A Fort Worth aerospace company is taking off with its plans to design, test and build unmanned aircraft in far north Tarrant County for military and commercial uses.
AVX Aircraft Co. recently relocated from a small office in Benbrook to a larger modern facility at Perot Field Fort Worth Alliance Airport to grow the company specializing in advanced vertical lift technology. A team of about 40 engineers and professionals now operates in the new facility at 13901 Aviator Way off Interstate 35 West, and AVX plans to double its workforce within the next year.
The facility has 14,000 square feet of office space and 7,000 square feet for designing and testing prototypes. Once an aircraft is flightworthy, company engineers will test it on the adjacent runways, officials said.
The company, launched in 2005, “has grown from that small office to this facility here,” company founder David Brody said at an Oct. 29 ribbon cutting event in the company’s aircraft hangar, which was draped with large U.S. and Texas flags and featured helicopter models that showed the evolution from piloted crafts to unmanned vehicles.
Since the company’s early days, AVX has been “building a reputation and brand for technical excellence,” company President and COO Kendall Goodman said.
In 2010, AVX shifted its patented coaxial rotor design technology to current military strategies involving unmanned aircraft, attracting attention — and contracts — from the Austin-based U.S. Army Futures Command.
“We’ve developed a reputation for grit and punching above our weight class,” Goodman said.
AVX’s future lies in developing aircraft with vertical takeoff and landing capabilities, Goodman said. The company will design next-generation helicopter technology that includes advanced aircraft frames that eliminate the need for fasteners and joints. AVX is also developing sustainable technology software intended to lower fleet operational costs and predict the lifespan of aircraft parts.
Developing vertical takeoff and landing aircraft for the military is significant, Goodman said.
“This technology doesn’t exist on the battlefield,” he said. “It’s a game changer.”
In June, AVX and Colorado-based XTI Aerospace Inc. agreed to develop, design and certify XTI’s TriFan 600, a fixed-wing vertical takeoff and landing aircraft.
“The relationship with AVX provides XTI Aircraft with seasoned engineering talent and a company highly experienced in designing and developing vertical lift aircraft technology,” Scott Pomeroy, chairman and CEO of XTI Aerospace, said in a statement. “AVX will help refine our current design, which we expect will accelerate the TriFan 600 development program while significantly reducing expenses for certain engineering capabilities and services.”
AVX’s military applications of its technology are impressive, said U.S. Rep. Jake Ellzey, R-Waxahachie, a former Navy fighter pilot who now serves on the House Appropriations Committee’s Defense subcommittee.
“If you’re at AVX, you’re a pioneer,” said Ellzey, whose congressional district includes part of Tarrant County.
Vertical take-off and landing aircraft would be an asset to the military, Ellzey said.
Alliance boom
AVX joins more than 570 other companies based at the Alliance airport.
“The airport itself was innovative since day one and we’re the world’s first industrial airport built out of the ground to serve an industrial purpose,” Christian Childs, president of Hillwood Aviation Companies, said. “We love partnering with new companies, we love to see them get their feet on the ground here.”
Economic possibilities on the horizon with autonomous aircraft technology, Childs said.
“We’ve got a little bit of development property still left around the airport adjacent to the airport, so we’re marketing that to some prospective users,” he said.
AllianceTexas, Hillwood’s 27,000-acre master-planned, mixed-use development, is also home of the Mobility Innovation Zone, a private-public hub for surface and air mobility solutions.
An $80 million federal Infrastructure for Rebuilding America grant will help build a new State Highway 170 intermodal bridge and other significant infrastructure improvements to create the new Smart Port at AllianceTexas, Hillwood recently announced.
