April 2026 Oerlikon expanded its aerospace honeycomb manufacturing capabilities with the launch of a new production cell in Querétaro, Mexico. The new manufacturing cell focuses on aerospace-grade honeycomb structures used in turbine applications and strengthens Oerlikon’s ability to provide localized production support for aerospace OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers. The expansion enhances the company’s advanced manufacturing capabilities for lightweight and high-performance materials.
March 2026 Applied Aerospace & Defense completed the acquisition of Ultracor to strengthen its advanced composite manufacturing capabilities. The acquisition expanded Applied’s vertically integrated supply chain by adding Ultracor’s specialized honeycomb core materials and bonded composite expertise, supporting applications across space, defense, aircraft, antennas, and radome structures.
March 2026 Hexcel advanced its composite manufacturing research initiatives through the completion of its EFIPreg research project. The project focused on improving production processes for glass-prepreg and honeycomb core integration to reduce manufacturing lead times for next-generation aircraft structures and improve efficiency in lightweight composite component production.
January 2026 Fraunhofer Institute for Microstructure of Materials and Systems (Fraunhofer IMWS) advanced thermoplastic sandwich molding technology development for honeycomb-core composite structures. The initiative focused on enabling automated production of continuous fiber-reinforced thermoplastic sandwich components with honeycomb cores, supporting scalable lightweight manufacturing for mobility and industrial applications.