The potential use of thermoplastic composites technology on Airbus aircraft took a new step this month as Dutch Minister of Economic Affairs Henk Kamp signed a letter of intent for a proposed extension of the Thermoplastic Affordable Primary Aircraft Structure (TAPAS) consortium.

Airbus’ Executive Vice President Engineering Charles Champion signed the TAPAS 2 proposal during a Paris Air Show ceremony at Le Bourget Airport with...

This month during the Paris Air Show, Airbus extended its partnership with a Japanese industrial consortium for research and development into structural health monitoring (SHM) for aircraft composites with a five-year follow-on programme, called JASTAC-II (Japan Airbus SHM Technology for Aircraft Composite).

Structural health monitoring includes the non-destructive testing of defects, damages stress and condition on board the aircraft, and this latest...