npd Studio delivers hardware for world’s most advanced fighter jets

npd Studio has completed a precision engineering project for BAE Systems’ Typhoon fighter jet programme, using its rapid product development approach to deliver hardware in 3 months and enabling 13 engineering teams to advance their work immediately.

When BAE Systems needed to rapidly modernise simulator avionics for the Typhoon programme, they made a deliberate choice: look local.

The search led them to npd Studio - a product design and development consultancy based in Preston - and the results have set a new benchmark for what a regional manufacturing partner can deliver at defence grade.

npd designed and manufactured precision 7’’ interface panels - critical systems providing key flight data to pilots during the development and testing of the Typhoon. Working under strict security and compliance requirements, the Preston team applied its rapid product development methodology to deliver the completed hardware in three months.

The solution combined commercial off-the-shelf components with bespoke PCBs designed in-house  and manufactured through a proven local supply network.

npd’s rapid development approach - daily prototyping, weekly face-to-face sessions with the BAE team, and constant iteration - allowed the design to evolve at a pace the client described as “impressive agility.”

Robbie Watkinson, systems engineer, BAE Systems Air Typhoon product strategy said: “npd exceeded all expectations delivering a fast, cost-effective and high-quality solution. npd’s innovation pushed the design beyond what we had originally envisioned.” 

The hardware platform has been built to support BAE Systems’ programmes through to 2030. The Typhoon programme supports 6,000 jobs in Lancashire and 20,000 across the UK - making the ability to keep it competitive a matter of regional as well as national strategic importance.

The project has resulted in npd Studio securing a dedicated design studio at BAE Systems’ Warton facility - a significant signal of the long-term nature of the partnership.

Working at this level of defence and aerospace is not something a design consultancy can simply step into.

npd invested deliberately in its security and IT infrastructure ahead of the project, and holds credentials including JOSCAR registration, Cyber Essentials certification, and NPSA Secure Innovation Exemplar status.

The business is also a member of the Northwest Regional Defence and Security Cluster and Make UK Defence.

Nathan Partington, founder and chief executive of npd Studio, said: “This project is a demonstration of what’s possible when you combine genuine technical capability with the right credentials and a real commitment to pace.

"We built our security infrastructure specifically to operate at this level - and that investment is what made this project possible."

“The Typhoon programme is critical to Lancashire’s economy. Being part of keeping it competitive is something we take seriously.”

npd Studio is continuing to work with BAE Systems’ teams on the development and deployment of new emerging technologies within the programme.