Propulsion-Airframe Integration Patent Snapshot 2026
Propulsion-airframe integration is a tightly held, mature field dominated by a small cluster of US aerospace primes — General Electric, United Technologies, and RTX — whose combined filings account for the vast majority of activity in the top hundred filers. The technology mix centers on gas-turbine plant integration, with electric-motor and turbine sub-systems representing under-served adjacent branches worth monitoring.
General Electric leads a highly concentrated, US-anchored field
General Electric holds the top position among the ranked applicants visible in this query, followed closely by United Technologies and RTX — a pattern that signals entrenched incumbency rather than an open competitive race.
The top five filers collectively account for the entire output of the ranked applicants visible in this query, indicating an unusually narrow competitive pool with essentially no long-tail challengers at significant scale.
| # | Applicant | Patent records | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | General Electric Company | 11 | |
| 2 | United Technologies Corporation | 9 | |
| 3 | RTX Corporation | 6 | |
| 4 | Shanghai Shang Shi Aero Engine Co., Ltd. | 2 | |
| 5 | The Boeing Company | 2 |
This concentration implies that new entrants face strong prior-art headwinds in core gas-turbine integration claims; differentiation will likely require targeting sub-system adjacencies or novel hybrid-electric integration architectures not yet claimed at volume.
Filings from the most recent 18–24 months are subject to publication lag and likely under-represent current activity, so the 2025–2026 window should be read cautiously. Longer-window growth, applicant concentration, and technology-route coverage are therefore more reliable signals than the latest-year bar alone.
Activity has plateaued; gas-turbine plant integration dominates the technology mix
The two charts below capture the pace of filing over time and the distribution across IPC technology branches, together revealing a field that is mature in its primary thrust but still open in adjacent sub-systems.
Annual filing trend
Annual filings peaked around 2017 and have since plateaued, with only isolated years of activity until a notable cluster appeared in 2025 — though that 2025 spike and the 2024 uptick should be treated cautiously given publication lag. The overall multi-year window shows zero net recent growth, consistent with a mature lifecycle stage.
↗ Hover for values · click a bar to ask EurekaTechnology composition
F02C (Gas-turbine plants) is the visible branch by a wide margin, followed by F02K (Jet and reaction propulsion) and B64D (Aircraft equipment). F01D (Turbines and non-positive engines) and H02K (Electric motors and generators) appear with notably lower representation, marking them as relatively sparse branches within this corpus.
↗ 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.
Turbofan engine including a fan actuation system
A turbofan engine includes a fan and a fan actuation system (FAS). The fan is coupled to a fan shaft having one or more fan bearings. The fan blades are rotatable about a pitch axis. The FAS is disposed within a fan hub and includes one or more actuators for rotating the fan blades about the pitch axis and one or more radial thrust bearings. The FAS is… (excerpt from the patent abstract)
| # | Patent | Citations |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Turbofan engine with a core driven supercharged by… | 253 |
| 2 | Power extraction system and method for a gas turbi… | 61 |
| 3 | Accessory gearbox with internal layshaft | 39 |
| 4 | Geared turbofan with independent flexible ring gea… | 24 |
| 5 | Geared turbofan with independent flexible ring gea… | 20 |
| 6 | Geared turbofan with independent flexible ring gea… | 18 |
| 7 | Power extraction system and method for a gas turbi… | 13 |
| 8 | 一种燃气涡轮发动机附件系统集成单元 | 3 |
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.
Assignee snapshot from the current evidence set
The applicants below are visible in this query result. Because the evidence set is relatively small, read this section as a directional snapshot rather than a full competitive ranking.
General Electric Co
General Electric holds the top position with 11 patent records, concentrated in F02C (Gas-turbine plants) and F02K (Jet and reaction propulsion), with limited reach into B64D (Aircraft equipment). Its technology focus reflects deep integration of engine thermodynamic cycles with airframe power extraction rather than airframe-structural or electric-motor approaches. No momentum trend figure is available in the current evidence for GE’s recent-versus-prior trajectory.
patent records: 11RTX Corporation
RTX Corporation holds 6 patent records and carries a new-entrant momentum signal, meaning its recent filing activity represents a fresh entry into this specific corpus rather than a continuation of a long-standing position. Its technology emphasis spans F02C (Gas-turbine plants), B64D27, and B64D33 (Aircraft equipment sub-classes), suggesting an integration focus that extends further into airframe-side hardware than General Electric’s current portfolio. Given the small prior base, the trend should be watched but not extrapolated.
patent records: 6Frequently asked questions
The current evidence scope contains 18 patent families. This is a relatively narrow corpus, reflecting either a specialized claim-set query or the genuinely niche nature of tightly integrated propulsion-airframe designs at the intersection of multiple sub-disciplines.
General Electric holds the leading position with 11 patent records among the ranked applicants visible in this query, ahead of United Technologies with 9 and RTX Corporation with 6.
The lifecycle evidence places the field at maturity, with annual filings having plateaued near their peak. The multi-year growth rate is at zero, and the field has not sustained the earlier peak seen around 2017. The 2025 cluster of filings should be interpreted cautiously due to publication lag.
The United States is overwhelmingly the primary filing jurisdiction with 17 patent records, followed by Europe (EPO) with 8. China, Austria, and Germany each appear at minimal levels, suggesting that primary patent protection is concentrated in the US market.
The most-cited document in the corpus is a turbofan engine with a core-driven supercharged configuration, with 253 citations. Power extraction system and method patents for gas turbines follow with 61 and 13 citations respectively, and an accessory gearbox with internal layshaft patent has 39 citations. Multiple geared turbofan variants also appear in the top-cited list.
The only documented co-filing relationship in the current evidence is between General Electric and GE Avio, who have jointly filed on 3 occasions. No cross-group or academic co-applicant relationships are identified, indicating a closed, incumbent-driven innovation structure rather than an open ecosystem.
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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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