How nTop Works with Aerospace Programs

Discover how nTop's software and services operating model helps aerospace teams compress months-long design cycles into days through hands-on collaboration, parametric modeling, and rapid iteration.

Aerospace Programs Need Results in Days, Not Months

Competitive engineering teams can't afford steep learning curves on mission-critical programs. And defense timelines don't accommodate six-month software implementations.

Aerospace programs that once took five years now need to deliver in 18 months. Teams must produce 3-DOF/6-DOF models within 30 days of contract award. Engineering leaders face a problem: new tools promise capability, but implementing them risks program schedules.

Traditional workflows create an impossible choice: move fast with low-fidelity models and risk locking into designs that won't close, or move slow with high-fidelity approaches and only explore one design point in 30 days. Either teams freeze designs before understanding the trade space, or they blow through deadlines trying to explore properly.

The geometry bottleneck is real. Change a sweep angle in traditional CAD and the feature tree breaks. Resize a fuselage and downstream features fail. By the time you've hand-crafted 3-4 configurations, weeks have passed.

The question isn't whether better parametric modeling would help. The question is how to get value fast enough to matter for active programs.

How We Work

nTop combines a parametric modeling platform with field engineering support.

Our platform enables implicit modeling that stays robust through aggressive design changes. For example, you can use nTop to modify wing sweep, fuselage length, or inlet geometry in seconds rather than days.

During designated design sprints throughout our partnership, our field engineers work shoulder-to-shoulder with your teams to build models, integrate with your toolchain, and transfer knowledge through hands-on collaboration.

This integrated approach delivers working solutions on active programs while building your team's long-term capability. Whether you're kicking off a new program, responding to an urgent RFP, or exploring radical configurations, we're solving your actual design problems together.

This model rests on two elements: the software infrastructure that makes parametric design fast and robust, and the field engineering support that helps you apply it to your programs.

The Platform: Parametric Geometry Infrastructure

Field engineers work with your team to build initial models and establish workflows, then your engineers take over for day-to-day work. We're available for the next sprint when you tackle a new challenge or scale to additional programs. In the meantime, your team will become more proficient in nTop's core capabilities:

• Robust Parametric Control Design variables drive geometry that doesn't break. Wing sweep changes propagate through the entire aircraft. Fuselage length modifications maintain proper transitions and intersections. Control surface sizing updates structural grids automatically.
• Simulation-Ready Geometry Models export cleanly to Star-CCM+, Fluent, OpenFOAM, and proprietary CFD solvers. Structural analysis connections to Nastran, Abaqus, and Ansys work without geometry repair. MDO workflow integration with ESTECO, HEEDS, and custom frameworks enables immediate optimization studies.
• Reusable Component Libraries Parametric logic captures your institutional knowledge and design rules. Wings, fuselages, inlets, and other components built for one program become starting points for the next. Senior engineer expertise gets encoded in workflows that junior engineers can execute. We can provide reference models to accelerate initial work, but the real value compounds as you build a library of your team's design intent in executable form.
• Integration Points The platform augments your existing workflow rather than replacing it. CAD exports to SolidWorks, NX, and CATIA support final documentation. MATLAB workflows remain intact. Proprietary tools connect through standard interfaces.

Field Engineering Support: Building Capability Together

Beyond Software Licenses

Platform capabilities matter, but so does knowing how to apply them to your specific problems. Our field engineers work on-site with your teams throughout the engagement lifecycle, from initial program kickoff through deployment across your portfolio.

Design Sprints: Focused Problem-Solving

Design Sprints are time-boxed engagements (typically 3-5 days) where field engineers work shoulder-to-shoulder with your team to solve specific design challenges. These happen at key moments:

• Program kickoff, establishing parametric frameworks
• New program wins requiring rapid customer response
• Configuration exploration evaluating radical approaches
• Integration challenges connecting models to your toolchain
• Proposal development generating comprehensive trade studies

Each sprint delivers working parametric models, toolchain integration, performance insights, and technical documentation. More importantly, your team learns by building something that matters to your program.

Continuous Technical Support

Between sprints, we provide ongoing support for integration challenges, workflow optimization, and platform questions. Your team isn't left to figure things out alone after initial engagement.

Platform Evolution Driven by Your Needs

Field engineers feed program requirements back to our product team. Platform capabilities evolve based on real aerospace design challenges rather than theoretical use cases. Recent improvements in CFD export quality, MDO integration, and thermal analysis came directly from customer programs.

What This Looks Like in Practice

A technical director with 25 years in hypersonic vehicle design: "In a three-day workshop, we built a complete parametric vehicle model—combustor, duct, outer mold line. Vehicle-level concepts ready for simulation in days rather than weeks."

A chief engineer on timeline compression: "This work goes from about two to three weeks of someone's work to one or two days to get a design."

How nTop Works With Aerospace Programs

Phase 1: Proving Value on Real Programs (3-5 days)

Most teams start with a focused sprint addressing one specific design challenge at a critical program phase:

• Early concept exploration (Requirements Development → Conceptual Design): Generative AI design for aircraft sizing, fast parametric models for MDAO trade studies
• Preliminary design acceleration (Conceptual → Preliminary Design): Accelerated design analysis cycles, subsystem modeling for heat exchangers and turbomachinery
• Detailed design optimization (Preliminary → Detailed Design): Topological optimization for structural components, tooling design for manufacturing
• Manufacturing preparation (Detailed Design → Tool Design): Additive manufacturing process planning, subtractive manufacturing tooling

We work with your team to identify the highest-value problem. Field engineers work on-site building parametric models with your team. Integration with simulation and MDAO tools happens during the sprint, not as follow-on work. We validate performance, explore design variations, and document everything for your team. You walk away with annotated models, performance insights, and confidence the approach works for your specific applications.

Leadership gets proof of capability with immediate program application and de-risked technology adoption with program-relevant evidence, while engineers walk away with models that survive aggressive design changes and a clear understanding of how to encode design intent in reusable workflows.

Phase 2: Expanding Across Programs (6-12 weeks)

Teams typically expand to multiple design challenges once initial value is proven: different vehicle configurations, component types, or integration requirements.

Common applications become repeatable workflows. Wing design captures airfoil selection, planform definition, and structural layout. Fuselage workflows handle cross-section evolution, cutout integration, and surface quality. Engineers learn while working on their programs rather than through abstract exercises, building confidence to work independently.

Sprint integration gets refined and expanded. Custom scripts automate repetitive tasks. Optimization loops connect nTop to your MDO environment.

Phase 3: Program Lifecycle Partnership (Ongoing)

Teams conducting 6-12 sprints per year treat nTop as design infrastructure rather than a software tool.

Each sprint addresses new challenges while reinforcing core techniques. Organizational capability compounds as more engineers gain experience. Your requirements drive platform evolution. As design challenges become more sophisticated, the engagement model adapts.

A Real Example: Hypersonic Vehicle in Three Days

Specter Aerospace needed to compress its hypersonic vehicle design process.

In a three-day sprint, Specter Aerospace worked with nTop field engineers to build a parametric hypersonic vehicle model: combustor, duct, and outer mold line. Fully tied to performance parameters, ready for simulation.

Day 1: Requirements and structure. The team identified key performance parameters, including fuselage diameter and length, wing sweep and aspect ratio, inlet position and geometry, combustor integration points, and duct routing. These became the variables driving the model.

Day 2: Building and first simulations. nTop engineers and Specter engineers built the parametric logic together. Change any parameter and the model updates. The model fed directly into their MDAO workflows without geometry cleanup.

Day 3: Refinement and DOE setup. The parametric model enabled instant reconfiguration of inlet positions, combustor integration strategies, and vehicle sizing for different payloads.

"I have never seen something as useful as nTop for conceptual design. I've been in concept design for hypersonic vehicles for 25 years." — Joel Malo-Molina, Technical Director, Specter Aerospace

Time compression: 3 weeks to 2 days for a parametric model. But the real value emerged downstream. When you explore the design space thoroughly early, you don't rebuild hardware in detailed design. The savings multiply.

This wasn't a product demo. Field engineers worked 10-hour days alongside the Specter team, spoke the language of hypersonic vehicles, and understood which integration points mattered for downstream manufacturing. Specter engineers learned by building something that mattered to their program.

Why This Model Works for Defense Programs

Addresses Real Constraints

Defense programs demand technology partners who understand their pace and rigor. Our field engineers work 10-hour days alongside your teams, speak the language of configurators and aerodynamicists, and navigate security requirements and program constraints.

Proves Value Before Organizational Commitment

Leadership teams need evidence that new approaches work for their specific problems before making technology and process changes. Starting with one focused sprint on an active program provides tangible proof points rather than requiring faith in vendor promises.

An engineering leader at one major defense contractor who runs software evaluations 2-3 times per month: "Usually by day two, I ask vendors not to come back. With nTop, I was fighting to get more VPs in the room to see what we were building. The parametric models didn't break even when we threw extreme geometry changes at them."

Builds Capability While Delivering Results

Traditional training sessions leave engineers uncertain how to apply new techniques to their specific applications. Expert designers comfortable with existing tools resist change. Learning by building something that matters to your program addresses both issues—engineers gain confidence through application while expert knowledge gets captured in reusable workflows.

Scales Across Programs

Initial sprint work creates parametric components and workflows that accelerate subsequent programs. Wings, fuselages, inlets, and other elements built for one vehicle become starting points for the next. Expert design intent captured in parametric logic gets executed by broader teams.

Enables Systematic Exploration at Program Speed

The fundamental value: teams explore hundreds or thousands of design variants in the time traditional workflows allow for three or four manual configurations. This systematic exploration increases probability of win through more comprehensive trade studies while compressing timelines from months to weeks.

Getting Started

Talk to Our Engineers

Discuss your specific design challenges and program timelines. We'll explore whether this approach makes sense for your situation and scope potential initial engagement.

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See the Platform in Action

Request a demonstration focused on your specific applications:

• Advanced aircraft design
• UAV/CCA development
• Propulsion systems
• Thermal management

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Review Technical Resources

Download detailed technical content:

• Webinar series on advanced aircraft design (modeling, analysis, optimization)
• "Six Weeks of Design Sprints: Lessons from the Front Lines"

Common Questions

"What if we have unique requirements or workflows?"

Every aerospace program has unique requirements. Recent work has addressed advanced inlets, conformal batteries, reconfigurable airframes, and complex blended wing-body configurations. The requirement: an engineering challenge where parametric, simulation-ready geometry would accelerate your design process.

"How does this integrate with our existing tools?"

We have a library of pre-built integrations for commonly used tools. Custom integrations are built as part of each sprint based on your specific workflow requirements. We've worked with CFD tools including Star-CCM+, Fluent, OpenFOAM, and proprietary solvers. Structural analysis connections support Nastran, Abaqus, and Ansys. MDO integrations include ESTECO, HEEDS, custom frameworks, and MATLAB workflows. The principle: nTop augments your workflow rather than replacing it.

"What's the preparation time?"

Preparation requirements are minimal. We need a clear problem definition describing the design challenge and what success looks like. Subject matter experts should be available during initial sprint work. Any existing reference data—requirements, baseline geometries, or analysis tool specifications—helps but isn't mandatory. Most initial sprints are scoped in one or two calls.