GKN Aerospace leads £12 million ASPIRE project

GKN Aerospace, a major global Tier One supplier to the aerospace, defence, and space industries, has launched ASPIRE, a new £12 million UK R&D programme to develop and demonstrate next-generation composite wing and flap structures. The three-year programme officially started last month and will run until April 2028 — it will deliver three full-scale composite wingtip variants for structural testing to ultimate load, providing a unique opportunity to validate new technologies in highly relevant test conditions.

Each wingtip variant will represent a different structural philosophy and technology set. Variant one is a bonded assembly with multiple parts, aligned with GKN Aerospace’s design approach. Variant two is a quasi-isotropic co-infused resin transfer moulding (RTM) structure featuring automated deposition, forming, digital twin integration and Pentaxia’s self-heated tooling (JouleTool), representing the current ‘state of the art’. Variant three, introduces non-standard fibre angles, low-energy dry fibre forming and SmaRTM processing.

Key innovations under evaluation include iCOMAT’s Rapid Tow Sheared (RTS) lightweight structure and Carbon ThreeSixty’s stitched deltoid noodles, made from recycled carbon fibres aligned through the Lineat AFFT process. These developments are supported by analytical and numerical methods developed by the University of Bath.

Optimised composite flap
Alongside the wingtip demonstrators, ASPIRE will also develop an optimised composite flap which will feature a pre-preg manufacturing approach with RTS skins (iCOMAT), tailored fibre placed brackets (Carbon Three Sixty), low-energy out-of-autoclave curing moulds and press-cured ribs. A key programme milestone will be achieving TRL6 for the press-curing of composite ribs. This builds on GKN Aerospace’s experience producing the A350 flap in Munich and will support future improvements for the next-generation single-aisle aircraft.

John Pritchard, Civil Airframe president at GKN Aerospace, said: “ASPIRE is a perfect example of the power of UK collaboration to drive aerospace innovation. By bringing together specialist SMEs, academic expertise, and GKN Aerospace’s industrial leadership, this programme will accelerate the development of high-rate, sustainable composite wing technologies. It strengthens our position as a trusted technology partner for future aircraft platforms and reinforces our commitment to shaping a more-efficient and more-sustainable aerospace industry.”