GKN Aerospace has joined an Airbus research program that aims to produce high-performance wings and new environmentally sustainable manufacturing processes.
The two year, £15 million (US$19 million) Sustainable Wing Solutions (SusWingS) program, which also involves Cranfield University, and the University of Manchester, builds on the technologies developed for the Wing of Tomorrow projects. The UK Government is funding the program with £8 million (US$10 million), while GKN is investing £4 million (US$5 million).
The Airbus-led Wing of Tomorrow program has been running since 2020 to develop new aircraft wing designs and three full-scale demonstrators being tested at Airbus’ facilities in Broughton and Filton, UK. GKN Aerospace delivered the fixed trailing edge assemblies for these demonstrators.
SusWingS started at the beginning of this year and is expected to be completed by March 2026. The research program is developing single-sided fasteners for one-way assembly, replacing traditional two-piece fasteners, seek to make advances in carbon fibre composite materials and develop numerical analysis models for predicting structural behaviour.
The project will also focus on monitoring and minimizing the environmental impact of these processes, addressing key emissions and sustainability metrics such as VOC, CO2, waste, water and energy.
John Pritchard, president civil airframe at GKN Aerospace said, ”We have worked alongside Airbus on critical wing technologies for several decades. SusWingS builds on the success of the Wing of Tomorrow program, to develop more sustainable wings essential for the next-generation of aircraft.
