About Aurora
Who We Are
Aurora Flight Sciences is a leader in the development and manufacturing of advanced unmanned systems and aerospace vehicles.
At the core of our company’s mission is a commitment to the science of autonomous flight; whether that means a fully autonomous drone, or a program that is breaking new ground in the interface between man and machine as it relates to flight.
Aurora Flight Sciences was founded in 1989 as a small garage shop in Alexandria to utilize UAS for atmospheric research. Since then, Aurora has designed, produced, and flown more than 30 unmanned air vehicles, pioneering technologies of long-endurance aircraft, robotic co-pilots, and autonomous electric VTOL aircraft. Aurora’s demonstrated capabilities have made it a leader in the emerging field of electric propulsion for aircraft.
During the last decade, Aurora has collaborated with Boeing on the rapid prototyping of innovative aircraft and structural assemblies for both military and commercial applications.
As a subsidiary, Aurora’s innovation is combined with Boeing’s size and strength, creating an unprecedented opportunity to advance the future of flight.
Headquartered in Manassas, Virginia, Aurora operates production plants in Bridgeport, West Virginia and Columbus, Mississippi. We have Research and Development Centers in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Dayton, Ohio and Menlo Park, California, and a European office, Aurora Swiss Aerospace, located in Luzern, Switzerland.
Timeline of 25 years of our robotic aircraft: Aurora Making Aircraft Smarter Timeline
Aerostructures
Aurora Flight Sciences is a Tier 1 provider of high value added aerostructures products to the prime aircraft companies in America’s aerospace, defense and civil aviation markets. Aurora’s aerostructures group specializes in complex design, build-to-print and rapid prototyping of airframes fabricated from advanced composite and metallic materials. The company has invested in greater automation in the manufacturing environment to drive down costs and improve quality, performance, and safety.
Aurora’s aerostructures business unit specializes in complex design, build-to-print, and rapid prototyping of metallic and composite airframes fabricated through a combination of manual and automated processes. We offer a full-service solution to customers while maintaining the unique ability to integrate our engineering expertise and manufacturing talent to rapidly produce new products for our military and commercial customers.
Leadership
Per Beith
President & CEO
Matt Hutchison
Chief Operating Officer
Tom Clancy
Chief Technology Officer
Alex Mozdzanowska
Vice President, Human Resources
Christopher “Kit” Decker
Chief Financial Officer
Larry Wirsing
VP Commercial Programs
Graham Drozeski
VP Government Programs
Luke Colville
VP Aerosystems
Mike Caimona
Chief Customer Officer
John Tylko
Chief Innovation Officer
Locations
Aurora Headquarters
Manassas, Virginia
Located in Northern Virginia, approximately 30 miles west of Washington, DC, Aurora’s headquarters is home to the company’s design engineering team.
Aurora moved to Manassas in 1991 from its “garage shop” location where the company was originally founded in Alexandria, Virginia. The Manassas location currently has three buildings with a total of four hangar bays. Aurora uses this facility for ongoing development programs, rapid prototyping and as home base for corporate operations.
9950 Wakeman Dr
Manassas, VA 20110
Tel: 703.369.3633
Bridgeport, West Virginia
Aerostructure Manufacturing
Our facility in West Virginia focuses on the design, building and printing of aerostructure components utilizing lean aerospace manufacturing techniques and technologies. The West Virginia facility is the center of Aurora’s composite manufacturing work for military aircraft, with the RQ-4 Global Hawk/Triton and the CH-53K King Stallion providing the foundation.
First established in 1994, Aurora’s WV manufacturing facilities have grown over the years to a total 125,000 sq. feet between three buildings. The site is well equipped with a machine shop, welding shop, heat treat furnace, paint booth, a 2,000 sq. ft. environmentally-controlled inspection room, two 10,000 sq. ft. class 10,000 clean rooms for composite lay-up and assembly, three dual head Virtek laser ply location stations, a 24 foot automated ply cutter, two autoclaves and a reconfigurable shop floor.
Aurora WV is also the company’s tooling “Center of Excellence” and maintains a full staff of design, stress, quality and manufacturing engineers.
3000 East Benedum Industrial Dr.
Bridgeport, WV 26330
Tel: 304.842.8100
Columbus, Mississippi
Aerostructures Manufacturing and Final Assembly
Aurora’s Mississippi facility opened in March 2005 and permanently resides at the Golden Triangle Regional Airport in Columbus. The location is comprised of three buildings and a combined 120,000 sq. ft of manufacturing and production capacity.
Aurora Mississippi fabricates and performs final assembly of composite aerostructures for defense and commercial aerospace customers, including Aurora’s Orion Medium Altitude-Long Endurance Unmanned Aerial Vehicle. Our state of the art capabilities include automated fiber placement, NDI, autoclave (16’x40’), NC trim and clean rooms.
200 Aurora Way
Columbus, MS 39701
Tel: 662.328.8227
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Research and Development Center
The heart of innovation at Aurora lies in our Research and Development Center located in one of the country’s predominant high tech-hubs, Kendall Square in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Established in 2006, the RDC’s mission is to perform basic and applied research supporting Aurora’s core business and product development efforts in the areas of unmanned aircraft systems, small space systems and other flight vehicles. The RDC also provides service to numerous external clients including NASA, DOD and major government contractors.
The Kendall Square location is a key aspect of the RDC’s mission to further research cooperation with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and other esteemed universities. This partnership provides access to the innovative ideas coming from MIT faculty and students, and joins with Aurora’s proven ability to take technologies from the lab and make them into actual systems that can address customer needs.
150 Cambridge Park Drive, 4th floor
Cambridge, MA 02140
Tel: 617.500.4800
Luzern, Switzerland
European Office
Aurora Swiss Aerospace is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Aurora Flight Sciences, established in the Canton of Luzern, Switzerland in 2013. Aurora Swiss Aerospace conducts upgrade and support projects for Aurora customers in Switzerland and throughout Europe, as well managing a European engineering team that conducts research and development for worldwide Aurora projects.
Aurora Swiss Aerospace
Baselstrasse 61A
6003 Luzern
Switzerland
+41-41-248-00-40
info@aurora-aero.ch
Satellite Sites
Silicon Valley Office
99 El Camino Real
Menlo Park, CA 94025
Tel: 650.210.7557
Dayton Office
5100 Springfield St.
Suite 308
Beavercreek, OH 45431
Tel: 937.723.9892