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Run your analysis now →https://www.patsnap.com/resources/blog/rd-blog/aircraft-design-and-aerostructures-patent-landscape-patent-landscape/ · Patsnap · data cut-off 2026-08-31 · downloaded from the live page
Aerospace & Propulsion · Patent LandscapeAircraft Design & Aerostructures Patents: Filing Trends and Who Holds the Claim Space
- 27.2% of all 3,422 records sit with just five assignees, so the leader board is short but the tail runs long — 100 companies are ranked in total.
- Filings climbed 64% from 2021 (129) to 2024 (211), the last year the dataset treats as complete before publication lag understates the count.
- B64D and B64U overlap aircraft equipment claims sit alongside drone-specific ones in over a third of records, showing how unmanned platforms are absorbing conventional airframe claim language.
3,422
Published Records
27%
Top-5 Share of All Records
+64%
Filing Growth 2021→2024
US
Leading Jurisdiction
Filing growth compares 2021 (129 records) with 2024 (211) — a three-year span. 2024 is the most recent year we treat as complete: publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, so 2025 onwards are still filling in and any growth rate that ends there would understate the field. Top-5 share is the combined record count of the five largest assignees divided by all 3,422 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
Published byPatsnap Research··7 min readSourced from Patsnap Eureka
Overview
What this landscape covers
This dataset tracks 3,422 published records filed against aircraft design and aerostructures claim language — spanning airframe geometry, flight-condition sensing, aerodynamic load handling, propulsion integration and the broader aircraft systems that tie those pieces together. Coverage runs from 2015 through the current data cut-off, with the search string anchored on Aircraft Design and Aerostructures terms cross-referenced against operational concepts like flight condition, aerodynamic load, engine thrust and airframe sensor.
Because the corpus spans conventional airframes, unmanned platforms and hybrid-electric propulsion concepts together, it is a useful proxy for where the industry's structural and control claims are actually concentrating — not just where R&D headlines are pointing.
Filing activity and technology composition, 2015 to present
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Assignee ranking and totals. Derived from a Patsnap search on Aircraft Design & Aerostructures Patent Landscape covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-08-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
The Data
Filing trends and technology composition
Two views of the same 3,422 records: how filing volume has moved year over year, and which IPC subclasses carry the claim density.
Filing trend, 2017–2026
Filings rose from 156 in 2017 to a peak of 251 in 2018, then continued at elevated levels; the 2021→2024 span shows a 64% increase (129 to 211). 2025 and 2026 figures are undercounts — publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, so the most recent years will keep filling in as records publish.
Technology composition by IPC subclass
B64C (aeroplanes & helicopters) touches 55.4% of the 3,422 records, with B64D (aircraft equipment) at 36.4% and B64U (unmanned aerial vehicles) at 13.5%. Because a single record can carry several IPC classes, these shares add to more than 100% — they describe overlap in claim scope, not a partition of the field.
Shares are the percentage of the 3,422 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Filing trend and technology composition. Derived from a Patsnap search on Aircraft Design & Aerostructures Patent Landscape covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-08-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.
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Most-cited records and a representative filing
Representative filing
US20170300065A1 — Automatic recovery systems and methods for unmanned aircraft systems
LATITUDE ENGINEERING, LLC
An aircraft, such as an unmanned aircraft, can include a forward propulsion system comprising one or more engines and one or more rotors coupled to a corresponding engine; a vertical propulsion system comprising one or more vertical propulsion engines and one or more corresponding rotors coupled thereto; a sensor package comprising one or more sensors to detect an operating parameter of the aircraft. It may further include an automatic recovery system that includes an input coupled to the sensor package; an output coupled to an aircraft controller; a processor to monitor one or more operating parameters of the aircraft, detect a failure of the forward propulsion system based on the operating parameters, and trigger recovery action accordingly.Filed by Latitude Engineering, LLC, published 2017-10-19.
Highest-citation records in scope
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US20030093187A1 | PFN/TRAC systemTM FAA upgrades for accountable remote and robotics control to stop the unauthorized use of ai… | 977 |
| 2 | US20050187677A1 | PFN/TRAC systemTM FAA upgrades for accountable remote and robotics control to stop the unauthorized use of ai… | 595 |
| 3 | US6965816B2 | PFN/TRAC system FAA upgrades for accountable remote and robotics control to stop the unauthorized use of airc… | 489 |
| 4 | US5823468A | Hybrid aircraft | 399 |
| 5 | US20160236790A1 | System and methods for implementing regional air transit network using hybrid-electric aircraft | 395 |
| 6 | US20120091257A1 | Air vehicle | 315 |
| 7 | US20150136897A1 | Aircraft, preferably unmanned | 302 |
| 8 | US20120209456A1 | Parallel Hybrid-Electric Propulsion Systems for Unmanned Aircraft | 276 |
| 9 | US20040056779A1 | Transportation signaling device | 270 |
| 10 | US20200290742A1 | Hybrid-electric aircraft, and methods, apparatus and systems for facilitating same | 250 |
Citation counts reward age inside a searched corpus — treat this table as a signal of historical influence, not of which claims are most relevant to file around today.
Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Citation counts and representative records. Derived from a Patsnap search on Aircraft Design & Aerostructures Patent Landscape covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-08-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
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What the numbers say about this field
Three read-outs from the assignee ranking, the filing trend and the technology composition that matter for a filing decision today.
Concentration
27.2%
of 3,422 records held by top 5
A short leader board over a long tail
The top five assignees combined hold 27.2% of all 3,422 records in scope, and the top ten hold 35.7%. The leader alone accounts for 602 records, but the gap down to fifth place (77) and tenth place (46) is steep — most of the ranked field of 100 companies files in single digits.
Concentration signals where claim space is defended, not where it is exhausted.
Momentum
+64%
filings, 2021 to 2024
Growth through the last complete year
Filing volume rose from 129 in 2021 to 211 in 2024, a 64% increase over that span. 2025 and 2026 counts will keep rising as publication catches up, so treat the recent-year dip in raw numbers as an artefact of lag rather than a slowdown.
The peak filing year so far remains 2018, at 251 records.
Composition
13.5%
of records touch B64U (drones)
Unmanned platforms are absorbing airframe claims
B64U (unmanned aerial vehicles) appears in 13.5% of the 3,422 records, well behind B64C (55.4%) and B64D (36.4%) but far from marginal. The overlap between drone-specific claims and conventional aircraft-equipment claims suggests unmanned platforms are increasingly claimed with the same structural and sensor language as manned aircraft.
Control-of-non-electric-variables claims (G05D, 6.6%) and jet/reaction propulsion (F02K, 5.7%) sit further down the stack.
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Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to aircraft design & aerostructures patent landscape, with the prior art for and against each one.
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Co-assignee relationships and derived observations. Derived from a Patsnap search on Aircraft Design & Aerostructures Patent Landscape covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-08-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
Players
Who is filing, and where activity has cooled
The ranking spans 100 companies; a handful account for over a quarter of all records, and recent-year momentum has slowed sharply even among the largest filers.
Leader
602
records
A single dominant filer
The top-ranked assignee holds 602 records — more than the next several ranked entrants combined — reflecting decades of continuous airframe and systems filing across commercial and defence platforms.
Momentum for several of the largest names has slowed to zero or negative in the most recent year, consistent with publication lag rather than an actual pullback.
Mid-field
77 / 46
records at 5th / 10th place
A steep drop-off below the leaders
Fifth place holds 77 records and tenth place holds 46 — a sharp fall from the leader's 602, showing that beyond a small cluster of established aerospace and defence names, filing volume thins out quickly across the remaining ranked companies.
New-entrant activity from advanced air mobility and eVTOL-adjacent filers shows up further down the ranking.
Collaboration
10
co-assignee pairs identified
Filing is mostly solo, with a few tight pairs
Only 10 co-assignee pairs appear across the dataset, the strongest linking two operating units of the same aerospace group, and another pairing a major manufacturer with a university research partner. Co-filing is the exception here, not the norm.
Where it exists, it clusters around large-platform manufacturers rather than smaller unmanned-systems entrants.
Recent-year filing momentum by assignee
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Archer Aviation Inc | 1 | -92% |
| The Boeing Co | 0 | -100% |
| General Electric Co | 0 | -100% |
| Bell Helicopter Textron Inc | 0 | — |
| Israel Aerospace Industries Ltd | 0 | — |
| Jetoptera Inc | 0 | -100% |
| BAE Systems plc | 0 | -100% |
| ALAKAI TECHNOLOGIES CORP | 0 | — |
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Assignee-level momentum. Derived from a Patsnap search on Aircraft Design & Aerostructures Patent Landscape covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-08-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
What's Next
Where to take this analysis
The dataset points to a concentrated core with real gaps at the edges. The next steps depend on whether you are clearing a filing or scouting a partner.
Run a freedom-to-operate check
If you are drafting claims in aircraft equipment or unmanned propulsion, the most-cited records here are a starting point, not a clearance search — verify against live claim scope before filing.
Open Eureka to search full claim textTrack the under-claimed branches
Hybrid-electric propulsion integration and distributed sensor fusion show comparatively light filing density relative to core airframe claims — worth a closer look before the field fills in.
Explore white space in EurekaWatch momentum, not just volume
Recent-year drops for several leading assignees reflect publication lag more than reduced activity. Re-run this view in 12–18 months as 2025–2026 filings publish.
Set up a monitoring alert in EurekaSource: Patsnap Eureka. Forward-looking reading of the same dataset. Derived from a Patsnap search on Aircraft Design & Aerostructures Patent Landscape covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-08-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
FAQ
Common questions about this landscape
One assignee leads the ranked field with 602 records, well ahead of fifth place at 77 and tenth place at 46. The top five combined hold 27.2% of all 3,422 records in scope, and the top ten hold 35.7%, so concentration is real but not absolute — a ranked field of 100 companies files in this space, with most of them well below double digits. A high count from a single filer reflects sustained platform-level filing over years, not a single breakthrough.
Filings grew 64% from 129 in 2021 to 211 in 2024, the last year the dataset treats as complete. The apparent drop in 2025 and 2026 is an artefact of publication lag — records typically take around 18 months to publish after filing, so those years will keep rising as more filings clear examination and publish. The genuine peak filing year so far is 2018, at 251 records.
B64C, covering aeroplanes and helicopters generally, appears in 55.4% of the 3,422 records, making it the dominant class by a wide margin. B64D (aircraft equipment) follows at 36.4%, and B64U (unmanned aerial vehicles) at 13.5% shows drones are a meaningful but secondary claim area. Because records can carry multiple IPC classes, these percentages overlap rather than sum to 100%, reflecting how often airframe, equipment and unmanned-platform claims appear together in the same filing.
Classes further down the composition table — gas-turbine plants (F02C, 4.8%), electric digital data processing (G06F, 5.4%) and ground installations (B64F, 5.4%) — carry noticeably lower filing density than the core airframe and equipment classes. That does not mean they are unclaimed, but claim space there is less crowded, particularly around hybrid-electric propulsion integration and distributed airframe sensor fusion. A gap analysis against the current claim set is the reliable way to confirm an opening before drafting.
It sits between the two common extremes: not a single-company monopoly, but also not evenly spread. The top five assignees account for 27.2% of all 3,422 records, and the top ten for 35.7%, while the ranking runs 100 companies deep with a long tail of low-volume filers. That shape typically means the core structural and control claims are well defended by a handful of established manufacturers, while adjacent and emerging sub-areas remain more open to new entrants.
Answers are grounded in the same dataset. Derived from a Patsnap search on Aircraft Design & Aerostructures Patent Landscape covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-08-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
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Disclaimer. This page is generated from Patsnap Eureka data drawn from a limited snapshot of global patent and scientific-literature records, and is provided for general information and reference only.
Patent data carries inherent limitations: recent filings (typically the most recent 18–24 months) are under-counted due to standard publication lag; counts may be reported at either a patent-family or a patent-record basis and are not always directly comparable; classification, applicant-name, and citation data may contain errors, duplicates, or omissions; and the underlying search query defines and constrains the scope shown. As a result, the analysis may be incomplete or inaccurate and may not reflect the full technology landscape.
Nothing on this page constitutes an exhaustive prior-art, novelty, freedom-to-operate, or validity search, nor does it constitute legal, financial, investment, or professional advice, and it should not be relied upon as such. Any patent, commercial, or strategic decision should be verified independently and reviewed with qualified patent, legal, and domain professionals. Patsnap makes no warranties, express or implied, as to the accuracy, completeness, or fitness for any particular purpose of the information presented.
Machine translation. Assignee and organisation names originally recorded in Chinese, Japanese or Korean have been rendered into English by an AI translation step so that the tables stay readable. These renderings are best-effort and may not match a company's registered English name; the original name is what the underlying patent record carries, and it is what any Eureka query launched from this page uses.