The latest composite aerostructures on show during next month’s JEC World exhibition in Paris will once again highlight how technology breakthroughs can happen nearly as regularly as flights in and out of our busiest airports. Indeed, the event itself demonstrates that composites in the aerospace manufacturing industry is still a hotbed for continually evolving innovative designs, and full of creative people thinking not only of the here and now, but of the aircraft of tomorrow.
New entrants will be amazed how one of the most dynamic growth sectors in the aerospace domain - the emergence of UAV systems – continues apace. The Prospero UAV project’s use of graphene enhanced carbon fibre composites, as mentioned in this issue, is a case in point. Whilst early aviators demonstrated that man could fly in an aeroplane, a century later we’re faced with a future where aeroplanes will fly themselves.
And they’ll be impressed by the way the aerospace industry strives to preserve something it’s worked so hard to create, namely its manufacturing supply chain. Faced with a turbulent economy and growth in overseas competition, tier suppliers are pulling the stops out by pulling together in the same direction.
In a bid to maintain continuous improvement programmes, aerospace organisations and clusters are helping provide the glue to consolidate the long-term future of the industry. Simply put, it’s a way of doing what we all already do but in a more joined up way - long may it continue!
Mike Richardson, Editor
