Military & Space | F22-JSF
The Aerostructures Group is meeting the current and future mission requirements of military aircraft and space vehicles with a broad range of advanced manufacturing capabilities. These include precision GRID-LOCK® machining, advanced superplastic forming, liquid interface diffusion bonding, high-temperature brazing, and metallic joining and fabrication of high-temperature metallic products.
The Group is employing these capabilities to address the demanding requirements of next-generation military aircraft, reduce cost and improve reliability of airframe structures, and decrease the maintenance and operational costs of tomorrow's space vehicles.
One capability the Aerostructures Group is calling on to supply temperature tolerant, corrosion-resistant structures for tactical military aircraft is the GRID-LOCK® machining process. GRID-LOCK® employs state-of-the-art CAD/CAM and CNC manufacturing systems to produce complex structures that are robust and low cost, yet exhibit strength-to-weight efficiencies that exceed current metallic, composite, and bonded sandwich structures. This versatile technology has numerous applications - from F-15 rudder fairings that eliminate the corrosion and water retention problems associated with bonded honeycomb and riveted sheet metal assemblies, to AV-8B Harrier bulkheads that take half the time and expense to produce in comparison to the original honeycomb structure. The wings of the Boeing Harpoon missile have also been redesigned using GRID-LOCK® structural technology. The new wings cut the structure's cost by 50%.
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