UTAS “Well-Positioned” To Target Supersonic Aircraft Market Written 17 October 2018

Aviation Week reports that with “advanced aerostructures technology already in flight test on an unidentified high-speed military aircraft and ground tests of new low-noise, compact nacelle concepts underway,” UTC Aerospace Systems (UTAS) believes that it is “well-positioned to penetrate the nascent civil supersonic market.” The nacelle development comes amid a “broader UTAS focus on the business jet nacelle arena after more than a decade of wins in the commercial airliner business and follows the company’s recent selection by Dassault Aviation to provide the nacelle as part of an integrated propulsion system for the Pratt & Whitney Canada PW812-powered Falcon 6X.” As part of this push, UTAS recently developed “resin pressure molded (RPM) composite flight control surfaces,” which UTAS Aerostructures Vice President of Business Programs Gary Reynolds said are “much lighter, have no fasteners and are not prone to corrosion.” UTAS believes that RPM surfaces “could provide supersonic, business and commercial operators with weight, cost and fuel-burn savings.” According to Reynolds, RPM parts “are in pre-production leading to production starting next year for some more flight tests.” He added that the material may be used to retrofit existing platforms. UTAS is also developing “next-generation acoustic technologies” to reduce cabin noise “as well as tighter packaging envelopes that enable higher bypass ratio engines to fit into smaller nacelles.” Some of this technology has been “tested and developed as part of the ecological integrated propulsion system (ecoIPS) demonstrator under the FAA’s second Continuous Lower Energy, Emissions and Noise program.”
More Info (Aviation Week)