The TAPAS consortium consists of companies and knowledge institutes in the Dutch aerospace industry working together with Airbus on the development of thermoplastic composite applications in aircraft fuselages, wings and tail sections.
The partnership between Fokker Aerostructures and TenCate Advanced Composites with Airbus and the other partners started in 2010 and, following the new extension, will run until end-2017. The innovation partners within TAPAS from Dutch SMEs are Airborne Composites, CODET, DTC, KE-Works, KVE and Technobis Fiber Technologies. The Netherlands National Aerospace Laboratory (NLR), Delft University of Technology and the University of Twente are the Dutch knowledge partners in this innovation program.
The budget for TAPAS 2 is €24.3 million, and the Netherlands Ministry of Economic Affairs is supporting the ongoing partnership with a loan of €9.5 million. The aim of the programme is to further increase the proportion of thermoplastic composites in current aircraft as well as in the new generation of aircraft. A demonstration tail section made entirely of thermoplastic composite material is being developed under the TAPAS 2 agreement. A thermoplastic fuselage panel has been produced and presented as demonstrator as part of TAPAS 1.
