GKN Aerospace to design electrical wiring interconnection system and wing for Vertical Aerospace’s VA-X4 eVTOL aircraft

Ver­ti­cal Aero­space has announced a devel­op­ment and pro­duc­tion agree­ment with GKN Aero­space, which will pro­vide the elec­tri­cal wiring inter­con­nec­tion sys­tem (EWIS) and aerostruc­tures for its VA-X4 eVTOL air­craft.

This impor­tant part­ner­ship sits with­in Vertical’s care­ful­ly con­struct­ed ecosys­tem of top-tier part­ners, which includes Microsoft, Rolls-Royce, Hon­ey­well and Solvay.

The aerostruc­tures and EWIS sys­tems GKN Aero­space will pro­vide for Ver­ti­cal’s VA-X4 will help improve its per­for­mance and con­tribute to low­er costs, weight and emis­sions. 

Stephen Fitz­patrick, Founder and CEO of Ver­ti­cal Aero­space, said: “We are delight­ed that they are join­ing our unri­valled part­ner ecosys­tem. Their exper­tise in pro­duc­ing aero­space sys­tems and struc­tures will help the VA-X4 to meet the strin­gent safe­ty stan­dards man­dat­ed by the CAA and EASA, an essen­tial step for­ward in our efforts to elec­tri­fy flight.” 

Momen­tum con­tin­ues to build for Ver­ti­cal Aero­space, which announced ear­li­er this year that it will merge with spe­cial acqui­si­tion com­pa­ny Broad­stone in a joint busi­ness merg­er. Con­firmed pre-orders have already been placed by Amer­i­can Air­lines, Avolon and Vir­gin Atlantic.

The VA-X4 eVTOL is on course to be cer­ti­fied with EASA by 2024 and when oper­a­tional, will fly at speeds of 200 miles per hour for 100 miles. It will car­ry four pas­sen­gers and a pilot and Ver­ti­cal Aero­space has said it will be 100 times qui­eter than a con­ven­tion­al heli­copter.

While GKN Aero­space designs and man­u­fac­tures advanced aero­space sys­tems and com­po­nents for all major air­craft and engine man­u­fac­tur­ers, sup­port­ing a range of plat­forms span­ning the most-effi­cient pas­sen­ger planes in the world to advanced fifth gen­er­a­tion fight­er air­craft.

The com­pa­ny’s prod­ucts are used in all major com­mer­cial air­lin­ers and engines pro­duced today, oper­at­ing at high com­mer­cial capac­i­ty and fre­quen­cy. GKN Aerospace’s out­stand­ing track record in the devel­op­ment, pro­duc­tion and cer­ti­fi­ca­tion of EWIS and aerostruc­tures will help to de-risk Ver­ti­cal Aero­space’s path to cer­ti­fi­ca­tion.

John Pritchard, Pres­i­dent of GKN Aerospace’s Civ­il busi­ness, said: “The rapid progress being made towards elec­tric air­craft is a game-chang­er for the indus­try. GKN Aero­space has decades of expe­ri­ence as a leader in both aerostruc­tures and EWIS and we are excit­ed to use that exper­tise to accel­er­ate the tran­si­tion to more sus­tain­able avi­a­tion. Ver­ti­cal has a great vision and we are proud that our tech­nol­o­gy can help bring that to real­i­ty and shape the future of flight.”

With 41 man­u­fac­tur­ing loca­tions in 13 coun­tries, GKN Aerospace’s high-vol­ume pro­duc­tion capa­bil­i­ties will also help dri­ve glob­al pro­duc­tion of the VA-X4, result­ing in short­er pro­duc­tion lead times and low­er unit costs.