Carbon fibre wing spar for Airbus

摘要

GKN Aerospace, UK, has gained a contract to design and supply carbon fibre based wing spars for the Airbus A400M military air transport programme. The contract is worth 110 million dollars based on current orders. The company, from Farnham, Surrey, says this represents the first application of carbon fibre composite technology for primary structures on a large transport aeroplane wing. Development and construction of the A400M wing spars will be carried out at GKN's composites manufacturing plant at Cowes, on the Isle of Wight, UK, using automated tape laying (ATL) technology. First deliveries of the composite spars will take place in mid-2005 and will continue through 2021.