{"id":20536,"date":"2017-09-29T20:45:58","date_gmt":"2017-09-29T20:45:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2017\/09\/29\/how-one-company-uses-commercial-tech-to-make-larger-less-expensive-aircraft-structures\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T21:51:36","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T21:51:36","slug":"how-one-company-uses-commercial-tech-to-make-larger-less-expensive-aircraft-structures","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/smr\/equipping-the-warfighter\/2017\/09\/29\/how-one-company-uses-commercial-tech-to-make-larger-less-expensive-aircraft-structures\/","title":{"rendered":"How one company uses commercial tech to make larger, less expensive aircraft structures"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WASHINGTON \u2014 When it comes to manufacturing major structural pieces of an aircraft, sometimes bigger is better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At least that\u2019s the philosophy of Arconic, a Pittsburgh-based supplier of aluminum, nickel and titanium parts to the commercial and defense industry. The company is responsible for manufacturing parts of the F-35 and its engine \u2014 including some classified components execs refuse to talk about \u2014 as well as the armor used on U.S. military ground vehicles like the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What sets Arconic apart from its competitors is the strength of the alloys it produces \u2014 often using patented formulas \u2014 and its ability to take many components and manufacture them as a single piece, reducing weight and bulk, said Eric Roegner, president of Arconic Defense.<\/p>\n\n\n

<\/atype-video-jwplayer>
Arconic is a supplier of aluminum, nickel and titanium parts and materials. Many products can be cast or forged as a single \u201cmonolithic\u201d piece using patented alloys, providing improved strength and blast protection.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n

The company manufactures the F-35\u2019s bulkheads in entirely one piece, using techniques Arconic developed for the inner rear spars on Airbus\u2019 A380 airliner, which first flew in 2005.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c[At] that point, we had been talking to Lockheed, and they were a little skeptical, but when they saw the part flying on the A380, they came to the table,\u201d Roegner said in a Sept. 21 interview.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arconic forges the bulkheads in one piece out of aluminum or titanium using a 50,000-ton machine at its facility in Cleveland, Ohio. Only one such machine exists anywhere in the world, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To make the 21 foot long, 7 foot tall bulkheads through a more traditional manufacturing process would require machining multiple large pieces of titanium or aluminum, fastening them together, and then putting additional forgings on it, he said. But by using a process called near-net forging \u2014 along with some technologies developed and patented by Arconic \u2014 the company can make the bulkheads in one piece and dramatically reduce the cost and weight of the component.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSome of the bulkheads [initially] were composed of upwards of 100 different parts. We could make them in one piece. Just wham, you get your titanium forging or your aluminum forging,\u201d he said. \u201cThis one application across six bulkheads took 400 pounds out, and it got the installed cost of the final part down 25 percent.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Roegner said Arconic is working with Lockheed and Pratt & Whitney, which produces the joint strike fighter\u2019s F135 engine, to find more structures that can be consolidated to a single piece but declined to give further details.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI unfortunately can\u2019t talk about them,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The transition of technology from the A380 to the F-35 is just one example of how Arconic\u2019s commercial innovation ends up filtering into defense products. The company is able to sell the majority of its products to defense primes as commercial items, and overwhelmingly manufactures parts for defense applications in the same facilities where commercial products are produced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s helped Arconic retain experienced employees and make investments in new manufacturing technologies or materials, even as defense budgets fluctuate, Roegner said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn the world of structures, whether that\u2019s aero structures or ground vehicle structures, and even arguably in jet engines, the commercial world has pushed R&D and development much further and faster than the defense world,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe defense world has been putting a lot of its R&D dollars on cyber, networks, stealth, other systems like that and less on the underlying material characteristics of the vehicles, whereas the commercial world has been pushing that very, very aggressively. And what we\u2019ve found is that many technologies we\u2019ve developed commercially we\u2019ve been able to bring in [for] defense applications, and by doing that … save a significant amount of cost while also driving significant performance improvement.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\t