Alliant Utilizes Defense Skills in Commercial Aviation

(MoneyWatch)  The Minneapolis Star-Tribune reports that Alliant won a contract from Rolls-Royce of Great Britain to build fan blade containment cases for a new engine. The cases will be used on the Trent XWB engine to power the Airbus A350 wide body aircraft. This is the second commercial aircraft contract that Alliant has won utilizing its abilities with composite materials. These skills have been developed working on NASA and defense contracts. Alliant has made composite parts for the STS-1 Space Shuttle and various missile programs. The contract is worth about $200 million. The use of composites is driven by desire to reduce weight and lower fuel demands and costs. The Boeing 787 Dreamliner, as an example, uses large amounts of composite in its fuselage and wings.