Developments in the technology have caused a steady decrease in the cost of introducing titanium into aircraft structures. This encouraging state of affairs has resulted in an increased use of titanium alloys, especially in the USA, where the development of supersonic aircraft has provided a prima facie case for their introduction.

In the UK the technology has not developed so rapidly, although both civil and military aircraft have gradually introduced more and more titanium components, principally forgings (see Fig. 1). Some years ago, however, it became apparent that the British aerospace industry could not afford either the time or the money involved in developing the technology for a specific new project. On the other hand, a new project without a substantial percentage of titanium in its structure could well be less efficient than a competitor featuring a large number of titanium components.