Gas-Turbine Aeroengines Patents: Top Companies & Filing Trends 2026
- 70.7% concentration. The top five assignees alone account for 8,594 of the 12,147 records in scope, so most new claim space sits inside a handful of portfolios.
- Filing has cooled, not stopped. Filings ran 567 in 2021 to 512 in 2024, a 10% pullback over that span even as the field remains active.
- Core turbine classes still dominate. F02C gas-turbine plants and F01D turbines together anchor the field, at 44.3% and 37.9% of records respectively, ahead of airframe-integration classes.
Filing growth compares 2021 (567 records) with 2024 (512) — 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 12,147 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What the gas-turbine aeroengine patent record shows
Gas-turbine aeroengine patenting sits at the intersection of core engine architecture and flight-system integration: the search string used here pairs turbine and turbofan engine terms with flight-condition and control-surface language, which is why the record set spans both propulsion classes like F02C and F01D and airframe-equipment classes like B64D. Across the 12,147 records published between 2015 and the 2026 cut-off, filing activity is heavily weighted toward a small set of long-established engine manufacturers, with a long tail of single- or few-filing entrants behind them.
Publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, so the most recent one to two years in any trend understate real activity; 2024 is the last year that can be read as a complete picture, and the comparison below uses that year deliberately.
Filing trend and technology composition
Two views of the same 12,147-record set: how filings have moved year over year, and which IPC subclasses carry the claim density today.
Filing trend, 2017 peak to the present
Filings peaked at 657 in 2017 and have since settled lower; the 2021-to-2024 comparison (567 to 512, a 10% decline) is the most reliable recent read, since 2025 and 2026 figures are still filling in as publications catch up with filing dates.
Where the claims sit across IPC subclasses
F02C gas-turbine plants (44.3% of records) and F01D turbines and non-positive engines (37.9%) carry the densest claim coverage, with F02K jet and reaction propulsion close behind at 32.1%. Airframe-facing classes such as B64D aircraft equipment (16.3%) and B64C aeroplanes and helicopters (9.2%) are present but noticeably thinner, and gearing (F16H, 2.6%) is the smallest major branch tracked.
Shares are the percentage of the 12,147 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Gas-Turbine Aeroengines Patent Landscape with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about gas-turbine aeroengines patent landscape and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaMost-cited records and a representative filing
US20160368612A1 — Aircraft gas turbine propulsion engine control without aircraft total air temperature sensors
A control system for an aircraft gas turbine propulsion engine includes an engine control that is adapted to receive at least engine inlet temperature data and aircraft altitude data. The engine control is configured to determine the availability of the engine inlet temperature data and implements a measured temperature engine thrust setting schedule when the engine inlet temperature data is available, and a default temperature engine thrust setting schedule when the engine inlet temperature data is unavailable. The default schedule ensures the engine still generates at least 90% of rated thrust when the sensor data is unavailable.Filed by Honeywell International; illustrates how thrust-control logic is claimed as a fallback behaviour rather than a fixed hardware configuration.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US5778659A | Variable area fan exhaust nozzle having mechanically separate sleeve and thrust reverser actuation systems | 680 |
| 2 | US6619030B1 | Aircraft engine with inter-turbine engine frame supported counter rotating low pressure turbine rotors | 493 |
| 3 | US4696156A | Fuel and oil heat management system for a gas turbine engine | 427 |
| 4 | US20090152391A1 | Multibody aircrane | 399 |
| 5 | US20160236790A1 | System and methods for implementing regional air transit network using hybrid-electric aircraft | 395 |
| 6 | US20060260323A1 | Aircraft with disengageable engine and auxiliary power unit components | 388 |
| 7 | US6732502B2 | Counter rotating aircraft gas turbine engine with high overall pressure ratio compressor | 387 |
| 8 | US4215412A | Real time performance monitoring of gas turbine engines | 337 |
| 9 | US5932940A | Microturbomachinery | 326 |
| 10 | US5806302A | Variable fan exhaust area nozzle for aircraft gas turbine engine with thrust reverser | 326 |
Citation counts reflect influence within the searched corpus over time and favour older filings; treat them as a signal of historical impact rather than current commercial relevance.
Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
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Three read-throughs from the data that matter more for decisions than the raw counts do.
The field is a five-player game at the top
With 8,594 of 12,147 records held by five assignees, most freedom-to-operate questions in core turbine architecture resolve to a small set of portfolios. New entrants are more likely to find room in adjacent integration classes than in F02C or F01D core claims.
Filing has pulled back modestly, not collapsed
The move from 567 filings in 2021 to 512 in 2024 is a real but moderate decline, not a retreat from the field. Recent-year assignee-level drops look far steeper, but those figures are still filling in under the 18-month publication lag and should not be read as a trend break.
Core turbine plant claims still dominate the mix
Gas-turbine plant architecture (F02C) and turbine hardware (F01D) between them touch the large majority of filings, while flight-integration classes like B64D aircraft equipment sit well behind at 16.3%. That gap is where control-logic and sensor-fusion claims, rather than hardware claims, tend to concentrate.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to gas-turbine aeroengines patent landscape, with the prior art for and against each one.
Assignee landscape and where activity is shifting
The ranking covers 100 companies counted in records, not a curated top-50 or top-100 list, and it is dominated at the head by a handful of legacy engine and airframe manufacturers.
A single filer well ahead of the field
The leading assignee's record count is roughly seven times the fifth-place total of 492, underlining how much of the documented technology sits in one portfolio rather than being spread evenly across competitors.
A steep drop-off after the top ten
Tenth place sits at 136 records against a leader at 3,601, and the top ten combined already account for 82.2% of all 12,147 records. Everything below that line is a long tail of smaller and single-filing entrants.
Recent-year counts look thin across the board
Several of the largest historical filers show sharp year-on-year drops in the latest tracked year. Given the roughly 18-month lag between filing and publication, this is best read as incomplete recent data rather than a genuine pullback by these firms.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| General Electric Co | 19 | -89% |
| Rolls-Royce plc | 8 | -85% |
| Raytheon Technologies Corp | 5 | -91% |
| Pratt & Whitney Canada Corp | 1 | -98% |
| United Technologies Corp | 0 | — |
| The Boeing Co | 0 | -100% |
| Rohr Inc | 0 | -100% |
| Rolls-Royce Corp | 0 | — |
Where to take this next
The dataset points to specific follow-up work rather than a single conclusion.
Map freedom-to-operate against the top five
With 70.7% of records held by five assignees, any new core-architecture filing should start with a claim chart against those specific portfolios rather than the field as a whole.
Run a freedom-to-operate check in EurekaTest the under-claimed branches
Gearing integration, combustion cooling and sensor-fallback control logic show thinner coverage than core turbine classes and are worth a deeper prior-art pull before drafting.
Explore white space in EurekaTrack the next publication window
Because publication lags filing by about 18 months, 2025 and 2026 figures will keep rising; revisit the trend once that window closes rather than reading early declines as final.
Set a monitoring alert in EurekaCommon questions on gas-turbine aeroengine patents
One assignee leads clearly with 3,601 records, well ahead of the rest of the ranked field; fifth place sits at 492 records. The top five assignees combined hold 8,594 of the 12,147 records in scope, or 70.7% of the field, so filing activity is heavily concentrated at the top rather than spread evenly across the industry. Anyone assessing freedom to operate in core turbine architecture should treat those top few portfolios as the primary reference point.
Filings peaked in 2017 at 657 and have trended down since, with the most reliable recent comparison showing 567 filings in 2021 falling to 512 in 2024, a 10% decline over that span. Figures for 2025 and 2026 look much lower still, but that is expected: publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, so those years are still filling in and should not be read as a sharp drop-off. The field is best described as moderating from its 2017 peak rather than shrinking outright.
F02C, gas-turbine plants, appears in 44.3% of the 12,147 records in scope, and F01D, turbines and non-positive engines, appears in 37.9%. F02K, jet and reaction propulsion, follows at 32.1%. Because a single record can carry several IPC classes, these shares add up to more than 100%, and airframe-integration classes like B64D aircraft equipment (16.3%) sit well below the core turbine classes.
The thinner branches relative to the core turbine classes include gearing and transmission integration (F16H, 2.6% of records), combustion chamber cooling schemes (F23R, 5.5%), and sensor-fallback flight-control logic of the kind seen in Honeywell's inlet-temperature-sensor-independent thrust control filing. These are areas where claim density is lower without necessarily being technically unimportant, which makes them worth a targeted prior-art search before drafting new claims.
US20160368612A1, assigned to Honeywell International and filed in December 2016, claims an engine control system that switches to a default temperature-based thrust setting schedule when engine inlet temperature data is unavailable, while guaranteeing at least 90% of rated thrust in that fallback mode. It is a representative example of how control-logic claims in this field are built around sensor-availability behaviour rather than a fixed hardware layout, which matters for anyone designing a competing control scheme around missing or degraded sensor inputs.
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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.