GKN Aerospace qualifies lighter windshield for Airbus

 

Redditch, U.K. – Following a comprehensive, three year, design and certification program with Airbus, GKN Aerospace has qualified a new, 10% lighter, higher performance, main pilot (No. 1) windshield for the Airbus single aisle aircraft family (A318/A319/A320/A321).

 

The 10% weight savings comes by manufacturing the window from chemically-toughened CE120 glass, replacing the heavier, thermally-toughened glass of previous generations of the window. The company has also incorporated modifications to the detailed design of the windshield that will extend its performance and simplify its manufacture.

 

This new windshield will be fully interchangeable with existing windshields making it available to operators of all Airbus single aisle aircraft – more than 6,000 of which have been manufactured to date. In addition, by combining this new windshield with the company’s established No. 2 and No. 3 cockpit windows, GKN Aerospace can now offer from a single source a complete, lightweight cockpit window set for single aisle aircraft.

 

GKN Aerospace supplies transparencies for the cockpit and cabin of much of the Airbus family of aircraft and to most of the prime airframe manufacturers. The company is also a major supplier of complex, composite and metallic airframe and aero-engine structures to Airbus.