Dassault Aviation’s selection of UTC Aerospace Systems (UTAS, Booth 633) to provide the nacelles for the Dassault Falcon 6X marked the first step in a multi-faceted strategic expansion for UTAS’s Aerostructures business that includes the return to the business aviation market, an extended reach of its repair capabilities, and growth in its supersonics technologies.

The French aircraft manufacturer earlier this year selected the UTAS Aerostructures group to design and produce an integrated nacelle system that includes the inlet, fan cowls, thrust reverser, and engine build-up system for the Pratt & Whitney Canada PW812 engines that will power the 6X.

While that selection recognized UTAS’s decades of experience in the nacelle business, it involved the first business aviation platform for the San Diego-based group since the late 1990s. Over the past few decades, the Aerostructures unit had turned its attention to the commercial aviation sector, a move that proved successful as the group certified 16 different nacelle systems and developed more than 300 active patents, said Dave Foos, vice president of business development for UTAS.

“We have spent the last 15 years focused on large commercial aircraft,” he noted, adding, that over that time, “We also added a lot of industrial capacity.” This includes more than 4.5 million sq ft of industrial space and another million square feet of MRO capacity.

With this capacity, UTAS executives began looking at possibilities for potential expansion, including the business jet market, Foos said, calling the Falcon 6X announcement “the start of it.”

The timing was right for a strategic return to business jets, added Gary Reynolds, vice president regional and engine systems for UTAS. “We’ve been focused on where and when we would enter the business jet market for quite a few years now.”

On the commercial side, Reynolds added, the big surge is in ramp up of existing programs. “There likely is not going to be another commercial platform launch for quite some time,” he said. “This was a very opportune time to focus our energy and grow the business in that business jet market space.”

The partnership with Dassault is progressing with the initial phase of preliminary design of the nacelle program completed and now moving into detailed design. Plans call for the delivery of the initial nacelles for flight test vehicles next year.

Although noting UTAS was well established in the nacelle business, Reynolds added, “Now we have credibility in the business jet market space with 6X under our belt.”

But for UTAS Aerostructures, this was only the first of what it hopes to be a number of opportunities, he said. “We stepped into this market to have more than one nacelle program.”

The business aviation expansion extends to its repair capabilities as well. UTAS was selected by business jet and VIP completions specialist AMAC Aerospace to provide nacelle maintenance. Under the five-year agreement, UTAS will provide nacelle and engine build up services, along with lease and exchange.

“This agreement will enable us to leverage our global MRO network and commercial aircraft experience for the business jet and VIP aircraft segment," said Aerostructures president Marc Duvall, adding the agreement partners the group with a premier provider of business jet and VIP completion services.

Fast Forward to Supersonic

Along with the return the business jet market, the Aerostructures business is exploring ways it can leverage existing expertise in the areas of supersonics.

This area is not new for the group, which once provided flight control surface materials and the inlet cowl for the Concorde. Foos noted the group has been pouring more than $100 million in research and development, with a portion dedicated toward supersonics. That research is focusing on the areas of noise and the high temperatures associated with supersonic speeds.

This includes a titanium liquid interface bonding process that UTAS has developed and “perfected” over a number of years. It currently is used in areas such as the Rolls-Royce Trent 900 fan case. Building on that for supersonics, the process is designed for areas where temperature exceeds the tolerances of conventional materials, helping to provide “better packaging of components.” This improves acoustic performance, as well as high-temperature tolerance, Reynolds said.

Another involves research with the variable air inlet. “The idea is to slow down the supersonic air to subsonic before it enters the engine in order to help that engine remain stable,” Foos said.

Similar to the timing of the business jet market, UTAS Aerostructures also sees opportunity in the market in the supersonic realm. “The market is starting to look at supersonics, evaluate them, and discuss how to deal with the sonic boom,” Foos said, noting this lends itself to UTAS’s expertise. “We’re developing the technology because of those discussions.” Research in this area has stepped up in the past three years, he said.

“We firmly believe that is the next big step in aerospace is to go into supersonics and make it more available to the consumer,” added Reynolds.

The UTAS executives see multiple possibilities for this kind of research. “Our advanced acoustics are not limited to the titanium [liquid] bonding construction,” Reynolds said.  “Everything that we’re doing complements one another and they cross over,” he said.