Spirit AeroSystems and NIAR open National Defense Prototype Center
WICHITA, KS—Spirit AeroSystems and Wichita State University’s National Institute for Aviation Research (NIAR) have officially opened the National Defense Prototype Center (NDPC) here to develop new capabilities for defense and space applications.
The 125,000-square-foot facility includes manufacturing space and laboratories with processing and characterization capabilities, including high-temperature testing, furnaces for fabricating and processing materials, multi-method non-destructive inspection, robotic automated fiber placement technology and a large autoclave.