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Norsk Titanium Completes Testing of Rapid Plasma Deposition™ Component with Thales Alenia Space

Confirms 6-month cycle time savings over legacy processes

OSLO, NORWAY — June 19, 2017 — Norsk Titanium AS, the world’s pioneering supplier of aerospace-grade, additive manufactured, structural titanium components, announced it has completed testing of its Rapid Plasma Deposition™ (RPD™ ) material with Thales Alenia Space, the joint venture between Thales (67%) and Leonardo (33%) to develop, produce and test components for use in spaceflight.

Under a contract signed in 2016, Norsk Titanium collaborated with Thales Alenia Space to develop, produce, and test an initial qualification component. Under the terms of the test plan, Norsk Titanium evaluated the suitability of their RPD™ material to replace near-net shape forgings for spaceflight applications. Norsk Titanium is pleased to announce that mechanical testing has been completed and the RPD™ material performed in accordance with the mutually developed requirements.

“Norsk Titanium is delighted to mature our relationship with Thales Alenia Space,” said Norsk Titanium CEO Warren M. Boley, Jr. “Along with our recent commercial aerospace successes, this provides further evidence that Norsk Titanium’s Rapid Plasma Deposition™ material is ready to support the stringent requirements of the in-space market, revolutionizing how the industry incorporates titanium into their critical designs.”

Successful completion of this testing has positioned Norsk Titanium to be a leading supplier of structural additive manufactured components for the Thales Alenia Space product lines. Adoption of RPD™ material allows Thales Alenia Space to improve program performance, cutting current part buy-to-fly ratios in half and reducing lead-times by 6 months.

“Thales Alenia Space is very pleased to confirm that the Rapid Plasma Deposition™ solution from Norsk Titanium was successfully tested from a mechanical point of view. Thales Alenia Space builds larger and larger material parts using additive manufacturing, which represents an important advance during the fabrication phase,” explained Florence Montredon, Additive Manufacturing Technology Development manager at Thales Alenia Space.

About Norsk Titanium AS

Norsk Titanium is a global leader in metal 3D printing, innovating the future of metal manufacturing by enabling a paradigm shift to a clean and sustainable manufacturing process. With its proprietary Rapid Plasma Deposition® (RPD®) technology and 700 MT of production capacity, Norsk Titanium offers cost-efficient 3D printing of value-added metal parts to a large addressable market. RPD® technology uses significantly less raw material, energy, and time than traditional energy-intensive forming methods, presenting customers with an opportunity to better manage input costs, logistics, and environmental impact. RPD® printed parts are already flying on commercial aircraft, and Norsk Titanium has gained significant traction with large defense and industrial customers

About Thales Alenia Space

Thales Alenia Space brings over 40 years of experience to the design, integration, testing, and operation of innovative space systems for telecommunications, navigation, Earth observation, environmental management, exploration, science, and orbital infrastructures. A joint venture between Thales (67%) and Leonardo (33%), Thales Alenia Space also teams up with Telespazio to form the parent companies’ “Space Alliance,” which offers a complete range of services and solutions. Thales Alenia Space has built up unrivaled expertise in dual (civil-military) missions, constellations, flexible high-throughput payloads, altimetry, meteorology, and high-resolution radar and optical observation. The company capitalizes on its strong legacy, while also making innovation a key to its strategy. By offering a continuous stream of new products and expanding its global footprint, Thales Alenia Space has established its leadership in today’s fast-evolving space sector. Thales Alenia Space posted consolidated revenues of about 2.4 billion euros in 2016 and has 7,980 employees in nine countries. For more information, visit www.thalesgroup.com

Thales Alenia Space Press Contacts:
Sandrine Bielecki | Phone: +33 (0)4 92 92 70 94 | sandrine.bielecki@thalesaleniaspace.com
Chrystelle Dugimont | Phone: +33 (0)4 92 92 74 06 | chrystelle.dugimont@thalesaleniaspace.com