T700 and T800 materials used in structural applications.

The urgency and scale come from the geopolitical environment that has put defense space programs on a wartime footing and accelerated commercial programs in its wake. It also comes from the ambition of the cislunar economy taking shape — lunar landers, moon bases, cislunar communications networks — all of which require composite structures that don’t yet exist in production-ready form.

The composites industry’s response has been characteristically practical: more AFP systems, more automated inspection and more material qualification. That practical response underscores that composites are no longer just a material option for New Space, they are a truly enabling technology for gains in payload fraction, production rate, thermal protection and mission reliability. As the industry moves from prototype to production at scale, and from Earth orbit toward the Moon and beyond, composites continue to be a technology that helps to bridge our ambition and next giant leap into the cosmos.

Source | CompSTLar

The EU-funded CompSTLar project has reached a manufacturing milestone, with partner Aimplas (Valencia, Spain) successfully producing continuous graphene-enhanced unidirectional (UD) carbon fiber tapes at laboratory scale. The consortium sees this as a step forward in the development of multifunctional thermoplastic composites (TPC) for aerospace applications.

CompSTLar, coordinated by Aimen Technology Centre (O Porriño, Spain), is a Horizon Research and Innovation Actions project that is advancing the design, manufacturing, maintenance and recycling of high-performance composite aerostructures for next-gen aircraft (February 2025 – July 2028). Within that broader effort, Aimplas is developing the UD tapes using graphene nanoplatelets (GNPs), graphene/carbon nanotube hybrid nanofillers and a Victrex (Cleveleys, U.K.) LMPAEK matrix, with the goal of producing multifunctional composites with enhanced electrical conductivity and susceptibility to laser irradiation.

According to the project’s latest LinkedIn post, processing temperature proved to be a critical variable during manufacturing trials. At approximately 400°C, the material became too viscous for adequate fiber impregnation. Reducing the temperature to approximately 330°C yielded a stable process with acceptable fiber wetting. Partners note that elevated temperatures may affect the polymer matrix — particularly in the presence of graphene-based additives — and that understanding this behavior is considered key to eventual scale-up.

Now at technology readiness level (TRL) 3-4, the project’s next steps include evaluating higher nanofiller contents, assessing their impact on electrical performance and conducting automated tape placement (ATP) trials.

For more information, Pablo Romero Rodríguez, Aimen project coordinator, summarizes the last 18 months of the project in this Q&A. Also read more about the project on CW.

Source | Getty Images

Lincoln Composite Materials Inc. (LCM, Huntington Beach, Calif., U.S.), a manufacturer of prepregs and structural film adhesives for aerospace and defense applications, contends that the Pentagon’s current speed-to-scale push has centered on prime contractors and Tier 1 part producers while overlooking the qualified specialty material suppliers that ultimately determine how fast production can expand. In an article on the subject, the company argues that acquisition policy must recognize where defense production capacity actually originates, which is further upstream rather than final assembly.

LCM points to the war in Ukraine as evidence that modern conflict consumes munitions faster than the U.S. and its allies can replace them, an experience it says has accelerated acquisition reform and industrial mobilization efforts. Still, the company notes that current reforms rarely extend to the point of origin for production readiness, which include prepregs, structural film adhesives, bonding primers, specialty metals, rare earth materials, batteries and electronics.

“In many aerospace and defense applications, materials are not interchangeable commodities,” LCM says. Because many of these inputs are governed by engineering drawings, qualification histories and certification requirements rather than treated as interchangeable commodities, adding capacity often requires engineering validation well before new production becomes available.

To close that gap, the company recommends that acquisition teams evaluate upstream material readiness during the materiel solution analysis and analysis of alternatives phases, alongside cost, schedule and technical performance — essentially assessing qualified second sources, lead times, shelf-life constraints and a supplier’s ability to expand capacity. The company also argues that small- and mid-sized specialty material manufacturers cannot responsibly invest in additional capacity based on generalized urgency alone, and instead need predictable demand signals to justify workforce, equipment and inventory investments. 

The full article is available for download here.

Source | Getty Images

Strata Manufacturing PJSC (Strata, Al Ain, United Arab Emirates), a wholly owned company of Mubadala Investment Co., and Embraer (São José dos Campos, Brazil), have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) that establishes a framework for evaluating Strata’s potential supply of advanced composite material aerostructures for Embraer’s commercial aircraft programs. Under the agreement, the companies will collaborate on evaluating work packages for the E2 family of commercial jets, following a structured schedule of technical, commercial and contractual goals.

In addition to the E2 program, the MOU outlines the joint intention to explore cooperation opportunities in other Embraer aircraft platforms.

The agreement reinforces Strata’s continued expansion in the global aerospace sector and aligns with its strategy of strengthening long-term partnerships with leading aircraft manufacturers. The initiative also supports the company’s vision of positioning the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as a globally competitive hub for advanced aerospace manufacturing.

Source | Boeing

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has officially granted Boeing Co. (Arlington, Va., U.S.) an amended type certificate for the 737-7, clearing the way for commercial deliveries of the smallest 737 MAX variant to begin in early 2027, Aviation Week reports.

The certification, covering an amended type certificate and an updated Production Limitation Record, follows nearly a decade of review that began with the 737-7’s first flight in March 2018, Aviation Week notes. The FAA states the approval reflects years of work to resolve technical issues and complete a thorough review of the airplane’s design and safety analyses, with the agency directly reviewing work on flight controls, system safety assessments, human factors and flightcrew alerting. The regulator required updates to the flight-control software, the flightcrew alerting system and a redesigned engine anti-ice system before granting approval — changes tied to requirements in the Aircraft Certification, Safety and Accountability Act and to NTSB recommendations following two 737-8 accidents in 2018 and 2019.

Certification flight testing accumulated 686 flight-test hours across 441 test flights, along with 349 ground-test hours, per Aviation Week. For now, Boeing is pursuing only FAA certification for the 737-7, rather than joint certification with the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA).

Mike Sinnett, Boeing senior vice president of product strategy, product development and development programs, says the certification effort has sharpened the company’s understanding of current regulatory requirements. “With this certification program, Boeing has developed a clearer understanding of the latest regulatory requirements, which will accelerate future airplane development with a renewed emphasis on human factors, safety and quality.”

The 737-7’s airframe remains predominantly aluminum, though — as with other 737 MAX variants — it incorporates composite materials in secondary structures such as its winglets, tailcone, radome and flight control surfaces, as detailed in 2022 Boeing aircraft documentation.

Boeing’s broader composites portfolio continues to expand beyond the 737 family. The 787 Dreamliner’s primary structure, including its fuselage and wing, is made from roughly 50% composite materials by weight. The 777X goes further still: its wings, built at Boeing’s Composite Wing Center in Everett, Washington, using automated fiber placement (AFP) are reportedly the “largest carbon fiber composite wing structures manufactured for a commercial airliner to date.” Boeing is applying lessons from the 737-7 and MAX-10 certification campaigns to that program as well, Sinnett adds.

The FAA notes that its safety inspectors will remain on-site at Boeing production facilities to monitor manufacturing and assess the company’s Safety Management System and safety culture. Flight testing has also concluded on the 737-10, the final and largest MAX derivative, which logged 976 flights totaling more than 2,060 flight hours, Aviation Week reports. Boeing says that program is now moving through remaining development assurance reviews and system safety assessments ahead of final submission to the FAA.

Source | Getty Images

Farnborough 2026 opened with the kind of energy the industry had been waiting for. Day one alone produced an estimated $48.8 billion in aircraft and engine business, and the momentum carried through the week — Vertical Aerospace flew its first public full-scale eVTOL demonstration, Archer and Anduril unveiled dual-use commercial/defense variants of a shared VTOL platform and the Aerospace Technology Institute (ATI) used the show as a launchpad for a new national framework aimed at securing the U.K.’s slice of the composites market.

Breaking Defense’s closing recap pointed to an intensifying collaborative combat aircraft (CCA) race and a strong showing of munitions on the floor as some of the other bigger storylines competing for attention. By the time the show wrapped, tallies of firm aircraft orders landed roughly in line with the last Farnborough in 2024 — all in all solid business, if a bit shy of some of the more optimistic pre-show forecasts.

CompositesWorld recaps some of the key composites-focused announcements that came out of the show below:

Albany Engineered Composites, A&P Technology partner for large braided composites industralization

Albany Engineered Composites Inc. (AEC, Portsmouth, N.H., U.S.) and A&P Technology (Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.) are partnering to explore and develop advanced braided composite manufacturing solutions for current and next-gen aerospace and defense applications. The collaboration brings together two highly complementary manufacturing technologies — A&P’s braided composite architectures, and AEC’s resin transfer molding (RTM) manufacturing expertise.

“We are creating a force multiplier for our customers, accelerating the transition from innovative textile architectures to repeatable, production-ready composite solutions,” says Chris Stone, president of AEC.

Collaboration will include research, tech development, manufacturing process maturation and commercialization opportunities focused on purpose-designed braided composite structures for current and next-gen aeroengine platforms, commercial aircraft, advanced air mobility (AAM) blades and structures, collaborative combat aircraft (CCA) and solid rocket motor nozzles.

NCC takes Vertical eVTOL propellers from concept to rate-ready manufacture

Vertical Aerospace Valo blades. Source | NCC

Vertical Aerospace (London, U.K.) has completed its first public demonstration flight of a full-scale wing tilt-rotot electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft at Farnborough. It was flown using composite propulsion blades designed in conjunction with innovation partner NCC (Bristol, U.K.).

NCC worked alongside Vertical’s engineering team to design the Gen 2 composite rotor blades flown on the full-scale prototype, and elements of the fuselage. The prototype blades required a fundamentally new approach, as they must lift the aircraft vertically before transitioning seamlessly into wingborne flight, while remaining lightweight, aerodynamically efficient and resilient to certification requirements such as bird strike. 

Read the full case study for more information.

Archer Aviation introduces Halo, commercial variant of the dual-use VTOL developed with Anduril

Archer Aviation (Santa Clara, Calif., U.S.) is introducing Halo — the commercial variant of a jointly developed dual-use platform built to serve defense and commercial applications. In parallel, defense company Anduril (Costa Mesa, Calif., U.S.) unveiled Thunder, the defense variant of the platform, at Farnborough. The two variants share the same airframe, hybrid powertrain and core systems, with configurable payload depending on mission requirements.

The Halo VTOL platform. Source | Archer Aviation

This dual-use autonomous VTOL aircraft platform, highlighted by its Halo (commercial) and Thunder (defense) variants, builds on 8 years of eVTOL development and flight testing by Archer. It features a clean sheet design, with a hybrid-electric powertrain and optimum-speed tiltrotors.

Designed for low-cost, high-volume production using commercial supply chains, the platform behind Halo and Thunder is built to support broad deployment, rapid production and the scale commercial and defense markets require.

Halo brings with it long range and high speed, heavy payload, series hybrid-electric propulsion and is autonomous. Its potential spans a range of commercial opportunities, Archer notes, including for offshore energy, freight, humitarian and medical cargo, and maritime. As part of this demand, Marubeni Aerospace Corp. (Tokyo, Japan) has been announced as the strategic launch partner of the Halo system.

Read more at the Archer Aviation website.

Farnborough aircraft orders top 300

Lessors and carriers — including SMBC Aviation Capital, Riyadh Air and Philippine Airlines — announced a flurry of narrowbody and widebody orders during the air show’s run, keeping pace with 2024’s totals despite ongoing supply chain constraints.

Boeing

• SMBC Aviation Capital: 100 737 MAX jets: 60 737-10s and 40 737-8s
• Riyadh Air: Exercised options for 28 787 Dreamliners from a 2023 order, converting 20 of those to the larger 787-10 variant
• Philippine Airlines: Up to 20 787-10 Dreamliners (15 firm, five options)
• AerCap (lessor): 15 787 Dreamliners, deliveries scheduled through 2033
• Uganda Airlines: four 737 MAX 8s and four 787-9 Dreamliners (the carrier’s first-ever Boeing order)
• MSC Air Cargo: five 777-8 freighters
• Luxair: two 737-10 aircraft

Airbus

• SMBC Aviation Capital: 100 A320neo Family aircraft: 65 A321neos and 35 A320neos
• Riyadh Air: six additional A350-1000s, bringing its total firm A350-1000 commitment to 31 jets
• Philippine Airlines: nine A350 aircraft, plus purchase rights for five more
• Shohin Airlines (Tajikistan): four A320neo Family aircraft

Embraer

• Fuji Dream Airlines (Japan): two E175 regional jets
• Abra Group (South America): 20 E2 aircraft, Embraer’s first order from this airline group
• Binter (Spain): five E2 aircraft

Comac

• Air Cambodia: 20 C909 regional jets, a firm order making Air Cambodia the first foreign flag carrier to formally commit to the C909 platform.

SkyDrive eVTOL company partners with Kineco to manufacture composite aerostructures

Source | Kineco, SkyDrive

Indian aerospace composites manufacturer Kineco Ltd. (Goa) has formed a strategic partnership with compact eVTOL aircraft developer SkyDrive Inc. (Toyota, Japan). Under the agreement, Kineco will develop and manufacture high-performance composite aerostructures for SkyDrive’s production aircraft, the SkyDrive (Model SD-05), marking a critical step forward in SkyDrive’s transition from prototype demonstration to scalable mass production. SkyDrive is targeting full-scale commercial operations by 2028. 

Kineco’s support will be full-scope, spanning tool design, prototype development, certification support and serial production readiness. The eVTOL aircraft’s production will leverage the company’s newly installed 3-× 12-meter Scholz Autoclave in Goa, ensuring capacity for future production scale-up.

This collaboration also marks Kineco Aerospace’s first dedicated production eVTOL program, representing a significant milestone in the company’s expansion into the rapidly growing AAM sector and reinforcing its position as a trusted global partner for next-gen aerospace platforms. 

Kineo has more than three decades of expertise in advanced composites, with an established track record supporting OEM and Tier 1 customers. Read more about the company on CW.

The complete press release is shared on the Kineco LinkedIn page.

Airbus U030 Flexrotor UAS operations begin with EMSA

Airbus Helicopters’ (Marignane, France and Donauwörth, Germany) tactical uncrewed aerial system U030 Flexrotor, verified to use composite materials, has officially started maritime surveillance operations in the Baltic Sea on behalf of the European Maritime Security Agency (EMSA).

Source | Amelie Laurin/Airbus Helicopters 

In December 2025, Airbus Helicopters was awarded a €30 million framework contract with the EMSA to provide remotely piloted aircraft systems (RPAS) services for multipurpose maritime surveillance across the European Union, with sub-contractor operator Extensee (Paris, France). Operations started after a series of successful test flights to validate technical and regulatory milestones ahead of the entry into service, and to support operator handover to Extensee.

The first operational deployment began in July 2026 in the Baltic region (covering Estonia, Latvia and Finland), marking the entry into service of the U030 Flexrotor under EMSA service and supporting national authorities with maritime surveillance. 

The system supports coast guard functions including search and rescue, fisheries control, environmental monitoring and the detection of illicit maritime activity.

Learn more via the Airbus website.

FACC expands composites production in India with partner Kineco Aerospace

FACC (Ried im Innkreis, Austria) is expanding its cooperation with Kineco Aerospace (Goa, India) to a second work package of composite components for FACC’s customer Airbus. The components will be produced in India, comprising several thousand parts per year, with serial production scheduled to start by the end of 2027. The step follows the completion of a qualification milestone with Airbus. The cooperation builds on the long-term supply-chain agreement signed by the two companies at the Paris Air Show in 2025. It is part of FACC’s commitment to supporting the growth of India’s aerospace ecosystem by developing industrial capabilities with long-term partners.

Read “FACC agreements with Rolls-Royce, Tata and Kineco expand its global backlog, footprint in India”

“India is becoming an increasingly important part of the global aerospace industry, and our strategy is to develop industrial capabilities there with trusted, long-term partners,” says Andreas Furthmayr, EVP aerostructures, FACC. “Kineco has already demonstrated the standards we require, and this second work package reflects the confidence we have built together. We are not sourcing from a market — we are building capabilities with partners, and growing with them as India’s aerospace ecosystem develops.”

Park Aerospace to Build Advanced Composites Facility at Tulsa International Airport

Tulsa International Airport (TUL) has secured another major aerospace tenant with Park Aerospace Corp. (Newton, Kan., U.S.) selecting the airport’s North Development Area for an aerospace composites manufacturing expansion.

The company plans to invest approximately $65 million to construct an advanced composite materials manufacturing facility on 18 acres at TUL. Construction is expected to begin soon, with the facility anticipated to be completed in 2028. Once operational, the facility is expected to employ more than 100 people.

Read the full release.

Sikorsky Nomad 100 with composite wing completes initial flight test phase

Sikorsky’s Nomad 100 built for the DARPA EVADE program undergoes initial flight testing. Proprietary visuals are concealed. Source | Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin company

Sikorsky (Stratford, Conn., U.S.), a Lockheed Martin company, has completed initial ground and flight testing of its Nomad 100 uncrewed aerial system (UAS) in collaboration with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Early VTOL Aircraft Demonstration (EVADE) program.

Why does it matter? The milestone marks another step forward in delivering high-performing uncrewed systems to servicemembers operating in rapidly evolving, contested environments. Also of note is the Nomad 100’s wing, which is reported to be based on the Nomad 50 demonstrator’s 10.3-foot composite wing. Next, Sikorsky will advance Nomad 100 through an intensive flight test campaign at a government facility, replicating a host of multirole Nomad 100 missions.  

The Nomad 100 is a variant of Sikorsky’s novel rotor blown wing architecture, delivering the vertical lift and hover capabilities of a helicopter with the speed, range and endurance of a fixed-wing aircraft. The twin prop-rotor system enables vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL), hover, cruise on the wing, and runway independent operations in all weather conditions across land and sea.

Read more about the aircraft here.

Joby advances with Virgin Atlantic, aims for commercial flight by end of 2026

Source | Joby Aviation

Joby Aviation Inc. (Santa Cruz, Calif., U.S.) and Virgin Atlantic (London, U.K.) have signed a definitive, multiyear commercial agreement, converting a partnership the companies first announced in 2025 into a binding framework to launch service for Joby’s composites-intensive S4 electric air taxi in the U.K.. The S4 airframe relies on carbon fiber-reinforced composite structures and Joby began producing composite propeller blades at its Dayton, Ohio, facility in October 2025 to support planned production of up to 500 aircraft per year (see Learn more below).

The agreement establishes Virgin Atlantic as Joby’s exclusive airline partner for air taxi service in the U.K. and builds on Joby’s existing partnership with Delta Air Lines (Atlanta, Ga., U.S.), which holds a 49% stake in Virgin Atlantic, linking the three companies to advance faster, more convenient regional travel. Virgin Atlantic will integrate Joby’s service into its booking platforms, including its mobile app and website, allowing travelers to reserve air taxi connections alongside long-haul flights.

Learn more in the full release published to CW.

A DHL Boeing 777 freighter on static display forming the backdrop of the Farnborough International Airshow 2026. Source (All Images Unless Otherwise Mentioned) | Stewart Mitchell

The composites on display at the 2026 Farnborough International Airshow shared a common thread, in that the material itself was rarely the headline. What set one demonstrator apart from the next was the thinking behind it, how the fiber was placed, how heat and pressure were applied and how a design anticipated the loads, safety cases and production rates that determine whether a part ever reaches series production. In short, they continue to be key enablers.

Aerospace composite tides, aeroengines

Two main pressures influenced nearly everything on display. The first was the need for increased production rates. Combined narrowbody aircraft OEM announcements indicate that demand is more than 120 complete aircraft per month, and some electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) programs are gearing up to produce 650 per year from some manufacturers (read CW’s 2022 “We’re going to need a lot of propeller blades”). Traditional autoclave and prepreg processes alone cannot meet these higher demands. The second pressure is durability, which encompasses a wide range of concerns, including erosion, impact resistance, battery thermal runaway and recyclability broadly. These issues are viewed as structural challenges to be addressed rather than mere afterthoughts. Much of the exhibition showcased a supply chain poised to tackle both rate and durability simultaneously, focusing on representative hardware rather than just flat-panel samples.

CW also highlights several other developments and partnerships announced at Farnborough 2026 via this announcement roundup.

A cutaway of the Rolls-Royce UltraFan, its composite fan blades and composite fan case sitting ahead of the geared core that drives the high-bypass architecture. Source | Rolls-Royce

Rolls-Royce (London, U.K.) framed the commercial aerospace backdrop more plainly, describing narrowbodies as the single biggest industrial opportunity for the sector over the next half century; much of what was highlighted at Farnborough read as the supply chain preparing to answer it.

Rolls-Royce is addressing some of these needs through the use of composite materials for its aerogines’ largest-diameter rotating components — the intake fan blades — which sit in front of the geared core and power the high-bypass architecture of its new UltraFan family. Both the UltraFan 80 and UltraFan 30 models, designed for widebody and narrowbody aircraft respectively, feature what the company refers to as a CTi fan, which includes carbon fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) blades that are protected by a titanium leading edge, all contained within a composite fan case.

The unducted bet

The largest single lever on an engine’s dynamic performance is its intake fan. GE Aerospace (Evendale, Ohio, U.S.) showcased its one-third-scale model of the Open Fan propulsion concept at the event. This unducted design is being developed under the CFM Revolutionary Innovation for Sustainable Engines (RISE) technology demonstrator, a collaboration led by CFM International (Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.), which is a 50-50 joint venture between GE Aerospace and Safran Aircraft Engines (Courcouronnes, France). 

By eliminating the fan casing, the Open Fan allows for a larger fan, increasing the bypass ratio and propulsive efficiency while reducing drag. The RISE program aims to achieve 20% higher fuel efficiency than currently operating engines. This improvement is not solely due to the Open Fan design but rather a combination of a suite of technologies, including a compact core and hybrid-electric systems.

In the Open Fan architecture, both the variable-pitch fan blades and the outlet guide vanes — stationary components designed to straighten the airflow behind the fan — are made of CFRP and are fully exposed to the elements (see CW’s coverage of the Open Fan reaching preliminary design review).

GE Aerospace's one-third-scale Open Fan model with an unducted architecture is being matured under the CFM RISE program. 

An exposed, variable-pitch composite blade must withstand bird and debris strikes without the protection that a case would typically provide. Additionally, it needs to operate quietly, which is where GE Aerospace’s expertise in composite propellers becomes important. Its propeller division, Dowty Propellers (Gloucester, U.K.), is integrating its experience in composite blade design, retention and pitch actuation from open-environment propellers into the Open Fan blade root (read CW’s 2022 plant tour of Dowty Propellers). This is alongside the group’s knowledge of turbofan composite fans.

“How we integrate that intelligence is really what's revolutionary,” said Chelsey Levingston, senior business communications manager at GE Aerospace, speaking at the Farnborough International Airshow. “We have more than 300 million hours on turbofan composites, and another 50 million hours with composite propeller systems that already operate in open environments. Open Fan combines the best of turbofan and turboprop, so in terms of who has the most composite engine fan experience in the industry, it’s hard to beat.”

To date, RISE has completed approximately 500 test campaigns and more than 3,000 endurance test cycles. CFM has confirmed the design reviews for the Open Fan and compact core modules recently, with plans for ground and flight tests scheduled for this decade. Much of this progress depends on advancements in simulation, as the behavior of a full-scale Open Fan has been modeled before the creation of any hardware. Additionally, within the design time, a lead for producibility has been designated to ensure that the laminate remains manufacturable as production rates increase.

“The modeling is way ahead of the hardware,” Levingston adds. “We’ve modeled a full-scale Open Fan in a digital environment on an aircraft wing to simulate turbulence, noise and other performance characteristics, and as we test hardware and feed the findings back, each design iteration improves. Without that supercomputing power, it would take us decades to advance this engine. It lets us reduce the design iteration time and introduce a whole new engine architecture in a single generation.”

Braided TPC propeller blades

Dowty's DigiProp, a thermoplastic composite (TPC) propeller blade braided at high rate with NCC for a lighter, recyclable part. 

Targeting smaller aircraft, Dowty showcased DigiProp, a thermoplastic composite (TPC) propeller blade developed through the £20 million Digital Propulsion program, which was completed in 2021. This program collaborated with three High Value Manufacturing Catapult centers: NCC (Bristol, U.K.) the Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) at the University of Sheffield (Sheffield, U.K.) and the Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC, Coventry, U.K.).

The program successfully industrialized the triaxial carbon fiber braiding of a thermoplastic preform, which consolidates much more quickly than the traditional autoclave curing process (also in CW’s Dowty plant tour). Additionally, since a thermoplastic matrix can be remelted rather than being permanently set through cross-linking, it opens up possibilities for recycling the blade at end of its life.

However, processing thermoplastics at high fiber volumes can be quite challenging. Thus, the success of this propeller sits in effectively managing the braiding and consolidation processes. Dowty presented the DigiProp as a pathway to creating lighter, more damage-tolerant blades that can be produced in higher volumes.

Vertical addresses eVTOL rotor blade challenge 

The blade problem takes on a new dimension in an electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft. Vertical Aerospace's (Bristol, U.K.) second-generation Gen 2 VX4 propeller blade, developed in collaboration with NCC and currently in operation on the full-scale prototype, must function effectively across two distinct flight regimes. Since the VX4 is a winged aircraft, its forward rotors tilt from vertical mode for takeoff, hover and landing, to cruise mode for producing forward thrust for regular flight.

With these hybrid flight regimes comes hybrid design challenges. In comparison, a helicopter rotor is large and rotates slowly, while a turboprop blade is smaller and spins rapidly. The forward blade of the eVTOL is positioned between these two types. It must support the entire weight of the aircraft during hover and then act like a fixed-wing propeller once it is airborne. Importantly, the blade must remain quiet and lightweight for both modes of operation. 

Additionally, it is crucial that the blade does not shed any fragments that could hit another rotor or interfere with  flight control lines, as this poses a risk of cascading failures, which is a specific concern in distributed propulsion systems.

Conventional practices often increase strike tolerance by using extra thickness or by employing tougher, heavier laminates. However, this added mass is something an electric aircraft cannot afford, as every kilogram removed from the structure translates into increased battery capacity, range or payload. As such, the Gen 2 blade achieves its structural performance through the internal arrangement of reinforcement and the way impact energy is distributed throughout the structure, rather than from matrix toughness alone. NCC helped Vertical Aerospace develop this architecture after evaluating various concepts. 

The eVTOL aircraft blade was engineered for a single-shot cure, allowing it to be consolidated in one operation, which reduces part count, minimizes joints and lowers assembly variability. The design for manufacture process was conducted concurrently with a supplier selection process, resulting in production partnerships with U.K. companies, Rockwood Aerospace (Paignton, U.K.) and Polar Technology (Eynsham, U.K.). 

Vertical is constructing seven certification aircraft in the U.K. and aims to obtain type certification from the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) by around 2028. Following certification, the goal is to ramp up production to more than 225 aircraft per year by 2030. Repeatable, rate-capable blade manufacturing then becomes a critical requirement or a limiting factor.

A drone rotor off the tool in under a minute

For drone blades, at the smallest scale of rotor scale, the manufacturing process shifts from layup to molding. TU Wien (Vienna, Austria) and injection mold machine manufacturer Engel (Schwertberg, Austria) have introduced the NeoBlade, an entirely automated, mass-produced TPC rotor blade created through injection molding. 

This blade features a tape sandwich structure. Continuous carbon fiber-reinforced thermoplastic (CF/TPC, also known as CFRTP) tapes serve as the load-bearing outer skins. Positioned in the mold and held in place by vacuum, the reinforcement aligns precisely along the load paths, allowing material to be placed only where the structure needs it. A short fiber polypropylene compound is injected between the tapes to create a near-net-shape core that adheres to the skins through shared matrix chemistry. Additionally, this core is chemically foamed to reduce weight while maintaining the structural integrity of the section. During processing, the tapes and the injected core are combined within the same matrix, allowing them to fuse into a single consolidated part.

The NeoBlade from TU Wien and Engel, an injection molded TPC drone rotor with its noise-reducing serrations molded straight into the part. 

The intelligence of the process is embedded in the manufacturing cell and the blade itself.  Engel produces the blades on a tie-bar-less Victory 120 machine paired with an Easix six-axis robot. Serrated edges help to reduce broadband noise by around 3 decibels and are created using mold inserts. The system’s open clamp design provides the robot with sufficient space to strip the previous blade, place new tapes and remove the finished part, all within a cycle time of less than 60 seconds. 

This project is part of Austria’s Take Off program, with FACC (Ried im Innkreis, Austria) leading the composites sector among the partners. The initiative also explored the use of recycled carbon fiber compounds, resulting in a life cycle CO₂ reduction compared to equivalent thermoset processes. Multi-cavity tooling has been identified as crucial for achieving true volume production and though this research demonstrator still requires a final trimming step, it indicates a promising near-net-shape and automation-driven approach for producing small aerostructures.

Airframes at rate

The blade was a recurring characteristic at Farnborough 2026, but the panel was another focal point. In this case, the main question was how to lay down fiber quickly, accurately, and onto real geometries. ICOMAT (Bristol, U.K.) and NCC made progress here by showcasing the first 5-meter aerospace wing skin using rapid tow shearing (RTS). This wing skin was deposited directly onto complex 3D tooling, marking the largest and most significant aerospace validation of the process to date. 

RTS controls the fiber by shearing the tow width in-plane, rather than bending the tow path (see CW’s dive into RTS). This approach avoids the gaps and overlaps that conventional automated fiber placement (AFP) methods create when the deposition angle exceeds approximately ±30°. The defect-free steering of RTS allows wide material to follow curved load paths onto doubly curved surfaces, enhancing structural performance by aligning fiber with the loads. Additionally, RTS can achieve production speeds and is reported to be up to 10X faster than conventional methods.

A Cevotec fiber patch placement (FPP) skin built entirely from reclaimed aerospace prepreg offcut, which beat the original production part on weight and stiffness. 

Another automated placement method was showcased, demonstrating its applicability for  waste reduction, in addition to performance enhancement. In collaboration with NCC, Cevotec (Munich, Germany) used its fiber patch placement (FPP) technology — an Industry 4.0 automated layup system that robotically places discrete fiber patches — to create an aerostructure skin entirely from recovered aerospace wing offcuts. 

This redesigned part comprised 80% recovered waste and surpassed the original component in both weight and stiffness, because patch placement optimizes the arrangement of fibers to align with the local load field rather than nesting them for a roll. For a representative wing component, Cevotec reports that this method could reduce landfill waste from 16,200 kilograms to 4,400 kilograms annually and divert approximately £912,000 GBP ($1,223,000) worth of material each year into secondary products, effectively transforming manufacturing scrap into a high-quality feedstock (read more about FPP).

Archer's Midnight air taxi, shown here at the show, features a majority CFRP airframe conceived for aerospace allowables at automotive build rates. 

Addressing the challenge of achieving automotive production rates for entire primary structures is particularly complex, as highlighted by Archer Aviation's (San Jose, Calif., U.S.) Midnight air taxi. Approximately 25% of the aircraft's total mass consists of an airframe predominantly made from CFRP. This includes the fuselage, wings, empennage, rotor booms and propellers, which is typical for this class of aircraft where composites usually account for around 70% of material composition.

The material used throughout the aircraft is Hexcel (Stamford, Conn., U.S.) prepreg, selected for its consistent performance across different batches as well as its inherent properties. By sourcing the fiber and toughened epoxy from a single, vertically integrated supplier, consistency is enhanced, and the supply chain is streamlined, making it suitable for high-volume production.

The propeller blades are manufactured by FACC using HexPly M91 toughened epoxy reinforced with IM8 intermediate modulus carbon fiber. This choice is driven by the need for stiffness in a rotating structure that must maintain its aerodynamic shape across the disc; in this context, deflection becomes a key design consideration rather than ultimate strength. Standard modulus fiber is used in other areas of the eVTOL airframe, ensuring that the more costly materials are only applied where necessary according to load requirements (CW quantifies the composite-intensity of eVTOL airframes).

Multifunctional hybrid structures

A sectioned Plyform sandwich panel, its carbon fiber skins closing over a graded core with a solid laminate edge close-out. 

Optimized airframe panels perform multiple structural functions simultaneously. Plyform Composites (Varallo Pombia, Italy), part of the All Ways Group (Pianezza, Italy), showcased sectioned examples of how these panels are assembled. The company used Farnborough to celebrate AS9100 certification of its San Gilio plant, which was audited by Tüv Süd (Munich, Germany). Plyform also holds EN 9100 and NADCAP special process approvals, forming the quality system baseline that a composite SME must meet to supply mission-critical aerospace hardware.

In the cut samples exhibited at the show, CFRP face sheets are layered over a graded core. Aluminum honeycomb provides shear strength in high-load areas, while a lighter foam core is used in regions with less stress. An internal solid laminate web runs through the sandwich panel, acting as an internal spar. At the joints, potted metallic inserts secure the fasteners. One insert remains in place through a hard point in the section, while the core tapers down into monolithic close-outs at the edges of the panel. This design allows a single panel to bear the distributed aerodynamic pressure across its surface and the discrete point loads at its attachment points. Ensuring that this process is traceable and repeatable is what PlyForm’s certification milestone supports.

A different collaboration on display extended the multi-material approach into the drivetrain. Polar Technology is working with Independent Forgings and Alloys (IFA, Sheffield, U.K.), to combine closed-die metallic gear blanks with composite bodies, resulting in hybrid composite-metallic gears. The key innovation is a mechanical interface that eliminates the need for adhesive bonding between the two material systems, which is often the weak point in hybrid drivetrain components. 

This design allows for adjustable stiffness and achieves a mass reduction of up to 40% compared to an all-metal equivalent, thereby reducing rotating inertia. This improvement enhances efficiency and dynamic response without compromising durability. The applications targeted for this technology include aircraft accessory gearboxes, uncrewed aircraft propulsion, landing gear deployment and missile fin actuation.

This hybrid composite-metallic gear from Polar Technology and Independent Forgings and Alloys saves up to 40% in mass against an all-metal equivalent. 

Novel materials for EV battery protection

Within the theme of electric aviation, another key topic was electric system protection. Oerlikon (Pfaffikon, Switzerland) introduced a range of thin engineered composite barrier materials designed for electric vehicle (EV) battery packs. The goal is to apply insights from the automotive industry to the aerospace sector, particularly in battery enclosures for eVTOL and hybrid-electric programs as their energy storage capacities increase.

An Oerlikon HS918 barrier panel, its formed channels guiding venting gas away from critical battery components. 

These materials are functional technical textile composites specifically engineered to prevent thermal runaway in a single cell from spreading throughout the entire battery pack, a critical target for achieving zero thermal propagation in AAM. (Read more about aviation-specific composite battery systems, or take a broader look at the EV battery enclosure industry.)

Oerlikon’s range of materials are classified by duty grades. The heat shield grades vary in thickness from approximately 0.6 to 1.8 millimeters and can withstand continuous temperatures between 1000°C and 1400°C. Moreover, they can endure pre-event dielectric breakdowns of up to 18 kilovolts and feature hot-gas particle impact resistance that increases with thickness, lasting about 7-24 seconds. 

SafeVent grades, which are 0.8 millimeter thick, facilitate gas venting and protect busbars while providing insulation for voltages above 10 kilovolts per millimeter. These grades have tensile strengths ranging from 175-195 megapascals. A multifunctional cell separator offers thermal isolation up to 700°C and compensates for mechanical swelling of approximately 410 micrometers. This design helps absorb the changes in volume that occur during charge and discharge cycles, ensuring consistent energy density over the lifespan of the battery.

Oerlikon has tested an 0.8-millimeter busbar barrier, capable of providing arc protection at temperatures of up to 1000°C,according to IEC 61439-1 standards. All materials in this range carry a UL94-V0 flammability rating and feature mica-free, non-petroleum-based formulations.

Regulatory compliance is uniform across markets, adhering to standards such as UN GTR No. 20, China's GB 38031-2020 and Europe's ECE R100. Each of these regulations mandates a minimum time frame for occupants to escape before fire spreads. For airframe manufacturers designing composite battery enclosures, the key takeaway is that these thin, 3D-formable barriers offer effective protection without adding significant mass or packaging constraints.

Although applications varied, the composites technologies showcased at Farnborough 2026 had a unified theme across various applications: the materials’ ability to confer advantage, be it in weight, rate, power, performance, safety, sustainability or all of the above. Whether it was wide tape applied to 3D tooling, an injection cell producing a foamed-core rotor blade every minute, an eVTOL blade designed to channel impact energy effectively, or reclaimed prepreg outperforming the original material, the materials repeatedly showed their ability to meet the needs of an evolving industry and provide the innovation needed to enable the next generation of aircraft.The real advantage lay in the techniques used for their placement, curing, joining and protection.

Source | FIBERSPACE

FIBERSPACE, a composite technology company founded in Racibórz, Poland, has expanded its operations to Luxembourg and added a new five-axis milling machine to its production line. FIBERSPACE covers the full project life cycle for composite parts — design, engineering, tooling, prototyping, industrialization and contract manufacturing — using autoclave prepreg manufacturing and high-speed press molding, and serves the space, defense, aerospace and automotive industries.

The company recently joined the Technoport SA incubator in Luxembourg, which it describes as a strategic step to build an international footprint alongside its existing manufacturing base in Poland. 

On the manufacturing side, FIBERSPACE says it has added a new five-axis milling machine from CMS SpA (Zogno, Italy) to its production infrastructure, which expands the company’s capacity for advanced machining and complex part production.

FIBERSPACE supplies interior and exterior composite components for hypercar manufacturers, spanning prototype through series production, and its space-sector work, which it says has included a component that has passed qualification testing and is currently operating in orbit. The company is also positioned to serve defense sector, citing demand for lighter, stronger composite structures in UAVs, unmanned systems, aerospace structures, ground vehicles and naval applications. 

FiberPress system. Source | Dieffenbacher

Dieffenbacher (Eppingen, Germany) is exhibiting hydraulic presses and automated forming solutions for the defense and aerospace sectors, along with its Evoris digitalization platform.

Brian Goodchild, head of sales for North America’S Forming Business Unit at Dieffenbacher, says the company will present its hydraulic presses and fully automated forming solutions for manufacturing ballistic protection equipment — including helmets, shields and body and vehicle armor — to partners and customers in the defense sector. “We’re also showcasing our solutions for the series production of components for the aerospace industry, such as Dieffenbacher’s Fiberforge tape laying system, our Cutting & Stacking systems for dry fiber fabrics and prepregs, our RTM press lines and our cross-industry digitalization solution, Evoris,” he adds.

Evoris, described as an AI-assisted digital platform for individual machines and complete production lines, comprises three components. Evoris Intelligence measures, collects and stores plant-wide, manufacturer-independent process and production data at a central location, which the company says helps make production processes more transparent, efficient and sustainable — a consideration for safety-critical industries such as aerospace and defense.

Evoris Connect is a digital customer portal offering an integrated ticket system, an order tracker for spare parts shipments, an equipment hub for a centralized view of a customer’s Dieffenbacher machine fleet and a digital spare parts catalog for documentation and ordering directly from drawings.

Evoris Control combines machine operation with integrated measurement systems and full access to the Evoris Intelligence and Evoris Connect tools, allowing entire plants to be operated from a single platform; the interface is designed to guide operators to relevant information at the right moment and scales across devices from smartphones to large-format displays.

The agreement, supported by the Norwegian Defence Materiel Agency (NDMA), enables a joint development program to demonstrate the feasibility of producing a large-scale engine case using additive manufacturing. Development work will be led from GKN Aerospace's facility in Kongsberg, Norway, and will utilize GKN Aerospace's laser-directed energy deposition with wire (L-DED-w) process, a technology developed and matured over several years. The goal is to produce a full-scale component while maintaining compatibility and interchangeability with the current engine design.

The component is expected to be among the first of its kind at this scale within military engine applications.

According to the companies, additive manufacturing has the potential to increase supply chain resilience and improve production processes by reducing lead times, lowering material usage and increasing overall efficiency. The collaboration will assess these benefits in the context of future aerospace applications.

A first demonstrator component is expected to be ready by 2027, and the product certified by the end of 2028.

"This agreement reflects our continued focus on advancing technologies that support the long-term needs of the F135 program," says Chris Johnson, vice president of the F135 Program at Pratt & Whitney. "We appreciate the collaboration with GKN Aerospace as we explore new manufacturing approaches that contribute to future engine readiness."

A CAD rendering of the ASPIRE wingtip demonstrator with the upper skin removed, revealing the spanwise spars, chordwise ribs, aerodynamic skin panels and multi-bay root fitting at the fold hinge line. Source | GKN Aerospace

Somewhere in GKN Aerospace’s (Bristol, U.K.) Global Technology Centre, there is a composite technician hand-rolling carbon fiber prepreg into what are known as noodles. These are individual sections nearly a meter long, shaped into a slender, triangular cross-section to become a deltoid filler that occupies the three-way radius joint where a composite spar or rib mates with the skin it’s stiffening. The technique, for all its precision, is not meaningfully different from what it was 30 years ago.

“The manual aspects of fabricating the noodles and other composite aerospace parts carry a weight in production far beyond the obvious,” says Tony Lloyd, GKN Aerospace principal composite research engineer and ASPIRE technical lead. “A next-generation single-aisle [NGSA] aircraft will require between 1,000 and 2,000 meters of these noodles per airframe. If Airbus reaches its stated production ambition of between 60 and 100 single-aisle aircraft per month, hand-rolling becomes a genuine bottleneck as a single anachronism that holds back an otherwise advancing manufacturing system.”

The noodle, in other words, is a symptom. The underlying condition is the composite aerospace industry’s persistent dependency on manufacturing approaches conceived in a different production era — where fiber layups are locked into the classic 0°/±45°/90° quasi-isotropic conventions, autoclave pressure vessels are required for curing and manual preforming is necessary for geometries that automated deposition cannot easily reach. These defaults have produced extraordinary structures. They have also reached the practical limit of what they can offer in terms of production rate, structural weight and embodied carbon for the next generation of narrowbody aircraft.

The ASPIRE consortium partners, GKN Aerospace, iCOMAT, Carbon ThreeSixty, Lineat, Pentaxia, the University of Bath and program manager Axillium, are clustered across the south and midlands of the U.K. Source | GKN Aerospace

This is the problem ASPIRE (Advanced Structural with Product Integrated AiRframE) was established to address. Launched in May 2025 and running through April 2028, the £12 million program is led by GKN Aerospace and partly funded through the U.K.’s Aerospace Technology Institute (ATI, Bedfordshire), Innovate UK (Swindon) and Department for Business and Trade (London). Its five specialist partners — iCOMAT (Bristol, U.K.), Carbon ThreeSixty (Chippenham, U.K.), Lineat Composites (Chepstow, U.K.), Pentaxia (Derby, U.K.) and the University of Bath (Bath, U.K.) — each address a specific failure mode in the current composites manufacturing paradigm. What makes ASPIRE unusual is that all five technologies are being deployed simultaneously, against the same structural geometry, and tested under the same conditions so the cumulative effect can be measured rather than estimated.

Three variants, one test campaign

The structural backbone of ASPIRE is a set of three full-scale composite wingtip variants, all derived from the folding wingtip geometry that Airbus (Toulouse, France) expects to feature on its next single-aisle aircraft. This is a design that extends the total effective wingspan by approximately 10 meters while allowing the tip to fold for airport gate compatibility. Airbus has provided baseline load cases and geometric guidance while GKN Aerospace holds design authority for the ASPIRE project. All three variants will be structurally tested to ultimate load at GKN’s Isle of Wight test facilities, the standard aerospace certification threshold representing 1.5X the maximum in-service load, with results expected in late 2027 and early 2028.

Variant 1 is a bonded assembly using more traditional build and design methods currently seen in aerospace but with an optimized structural architecture specifically for bonding. The method for bonding draws on the outputs of MaBOND, a parallel U.K. program led by GKN, that is advancing automated bonding methods for primary structures. Bonded construction reduces fastener count and part complexity and, if it passes ultimate load testing in a primary structure context, meaningfully advances the regulatory acceptance of bonded joints in single-aisle aircraft.

Variant 2 represents the current state of the art. It is a quasi-isotropic co-infused resin transfer molding (RTM) structure built using automated preform deposition, digital twin integration and GKN Aerospace’s SmaRTM processing. This variant is believed to be the best available today using the automated RTM cell developed through the preceding ASCEND program (read CW’s “ASCEND program completion”). Pentaxia’s JouleTool self-heated mold is integrated at this stage, providing low-energy, self-heated tooling for automated 3D preforming of the wingtip skins.

Variant 3 is where the existing rulebook is set aside. Nonstandard fiber angles, enabled by iCOMAT’s rapid tow shearing (RTS) technology, replace the quasi-isotropic default in the skins and spars. Low-energy dry fiber forming feeds GKN’s SmaRTM process. Carbon ThreeSixty’s stitched deltoid noodles manufactured from recycled carbon fiber (rCF) aligned through Lineat’s aligned fiber forming technology (AFFT) process replaces the hand-rolled fillers. The University of Bath’s probabilistic analysis tools provide the structural design confidence that will be needed before any of this approaches a production aircraft.

Alongside the three wingtips, ASPIRE is developing an optimized wing movable in the form of a notional flap demonstrator. The flap advances fast-cure thermoset prepreg-manufactured structures with RTS-optimized skins, tailored fiber placed (TFP) brackets and low-energy, out-of-autoclave (OOA) curing molds, with a key program milestone being the achievement of TRL 6 for fast-cure thermoset press-cured composite ribs. This builds directly on GKN Aerospace’s experience producing A350 flaps at its Munich, Germany facility.

Stitching the noodle

Carbon ThreeSixty brings more than 6 years of dry fiber TFP preform manufacturing experience to the deltoid noodle challenge. In TFP, which is essentially computer-controlled fiber embroidery onto a backing layer, the machine deposits fiber tow along a user-defined path, stitch-fixing it to the substrate and building up a near-net-shape preform without the cutting waste of conventional ply-based methods. The process has been proven across a wide range of structural preform geometries. For the ASPIRE project, the deltoid noodle introduces a specific new constraint where three knife-edge vertices converge toward a near-zero radius, each of which must be filled completely and held dimensionally through the infusion cycle.

Carbon ThreeSixty's TFP-manufactured deltoid noodle shows the triangular cross-section and stitch pattern that fills the three-way radius joint between a composite spar web and its flanges (top). A common skin-stiffener construction in the CAD-rendered ASPIRE wingtip demonstrator (bottom) shows the deltoid noodle (in blue), which achieves a stable, precise deltoid filler for the joint between T-stiffeners and skin. Sources | Carbon ThreeSixty (top) GKN Aerospace (bottom)

“In previous applications, we’ve been doing all sorts of different shapes but not trying to go down to that kind of knife edge,” notes Carbon ThreeSixty’s technical lead, Sarthak Mahapatra. “What’s different in ASPIRE is achieving a stable, precise fill of the deltoid corners in a format that stays dimensionally consistent right through to injection.” The company has filed a patent on the resulting manufacturing approach, which it views as foundational to broader TFP noodle applications across the aerospace supply chain.

The fiber for those noodles comes from Lineat, a University of Bristol spinout producing AFFT tape made from a short fiber material in which rCF has been re-aligned along a common axis using a proprietary fluid dynamics process. To understand what makes this difficult, consider the analogy of papermaking: paper mills disperse fibers into a random, isotropic slurry precisely to produce a uniform sheet. Lineat’s process does the opposite, driving alignment in a suspension of carbon fibers between 4 and 10 millimeters long and just 7 micrometers in diameter, producing a unidirectional (UD)-like tape from a discontinuous feedstock.

“The difference between a fiber being aligned and unaligned affects the whole specification and property of that material,” says Gary Owen, Lineat’s commercial director. “Understanding those fluid dynamics at a 7-micron scale, knowing how the shape of a droplet hitting a plate affects the flow, knowing how each variable interacts and validating the alignment of the material — that’s where the real complexity is.”

The resulting AFFT aligned fiber tape is stabilized with an acrylic binder, compatible with standard thermoset and thermoplastic matrix systems. Lineat’s pilot line can produce 1,000 meters of 100-millimeter-wide tape per day that scales substantially when the tape is reformatted to noodle-feed width.

Lineat’s AFFT tape is produced by re-aligning recycled short carbon fibers into a common axial orientation to achieve approximately 80% of the stiffness of virgin unidirectional (UD) carbon fiber. Source | Lineat

Critically, the AFFT tape retains approximately 80% of the stiffness of virgin UD carbon fiber, and for the noodle application, that figure is specification. A noodle should not transfer primary loads between structural elements; its function is void filling and local compressive stiffness at the radius joint. A continuous fiber running the full noodle length would intercept structural loads in the joint unpredictably, complicating the design of the spar geometry around it. Lineat’s short, aligned fiber architecture prevents that load path by design while still providing the stiffness needed to resist void collapse under infusion pressure.

The same AFFT tape may carry a second function in ASPIRE. Pentaxia is currently investigating whether Lineat’s recycled discontinuous fiber could serve as the heating element within its self-heated JouleTool molds. Carbon fiber is conductive, which makes it an attractive candidate for joule heating, but standard UD carbon fiber has low electrical resistance, demanding high currents at tool scale to generate sufficient heat. The short fiber breaks inherent in Lineat’s aligned discontinuous tape introduce resistance discontinuities throughout, increasing total resistance and reducing the current requirement. It is an unplanned synthesis between two partner technologies, and one that could simplify the company’s JouleTool’s electrical architecture considerably.

Steering the design

ICOMAT’s RTS technology (read CW’s “Industrializing rapid tape shearing for high-rate, 3D composite structures”) places fiber tows at nonstandard angles by shearing the tow width rather than bending the tow path. This eliminates the gaps and overlaps that conventional automated fiber placement (AFP) introduces above approximately ±30° from the primary deposition axis, and delivers a continuous, defect-free fiber architecture at orientations that AFP cannot achieve. The result is a vastly expanded design space, so rather than selecting from the three standard angle families, a designer working with RTS can specify any in-plane fiber direction at any point on the laminate surface.

For the ASPIRE wingtip skins and spars, this creates two simultaneous opportunities. Structurally, fibers can be continuously routed around access panel cutouts and geometric discontinuities, maintaining uninterrupted load paths where quasi-isotropic laminates would rely on local reinforcement overlays. In terms of manufacturability, pre-optimized fiber steering can counteract the wrinkling modes that develop when a flat laminate is drawn over a complex tool surface during forming, reducing defect initiation without adding post-cure rework. For the flap, iCOMAT’s team is addressing a more demanding geometry, where GKN Aerospace’s engineers self-identified a waffle-pattern internal structure which has a corrugated topology with frequent tight-radius folds as a forming challenge that conventional AFP could not resolve. RTS is being applied to define the fiber paths that enable that structure to be formed cleanly from a flat preform.

“There’s no easy way of designing variable-angle laminates using classic engineering rules,” explains Olivia Stodieck, iCOMAT’s director of composites engineering. “You need optimization algorithms that can handle the complexity, and then you need to communicate the design intent in a form your manufacturing partner can integrate directly into their tools.” A dedicated ASPIRE work package is building that integration layer linking iCOMAT’s RTS design and simulation environment with GKN Aerospace’s structural analysis tools so that fiber angle optimization and structural verification happen in a shared digital space, rather than sequentially across an interface.

An engineer operates iCOMAT’s rapid tow shearing (RTS) deposition head mounted on a six-axis ABB robot at the company's Gloucester facility. Source | iCOMAT

The University of Bath provides the analytical foundation to give confidence in the nonstandard angle composite designs. Professors Richard Butler and David Williams lead Bath’s contribution, drawing on a 15-year structural research partnership with GKN Aerospace that has involved more than 20 Ph.D.s, an EPSRC program grant (CERTEST) on composite certification and now an EPSRC prosperity partnership (ZENITH). Bath is developing analytical and numerical methods to take advantage of the design freedom given by nonstandard fiber angle composite laminates. These methods, in areas such as formability, damage tolerance, aeroelasticity and noodle performance, will provide input to the design process of wingtip Variant 3. The aim is to gain a deeper understanding of how these nonstandard angle laminates can be used most effectively to reduce weight while retaining performance and manufacturability. There is also a need to provide a route to increased use of analysis-based certification for these laminates.

“Because you’re freeing up the design space, it will be impossible to test all permutations,” says Butler. “The challenge is creating confidence in the analysis method so that it can become a tool for certification and something regulators can accept as a valid basis for approval without requiring a test campaign that could never be completed.”

The University of Bath has already engaged both the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) in early discussions about analysis-led certification pathways for nonstandard angle composites. ASPIRE Variant 3’s structural test results will be the first primary structure validation data those conversations can draw on.

Cutting the energy bill

A Pentaxia JouleTool test panel with embedded heating elements connected to a power supply, with surface thermocouples confirming a 200°C cure temperature. Source | Pentaxia

Autoclave curing is the energy-dominant step in composite wing manufacture, and for components at wing-structure scale, it is also the scheduling bottleneck. Pentaxia’s JouleTool addresses both by embedding resistive heating elements directly within the composite mold tool, allowing it to generate and apply cure heat from a standard electrical supply without the pressure vessel. The tool heats the part from the tool face outward rather than from the ambient atmosphere inward as it’s the most efficient direction thermally.

Pentaxia has been developing JouleTool through approximately 5 years of internal and commercial programs, and has demonstrated 80-90% energy savings compared to autoclave processing for large composite components. ASPIRE is the program that will take the technology to TRL 6 in an aerospace-scale, aerospace-quality manufacturing context. The primary deliverable is a lower wingtip skin preforming tool approximately 4 meters long × 1.5-2 meters wide, instrumented for RTM binder activation at 120°C, with a stretch objective of achieving 180°C cure for the advanced prepreg materials being used in the flap skins — around the thermal threshold for full prepreg consolidation and the most demanding condition the technology will face in a composite application.

“Our aim is that someone can give us their surface geometry and we can make a JouleTool package that suits their cure schedule and their component requirements,” says James Smith, business manager at Pentaxia. “The control unit has to be as familiar as an autoclave controller and enable automated cure input, scheduling and running.” The ASPIRE program control unit produces a digital twin output compatible with GKN Aerospace’s automated cell, making the JouleTool a native node in the digital manufacturing environment and enabling the real-time process monitoring that aerospace quality systems demand.

The heating element design itself remains in active development. Copper veil, which is the conventional material approach for internal heating, is effective but adds an extraneous material system within the composite tooling stack. UD carbon fiber as a heating element offers material consistency but generates low resistance, demanding high currents at tooling scale. The Lineat AFFT tape route would introduce a material that is already qualified within the program, provides tuneable resistance through fiber length and alignment density, and carries a sustainability benefit through its recycled feedstock. The ASPIRE program will determine which route offers the most robust engineering solution.

Demonstration to test 

The value of testing all three wingtip variants to ultimate load, rather than to a sub-scale coupon program or finite element predictions alone, is that the aerospace industry only has one currency for certification: physical evidence at relevant scale. All three variants are built to the same Airbus-derived geometry and tested under the same load cases. The weight differential between variants will be measured directly. More significantly, if the University of Bath’s probabilistic analysis tools correctly predict the structural behavior of Variant 3, ASPIRE will have demonstrated a route to certify nonstandard angle composite structures that the current regulatory framework does not yet accommodate.

ASPIRE follows the ASCEND program, which concluded in March 2025 and established the manufacturing infrastructure of automated RTM cells, high-rate prepreg systems, digital twins and sustainability frameworks on which several ASPIRE technologies are directly built. Where ASCEND asked how to produce composite structures faster and more consistently, ASPIRE asks what a genuinely reconceived structure looks like when those production capabilities are already in place. The two programs are sequential arguments in the same case: that the U.K. composites industry has the knowledge, the supply chain and the physical evidence to lead the next generation of commercial aircraft structures.  

“We’re not just trying to make things a bit lighter or a bit cheaper,” says GKN’s Lloyd. “We want to show that if you think differently about composites, if you use different design rules, recycled materials and better tooling, and then you test it the same way you’d test anything going on an aircraft, then you can achieve genuine benefit. Numbers on paper don’t move the aerospace industry. Test data does.”

By April 2028, ASPIRE will have produced the three ultimate load tested wingtip structures and an advanced movable wing, all built using technologies that today’s design and certification standards do not fully describe. That gap between what the tests will have shown and what the rulebooks currently allow is precisely what this program is designed to bridge.

Source (All Images) | BAE Systems

GKN Aerospace (Birmingham, U.K.) has completed the engineering, manufacture and full prototype integration of flight-ready wings, fins and control surfaces for the U.K.’s first collaborative combat aircraft (CCA) prototype, called Brontanax. Progressing from a clean sheet design within an accelerated timeline, BAE Systems (London, U.K.) used GKN Aerospace’s advanced composites manufacturing and assembly capabilities to meet strict technical requirements. 

The components were manufactured at GKN Aerospace’s state-of-the-art composite design and assembly facility at Cowes on the Isle of Wight in the U.K. “The rapid progression from concept to prototype integration is a remarkable achievement,” notes Mark Wilson, head of autonomous collaborative platforms at BAE Systems. “GKN Aerospace’s industrial expertise, agility and commitment to collaboration have been pivotal in delivering high-quality, flight-ready structures within a very compressed timeline."

GKN Aerospace says its success required an agile approach to product development and supply chain management, its global connected network of sites and expertise in world-class composites manufacture, novel tooling design and complex product assembly. This achievement underlines the company’s determination and willingness to apply its extensive sovereign industrial capabilities and expertise to meet the current and future needs of the U.K. defense sector alongside its other global customers.

For related content, read “GCAP Trinational Fighter Jet Program Takes Off With £4.6B Contract.”

Within the framework of the collaboration, Guaranteed and Lockheed Martin will explore the use of Guaranteed's custom technology for moldmaking applications and near-net-shape structural components. These applications have the potential to reduce buy-to-fly ratios, improve material efficiency, and support more resilient, sovereign and sustainable supply chains.

The collaboration is linked to the long-term industrial cooperation agreements associated with Belgium's F-35 program. These initiatives are designed to create high-tech manufacturing opportunities, strengthen the Belgian aerospace and defense ecosystem and contribute to broader socio-economic growth.

Guaranteed offers large-format metal printing capabilities, with a build envelope of up to 10 × 6 × 5 meters, combined with a one-stop-shop approach covering engineering, production, repair and process qualification. The company also develops full manufacturing recipes for complex and advanced products, including molds with conformal cooling channels and grid fin structures, as well as demanding materials such as 17-4 PH stainless steel and Ti-6Al-4V titanium alloy.

In addition, Guaranteed brings expertise in design for additive manufacturing (DFAM), thermo-mechanical simulation, metallurgical analysis, material selection and machine-learning-based process monitoring and quality control.

Founded in 2019, Guaranteed is a Belgian company supported by ArcelorMittal, Finindus and OCAS. It specializes in large-scale metal additive manufacturing for production and repair applications.

Source | Hexcel

Hexcel Corp. (Stamford, Conn., U.S.) has completed qualification of its HexPly M91 carbon fiber-reinforced epoxy prepreg system through the National Center for Advanced Materials Performance (NCAMP), an initiative of the National Institute for Aviation Research (NIAR) at Wichita State University (WSU, Kan., U.S.).

The qualification includes unidirectional  (UD) tape and plain weave fabric forms, establishing a fully characterized material system for use in primary aerospace structures and other structural applications. The company talks more about the M91 system in this LinkedIn video.

“This qualification marks an important step in expanding access to high-performance composite materials across the aerospace industry,” notes Imad Atallah, vice president of commercial aerospace growth programs and product management for fibers, reinforcements and matrix at Hexcel. “M91 builds on proven platforms while delivering the increased performance required for future aircraft and propulsion systems.”

Material allowables and supporting data have been published in the NCAMP database, where they are available to aerospace manufacturers to support design and certification.

The M91 system is designed for demanding primary structure aerospace applications. It combines an intermediate modulus carbon fiber with a toughened epoxy resin system engineered for improved structural performance. Compared with established baseline materials, the system offers enhanced tensile and compressive properties along with improved impact resistance for load-bearing structures. Hexcel has supplied M91 for use in advanced aerospace applications, such as carbon-fiber reinforced composite engine fan blades, over several years. 

The qualification also reflects Hexcel’s ongoing collaboration with NIAR and its efforts to develop, scale, validate and expand access to aerocomposites.

Allison Giddens is on the forefront of CMMC regulations, and has attended meetings at the Pentagon where she advocates for small businesses amid representatives from large defense companies.

It was kind of an accident that I stumbled upon manufacturing. I was working for a big media company right out of college, and I enjoyed the time there. I had no real qualms about where my career was headed, but then I got passed up for a promotion.

So I had pet sat for Dennis Winslow, who was the owner of Win-Tech at the time. And so I called him and said, “I want to come work for you.”

I sat across from Dennis and he said, “You can answer some phones and file some papers and learn a little bit here and there.” And he slid a number across the table to me and it was 30% less than what I was making.

Dennis had said on his way out the door, “I know it's not what you had your heart set on money-wise, but if you trust me, I think you could run the place one day.”

I ended up on the shop floor for a few weeks with three different journeyman machinists as they were creating a collet holder for the manual mill department. I had no idea what I was doing. But those men were so kind to me. Because they were welcoming and willing to teach me things, I think that was part of what kept me falling in a slow love with manufacturing.

By about 2018, my now business partner, John, and I walked into Dennis's office and said, “We've got all these grand ideas and we want to institute this and that.” Dennis sat back and he said, “Starting Monday, you two run the place for a year.”

Allison Giddens and her co-president, John, split their responsibilities for Win-Tech. While John handles the shop floor, Giddens handles the front office and ensures the shop stays in compliance with its requirements. This delegation has enabled her to prepare the shop for CMMC.

We make a very good team because right from the get-go, we established if anything is on the shop floor and we don't agree with it, it's John's. If it's on the office side, then I get veto power.

A lot of small businesses don't have time to go into the minutiae of CMMC, especially when it's not immediately returning investment. For John and I, while he's actually running the shop floor, my job is operations. My job is finance, IT. The weeds are where I'm supposed to be.

I made it a point. I thought, “This is going to set us apart.” And so we started going after CMMC in 2019. By 2025, when we could sign up for an assessment, we went ahead and did it and we weren't rushed.

We've branched out with the Veterans Accountability Court. When we found that organization, it was great because there were a handful of people in the program that either manufacturing was already on their radar or it was something they were willing to learn and they already had love for country. They had all these things that, if you're going to work for an aerospace and defense shop, well, we already know you're sharing some of these values.

It was COVID that prompted the Advanced Manufacturing Virtual Internship, the AMVI. This is coming up in July, and it's going to be our sixth year doing it. We've got 20 students. We started off at 12. The whole intent was, “How do we get this in front of people that may not otherwise have the opportunity to do so?” Now it's evolved into, “How do we also show other industries what we're all about?”

I think with the future of manufacturing, we're going to figure out how to do what we need to get done, but it's going to be more efficient. I do truly believe the future is going to be driven by wherever we figure our bottlenecks to be.

Source | Airlander

Hybrid Air Vehicles (HAV, Bedford, U.K.), the company behind the dual-use, composites-intensive hybrid Airlander aircraft, and Spanish dual-use tech company Defentia (Zaragoza), have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for strategic collaboration opportunities in Spain. Defentia specializes in industrialization, systems integration and specialist training for critical operations, with extensive governmental relationships.

The agreement will explore financing, production and partnership opportunities in Spain and will provide important access to European markets. The region’s growing investment in sustainable innovation and focus on dual-use capabilities make it a well-positioned market for Airlander 10 and its expansion across the European market. Defentia’s team add additional insight into the legal, political,and industrial landscape within the fast-growing defense and sustainability-focused nation. 

“Spain represents an important strategic opportunity for Hybrid Air Vehicles as we continue to develop a sustainable aviation business with clear dual-use relevance,” says Toni Green, head of the CEO’s office, HAV. “The country combines established aerospace and defence capability, access to European and international markets, and a strong policy and investment environment for the green transition.”

Read more about Airlander in “Airlander 10: The future of zero-carbon aviation” and “Luxury travel by airship returns” CW articles.

Hypersonix’s DART AE demonstrator vehicle. Source | Hypersonix Launch Systems

A team from hypersonics company Hypersonix Launch Systems (Brisbane, Australia) and The University of Queensland (UQ, Australia) has beaten the extreme heat produced when traveling more than 5X the speed of sound thanks to improved high-temperature ceramic matrix composites (CMC) development.

Through the use of expertise at UQ’s Centre for Advanced Materials Processing and Manufacturing (AMPAM), the team improved upon the manufacturing processes used to make CMC parts and designs addressing the differences in heat created throughout an aircraft colliding with air particles at very high speeds.

The project between Hypersonix and UQ, and supported by the Australian Composites Manufacturing CRC (then known as SOMAC), was announced in 2023, shortly after the startup was awarded a contract under the U.S. Defense Innovation Unit’s Hypersonic and High-Cadence Airbourne Testing (HYCAT) program.

“We are proud to have supported this 2-year project early on in the CRC’s term,” says ACM CRC CEO Luke Preston. “It has developed important and valuable technology in service of an ambitious Australian company’s goals, and with commercial potential across space, energy and defense.”

“To my knowledge, the capability for these types of CMC parts doesn’t exist beyond a lab level in Australia,” says Sam Grieve, head of manufacturing, Hypersonix. “There are no large-scale production facilities for CMCs in Australia. There’s a developed industry in Europe, particularly Germany, but Australia is very much in the early stages. I would say that the facilities that Dr. Michael Heitzmann [program lead] has developed at UQ are forging a sovereign capability.” 

Hypersonix’s DART AE reached speeds greater than Mach 5 during its first flight on Feb. 27, 2026, at Wallops Island, Virginia. The mission was designated Cassowary Vex by the DIU (and flew as “That’s Not A Knife” with Rocket Lab). The autonomous, 3.5-meter aircraft (seen above) was carried into the upper atmosphere by Rocket Lab’s HASTE launch vehicle, before executing its hypersonic flight profile, gathering flight data and testing its propulsion, materials and control systems in real hypersonic conditions.

Hypersonix was founded in 2019 by David Waterhouse and Dr. Michael Smart, the latter an ex-UQ chair of hypersonic propulsion and NASA researcher. The company closed a Series A funding round in October 2025 with $46 million from investors.

Source | Joby Aviation

Joby Aviation Inc. (Santa Cruz, Calif., U.S.) and Virgin Atlantic (London, U.K.) have signed a definitive, multiyear commercial agreement, converting a partnership the companies first announced in 2025 into a binding framework to launch service for Joby’s composites-intensive S4 electric air taxi in the U.K.. The S4 airframe relies on carbon fiber-reinforced composite structures and Joby began producing composite propeller blades at its Dayton, Ohio, facility in October 2025 to support planned production of up to 500 aircraft per year (see Learn more below).

The agreement establishes Virgin Atlantic as Joby’s exclusive airline partner for air taxi service in the U.K. and builds on Joby’s existing partnership with Delta Air Lines (Atlanta, Ga., U.S.), which holds a 49% stake in Virgin Atlantic, linking the three companies to advance faster, more convenient regional travel. Virgin Atlantic will integrate Joby’s service into its booking platforms, including its mobile app and website, allowing travelers to reserve air taxi connections alongside long-haul flights.

Joby plans to launch service at Virgin Atlantic’s hubs in London and Manchester, with the latter anchoring connections across the north of England. Early routes are expected to include Manchester Airport to Leeds in ~15 minutes and Heathrow to Central London in as little as 8 minutes — trips that take more than 1 hour by car today. Joby will retain responsibility for aircraft operations, route management and securing regulatory approval from the U.K. Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), while Virgin Atlantic will support infrastructure integration and customer acquisition.

According to Aviation Week, which spoke with Joby at the Farnborough Air Show, the company still has additional certification work ahead before it can carry paying passengers. Ife Ogunleye, Joby’s systems engineering and certification lead, told Aviation Week that the company must complete several prerequisites under FAA Part 21.35 — the regulation governing flight tests required for type certification — before beginning for-credit certification flight testing with an FAA test pilot.

“The regulation has specific requirements of all the things you have to do,” says Ogunleye in the article, adding that Joby is now working through them with the FAA. Joby is pursuing parallel validation with the CAA, the Japan Civil Aviation Bureau and Australia’s Civil Aviation Safety Authority, and Ogunleye described the FAA relationship as collaborative, noting the agency has worked to harmonize its approach with international counterparts.

Three additional conforming S4 aircraft are expected to join Joby’s test fleet by year’s end, and the company’s approach to FAA type inspection authorization will allow specific tests to be transferred across different airframes rather than tying individual tests to individual aircraft. Ogunleye notes in the Aviation Week article that destructive testing will be limited to structural components rather than full conforming aircraft.

Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI, Seoul, South Korea) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Embraer (São José dos Campos, Brazil) to establish cooperation in aircraft structures.

As reported by Airframer, the MOU sets out a framework for identifying future areas of collaboration and exploring business opportunities between the two companies. Cooperation is expected to cover research and development for new technologies, along with the identification of opportunities across aircraft structures more broadly.

The scope of the agreement extends to design, engineering, manufacturing and quality control, with both companies prioritizing the optimization of manufacturing processes and improved cost competitiveness. KAI and Embraer intend to combine their respective aerospace engineering, aircraft development and manufacturing capabilities, with a focus on strengthening technological and industrial competitiveness and improving manufacturing efficiency.

“This MOU with Embraer represents a significant step forward in expanding KAI’s international partnerships with leading global aerospace companies,” says KAI president Kim Jong-chul. “We look forward to working closely together to explore future collaboration possibilities based on our shared interest in aircraft structures and future aerospace technologies.”

The agreement builds on both companies’ existing positions in the aerospace supply chain, with KAI’s engineering base and Embraer’s aircraft development and manufacturing experience forming the basis for the planned cooperation. Further details on specific programs or timelines have not yet been disclosed.

Source: Lyten

Lyten, a supermaterials applications company, and Modovolo, a maker of U.S.-manufactured 3D printers and drones, have jointly announced a partnership to advance the global expansion of the BFP, Modovolo's modular 3D printing platform designed for high-performance parts in aviation, automotive and industrial machinery. The BFP platform has been optimized to run on Lyten's 3D graphene-enhanced filaments, creating a lighter, stronger and faster printing solution.

Modovolo developed the BFP to address the growing demand for a U.S.-sourced, U.S.-made 3D printer capable of producing large, complex commercial, industrial and defense-grade parts where customers need them. The modular, transportable design is intended to eliminate supply chain dependencies and be deployed in demanding conditions while still delivering aerospace-grade quality.

Lyten's 3D printing filament, PA1205, is an ultra-high strength, lighter-weight nylon-based filament that, according to the company, outperforms carbon fiber-based alternatives in X-Y axis tensile strength (+100%), Z axis tensile strength (+40%) and impact resistance (+50%). PA1205 also provides improved temperature performance and faster print speeds, with minimal warping and without sacrificing dimensional accuracy.

Justin Call, Modovolo CEO and co-founder, says, "We selected Lyten's filaments for our BFP platform after an exhaustive search for high-performance materials. Lyten's PA1205 enables us to print stronger and lighter parts while maintaining a better print finish and speed vs competing products. Lyten's filaments are an integral part of our product roadmap."

Call adds, "We built BFP out of necessity. We could not find a 3D printer fast enough and affordable enough to produce aerospace-grade components at scale for our drones. We have grown from there to now deploy a fully US-sourced, US-manufactured industrial-scale printer. Combining BFP with Lyten's ultra-high-performance filaments now gives us the ability to instantly stand up modular factories, anywhere in the world, capable of delivering aviation and industrial grade products."

Dan Cook, Lyten CEO and co-founder, says, "Our goal is to prove better performing, better priced products can be both sourced and manufactured locally, creating supply chain resiliency and business model flexibility for customers. We use Lyten's proprietary 3D Graphene to not just make better 3D printing filaments, but to enable aerospace, motorsports and industrial customers to rethink how they design, how they manufacture, and how they supply products around the world."

Modovolo has been utilizing Lyten's filaments since 2025 for the manufacturing of its Lift Quadcopter-X, a multi-payload, ultra-lightweight drone designed to handle commercial, first responder and defense tasks within a single system.

Source | Massivit

Massivit (Lod, Israel and Alpharetta, Ga., U.S.) is opening and operation its first Europe-based Service Center in Barcelona, Spain, which will function under the company’s Europe entity in support of Massivit’s recently launched RapidWings manufacturing platform (read “...Platform Reduces Composite Tooling Lead Times for Defense, Aerospace”). 

In light of global aerospace and defense market requirements for on-demand manufacturing (“On the Radar: 3D Printing and the Agile Production Imperative”), the Europe Service Center was established to provide high-speed tooling — including molds, masters, mandrels, jigs, fixtures and prototype tooling — that reduces traditional tooling lead times from months to days, enabling manufacturers to overcome existing backlogs.

At the heart of the facility lies Massivit’s Cast In Motion (CIM) digital tooling technology that the company says will allow composited manufacturers to bypass recognized tooling bottlenecks and supply chain constraints. Based on defense projects already completed via the RapidWings platform, manufacturers can expect a tooling lead time reduction of up to 90%.

The Service Center offers manufacturers a seamless workflow from digital CAD design through 3D printed tool to final machined part. Unlike conventional tooling methods that involve modeling foams, tooling boards or 3D printed thermoplastics, CIM technology delivers isotropic tooling that provides optimal dimensional stability, thermal resistance, adhesion and surface quality, making the tools suitable for autoclave and a range of temperatures. The molds can also withstand hundreds of cycles, thereby responding to the immediate demand for mass-production of drones, airframes and composite structures.

In addition, the Service Center is intended to serve as the first step for future deployment of global RapidWings service and production centers which will be operated independently or through a third-party cooperation model (Joint Manufacturing Alliance network).

Syensqo and Airbus teams meet at Farnborough Airshow 2026. Source | Syensqo 

Syensqo (Brussels, Belgium) has secured a new long-term supply agreement with Airbus (Toulouse, France). Under the contract, Syensqo will continue to supply a broad range of advanced materials from its portfolio including prepregs, resin transfer molding (RTM) resins, adhesives and primers to support Airbus programs across commercial aircraft, space and defense, and helicopter platforms.

The aerospace and defense market is experiencing unprecedented growth, driven by increasing demand for advanced materials that enable efficient manufacturing processes and support ambitious production rates (several related announcements were made at Farnborough 2026). With its global manufacturing network, application development capabilities and deep industry expertise, Syensqo is confident that it is well positioned to partner with OEMs and Tier suppliers to meet these evolving market needs.

Aerospace continues to be an important growth driver for Syensqo, with sustained demand in civil aviation expected to support volume growth in its Composite Materials business throughout 2026. The company is planned to support the MV-75 Cheyenne defense aircraft, while it broke ground at a site in Maryland focused on aerocomposites production support.

Source | NASA

NASA has selected seven companies for contract awards under the Mars Exploration Program’s Science Transport and Robotic Innovation for Deployment and Exploration (STRIDE) initiative to advance next-gen commercial robotic surface mobility for future Mars exploration.

The STRIDE awards will support the development of innovative robotic mobility systems that may enable future Mars missions to access more challenging terrain, travel greater distances and investigate scientifically valuable regions that are difficult to reach with current mobility systems.

With a potential value of ≈$17 million and work targeted to begin in Q3 2026, the all-U.S. list of contract awardees includes:

• AeroVironment (Arlington, Va.)
• Astrobotic (Pittsburgh, Pa.)
• Venturi Astrolab (Hawthorne, Calif.)
• Ground Control Robotics (Atlanta, Ga.)
• Honeybee Robotics (Longmont, Colo.)
• Intuitive Machines (Houston, Texas)
• MEI Technologies (Webster, Texas)

As reported by Mark Carreau in a July 2026 Aviation Week article, NASA currently has two rovers actively exploring Mars. Curiosity landed in August 2012 to investigate changes in the environmental habitability of Mars over time, while Perseverance touched down in February 2021 with the Ingenuity drone helicopter to seek evidence of past biological activity. Three previous NASA Mars rovers—the Mars Pathfinder Sojourner and the Mars Exploration Rovers, Spirit and Opportunity — landed in 1997 and 2004. Though successful, they struggled with issues that included mobility in the Martian sand and dust storms that inhibited solar power generation.

The mobility failures that STRIDE is meant to solve — rovers mired in soft sand, solar arrays choked with dust and mass budgets too tight for redundant systems — are problems composites have already been used to address elsewhere in Mars and Moon missions hardware. Carbon fiber composite rotor blades enabled Ingenuity to fly in an atmosphere less than 1% as dense as Earth’s while composite pressure vessels cut mass from Nova-C’s lunar landing-proven propulsion system. Composite rover wheels have also been engineered, at nano-rover scale, for the same loose-regolith traction problem NASA cited when describing Spirit and Opportunity’s struggles.

Through its Artemis program, NASA plans to build a knowledge base for future human expeditions to Mars, first sending astronauts on increasingly difficult missions to the Moon with plans to establish a sustainable human presence via a base camp developed in phases starting in 2028 with the Artemis IV mission. CW will be watching to see if and how these STRIDE awardees apply composites as the start to develop Mars mobility design concepts.

Source (All Images) | NLR

The recent addition of a Plasmatreat (Steinhagen, Germany) atmospheric plasma treatment system to expand its Structures Technologies department capacity highlights the ways in which the Netherlands Aerospace Centre (NLR, Amsterdam) continues to invest in state-of-the-art facilities to strengthen its research and innovation capabilities.

Atmospheric plasma treatment is widely recognized in the aerospace industry for improving the surface wettability of materials, resulting in stronger substrate-adhesive interaction and enhanced bond performance. According to the NLR, adhesive bonding becomes an increasingly attractive alternative to traditional welding and mechanical fastening for composite and metallic aerostructures — including wings, fuselages and control surfaces — and remains essential for airframe repair (read “Plasma moves beyond improved bonding to coatings, multifunctional composites).

The NLR’s new system is already supporting research within projects such as Luchtvaart in Transitie, SUBSONIC and MaJoR, where its teams are investigating bonded joints for thermoset and thermoplastic composites. Future research will focus on hybrid bonded joints, including composite-to-metal and thermoset-to-thermoplastic combinations.

Expansion of these capabilities strengthen’s the NLR’s support for OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers in developing next-gen, lightweight, high-performance aerostructures and helps to extend the design possibilities of hybrid bonded structures.

Contact info@nlr.nl to learn more about its bonding technology research. Also read more about Plasmatreat on CW and visit the #Bonding topics page.

Source | GE Aerospace

CFM International (Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S., and Paris, France) — the joint company of GE Aerospace (Evendale, Ohio, U.S.) and Safran Aircraft Engines (Paris, France) — has announced completed preliminary design reviews (PDR) for its Open Fan engine — including the compact core, open fan architecture and outlet guide vanes (OGVs) — clearing the way to begin manufacturing parts for a ground test demonstrator and testing by 2030.

Open Fan is a jet engine architecture developed under CFM’s Revolutionary Innovation for Sustainable Engines (RISE) program, launched in 2021. Eliminating the traditional engine casing, the design allows for a larger fan with less drag and OGVs — the second row of airfoils behind the fan — directing airflow so the open architecture can match the speed and altitude of current turbofan engines while delivering more than 20% more fuel efficiency. The Open Fan engine is also being designed for enhanced durability, according to a July 2026 article by GE Aerospace, “with its unique fan blade system, aerodynamic design and adaptive cycle engine capability, which could significantly reduce the engine’s dust ingestion.”

Source | Safran

With PDR of the Open Fan and OGV airfoils complete, CFM says it’s “leveraging both composite turbofan blade technology experience and turboprop expertise in blade retention, variable pitch and durable propeller structures” while “unique supercomputing capabilities are optimizing designs for acoustics and aerodynamics.”

Advanced Open Fan testing

Mechanical and material tests are underway on Open Fan blades and OGVs, including impact, ingestion, fatigue, endurance, load, icing and vibration response. First results from test campaigns, including wind tunnel facilities, have demonstrated that aeroacoustics performance has exceeded technology maturation objectives.

“While Open Fan is a new architecture, the technologies inside have been proven over decades of innovation,” says Arjan Hegeman, vice president of future of flight engineering for GE Aerospace, one of CFM’s parent companies. “We’re testing real, full-size Open Fan hardware, showing real progress and a renewed ambition from CFM to advance the RISE program and deliver the vital technology step-changes for durability and efficiency to power the future of air travel.”

The first high-speed low-pressure turbine (LPT) — part of the fan system — was also recently tested for more than 1,000 hours. Teams validated the LPT’s aerodynamic design as well as its aerothermal performance.

Dust ingestion tests underway

Open Fan architecture has inherent durability advantages compared to a next-generation conventional engine design, including cooler core temperatures and adaptive cycle technology for more effective particle extraction. Durability testing is being conducted earlier than ever in new technology development to improve hardware designs, which is important for customer operations. Teams also completed the compact core system’s PDR.

More than 2,000 cycles of dust ingestion tests have been completed to evaluate next-gen high-pressure turbine (HPT) airfoil technologies in an engine core. A second dust ingestion test of RISE program HPT technologies inserted in a more product-representative LEAP-1B engine is also improving understanding of how next-gen technologies could benefit the fleet today.

Hybrid electric ground tests

Both CFM parent companies are actively ground testing hybrid-electric systems through the RISE program. GE Aerospace completed two hybrid electric engine ground tests within the last year, demonstrating the feasibility of more electric aviation with and without energy storage.

Safran Aircraft Engines is making significant progress in hybrid-electric propulsion. The company launched PHILEAS, a ground testing campaign at its Istres site in France. PHILEAS is a full-scale engine demonstrator equipped with two electric machines designed for short- and medium-range aircraft engines.

“The RISE program is gaining strong momentum, moving from concept to reality,” says Pierre Cottenceau, engineering and R&T EVP, Safran Aircraft Engines. “More than 2,000 CFM engineers are advancing the technologies that will enable the next generation of propulsion. We are validating every key building block for Open Fan, supported by extensive testing capabilities. As we prepare to test a full-scale front module of the Open Fan in our new 8-meter test cell at Villaroche, we are building on decades of expertise, including for composite fan blades, to shape the future of aviation.”

As reported by Aviation Week, GE’s efforts also involve “testing a megawatt-class hybrid-electric engine system on a modified Saab 340B testbed.” That follows the completion of ground tests of the propulsion system at the company’s facility in Peebles, Ohio. Developed through NASA’s Electrified Powertrain Flight Demonstration (EPFD) project, the propulsion system is based on a GE CT7 turboprop fitted with GE-developed motor/generators, power converters, inverters and controllers. The engine is also configured with Dowty propellers, Avio Aero gearboxes and batteries provided by BAE Systems. The nacelle is supplied by Boeing subsidiary Aurora Flight Sciences.

Park Aerospace made the announcement at Farnborough Air Show 2026. Source | Oklahoma Commerce

Tulsa International Airport (TUL) has secured another major aerospace tenant with Park Aerospace Corp. (Newton, Kan., U.S.) selecting the airport’s North Development Area for an aerospace composites manufacturing expansion.

Park Aerospace has been in business for more than 70 years and has served the aerospace industry for more than 50 years. Its products are used in many demanding commercial aerospace and defense applications.

The company plans to invest approximately $65 million to construct an advanced composite materials manufacturing facility on 18 acres at TUL. Construction is expected to begin soon, with the facility anticipated to be completed in 2028. Once operational, the facility is expected to employ more than 100 people.

The announcement, made in partnership with the state of Oklahoma, represents another significant milestone in Tulsa’s continued momentum as one of the nation’s premier locations for aerospace innovation. Park Aerospace joins a growing list of aerospace companies investing in TUL’s aerospace campus. In 2026 alone, the airport welcomed major investments from Agile Space Industries’ propulsion testing and manufacturing expansion, Quantum Space’s new spacecraft manufacturing facility and continued growth by long-time tenant Lufthansa Technik Component Services.

Supporting Park Aerospace’s ecosystem is a strong talent pipeline, with nationally recognized aviation and aerospace education programs at the high school, career technology and collegiate levels.

Source | PPG

PPG (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) has announced the debut of its Aeroview virtual aircraft painter, a web-based digital tool that provides an interactive platform for users to select from a variety of aircraft models and digitally apply colors from PPG’s aerospace color library to visualize custom paint schemes in real time.

“The PPG Aeroview virtual aircraft painter is a sophisticated, easy-to-use solution for designers, fleet managers, maintenance planners and aviation enthusiasts to visualize and select aircraft coatings with confidence,” says Lirong Bao, PPG global platform director, aerospace coatings. “By allowing users to digitally customize paint schemes on specific aircraft models, this tool helps reduce design uncertainty, minimize costly repaint errors and accelerate project approvals.”

The Aeroview virtual tool is designed primarily for business and general aviation markets by enabling full 3D renderings of aircraft in various colors and liveries in real time. Key benefits of Aeroview include:

• Reduced need for physical color books.
• Creative support with hundreds of color and finish combinations.
• Improved customer experience through an intuitive, web-based interface.
• Ability to select aircraft models and digitally apply colors and finishes for realistic previews.
• Capability to save, share and archive designs for future reference and maintenance planning.
• Integration with PPG Liverylab studio, a service that assists customers with livery design projects.

The tool is currently available for U.S. aerospace coatings products only.

Source | Lanulfi Moulds S.r.l.

Lanulfi Moulds S.r.l. (Vicenza, Italy) is showcasing its expertise in designing and manufacturing high-precision molds and tooling for the truck and aerospace industries at CAMX 2026, with a focus on reactive injection molding (RIM) alongside thermoforming, rotational molding, compression molding and functional prototyping. For more than 45 years, the company has developed customized tools for technical parts requiring reliability, lightweight design, surface quality and process repeatability, supporting customers from concept through full-scale production.

In the truck segment, Lanulfi supports production of exterior and interior components for commercial and special vehicles, including cab parts, body panels, fenders, hoods, covers and structural elements designed for harsh operating conditions. The molds are engineered for stable processes, optimized cycle times and consistent quality, intended to help OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers reduce production costs and maintenance over the life of the tool.

For aerospace applications, Lanulfi focuses on composite components where dimensional accuracy, weight reduction and surface finish are critical to both safety and appearance. RIM molds are designed to produce complex geometries and integrated functions, with resin flow and curing control intended to deliver repeatable part quality that meets industry specifications. The company’s experience with advanced materials and tight tolerances supports prototypes, small production runs and serial programs.

At its booth, Lanulfi is presenting high-efficiency aluminum molds with optimized thermal control, design-for-manufacturing (DFM) support using simulation and rapid prototyping capabilities intended to speed validation of new components. The company also plans to present case histories illustrating how early engineering collaboration can reduce iterations, shorten time to market and lower total cost of ownership for tooling. 

Lanulfi also offers an integrated approach to tooling projects that combines models, jigs, fixtures and dedicated auxiliary equipment with technical cooperation spanning industrial design through ramp-up and after-sales service, intended to support current programs and future platform development for truck and aerospace manufacturers.

A Sikorsky Fire Hawk helicopter begins production at PZL Mielec in Poland. Source | PZL Mielec

In a milestone for European aerial firefighting and emergency response, PZL Mielec  (Mielec, Poland), a Lockheed Martin company, has commenced production of Europe’s first Sikorsky S-70 Firehawk helicopters. The aircraft are being manufactured for the Czech Republic Ministry of the Interior through a partnership with Česká letecká servisní (ČLS), a Helicopter Alliance (HA) company and United Rotorcraft.

The Firehawk is a purpose-built variant of the Black Hawk helicopter. The latter series is known for its extensive composites use — the wide-chord, four-blade main rotor; tail rotor cross beams; glass fiber and Kevlar cockpit doors, canopy, fairings and engine cowl; and glass fiber/Nomex floors; and reportedly received an improved turbine engine in 2024 using CMC. The S-70’s inboard firefighting tank system is also “assembled from commercially available composite panels by Leading Edge Composites,” led by the helicopter’s entry into civilian use with Brainerd Helicopters.

The Firehawk will enable the Czech Republic to launch rapid, all‑weather suppression missions from its home base and, through the European Commission’s RescuEU program, enabling rapid cross‑border deployment whenever wildfire, flood or earthquake emergencies arise.

Beyond the immediate tactical benefit, the program underscores Europe’s strategic move toward self‑reliant, high‑technology defense and civil‑security capabilities. “This production start is the first concrete step toward a continent‑wide, modern aerial firefighting network,” emphasizes Dr. Dennis Goege, vice president and chief executive for Europe, Lockheed Martin. 

The program illustrates a seamless collaboration among PZL Mielec, ČLS and U.S.-based United Rotorcraft (Englewood, Colo.), which will be expanding its capabilities into the Czech Republic. The team at PZL Mielec’s state‑of‑the‑art facility in Poland assembles each Black Hawk airframe with the support of more than 1,200 local suppliers. United Rotorcraft will integrate mission‑specific firefighting equipment, conduct crew training and provide long‑term sustainment, ensuring that the Czech operators receive a turnkey solution that mirrors the operational maturity relied upon by U.S. agencies including CAL FIRE, the County of Los Angeles Fire Department and others.

Each Firehawk is equipped with a 1,000‑gallon (3,785-liter) water tank, retractable snorkel, twin engines and night‑vision capability.

Source | iCOMAT, NCC 

ICOMAT (Bristol, U.K.) and NCC (Bristol, U.K.) have successfully produced a 5-meter aerospace wing skin using rapid tow shearing (RTS) equipment, deposited directly onto complex 3D tooling. This milestone is described as the largest and most representative aerospace validation of RTS equipment completed to date, moving the technology from flat-panel demonstrations to representative aircraft geometry.

RTS is a fiber placement process that decouples fiber steering from tape width, allowing wide material formats to follow complex load paths and 3D geometries. This approach is intended to provide a scalable route to composites production without the throughput penalties typically associated with steering fibers along curved paths. 

The developed wing skin is a 5.8 × 1.5-meter representative structure, almost 11 millimeters in its thickest areas and around 6 millimeters in the thinnest. The demonstrator combined iCOMAT’s deposition strategy, manufacturing methodology and robotic programming with NCC’s design and manufacturing philosophy, industry-standard tooling and validation expertise. It was built using aerospace-grade prepreg materials on complex 3D tooling and was assessed against real aerospace manufacturing requirements. Tape design, validation, programming, deposition, cure, computer numerical control (CNC) trim and paint were completed end-to-end at iCOMAT’s manufacturing facility in Gloucester.

Interestingly, shearing was actually minimized on this demonstrator to provide close proximity with existing, highly certified processes. A subsequent demonstrator is focused on exploring the benefits that true fiber shearing can achieve in terms of rate and quality.

This milestone is positioned as a step toward high-rate, lower-cost composite aerostructures for civil, defense and space applications.

Read more on LinkedIn. For related content, read “ICOMAT Establishes Factory II to Grow Composites Processing Capacity.”

Source | Aimplas

Weight reduction and improved energy efficiency are two major challenges facing the aeronautics industry as it transitions toward more sustainable models. Against this backdrop, the RE-CELL project is developing an innovative generation of supercapacitors and structural batteries based on recycled carbon fiber (rCF), capable of storing energy while simultaneously forming part of the aircraft structure itself.

The initiative, coordinated by international aerostructures manufacturer Sofitec (Sevilla, Spain) with the participation of Aimplas, the Plastics Technology Centre (Valencia, Spain) and I2con (Valencia, Spain), proposes a paradigm shift in the design of aeronautical components through the use of multifunctional composite materials that combine mechanical properties with energy-storage capacity, thereby eliminating separate systems and optimizing an aircraft’s overall weight.

“The major challenge in aviation electrification is not only to store more energy, but to do so without adding a weight penalty. Structural batteries make precisely that possible, as the component itself performs both a structural and an energy function,” explains Esteban Castro, R&D engineer at Sofitec. These solutions will initially target noncritical applications, such as cabin lighting systems, laying the groundwork for broader integration in the future.

One of the project’s distinguishing features is the use of rCF as the basis for developing these new materials, which supports waste reduction in composites-intensive sectors and progress towards a circular economy model. To achieve this, the project is developing advanced fiber recycling and treatment processes, as well as their integration into polymer matrices so that the materials are capable of providing structural and electrochemical performance.

RE-CELL is not just addressing materials. It is also considering other limiting factors behind structural batteries, including the development of functional solid electrolytes, the variability of recycled fibers, and the complexity of combined mechanical and electrochemical behavior.

“One of the project’s main advances is to address phenomena that, until now, have been studied separately, such as ionic conduction and the material’s mechanical behavior. This integrated approach is essential to make the leap toward real applications,” notes Florin Ardelean, a researcher in computational modeling and simulation at I2con. 

The project will culminate in the manufacture and validation of a full-scale demonstrator integrated into a component linked to aircraft landing gear. This will make it possible to assess the technology’s performance under representative conditions and advance toward future industrialization.

RE-CELL is part of the 2023 Public-Private Partnership program, funded by the Spanish State Research Agency (AEI) and co-funded by the European Union. 

Belmont Equipment & Technologies will feature the MX-226C ZNC EDM sinker, showcasing a compact machine design that delivers powerful EDM performance in a space-saving footprint.

Part of Belmont's exclusive Maxicut Series, a proven EDM sinker platform since 1994, the MX-226C combines the EDM generator with user-friendly EDM settings designed to streamline setup and features a compact machine body that houses the oil reservoir within the machine base. This configuration reduces floor space requirements and eliminates cables on the shop floor.

The MX-226C features X-, Y- and Z-axis travels of 11.8" × 9.8" × 5.9", an open height of 9.4" and a maximum workpiece weight capacity of 1,760 lbs. Key features include a programmable Z-axis that automatically controls depth and generator settings from roughing through finishing cycles, as well as conversational G and M code programming that simplifies programming and reduces operator learning time.

Additional capabilities include a linear glass scale with one-micron resolution and the ability to interface with ancillary devices such as rotary tables, indexers and workpiece-handling systems. An optional adaptive logic control continuously monitors cutting conditions to help prevent arcing and shorting during challenging machining applications.

Designed for moldmaking, tool and die, aerospace and production environments, the MX-226C delivers the precision, performance and ease of use that manufacturers demand.

Source | Sonaca Group

Sonaca Group (Gosselies (Charleroi), Belgium) announces the signing of a multiyear contract with Otto Aerospace (Fort Worth, Texas, U.S.) for the development of the Phantom 3500 business jet.

At the heart of the program is a concept known as natural laminar flow, which helps reduce aerodynamic drag by maintaining a smoother airflow over the aircraft’s surfaces. While the principle has been known for decades, applying it successfully to a large aircraft wing remains a major engineering challenge.

Under this partnership, Sonaca will be responsible, in close collaboration with Otto Aerospace, for the design, industrialization and manufacturing of the prototype’s wings, fixed leading edges and empennage. The group will also support certification activities.

While the Sonaca announcement doesn’t explicitly state materials use in describing the wing, previous coverage verifies the aircraft’s use of carbon fiber composites to achieve efficiency targets. Sonaca itself maintains established composites manufacturing capabilities, in addition to its more widely known metallics expertise, with dedicated composite sites internationally — including a Spanish facility that specializes in the manufacture of aeronautical components from composite materials, including large structural parts. Materials the prototype wing will leverage will likely be detailed further down the line.

Around 50 engineers from Sonaca’s Belgian and Brazilian development teams are currently involved in the Phantom 3500 program, with the first deliveries scheduled for 2027. 

Beyond its improved environmental performance, the Phantom 3500 is expected to offer greater operational flexibility, enabling access to a wider range of airports than conventional business jets. For Yves Delatte, CEO of Sonaca Group, the program reflects the type of technological challenge that aligns with Sonaca’s expertise. “Industrializing a 20-meter laminar flow wing with the level of precision required for aircraft certification is a challenge,” Delatte says. “This is exactly the kind of engineering challenge that defines Sonaca’s expertise.”

The agreement is also part of a broader collaboration with Otto Aerospace and supports Sonaca’s strategy of expanding its presence in innovative, technology-driven programs alongside its commercial aerospace, defense and space activities.

TX-45 fabric. Source | A&P Technology

Toray Composite Materials America Inc. (Toray CMA, Tacoma, Wash., U.S.) announces the availability of its proven 3960 prepreg system in an off-axis ±45° braided fabric format. This format provides composite designers in the aerospace and defense markets with an alternative to traditional 0°/90° woven prepreg, engineered to reduce waste, improve manufacturing efficiency and increase production rates.

The ±45° bias fiber weave format, produced in collaboration with A&P Technology (Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.), is ideal for any application requiring high-aspect ratio, off-axis reinforcement, particularly for aerospace primary and secondary structures such as wings, spars and stringers. Long, uninterrupted 45° plies are difficult to achieve with traditional woven prepreg, Toray CMA explains. Because 45° plies make up half of a standard quasi-isotropic layup (0°, +45°, -45°, 90°), manufacturers are able to divide nesting operations between 0°/90° 3960 prepreg fabric and ±45° 3960 prepreg, reducing scrap generated during the cutting and splicing of off-axis plies.

“The ±45° braided format gives our customers a real alternative to traditional woven prepreg, cutting scrap, speeding up layup and helping programs hit higher production rates without sacrificing structural performance,” says Jeff Cross, principal director for defense programs at Toray CMA. “It’s exactly the kind of manufacturing efficiency the aerospace and defense market has been asking for.”

The material is made possible through Toray CMA’s collaboration with A&P Technology, which has the ability to produce wide, continuous rolls of ±45° 2×2 twill fabric using Toray’s Torayca T1100 fiber. Marketed by A&P as TX-45, the format is supplied in continuous 45° bias rolls, eliminating the need for splices. In a trade study conducted at the National Institute for Aviation Research (NIAR) comparing 0°/90° prepreg layup of a spar to 45° prepreg layup, TX-45 prepreg enabled a 30% reduction in waste and a 40% reduction in layup time.

Source | Getty Images

IGCS International (Dallas, Texas), Lacks Carbon Fiber LLC (Grand Rapids, Mich., U.S.), a division of Lacks Enterprises and Toray Advanced Composites (Morgan Hill, Calif., U.S.) have formed a collaborative effort in support of the Drone Dominance Program, a U.S. Army initiative focused on strengthening domestic high-rate drone and unmanned aircraft system (UAS) manufacturing capabilities.

This collaboration will help bring advanced composite materials directly to the Department of Defense (DOD) for use in rapid and on-demand fabrication of drones for rapid operational development. The three organizations will align their capabilities across advanced composite materials, high-volume component manufacturing and direct-to-government contracting to support Drone Dominance objectives. Specifically, Toray Advanced Composites will be providing pre-impregnated carbon and glass fiber-reinforced composite materials, which will be laminated and processed by Lacks to meet the DOD’s component specifications, and then sold into the U.S. defense supply chain through IGCS. 

“Drone Dominance represents a critical opportunity to provide affordable, advanced materials direct to the end user in the U.S. defense industry,” says Russ Spears of IGCS International. “By working alongside Lacks Carbon Fiber and Toray Advanced Composites, we are supplementing the traditional OEM supply chain for unmanned platforms with components that can be integrated by the end user at the depot level, and even potentially in the field.”

Lacks Carbon Fiber sees an opportunity to leverage its large-volume automotive component manufacturing capabilities and strong knowledge of composite materials processing. 

Kaan prototype P1 during taxi test. Source | TAI footage posted on X

Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI, Ankara) has begun taxi trials of the first fully representative prototype of its Kaan fifth-generation combat aircraft, P1. A second fully representative Kaan prototype, known as P2, is also in an advanced stage of assembly and will fly after P1. TAI reports both prototypes will begin flight testing later in 2026.

Developed in collaboration with BAE Systems (London, U.K.), the Kaan is 20.3 meters long with a 13.4-meter wingspan and designed for multirole missions with a 55,000-foot service ceiling, Mach 1.8 top speed, low observability, internal weapon bays, high maneuverability, enhanced situational awareness, sensor fusion and supercruise capability. With this aircraft, Turkey is positioning itself among the limited number of nations producing fifth-generation fighter jets, including the U.S., Russia and China.

As reported in Aviation Week, the Turkish Air Force wants the 34-metric-ton twin-engine fighter to replace its large fleet of Lockheed Martin F-16s in the coming years. The first batch of around 20 aircraft should reach Turkish Air Force service before the end of the decade.

The first production aircraft will be powered by General Electric (Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.) F110-GE-129 turbofans, with the U.S. clearing export of 80 engines this month, reports Turkiye Today. However, after initial Block 10 and 20 production, Kaan Block 30 and subsequent configurations will feature the domestically produced TF35000, being developed by TUSAS Engine Industries and TRMotor, according to Aviation Week. TAI plans to deliver the first batch of Kaan jets to the Turkish Air Force by the end of 2028, with the domestically developed engine expected to power the aircraft in the 2030s.

CFRP airframe components

According to a 2022 report by Indian Defense Analysis, the Kaan fighter features a carbon fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) fuselage developed by TAI’s Advanced Carbon Composites fuselage facility, which was also commissioned to produce fuselages for Lockheed Martin’s F-35 program.

The single-piece wing also uses composites, as reported in a March 2026 video by Jetline Marvel, featuring titanium in high-stress areas. Meanwhile high-strength aluminum alloys are reportedly incorporated in the aircraft’s forward fuselage.

The COMPASS facility. Source (All Images) AMRC

On July 16, the University of Sheffield Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC, Sheffield, U.K.) officially opened Composites at Speed and Scale (COMPASS), its £54 million open-access R&D facility, built on two decades of the AMRC’s industrially relevant composites and automation research.

The COMPASS facility is designed to de-risk and accelerate high-rate, large-scale composite production, serving as critical national infrastructure to meet global aircraft demand, and unlocking the advanced capabilities required to manufacture large-scale aerostructures faster and more efficiently within the U.K.

“This project has been a true collaborative effort,” says Prof. Ben Morgan, CEO at the University of Sheffield AMRC. “My sincere thanks go to the government’s ATI Programme, the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority, the High Value Manufacturing Catapult and the University of Sheffield, alongside our technology and research partners Loop and Boeing as we embark on our first landmark project together.”

Boeing (Arlington, Va., U.S.) is the open-access facility’s first user, housing the largest research program it has ever delivered in the U.K, the Isothermic High-Rate Sustainable Structures (IHSS) project. Backed by funding through the ATI Programme, IHSS aims to revolutionize production efficiency, reducing large component manufacturing times from approximately 40 hours down to just 4. It is dedicated to developing and testing new technologies needed to meet future demand for lighter commercial aircraft and help the aviation industry’s commitment reach net zero by 2050. It builds on Boeing’s longstanding commitment to the U.K., and to South Yorkshire specifically, following the opening of its first European manufacturing facility in Sheffield in 2018. 

Loop Technology (Dorchester, Bristol and Sheffield, U.K.) is a key partner in both the COMPASS facility and the Boeing-led IHSS project. The company’s FibreLINE robotic preforming system enables ultra-high-rate composites manufacturing, increasing efficiency for manufacturing large aerospace components. In addition, Loop serves as the robotic systems integrator, ensuring seamless integration and operation of all the equipment as a fully sequenced, end-to-end manufacturing solution 

To meet soaring global production targets and achieve the U.K.’s net-zero ambitions, the manufacturing industry must move beyond traditional, manual processes. COMPASS addresses this head-on by combining advanced composites with Industry 4.0 digital technologies — including closed-loop machine vision and digital twin modeling — that reduce material waste, component weight and defects while optimizing cycle times.

By proving these capabilities at TRL 6, the facility de-risks high-rate manufacturing for the entire supply chain. It also removes the high cost-barriers of advanced industrial equipment, enabling U.K. companies — including SMEs — to develop more efficient manufacturing solutions so they can compete within global supply chains.

Key to this is the state-of-the-art equipment within COMPASS funded through a £29.5 million grant from the ATI Programme, a partnership between the Aerospace Technology Institute (ATI), Department for Business and Trade and Innovate UK.

The unprecedented scale of the facility centers around Langzauner’s (Lambrechten, Austria) resin transfer molding (RTM) press — reportedly the “world’s largest for integral aerostructural parts” — boasting a 2,400-tonne pressing force and a tool size of up to 10 × 3 meters. 

Operating adjacent to a 21.4-meter Zünd (Altstätten, Switzerland) cutting table, the cell features an automated FibreLINE deposition system developed by Loop. Here, two 5-meter FibreFORM grippers handle the delicate material, mounted on two of FANUC’s (Oshino-mura, Japan and Rochester Hills, Mich., U.S.) largest industrial robots and supported by three additional FANUC robots. This five-robot fleet operates along an 85-meter track, leveraging real-time sensor data to dynamically adjust to material behavior during the high-rate build process.

Furthermore, the innovations developed here will extend far beyond aviation, helping the wider U.K. industry adopt sustainable, cost-effective component solutions across the defense, renewable energy, transport and urban air mobility sectors. 

Liquid hydrogen liquefies at -253°C — just 20° above absolute zero — cold enough to embrittle most structural materials, while hydrogen molecules are small enough to permeate through any gap. It’s a punishing operating environment, and conventional cryogenic fuel lines, built from aerospace-grade stainless steel with metallic flanges and adhesive interfaces, weren’t designed with weight or integration in mind. 

Herone GmbH (Dresden, Germany) has spent several years re-engineering that problem from first principles, combining tape braiding and press molding to produce unitized carbon fiber/LMPAEK thermoplastic composite (TPC) fuel lines. Co-consolidated integral flanges form a continuous thermoplastic material system with the tube body, eliminating separate metallic hardware entirely — and projecting a 50-60% reduction in line system weight compared to stainless steel.

The target applications span liquid hydrogen aircraft propulsion and space launchers, with implications for anyone watching how composites enable the next generation of clean aviation infrastructure.