GTF Fuel & Propulsive Efficiency Patent Landscape 2026
The geared turbofan fuel and propulsive efficiency space is tightly controlled by a single incumbent bloc—RTX Corp and its predecessor United Technologies Corporation together account for the dominant share of the corpus, with annual filing volumes having eased back from a 2018 peak. The field is now in a declining phase, creating defined pockets of adjacent technology where smaller entrants have room to move.
RTX Corp and its predecessor define an exceptionally concentrated field
RTX Corp leads all filers, and United Technologies Corporation ranks second—together reflecting the continuity of a single corporate lineage that has shaped almost the entire corpus of 152 patent families in scope. MTU Aero Engines, Rolls-Royce, and. The Boeing Company round out the top five but operate at a considerable remove.
The top five filers account for 97% of the combined patent records of the hundred largest filers, a concentration level that leaves minimal independent footholds for challengers. The gap between the top two and the rest is structural rather than cyclical.
| # | Applicant | Patent records | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | RTX Corp | 418 | |
| 2 | United Technologies Corporation | 150 | |
| 3 | MTU Aero Engines GmbH | 31 | |
| 4 | Rolls-Royce PLC | 14 | |
| 5 | The Boeing Company | 8 | |
| 6 | TOPOL DAVID A | 3 | |
| 7 | Hamilton Sundstrand Corporation | 3 |
| # | Applicant | Patent records | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8 | CLOFT THOMAS G | 3 | |
| 9 | POTTER GLEN E | 3 | |
| 10 | Rolls-Royce North American Technologies Inc. | 3 | |
| 11 | GUKEISEN ROBERT L | 3 | |
| 12 | THOMAS FLAVIEN L | 3 | |
| 13 | MTU Aero Engines AG | 1 |
That dominance implies that any new entrant or adjacent-sector player will face a dense claim landscape in core gas-turbine plant and jet propulsion subclasses, and that licensing or partnership with the incumbent bloc may be the most practical route to commercialization in the near term.
Filing counts for the most recent 18–24 months are subject to publication lag and likely understate current activity; the apparent low volumes in 2024–2026 should not be interpreted as a further structural decline. Longer-window growth, applicant concentration, and technology-route coverage are therefore more reliable signals than the latest-year bar alone.
Annual volume peaked in 2018 and has eased; gas-turbine plant classes dominate the technology mix
Two views together tell the story of a maturing field: the filing trend shows a 2018 spike followed by a sustained pullback, while the technology composition shows that three IPC classes—gas-turbine plants, jet and reaction propulsion, and turbines—account for the overwhelming majority of activity.
Annual filing trend
Filings peaked at 42 records in 2018 and have trended downward since, consistent with a field that has moved through its primary invention wave. Data for 2024–2026 are subject to publication lag and understate true recent activity; do not read the low terminal values as confirmation of further decline.
↗ Hover for values · click a bar to ask EurekaTechnology composition
F02C (Gas-turbine plants), F02K (Jet and reaction propulsion), and F01D (Turbines and non-positive engines) together capture the core engineering surface of geared turbofan efficiency. Lower-count branches—F04D, F16H, B64D, B64C, and B63H—signal adjacent application areas that remain comparatively sparse.
↗ Hover for values · click a bar to ask EurekaHighly cited patent families surfaced by the query
Citation-heavy patent families returned by the query. Use this section as citation context, not as a curated list of the most topic-specific patents.
Geared turbofan gas turbine engine architecture
A gas turbine engine typically includes a fan section, a compressor section, a combustor section and a turbine section. A speed reduction device such as an epicyclical gear assembly may be utilized to drive the fan section such that the fan section may rotate at a speed different than the turbine section so as to increase the overall propulsive efficiency… (excerpt from the patent abstract)
| # | Patent | Citations |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Geared turbofan | 114 |
| 2 | Geared turbofan gas turbine engine architecture | 101 |
| 3 | Geared turbofan gas turbine engine architecture | 74 |
| 4 | Low noise turbine for geared turbofan engine | 74 |
| 5 | Geared fan with inner counter rotating compressor | 65 |
| 6 | Geared turbofan | 51 |
| 7 | Geared turbofan arrangement with core split power … | 45 |
| 8 | Geared turbofan gas turbine engine architecture | 43 |
Ranked by total forward citations. Citation counts favour older and broadly cited patent families, and broad or adjacent patents may appear when they match the search scope. Treat this section as citation context, not as a curated list of the most topic-specific patents. Some patent titles may be shown in their original, non-English language where an accurate translation could not be guaranteed.
What the patent structure means for R&D investment decisions
The combination of high concentration, a past-peak filing trend, a strong collaboration signal between the top two players, and a primarily US–European jurisdiction footprint shapes where risk and opportunity sit for any new entrant or diversifying incumbent.
Field is in decline following a 2018 peak
The lifecycle stage is assessed as Decline, with annual filing volumes easing back from the 2018 peak. A multi-year window growth figure of –66% confirms the directional shift. For R&D teams, this means that foundational architecture claims are largely established, and incremental improvement filings are the realistic output of new investment in core subclasses.
Lifecycle: DeclineOne incumbent lineage controls the field
The top five filers hold 97% of the combined patent records of the hundred largest filers, with RTX Corp and United Technologies Corporation together representing the dominant share. This degree of concentration means that freedom-to-operate analysis is essential before any new filing program in F02C or F02K, and that design-around costs are high in the core claim space.
Top-5 share: 97%United Technologies and MTU Aero Engines are the primary co-filing pair
The most active co-applicant relationship in this space is between United Technologies Corporation and MTU Aero Engines, with 25 jointly filed records. RTX Corp (successor to United Technologies) and MTU Aero Engines also share 4 co-filings, reinforcing a durable transatlantic partnership. Individual named inventors co-filed alongside United Technologies in smaller clusters, suggesting some inventor-level collaboration on specific system architectures.
Co-filer: MTU Aero EnginesUS and European filings dominate; Pacific coverage is limited
The United States leads in jurisdiction coverage, followed closely by Europe (EPO), with WIPO (PCT) and Canada providing secondary protection layers. Coverage in Japan, Brazil, and the United Kingdom is sparse, and the Asia-Pacific market beyond Singapore appears largely unprotected in this specific subfield. For companies considering entry in Asian markets, this jurisdictional gap may offer a lower-friction path to local patent protection.
Lead office: United StatesGo beyond the landscape: Eureka’s TRIZ Solution agent breaks down an R&D problem and returns patented concept solutions, each with a technical approach and cited patent & literature evidence.
| Applicant | Collaborator | Co-filings |
|---|---|---|
| United Technologies Corporation | MTU Aero Engines GmbH | 25 |
| RTX Corp | MTU Aero Engines GmbH | 4 |
| TOPOL DAVID A | United Technologies Corporation | 3 |
| THOMAS FLAVIEN L | United Technologies Corporation | 3 |
| United Technologies Corporation | MTU Aero Engines AG | 1 |
Co-filing pairs, ranked by the number of jointly-filed patent families.
RTX Corp leads at scale; MTU Aero Engines and Boeing are new entrants at the margin
The Momentum data show RTX Corp in a declining trajectory, while MTU Aero Engines and Boeing each enter the recent period as new entrants from a low base.
RTX Corp
RTX Corp holds the leading position with 418 patent records, concentrated in F02K (Jet and reaction propulsion), F02C (Gas-turbine plants), and F02C3—the sub-class covering specific cycle architectures. Its recent filing momentum shows a decline of 35% versus the prior period, consistent with the field’s post-peak trajectory. Its predecessor United Technologies Corporation adds a further 150 patent records to the same corporate lineage.
patent records: 418MTU Aero Engines
MTU Aero Engines GmbH ranks third overall with 31 patent records and appears as a new entrant in the most recent filing window—indicating activity from a small recent base rather than a sustained program. Its technology focus spans F02C (Gas-turbine plants), F01D5 (Turbine blading), and F02C3, reflecting a component-level rather than whole-engine approach. MTU is also the most active co-filing partner of both United Technologies and RTX Corp, suggesting a collaborative rather than purely competitive posture.
patent records: 31| Applicant | Recent (3 yrs) | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| RTX Corp | 17 | ▼ -35% |
| MTU Aero Engines GmbH | 4 | ▲ new entrant |
| The Boeing Company | 2 | ▲ new entrant |
Under-served branches at the intersection of gearing, airframe integration, and marine propulsion
Several IPC branches appear at notably lower counts relative to the dominant gas-turbine and jet-propulsion classes. These represent observations of relative sparsity; where a branch also has plausible technical value and a realistic entry path, it is flagged accordingly.
F16H · Gearing and transmissions
With 50 patent records and a 3% share among the top-count branches, the gearing and transmission class is sparse relative to the core turbine and combustor subclasses—despite the gear reduction system being the defining feature of the GTF architecture. This sparsity may reflect that gear-train IP is treated as a separate mechanical subsystem, creating a potential entry point for drivetrain specialists or bearing manufacturers to file on gear-ratio optimization, lubrication under high-speed conditions, or novel gear materials without immediately conflicting with the incumbent’s core turbine claims.
Search this in Eureka →B63H · Marine propulsion and steering
Sixteen patent records appear under B63H, a cross-classification suggesting that some geared-fan or high-efficiency turbine architectures have been cited or applied in marine contexts. At a 1% share this branch is sparse, and the connection between GTF propulsive efficiency research and marine propulsion is not yet well-mapped in the patent record. Engineers working on ship or submarine gas-turbine propulsion could find this an under-served space with a realistic technical transfer path from aero-engine efficiency advances.
Search this in Eureka →How leading applicants differ by technology subclass emphasis
Route coverage across the main technology branches in the current evidence set.
| Player | F02C 7 · Gas-turbine plants | F02K 3 · Jet & reaction propulsion | F02C 3 · Gas-turbine plants | F01D 5 · Turbines & non-positive engines | F01D 25 · Turbines & non-positive engines |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| United Technologies Corporation | Strong · 354 | Strong · 332 | Strong · 289 | Moderate · 117 | Moderate · 118 |
| RTX Corp | Strong · 64 | Strong · 68 | Strong · 55 | Moderate · 17 | Moderate · 17 |
| MTU Aero Engines GmbH | Strong · 21 | Strong · 20 | Strong · 20 | Strong · 20 | Moderate · 5 |
| Rolls-Royce PLC | Strong · 9 | Strong · 10 | Emerging · 2 | Moderate · 4 | Absent |
| The Boeing Company | Strong · 8 | Moderate · 4 | Absent | Absent | Absent |
| CLOFT THOMAS G | Strong · 3 | Absent | Strong · 2 | Absent | Strong · 3 |
Frequently asked questions
The corpus covers 152 patent families in scope. These are distinct inventions; the patent-record counts used in applicant rankings are higher because a single family can be counted in multiple jurisdictions or IPC classes.
RTX Corp leads with 418 patent records. United Technologies Corporation, RTX Corp’s predecessor entity, ranks second with 150 patent records—together representing the dominant share of the field.
No. The lifecycle stage is assessed as Decline, with annual filing volume easing back from a peak of 42 records in 2018. The multi-year growth figure stands at -66%. Data for 2024–2026 are subject to publication lag and should not be taken as the final measure of current activity.
The United States leads in coverage, followed closely by Europe (EPO). WIPO (PCT) and Canada provide secondary layers. Japan, the United Kingdom, and Brazil each show only a handful of records, and broader Asia-Pacific coverage is limited.
United Technologies Corporation and MTU Aero Engines are the most active co-filing pair with 25 jointly filed records. RTX Corp and MTU Aero Engines have 4 co-filings. Individual named inventors also appear as minor co-applicants alongside United Technologies.
The most-cited titles center on geared turbofan architectures: ‘Geared turbofan’ leads with 114 citations, followed by multiple variants of ‘Geared turbofan gas turbine engine architecture’ (101 and 74 citations), ‘Low noise turbine for geared turbofan engine’ (74 citations), and ‘Geared fan with inner counter rotating compressor’ (65 citations).
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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.
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