ATK has successfully completed The Boeing Company's qualification for the manufacture of advanced composite primary structures for Boeing's 787 Dreamliner. The composite frames will be produced in ATK's new manufacturing clean room in the Freeport Composites Center in Clearfield, Utah. ATK is now an approved composite structures supplier to the Boeing supply chain. ATK will supply composite frames for the Boeing 787-9 center and aft fuselages and support the same structures on the 787-10, which is in development.

ATK achieved the qualification through the demonstration of process controls, quality assurance and manufacturing capability for composite parts. Certification criteria included qualifying several pieces of equipment critical in the manufacturing process, including material cutters, optical laser templates, composite forming equipment, non-destructive inspection (NDI) equipment and autoclaves. ATK completed the qualification process in seven months and has started preproduction verification testing of Boeing 787 composite frames.

"We are honored to have achieved this rigorous Boeing qualification and gained confidence to build composite frames for the 787-9 and -10 aircraft series," said Joy de Lisser, vice president and general manager of ATK's Aerospace Structures division. "Our manufacturing reputation is built on execution excellence, and we look forward to delivering world-class composite structures to Boeing to meet their growing 787 production rates."

The certification adds to ATK's long list of customer approvals and expands on a long history of ATK composite structures on Boeing aerospace products including: Boeing 767 and 757 aircraft, C-17 Globemaster, F-18 Hornet, V-22 Osprey, Boeing 702 and GPS II-F satellites, Delta II and Delta IV launch vehicles and composite fan cases on the Boeing 747-8 GEnx engine.