Product Management Intern - Competitive Analysis, Platform Strategy

Norsk Titanium receives Rolls-Royce development component order. October 30, 2026 Norsk Titanium has secured a Rolls-Royce aerospace development component order. The Ti-6Al-4V preform was deposited in Norway and is being machined in Germany for evaluation within civil aircraft engine programmes. Norsk Titanium has received a purchase order from Rolls-Royce for a titanium structural component being assessed for possible use in current civil aircraft engine programmes. The Ti-6Al-4V part has been manufactured at Norsk Titanium's Technology Center in Norway using its Rapid Plasma Deposition process, with final machining being completed in Germany. The order establishes the company as an approved supplier for Rolls-Royce development activities, not a confirmed supplier of series-production engine components. Rolls-Royce will use the development component to assess wire-deposited titanium as a possible manufacturing route within its existing civil aerospace engine programmes. The purchase order covers exploratory work; production approval would require separate evaluation of the component and its manufacturing process. The companies have not specified the component's geometry, order value or an engine installation timetable. Rapid Plasma Deposition, or RPD, is Norsk Titanium's version of wire-based directed energy deposition. Titanium alloy wire is supplied to a plasma arc, which melts and deposits the feedstock layer by layer along a programmed toolpath. An inert argon environment protects the metal during deposition, while process monitoring and control help manage consistency. The deposited shape is a preform rather than a fully finished engine part, and it subsequently enters established machining and inspection stages. Ti-6Al-4V contains nominally six per cent aluminium and four per cent vanadium, giving a widely used aerospace alloy a combination of strength, relatively low density and corrosion resistance. Applying that alloy in an engine assembly still calls for evidence of the finished part's behaviour under the relevant loading and operating conditions. Material qualification, dimensional accuracy, fatigue requirements and traceable manufacturing records must be addressed within the component-specific assessment. Conventional routes to structural titanium parts can begin with large forged or wrought blanks that lose a substantial share of their mass during machining. Wire deposition instead builds a shape closer to the required component geometry, allowing less machining stock where the geometry is suitable. It does not remove finishing operations: contact surfaces, features requiring close tolerances and inspected regions may still need subtractive machining and other post-processing before the part can be used. Norsk Titanium describes deposition rates of about five to ten kilograms of metal per hour, depending on the machine and application. Throughput for a finished aerospace component is determined by the wider sequence of programming, deposition preparation, inspection, treatment and machining. The economic advantage depends on how much starting material can be avoided and how the complete process compares with the delivery times and production volumes of the established route. The part has passed through two stages in different countries: additive deposition at Norsk Titanium's Norwegian Technology Center and final machining through the German project supply chain. Manufacturing the preform close to the required geometry still leaves precision surfaces and other features to be finished and inspected. Process records and material traceability must accompany the component through those stages so the results can be evaluated against the intended specification. Wire deposition creates repeated local heating and solidification, with toolpaths, cooling conditions and post-processing affecting material behaviour and distortion. The development programme therefore needs to assess the deposited and machined component together, including its relevant microstructure, dimensions and documented production history. That evidence will be particularly important if the proposed route advances towards the qualification requirements of a specific engine programme. The Rolls-Royce order follows Norsk Titanium's broader work to industrialise the technology. In June, the company entered a cooperation and research agreement with Airbus covering higher-criticality structural titanium parts. Norsk Titanium has separately reported production and certification progress on an Airbus A350 lower frame fitting. Those airframe developments demonstrate experience with aerospace qualification, but approval of one aircraft structure cannot be assumed to approve a different component in a turbine engine. Engine components face different combinations of temperature, load and vibration depending on their location and duty. A structural bracket has different assessment requirements from a rotating or hot-section part, so development findings need to be related to the actual geometry and service conditions being considered. The companies have identified the ordered item as a structural component, with its eventual application to be determined through further evaluation. The development order gives Norsk Titanium another opportunity to combine deposition, finishing and aerospace inspection within a customer's established supply chain. Its experience with Airbus airframe structures supplies a separate example of qualified production, while the Rolls-Royce work will be judged against the requirements of the specific engine application. Further orders would depend on technical assessment and subsequent procurement decisions. Rolls-Royce and Norsk Titanium will use the development part to assess further applications for RPD within civil engine programmes. The next engineering decision depends on how the deposited, machined and inspected component performs against the relevant requirements. Any repeat supply would follow separate component-specific qualification and procurement decisions. Stories for you. * Rolls-Royce outlines £2.5bn aerospace technology programme Rolls-Royce outlines ten-year cooperation on next-generation UK engine technology plans. The proposed £2.5bn programme would develop propulsion technology for narrowbody passenger aircraft and defence applications, subject to future contracts, approvals and funding decisions. * Chartwell designs 150-passenger ferry for Georgia British naval architect designs ferry for Georgia island transport service. Chartwell Marine has designed a 70-foot catamaran that Derecktor Shipyards will build in Florida for Sapelo Island, with production planned to begin before year-end.

Rolls-Royce wins £2.5bn government jet engine deal in Budget. Rolls-Royce will receive government support for a £2.5bn programme to build engines for narrowbody passenger jets, with the taxpayer understood to be covering £1.25bn of the cost, after Chancellor John Healey announced the deal in yesterday's Budget. The 10-year research and technology programme is expected to be funded equally by the government and the Derby-based engineering group, which is valued at £103bn. Rolls-Royce said delivering the initial stages would support 3,300 UK jobs at the company and its supply chain partners by the end of 2029, initially based mainly around its facilities in Derby and Bristol. The deal backs Rolls-Royce's bid to return to the market for engines on the single-aisle aircraft used on short-haul routes. The company has been absent from that market since selling its stake in the International Aero Engines consortium to Pratt & Whitney in 2012, Reuters reported. Free newsletters The stories that matter to UK business, straight to your inbox. The first stage will involve Rolls-Royce producing demonstrator engines for Airbus and Boeing, which are expected to focus on their next generation of aircraft, or new versions of existing models, from about 2030. In a statement issued yesterday, Rolls-Royce said new narrowbody aircraft were expected to enter service in the mid-to-late 2030s, with manufacturers choosing engine partners over the next few years. The programme builds on UltraFan, a geared turbofan Rolls-Royce has been developing for more than a decade that is designed to be more fuel-efficient and quieter than current engines. It has so far been aimed at the long-haul market the company already serves, particularly the Airbus A350 and Boeing 787. The funding will allow Rolls-Royce to develop and demonstrate a prototype UltraFan for narrowbody planes, a market about eight times the size of its current business, putting it in direct competition with GE and Pratt & Whitney. CFM International, a joint venture between GE Aerospace and Safran, and Pratt & Whitney dominate the market for engines on the Airbus A320 and Boeing 737 families, according to Reuters. The government said funding would be subject to legal, value-for-money, affordability and approval processes, Reuters reported, while Rolls-Royce said the plan remained subject to a final agreement. The company's statement did not set out how the cost would be divided, and said it expected to invest significantly more than the government across the wider narrowbody programme. As the project moves forward, the government is understood to want commitments from Rolls-Royce to build new facilities and recruit a new workforce in the UK. The company said that if aircraft makers chose its technology, it would select UK sites for new assembly and test facilities, and that new factories would also need to be built by its UK supply chain. Rolls-Royce says it spends more than £2bn with over 1,350 British suppliers. Whether the engine reaches full production depends on Rolls-Royce winning business from aircraft manufacturers and airlines. The company has said it would only go into production with a partner from among its competitors, which also include Safran of France, to share the risk. Rolls-Royce said that securing a UK engine position on new narrowbody aircraft could create tens of thousands more jobs and add £120bn to the UK economy over the programme's lifetime. Chief executive Tufan Erginbilgic had lobbied the government for this kind of financial support, and warned in February that UltraFan production could move overseas without UK government support. Prime Minister Andy Burnham said: "Britain has always been an industrial powerhouse. But that strength isn't just part of our past, it should be a core part of our future too. That's why we're driving forward reindustrialisation and this agreement shows what that looks like in practice." Erginbilgic said: "This is a landmark moment for the UK's aerospace industry. This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to lay the foundations for decades of sustainable economic growth across the UK, creating high-value jobs and transforming the country's advanced manufacturing supply chain." The engine deal was one of several industrial measures in Healey's first Budget, which also included a scheme to cut electricity bills by 25 per cent for 10,000 industrial firms from April. Amy Ingham. Amy Ingham is a reporter at Business Matters, covering UK business news with a focus on breaking news, business policy, late payments and insolvency. She joined the magazine in 2026 after completing the NCTJ Diploma in Journalism at Harlow College's journalism school. Her recent reporting includes British Steel's nationalisation and its impact on SME suppliers, the decline in late payments by large firms, and Insolvency Service director disqualifications. Reach her at [email protected].