Geared Turbofan Reduction Gearbox Patents: Who Leads 2026
Geared Turbofan Reduction Gearbox Patents: Mapping the Field
90.7% concentration. The top five assignees account for 1,195 of 1,318 records in scope — this is a field with almost no room for a new entrant to build a position by volume. Filings ran from 113 in 2017 to a peak of 204 in 2019, then rebuilt from 63 in 2021 to 113 in 2024 — a 79% increase across that three-year window. 2025 and 2026 figures are still filling in as publications catch up to filing dates, so they should not be read as a decline.
- 1ROLLS ROYCE PLC675
- 2RTX CORP230
- 3ROLLS ROYCE DEUT LTD & CO KG137
- 4UNITED TECH CORP105
- 5GENERAL ELECTRIC CO48
See the full geared turbofan reduction gearbox analysis in Eureka
- The complete ranking, not just the top five
- Every IPC branch with its share of the corpus
- The most-cited records, and where claim space is still thin
Common questions on this landscape
How concentrated is the geared turbofan reduction gearbox patent field?
It is highly concentrated. The top five assignees account for 1,195 of the 1,318 records in scope, which is 90.7% of everything published in this landscape. Extending to the top ten pushes that to 98.6%, leaving only a small long tail of single-filing entrants among the 58 companies in the full ranking. A new entrant should assume that almost any core mechanical approach has already been claimed by one of a handful of established engine manufacturers.
Is filing activity in this area growing or slowing down?
Filing activity rebuilt over the most recent complete years: from 63 records in 2021 to 113 in 2024, a 79% increase. The single peak year on record remains 2019 at 204 filings, so current activity has not returned to that peak, but the trend across 2021-2024 is upward, not downward. Figures for 2025 and 2026 look lower only because publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, so those years are still filling in.
What does US10443708B2 actually cover, and does it block new gearbox designs?
US10443708B2, assigned to RTX Corporation, claims a gear system for a geared turbofan engine using a sun gear, a planet gear supported by both a forward and an aft journal bearing within a carrier, and a ring gear engaged to the planet gear. It is specifically anchored on the carrier structure — a forward wall and an aft wall each supporting one of the two journal bearings. A design that supports the planet gear through a different bearing arrangement, such as a single bearing span or a rolling-element bearing rather than dual journal bearings, sits outside this particular claim structure, though it should still be checked against the wider RTX and Rolls-Royce portfolios.
Disclaimer. This analysis is based on Patsnap Eureka data drawn from a limited snapshot of global patent records and is provided for general information and reference only. Patent data carries inherent limitations — recent filings are under-counted because of publication lag, counts may be on a record or family basis, classification and applicant-name data may contain errors or duplicates, and the underlying search query defines the scope shown — so the analysis may be incomplete or inaccurate and may not reflect the full technology landscape.
Nothing here is an exhaustive prior-art, novelty, freedom-to-operate or validity search, nor does it constitute legal, financial or professional advice, and it should not be relied upon as such. Verify independently and review with qualified patent and legal professionals before acting on it.
Method: Filing trend and technology composition. Derived from a Patsnap search on Geared Turbofan Reduction Gearbox covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish. Every share divides by all records in scope. Data: Patsnap Eureka. See the full landscape report.