R&D Tax UK Limited - Aerospace

Development within the Aerospace industry is traditional considered to fall within "R&D", but even here the breadth of the definition of eligible activity means that there is significant activity that remains unclaimed.

 

• A manufacturer was developing a new structural bracing system for a wing interior. However, in order to test the effectiveness of this design it was necessary for the entire wing structure (and in fact the entire aircraft)  to be developed in order that the wing system could be tested. Even if there were no technological uncertainties in the rest of the aircraft it is possible that the entire development could be eligible.

 

 

• An aircraft component manufacturer was experiencing issues in attaining the required process capability in a heat treatment process.  Significant engineering time was spent developing the process and a number of abandoned routes were attempted, all this activity was claimed for R&D tax. 

 

• A developer of aircraft instrumentation was commissioned to develop a new system of instrumentation for a twenty year old airframe design. The vibration encountered and the space restrictions in the platform provided significant constraints for the modern equipment. Significant vibration attenuation was required to develop the systems and various prototypes were developed.