GFO   "Building Economic Success through Inward Investment and Global Exports"

aeronautics

GFO takes a highly focused approach to business and concentrates on specific industry segments which provide the best opportunities for investment and global business expansion.

The aeronautics industry is continually changing, led in many cases, by technologies developed for specific military missions and projects.

In almost all cases, these technological developments are eventually adopted for civil use.

In the last ten years, the successful use of composite airframes and structures in military aircraft has been dramatic. Composite airframes to a large extent contribute to the stealth features of these planes.  Airframe structures made of carbon are lighter than steel or aluminium and contribute to more fuel efficient airplanes. Together, their use indirectly reduces the overall cost of manufacture, improves durability, reduces maintenance requirements, and extends the endurance or range of flights.

Carbon fibre can be woven with a combination of different basic materials and shaped to improve performance and/or meet specific mission requirements. Most recently, carbon wings and tails can be infused with electronic component or grids, which further reduce overall costs of production and maintenance.

The US government has used carbon composite based structures in a number of airborne reconnaissance and weapon systems. Most of the early uses were in manned aircraft. In the last ten years, it has increasingly been used in unmanned aircraft, “UAS”, including the “secret” RQ-170 UAS lost to Iran in 2011.

Boeing has led the sometimes “bleeding” edge use of these technologies and applications in building civilian aircraft.

The unmanned aeronautical system market is one of the fastest growing segments of the aeronautical industry. The two main applications are military and civil. The use of carbon fibre in UAS’s is becoming more prevalent for military missions and will become essential to meet the growing market for non-military government agency civil missions, and eventually the broader range of purely civilian applications.

Our group’s first generation of UAS’s was developed in 2001 and deployed from 2002 only in the US. Most US government agencies purchased or leased these UASs for various military and civil missions. Our first generation UAS was first with a flying wing design, all composite airframe, "plug and play" power source, payload, and command & control”. These planes were fitted with a very wide range of advanced sensors and cameras.

Our second generation portfolio of UASs are now available outside the United States.

For more information about our second generation UAS launched in 2011, please select:

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