A competitive edge for addressing the most challenging problems in hypersonics
For years, the defense industry has undertaken Research & Technology efforts to address the most difficult technical challenges in the pursuit of hypersonic flight. Now as our nation’s number one technical priority, a low risk and wholistic approach to deploy operational hypersonic weapons at scale is needed.
Today, Spirit AeroSystems and FMI fulfill this need.
The joint capabilities create a powerhouse of materials, design and production associated with producing thermal protection systems, a key enabling technology for hypersonic flight. While FMI is well-known for supplying exceptional high-temperature materials, backed by technical support and data for material characterization and predictability, Spirit AeroSystems seamlessly adds modeling and simulations to the process, along with a long successful history of commercializing critical flight structures.
This new capability, under the Spirit AeroSystems brand, is already positioning the U.S.’s hypersonic programs to meet government demands and timelines.
Shifting the paradigm: Modernizing the defense supply chain
With more than nine decades of experience, Spirit AeroSystems offers supply chain management with a better understanding of costs and lean processes – a must-have if the hypersonic industry wants to advance. With its highly competitive commercial mindset, Spirit AeroSystems is ushering in a new and modern approach to the production of thermal protection systems.
The approach, while new to the defense market, has undergone 50 years of continual optimization. It’s perfected to the point that Spirit AeroSystems manages the entire production system of fully integrated 787 composite fuselages, demonstrating that its engineers have mastered the production of the critical flight structures – fabricating major composite components at production scale – in a highly competitive market. Even through all of this, Spirit still had the capacity to fabricate three million parts annually throughout the world and offer in-house parts production for any supplier, any time.
Having the right manufacturing techniques, machines and tools capable of reaching a high rate on a composite structure, paired with the right approach to manufacture advanced materials and a relentless drive to optimize, means success in designing and modeling fully integrated thermal protection systems.
And with the full range of capabilities enabling the industry from concept to delivery, Spirit AeroSystems is adept at taking prototypes and low-volume programs and creating solutions for high-rate production.
Managing risks to move from prototype to production at scale, quickly and affordably
With its extensive program management expertise, Spirit AeroSystems has the ability and processes to manage risks at every turn, and that begins in the concept and design stage. Spirit designs for manufacturability, using a big-picture overview of the entire process to ensure time and cost investments result in designs that can be manufactured affordably at scale. It’s this type of approach – identifying issues at the onset – that will transform hypersonic prototypes into full-scale weaponry.
To illustrate: When considering material selection for thermal protection systems, engineers at Spirit AeroSystems not only consider performance expectations for the application, but they also evaluate buying, storing, producing, inspecting, assembling, joining and machining as part of the selection process.
Designing for manufacturability also integrates the process so materials aren’t treated as a separate subsystem. Rather, they are combined with and designed for optimal performance in application while setting the stage for also being the most efficient to manufacture.
The result is the ability to deliver a highly engineered and optimized solution while mitigating risks in hypersonic programs. Creating efficiencies with affordability, schedule, volume and speed-to-market throughout the entire supply process.
Investing in research, development and technology to power tomorrow
With the extreme complexities associated with producing hypersonic capable weapons, the future is in next generation high temperature materials and composites. Finding new ways to create and optimize fiber architectures, better characterization and prediction of material responses, more integration of applications, active thermal management and even more advanced manufacturing practices.
With heavy investments in research, development and technology, Spirit AeroSystems has been at the forefront of every aerospace material advancement – from metallic structures to the latest generation of composites. The company’s focus on research and technology moves materials into the manufacturing process faster, enabling continual advancements in hypersonic weaponry.
A culture of success: Winning the hypersonic weapons race
Spirit AeroSystems has proven time and again that its commitment lies in getting the job done efficiently and affordably, and its people will go to great lengths to do so. They take pride in being able to deliver their products on time and with quality as expected. And in doing so, earn the trust and respect of their partners.
Spirit AeroSystems is poised to continually deliver a competitive edge in the race to hypersonic weapons.
© 2024 Spirit AeroSystems, Inc.