Information found on this page has been archived and is for reference, research or recordkeeping purposes. Please visit NRC's new site for the most recent information.

ARCHIVED - Aerospace

Air transport drives the Canadian economy and society as a whole. For more than 50 years, NRC researchers have worked to improve the design, manufacture, performance and safety of aerospace vehicles while reducing costs and environmental damage.

A highly competitive sector

Aerospace is one of Canada’s most dynamic industries. While it provides innovators with substantial market opportunities in a swiftly evolving and highly competitive industrial sector, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) also face many risks and challenges.

NRC provides a highly supportive environment for businesses to develop next-generation platforms and create game-changing products. We work with OEMs such as Bombardier Aerospace, Pratt & Whitney Canada, Bell Helicopter Canada, Airbus, GE-Canada, Rolls-Royce Canada and others in long-term strategic research and technology development partnerships, becoming a core part of their technology goals.

Keeping industry priorities front and centre, we develop programs and select projects to help our partners build their business, grow their supply chains and shorten their ways to market.

We also work extensively with SMEs, providing them with state-of-the-art infrastructure and world-class scientific knowledge across multiple disciplines to help them reduce their production costs, improve the quality of their innovations and increase their output. We often link SMEs to original equipment manufacturers, helping to drive them into profitable industry niches.

With more than 50 years’ experience supporting the aerospace industry, NRC Aerospace can do more than any other organization in Canada to help OEMs and SMEs achieve tangible advances in the global aerospace industry.

Industry snapshot

Canada’s aerospace sector ranks as the fifth largest in the world, behind the US, UK, France and Germany. In 2008, total revenues in aerospace reached $23 billion, with exports of $19.3 billion and a GDP contribution of $9.2 billion. Canada’s more than 400 aerospace companies employ roughly 83,000 people.

In this swiftly evolving industry, new competitors have emerged and lower-tier suppliers are conducting a greater proportion of research and technology development than ever before.

Technology platforms

World markets demand that innovators find solutions that will increase the safety and environmental performance of aircraft and reduce the weight and cost of aircraft and their components.

NRC supports the aerospace industry in achieving these goals by providing extensive client services in the following key areas:

• Aerodynamics
• Aerospace manufacturing technology
• Aircraft cabin environments
• Biofuels
• Carbon nanotubes
• Flight research
• Gas turbine research
• Integrated vehicle health management
• Structures and materials performance

 

Video

 

Learn more about NRC's aerospace solutions.

State-of-the-art facilities

For aerospace companies to succeed they must access state-of-the-art R&D, testing and validation facilities and tap into Canada’s best scientific thinking on aerospace research.

Among NRC’s many aerospace testing and fee-for-service facilities are:

• 8 wind tunnels
• full-scale structural test rigs
• manufacturing research facilities
• materials characterization and testing equipment
• engine and combustion test cells
• air compressor/exhauster facilities
• acoustic test chambers
• 9 research aircraft

Find a complete list of NRC’s aerospace facilities.

Multi-disciplinary research

NRC Aerospace links businesses with complementary research programs within NRC, including research into carbon nanotubes, indoor air quality and biofuels. NRC experts across Canada help turn innovations into marketable products.

Technical and business support

NRC’s Industrial Research Assistance Program (NRC-IRAP) provides aerospace SMEs with technical assistance, financing and business advice that mean the difference between success and failure in a competitive global industry.

NRC-IRAP also links SMEs to original equipment manufacturers, which can help pull innovative companies up the technology ladder.

Fact Sheets:

Growing ideas into profitable business

Gateway to breakthrough science

Related Information

Aerodynamics

Aerospace Manufacturing Technology

Aircraft Cabin Environments

Flight Research

Gas Turbine Research

NRC Aerospace Solutions (Video)

Structures and Materials Performance