Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 July 2016
Over the past 20 years, the issue of manufacturing large composite structures has been intensively addressed. Military aircraft have seen ambitious developments which have been transferred successfully into production. Large commercial aircraft have seen less ambitious developments productionised at relatively high cost when compared to aluminium. This paper reviews developments in these sectors. Outstanding issues for affordable manufacture of large composite structures are discussed with reference to current design and manufacturing research programmes.