In their quest for superior performance, defense aircraft designers were the first to experiment with new materials and to demonstrate the effectiveness of composites. An early example was the experimental Spitfire fuselage, built with flax reinforcement and phenolic resin at Hexcel’s Duxford site.
 
Today, the requirement for optimized aircraft designs, enabling pilots to perform advanced acrobatic maneuvers, has led to a greater use of composites than ever. Hexcel now supplies most of the major military aircraft programs in Europe and the USA, counting British Aerospace, Boeing, Aerospatiale, CASA, Dassault and Saab amongst its customers.
 
All composite structures on the Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft, including wings, front fuselage and tail section, are being built with Hexcel’s 8552 epoxy Prepreg. One of Hexcel’s advanced Bismaleimide (BMI) systems is being used for components which are subjected to particularly high temperatures, and Redux® 322 film adhesive is being used to bond all of the composite parts. Hexcel honeycomb will also be used in the Eurofighter, making a total contribution per aircraft of over a ton of composite material.

1 Radar Transparent Radome: Epoxy or BMI Prepreg or RTM resins and woven preforms (socks)
2 Foreplane Canard Wings: Epoxy carbon Prepregs
3 Fuselage Panel Sections: Epoxy carbon Prepregs. Non-metallic honeycomb core and Redux® adhesives
4 Leading Edge Devices: Epoxy carbon and glass Prepregs
5 Fin Fairings: Epoxy glass and carbon Prepregs
6 Wing Skins and Ribs: Epoxy carbon and glass Prepregs
7 Fin Tip: Epoxy/quartz Prepregs
8 Rudder: Epoxy carbon Prepreg
9 Fin: Epoxy carbon/glass Prepreg
10 Flying Control Surfaces: Epoxy carbon and glass Prepregs. Honeycomb core material and Redux® adhesives

This drawing is generic, to allow the maximum number of potential composite applications to be identified. The drawing is not intended to represent a specific aircraft.
 
Not shown:
Undercarriage Doors, Access Panels
Epoxy carbon/glass Prepregs