British military jet developer AERALIS, which hopes to supply the RAF with its next trainer aircraft, has opened a base in Bristol as it prepares to do battle with the giants of the UK defence sector.
The firm said it chose the city for what it is calling its ‘enterprise hub’ as it is recognised as the heartland of British aerospace and defence manufacturing. 
AERALIS, which is seeking to develop the first fully British military jet since the 1970s, said the Filton base, where it will employ up to 40 staff, gave it a strategic location within its supply chain.
It also said it was close to organisations with which it already has established relationships, including engineering consultancy Atkins, aero-engine giant Rolls-Royce and MoD Defence Equipment and Support at Abbey Wood.
The Filton area is also home to aerospace and defence giants Airbus, GKN, BAE Systems and missile firm MBDA among others.
Last year AERALIS signed a memorandum of understanding with Rolls-Royce on the supply of engines for its pre-production aircraft.
It also secured £10.5m from a Middle Eastern wealth fund to fund its development programme.
AERALIS said the hub, the firm’s first permanent base since its launch in 2015, would allow it to leverage the wealth of engineering and design expertise available in the region.
It will include an office designed for hybrid working, along with a design engineering space where the firm can bring together partners to explore the initial stages of manufacturing and systems integration, as well as operating its AERSIDE integrated digital enterprise system. 
The office has room for larger teams as the company continues its rapid growth.
AERALIS founder and CEO Tristan Crawford said: “The opening of the Enterprise Hub marks a significant milestone in our development as a company, as it will allow us to accommodate our programme team together with our engineering team and our partners in the region to expand on the development of our innovative modular jet.”
Industry insiders believe this could involve building a potential successor to BAE Systems’ long-established Hawk trainer aircraft – including replacing the aircraft used by the iconic Red Arrows display fleet.
The Red Arrows have used the Hawk T1 for more than 40 years. The Hawk is powered by Rolls-Royce’s Bristol-built Adour engine.
The firm has a three-year contract with the RAF’s Rapid Capabilities Office (RCO) for research and development into its modular approach to designing and developing future aircraft.
The RCO will support the requirements and design review process to gain an understanding of how AERALIS defines the ways in which agile, modular, commercially-driven aircraft design can develop and certify a broad range of future aircraft systems that could support the RAF’s ambition to rationalise its future fleet.
This will enable it to deliver a range of configurations for different missions by using common fuselage and avionics while switching engines, wings and mission systems.
The company has already completed phase one and phase two development and is preparing to develop a pre-production aircraft with first flight targeted within three years.
Mr Crawford had the idea for AERALIS while working on the BAe Hawk jet trainer at defence contractor QinetiQ. He realised that the jet trainer market was not benefitting from the approach taken by Airbus – where he has also worked – of exploiting modular design.
Iain Gray, former Bristol-based managing director of Airbus UK and now head of aerospace at Cranfield University, sits on AERALIS’ advisory board.
