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This paper describes the latest ideas on a modified process and methods for the clearance of aircraft to the lightning external environment. It covers the whole sequence from the specification of equipment qualification requirements to the demonstration that these are within the electromagnetic environment in which the equipment is installed in the event of strikes up to the severity of the internationally agreed full-threat level. In particular, the process includes computational modelling and whole aircraft/system testing as standard tools, requiring additional levels of confidence where either one is not available or un-feasible. It also contains methods proposed to improve the integrity of whole aircraft testing; an essential concomitant of the availability of computational techniques and the need to validate them. The reasons for changes to currently accepted practice will be explained and justified.

When forming components using composite materials, manual lay-up techniques remain unrivalled, despite shortcomings that limit geometrical complexity. As a result efforts towards automation of the manufacturing process can be desirable. These can be through more automated builds, or via better informing the manual lay-up through simulation. Automation of more complex components is however difficult to achieve due to some technological barriers. Some progress in simulation tools to predict formable shapes has been made, but little in tools to predetermine the manual operations required. The work herein describes a concept to link component design and manufacture using an in-house simulation tool developed at the University of Bristol, UK, called Virtual Fabric Placement.