PROBLEM

Develop and fabricate a rate compatible manufacturing solution for Zone 5 Technologies, LLC to build the complex geometry, carbon fiber composite fuselage for its CLEAVER (Cargo Launch Expendable Air Vehicle with Extended Range) platform.

OPPORTUNITY

Create a solution to manufacture this complex geometry, composite fuselage, focusing on dry carbon fiber and epoxy resin infusion with novel manufacturing methods, to ensure ease of assembly, quality, and aggressive cost targets are met.

SOLUTION

Hawthorn Composites created a Smart Tooling, Resin Transfer Molding (RTM) solution that created a two piece composite fuselage with overlapping flanges for assembly after population, that was initially used by Zone 5. The solution was then modified, based on Zone 5’s feedback on how to improve ease of population and assembly, to a Vacuum Assisted Resin Transfer Molding (VARTM) solution that produced an upper fuselage composite nose and a complete lower composite fuselage.