Aurora Projects
Global Hawk RQ-4A / RQ-4B - 1995 to Present
Customer – Northrop Grumman Corporation / USAF
Aurora has been producing Global Hawk composite airframe assemblies since 1995 when Aurora first received a contract to
provide design documentation and fabrication of diagonal tails for the first Global Hawk air vehicle. In 2000 Aurora’s
scope of work increased to include five additional work packages: aft fuselage, nacelles, fairings, ducts and metal bond
doors. Throughout the LRIP and rate production programs, Aurora has delivered these fully integrated, plug-n-play type
major assemblies to the final assembly line while meeting all schedule and unit flyaway price goals. As a result of its
superb supplier performance on this program, today, Aurora enjoys being a platinum rated supplier for Northrop Grumman.
In conjunction with the USAF’s RQ-4B Global Hawk program, Aurora is also on the Euro Hawk program aimed at providing the
German Luftwaffe with a specialized version of the Global Hawk platform to conduct concept of operations development.
Broad Area Maritime Surveillance - 2008 to Present
Customer – Northrop Grumman Corporation / US Navy
The United States Navy’s Broad Area Maritime Surveillance (BAMS) Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) program provides persistent
maritime Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) data collection and dissemination capability to the
Maritime Patrol and Reconnaissance Force (MPRF). Aurora is a major subcontractor on Northrop’s BAMS team.
Sikorsky CH-53K Main Rotor Pylon and Engine Nacelles - 2007 to Present
Customer – Sikorsky / US Navy
Aurora is one of the five first tier airframe suppliers supporting Sikorsky on the CH-53K Heavy Lift Helicopter program.
Aurora has design development and manufacturing responsibility of the CH-53K Main Rotor Pylon (MRP) comprised of
interchangeable composite fairings that install upon a modular composite frame and titanium firewall assemblies.
Design development is carried out in collaboration with Sikorsky’s engineering team using CATIA V5 software through the
collaborative integrated digital environment ENOVIA LCA. The design is entirely model-based definition from the design
engineer’s workstation to the shop floor for fabrication, to the inspection station for sell off. Aurora’s scope also
includes on-site support of preliminary design, systems engineering, reliability, maintainability, supportability,
qualification tests, and design and fabrication of the production rate tool string. Production quantity is 156 ship sets.
In 2008, Aurora won the contract to provide the new nacelles to Sikorsky’s CH-53K program. On this program Aurora’s scope of work includes producibility engineering, tool design, tool fabrication and rate production.
MH-60R Sonobuoy Launcher and Fairing - 2007 to Present
Customer – Sikorsky / US Navy
The sonobuoy launcher assemblies combine metal and composite details and contain pneumatic valves, seals, and mechanical
hardware. This contract has production options extending through 2013 for a total build quantity of 168 units. The first
article shipped on September 17, 2007 for a fit check to the Sikorsky aircraft #16 was accepted for integration to the
aircraft immediately after the fit check. Aurora’s production rate on this program is three units per month.
S-92 Lower Air Stair Door - 2008 to Present
Customer – Sikorsky / Commercial
Aurora is building the lower air stair door for the Sikorsky S-92 Helicopter. The program is in support of 86 production
modifications and 50 field modification kits. The lower air stair door build consists of composite sandwich construction
for the door skin and steps with machined aluminum handrail and fitting assemblies. Aurora designed and manufactured
the tooling string required for this assembly with tight tolerance requirements. Product acceptance fit and operational
verification are performed in a functional check fixture designed and fabricated by Aurora as well. All composite
components for this product are inspected by either using mode of inspection (MOI) tooling or three-dimensional
inspection methods.
H-92 Weapon Pylon - 2008 to Present
Customer – Sikorsky / Canadian Government
Aurora is currently building the Sikorsky H-92 torpedo carrying weapons pylon in support of 31 aircraft for the Canadian
government. This assembly consists of an aluminum framing assembly and composite pylon and fairing assemblies. Aurora
designed and fabricated the production tool string required to meet the build demands plus any follow options or spares.
Aurora is one of the first Sikorsky suppliers qualified to design, fabricate and use production tooling as a method of
inspection on this program.
WB-57F Superpod - 2009
Customer – NASA
Under a contract through Computer Sciences Corporation, Aurora provided NASA’s WB-57 High Altitude Research Program with a set
of wing pods to be used on the WB-57F aircraft. Our engineering team was responsible for the design, analysis and engineering
documentation of these aluminum/composite construction structural assemblies. The superpod is designed to use the mounting
points previously used by the J-60 engines on the WB-57F wing. The wing pods will be used by NASA to house avionics and test
equipment that will be used to do weather sampling around the world.
Minotaur IV UPMC - 2008 to Present
Customer – Orbital / NASA
UPMC – Upper Payload/Motor Cones
Aurora is responsible for fabrication and delivery of The Upper Payload/Motor Cones to the Orbital Sciences Corporation’s
Minotaur IV program. These cones are carbon fiber/aluminum honeycomb core sandwich structures approximately 5 feet in
diameter, and 10” in height and are used for adapting various booster and payload mating structures to the diameters
needed for the lower stages of the Minotaur IV launch vehicle.
Minotaur IV HAPS - 2008 to Present
Customer – Orbital / NASA
HAPS – Avionics Cylinder and Interstage Cone
The HAPS Avionics Cylinder is a carbon fiber/aluminum honeycomb core composite sandwich structure designed for the
upper stages of the Minotaur IV launch vehicle. It is approximately 5 feet in length and 3.5 feet in diameter. The
HAPS system mounted inside the Avionics Cylinder consists of a hydrazine propulsion and booster separation subsystem.
The HAPS Interstage Cone is a carbon fiber/aluminum honeycomb core composite sandwich structure designed for the upper
stages of the Minotaur IV launch vehicle. Each cone is approximately 8 feet in diameter and 3.5 feet in overall height.
E-2C and E-2D Assorted Secondary Structures - 2001 to Present
Customer – Northrop Grumman Corporation / US Navy
Aurora produces sheet metal components for the E-2D Advanced Hawkeye program. Working from customer-provided CATIA
models, Aurora designed and fabricated the production tooling necessary to fabricate a large number (~1,200) of
detail parts and assemblies to Northrop Grumman specifications and quality requirements.
EA-6B - 2000 to 2003
Customer – Northrop Grumman Corporation / US Navy
Aurora fabricates and delivers hand hold panel assemblies to the US Navy in support of the EA-6B program. Each panel measures
6 ft x 2 ft, made out of a sandwich construction using aluminum facesheets and aluminum honeycomb core. In the absence of
design data from the original manufacturer, Aurora’s engineering team reverse-engineered an existing hand hold panel assembly
to develop digital source data to carry out the design and fabrication of the tooling required to manufacture and deliver
these panels.
Aurora has also fabricated ribs and stringers and installed them in EA-6B wing slats maintaining critical
alignment over the length of the slat.
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