Touchstone Advanced Composites, a division within the Innovations business unit of Core Natural Resources, is producing advanced structural tooling for Northrop Grumman’s next-generation YFQ-48A Talon Blue Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA). The company also contributed to the aircraft’s successful autonomous taxi demonstration held in Mojave.
Working closely with Northrop Grumman, Touchstone is supplying its proprietary CFOAM® tooling material while also manufacturing selected aircraft components. Talon Blue is being designed as a modular, affordable, and quickly deployable autonomous wingman, built using cutting-edge manufacturing methods.
Unlike traditional crewed fighter aircraft, programs such as Talon Blue prioritize scalability, flexibility, and production efficiency. Touchstone’s end-to-end manufacturing expertise aligns with these objectives, enabling streamlined production processes that can rapidly transition from prototype development to large-scale manufacturing.
A key part of this effort is Touchstone’s CFOAM technology, which is used to create molds and tooling for composite aerospace structures. The material delivers high dimensional accuracy and thermal stability, while also allowing rapid design modifications during aircraft development and smoother movement into early-stage production. CFOAM is manufactured using domestically sourced bituminous coal.
“Our priority is to close the gap between prototype development and high-volume production while maintaining top-tier performance,” said Dan Connell, president of Core’s Innovations business unit.
“With precise control over thermal characteristics and material performance, we can help accelerate engineering timelines and support evolving aircraft designs. CFOAM demonstrates how Core Natural Resources is unlocking new opportunities for coal-based materials in advanced industries including aerospace and defense manufacturing.”
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Working closely with Northrop Grumman, Touchstone is supplying its proprietary CFOAM® tooling material while also manufacturing selected aircraft components. Talon Blue is being designed as a modular, affordable, and quickly deployable autonomous wingman, built using cutting-edge manufacturing methods.
Unlike traditional crewed fighter aircraft, programs such as Talon Blue prioritize scalability, flexibility, and production efficiency. Touchstone’s end-to-end manufacturing expertise aligns with these objectives, enabling streamlined production processes that can rapidly transition from prototype development to large-scale manufacturing.
A key part of this effort is Touchstone’s CFOAM technology, which is used to create molds and tooling for composite aerospace structures. The material delivers high dimensional accuracy and thermal stability, while also allowing rapid design modifications during aircraft development and smoother movement into early-stage production. CFOAM is manufactured using domestically sourced bituminous coal.
“Our priority is to close the gap between prototype development and high-volume production while maintaining top-tier performance,” said Dan Connell, president of Core’s Innovations business unit.
“With precise control over thermal characteristics and material performance, we can help accelerate engineering timelines and support evolving aircraft designs. CFOAM demonstrates how Core Natural Resources is unlocking new opportunities for coal-based materials in advanced industries including aerospace and defense manufacturing.”
Click here to know more.