Harwood Composites wins contract for UAV airframes

Harwood Custom Composites (HCC, Sidney, British Columbia, Canada) announced on Feb. 25 that it has been awarded a contract to supply unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) airframes for Quaternion (Victoria, British Columbia), a supplier of design and engineering services to global UAV manufacturers.

HCC will initially manufacture the QT-1 airframe for Quaternion. The QT-1 is a specialized research and development (R&D) UAV platform developed for research purposes. Quaternion supplies the QT-1 globally to academic and R&D organizations for the purposes of testing mission-adapted equipment, airfoils and power plants. The market for this specialized platform is growing as UAVs become more commonly employed for routine aviation missions. As Quaternion’s current design projects mature to production phase, HCC will undertake additional manufacturing as required.

HCC specializes in the design and production of aerospace components by employing advanced composites materials and
methods. HCC began its partnership with Quaternion more than six months ago, acting in an advisory capacity on materials and manufacturing methods for production of a new UAV platform design.

Drawing on its experience in the use of carbon fiber and other advanced materials used in structural assemblies for a variety of commercial and performance aircraft, HCC supported the design evolution of the prototype with features enabling future manufacturing with proven methods and materials. In addition, HCC’s experience in designing and manufacturing custom components for competitive radio controlled aircraft provided practical experience with the unique demands of smaller aircraft operating at extreme performance limits.