When pilots fly the Boeing Co. Dreamliner 787-9 over Utah, they probably don’t point out to passengers the headquarters of Orbital ATK’s aerospace structures division (ASD) in the town of Clearfield. Nevertheless, it’s safe to assume they’re happy the facility is there.
The reason is because ASD workers carefully assemble the composite frames for the 787-9’s center and aft fuselages. Assemblers at ASD also build composite stringers (structural members) and frames for the Airbus A350 XWB-1000, and later this year, they will begin making composite frames for the 787-10 airplane (set to commercially launch in 2018).