MEGGITT PLC

Their core work

Meggitt is a major UK aerospace and defence manufacturer producing high-performance subsystems — including thermal management components, sensing systems, and fluid/motion control equipment — for civil and military aircraft platforms. In the H2020 context, they contributed industrial expertise to aircraft powerplant integration programmes and advanced the manufacturing of compact air-oil heat exchangers using additive layer manufacturing. Their participation as a third party in both projects reflects a role as an industrial validation partner: providing certified manufacturing environments and end-user perspective that academic or SME partners cannot replicate. Based in Coventry, they are positioned as a Tier 1 supplier within European aviation supply chains.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

During their early H2020 participation (NIPSE, 2015–2018), Meggitt's focus was on powerplant system equipment integration at the aircraft level — a broad systems engineering challenge with no manufacturing-method specificity in the available data. By 2019, their engagement shifted explicitly to additive layer manufacturing as a production method for compact oil-cooling heat exchangers (C-ALM AOHE), reflecting a targeted move toward weight-reduction technologies aligned with Clean Sky 2 priorities. The trajectory points to a deepening commitment to advanced manufacturing techniques within the thermal management domain, rather than a broadening of application sectors.

Meggitt is moving toward additive layer manufacturing for weight-critical thermal components, a direction consistent with aviation's push for lighter, geometrically complex heat exchangers in next-generation aircraft.

How they like to work

Meggitt participated exclusively as a third party in both H2020 projects, meaning they contributed industrial know-how, test facilities, or manufactured specimens rather than managing the research programme. With 12 unique partners across 5 countries in just 2 projects, each collaboration was a substantive multi-partner consortium — typical of Joint Technology Initiatives and Clean Sky aeronautics programmes. This pattern signals that engaging Meggitt means gaining access to certified industrial-grade manufacturing and validation capability, with the research coordination handled by others in the consortium.

Meggitt's 12 consortium partners across 5 countries — achieved through only 2 projects — indicates participation in dense, multi-actor aeronautics programmes rather than bilateral collaborations. Their European network is concentrated in the aviation supply chain ecosystem.

What sets them apart

Meggitt brings Tier 1 aerospace manufacturing capability and access to production environments operating under aviation certification constraints — something academic partners and most SMEs cannot offer. Their specific combination of thermal management expertise and additive manufacturing capability makes them a relevant industrial partner for consortia targeting TRL 5–7 maturation of aircraft thermal components. For a consortium builder, they represent the industrial end-user or manufacturing validator who can bridge research prototypes toward certifiable hardware.

Highlights from their portfolio

• C-ALM AOHE
  Targets one of aviation's core weight-reduction challenges — compact heat exchangers via additive manufacturing — placing Meggitt at the intersection of two high-priority aerospace technology trends within a Joint Technology Initiative framework.
• NIPSE
  Meggitt's earliest H2020 engagement, focused on novel powerplant system integration — establishing their role as an industrial contributor to next-generation propulsion architecture from 2015.