The Rotary Wing Structures Technology Demonstration program was a cooperative agreement, DAAH10-98-2-0002, between the U. S. Army Aviation Applied Technology Directorate in Fort Eustis, Virginia, and The Boeing Company. The objective of the program was to demonstrate advanced design and analyses tools, and manufacturing processes. The viability of the tools and processes to significantly reduce weight, manufacturing labor hours and engineering development time of composite structures for rotary-wing aircraft were to be demonstrated through the fabrication of a full-scale article. An Integrated Product Team applied Integrated Product and Process Development tools to execute the program. The program selected the 14-foot long center fuselage of the Apache helicopter for demonstration. Boeing successfully designed and manufactured a composite center fuselage that could replace the heavier and more costly aluminum structure of the existing AH-64 Apache helicopter. The new cocured and cobonded skin-stringer-frame subassembly is 28% stronger to accommodate the anticipated higher loads of the next-generation Apache helicopter. The demonstration article validated the 25% touch-labor cost savings and 15% weight reduction goals of the program. The key to reducing the recurring cost was a 75% reduction in fasteners and 73% reduction in parts achieved through a combination of innovative design concepts and the advanced composite manufacturing processes. The design was a center fuselage of unitized construction manufactured with Vacuum-Assisted Resin Transfer Molding; stitched carbon preform; and pressurized Resin Transfer Molding. In addition to reducing the recurring manufacturing cost, the program also reduced the high non-recurring cost of tooling for composites.
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