DSEI 2025: NP Aerospace and GTR Composites Partner to meet growing market needs

GTR Composites Group and NP Aerospace, both UK-based companies, have announced a collaboration on 4th September 2025 to address the growing demand for composite materials in the defence sector. The partnership, announced for DSEI UK 2025, will combine the design and manufacturing capabilities of GTR with the defence industry experience and armour expertise of NP Aerospace.

GTR Composites Group, which has a background in high-performance motorsport and the automotive industry, specialises in the design and production of composite components. The company’s facilities include 12 autoclaves, which are chambers used to cure composites under high temperature and pressure to achieve specific material properties. This partnership will utilise GTR’s production capacity to meet defence-sector requirements.

NP Aerospace is the Engineering Authority for the UK’s Protected Mobility vehicle fleet under the PMETS (Protected Mobility Engineering & Technical Support) contract, which covers over 2,200 vehicles like the Mastiff, Wolfhound, Jackal 3, and Foxhound. GTR Composites provided the composite armour that protects the Foxhound. 

NP Aerospace has existing relationships with major defence prime contractors like Babcock as a result of its role in the UK’s defence ecosystem. NP Aerospace’s expertise in composite armour, such as body armour and EOD (Explosive Ordnance Disposal) protection, will be combined with GTR’s composite technology. NP Aerospace is understood to provide the material elements of composite armour, which usually involves fibres like aramid and UHMWPE polyethylene. 

The partnership is intended to meet the demand for advanced composite materials in new technologies like drones and lightweight armour.

Calibre comment

Lightweight composite materials that might not necessarily provide ballistic protection, but are strong enough for vehicle applications are an important component of protected mobility vehicles. For example, it is common to provide protected mobility vehicles with an armoured crew capsule, and make the bonnet and other elements out of composites. This saves weight from having to provide armour for the engine or cargo area. 

By Sam Cranny-Evans, published on September 6, 2025. Credit for the lead image is GTR Composites. It shows materials being loaded into an autoclave. This story was corrected on September 8 to remove reference to ceramic armour as Calibre has learned the partnership is focused only on composite materials.