Norsk Titanium has signed a Cooperation & Research Agreement with Airbus to industrialize and qualify its Rapid Plasma Deposition (RPD) technology for high-criticality structural titanium parts across commercial aircraft programs.
The CRA is organized around four work packages covering technology scaling, material and process qualification, and materials expansion beyond titanium. Norsk Titanium will coordinate with Airbus's directed energy deposition project team across engineering, airworthiness, and operational functions, including at Airbus facilities in Saint Eloi and Varel, Germany. The stated goals include qualifying titanium wire, validating the industrial process, and standardizing RPD in accordance with Airbus specifications.
What's new here is scope: the agreement moves the relationship from component supply into a framework for standardizing RPD across Airbus programs. That context matters because the Lower Frame Fitting for the A350, now in series production at Norsk Titanium's Plattsburgh, New York facility, became the largest and highest-classification additively manufactured aerostructure component to receive both EASA and FAA certification when it first flew in 2026.
"Industrialization takes time, but the direction of travel is clear," said Fabrizio Ponte, President and CEO of Norsk Titanium. "Working together with Airbus, we are building the foundation for RPD to serve the industry at scale and to deliver the cost, lead-time and material savings that the aerospace industry requires."
The CRA builds on a Master Supply Agreement signed with Airbus Aerostructures in 2024 to support A350 production and a separate collaboration with the Varel plant focused on directed energy deposition process documentation. Today's agreement formalizes these threads into a single qualification and industrialization partnership intended to anchor RPD in Airbus's core material and process standards across multiple aircraft programs.
