NASA HiCAM Project Advances High-Rate Composite Aircraft Manufacturing

Updated on July 07, 2026 • 3 min read

NASA’s Hi-Rate Composite Aircraft Manufacturing (HiCAM) project has completed its 2026 spring consortium review, bringing together government and industry partners to accelerate the development of high-rate manufacturing technologies for next-generation composite aircraft.

Held May 5–7 at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, the meeting gathered approximately 150 participants representing the project’s 22-member Advanced Composites Consortium, a public-private partnership focused on transforming aerospace composite manufacturing.

Consortium Reviews Progress and Sets Future Priorities

The annual review allowed NASA and its industry partners to evaluate technical progress while aligning future research priorities.

During the meeting, NASA announced updated portfolio decisions, selecting manufacturing technologies expected to deliver the greatest impact on production rates for future commercial aircraft programs.

Project teams presented results from the Development Phase while outlining early activities under Phase 2, known as the Demonstration Phase, where promising technologies will be scaled toward industrial implementation.

Large Composite Wing and Fuselage Demonstrations Planned

A major focus of the event was a series of technical workshops dedicated to the assembly of two large composite aircraft structures:

• Composite wing box
• Composite fuselage barrel

NASA researchers, aerospace manufacturers and consortium members exchanged technical updates and coordinated development strategies for these full-scale demonstrators.

According to NASA, collaboration across participating organizations has strengthened as the project moves toward larger manufacturing demonstrations.

2028–2029 Demonstrations Mark Key Milestones

The HiCAM program aims to demonstrate industrial-scale manufacturing of:

• A composite fuselage barrel in 2028
• A composite wing box in 2029

These demonstrations are intended to validate manufacturing technologies capable of supporting higher production rates while reducing manufacturing costs for future aircraft.

The project focuses on improving how large composite aerostructures are built, assembled and integrated into next-generation commercial aircraft.

Supporting Faster, Lower-Cost Aircraft Production

Advanced composite materials continue to play an increasingly important role in modern aircraft due to their high strength-to-weight ratio and corrosion resistance.

Through HiCAM, NASA and its consortium partners are developing manufacturing processes that could enable:

• Faster aircraft production
• Lower manufacturing costs
• Improved automation
• Higher production scalability
• Lightweight composite airframes

If successfully demonstrated, the technologies developed under HiCAM could help aircraft manufacturers produce future composite aircraft more efficiently while supporting higher commercial production rates.

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