Hanwha Phasor and Lufthansa unite to advance in-flight connectivity

The deal also cements the growing links between Cambridge and Korea; Hanwha Phasor was founded by Korea’s Hanwha Group, based in the capital, Seoul.

A multi-year agreement will see Lufthansa Technik – one of the leading providers of technical aircraft services in the world – design, build and supply several hundred fuselage-mounted airborne Satellite Communications (SatCom) radomes for Hanwha Phasor each year. A radome is a structural, weatherproof enclosure that protects a radar antenna.

Radomes play a crucial role in aircraft integration as they act as outer shells to cover and protect the antenna atop the fuselage whilst being transparent to radio frequencies and having negligible impact on the aircraft’s aerodynamics.

This will enable the product’s use on aircraft across the globe and ensure airlines can deliver high bandwidth connectivity for passengers, allowing the potential for video calls, movie streaming and other online communication in-flight. Already in the final design phase, first radome prototypes could be built as early as this coming summer with series production set to start in 2025.

Bringing in its decades-long expertise in design and certification, Lufthansa Technik’s new radome development will pay special attention to Hanwha Phasor’s advanced electronically steered antenna technology – for example by employing entirely new composite material combinations and novel design methods that are set to ultimately result in one of the world’s first aviation-certified radome design solutions for this new type of antennas.

The partnership signifies a key milestone for Hanwha Phasor, which is poised to bring its aerospace solution, the Phasor A7700, to the market in 2025.

The collaboration with Lufthansa Technik follows several key recent announcements from Hanwha Phasor, each signalling an important step to market for its satellite communications solutions. This includes a User Terminal Development Agreement with OneWeb, a global Low Earth Orbit satellite constellation, which will see the business working towards becoming a terminal on the network over the coming year.

Lufthansa Technik aims to contribute its know-how on aircraft integration, and also its extensive production capabilities in the renowned composite material workshop at its Hamburg headquarters.

To cope with growing needs that could arise from further intensified future collaboration between the two parties, the facility even provides opportunity to significantly expand its annual output.

The companies’ agreement will explore further opportunities to collaborate, streamlining aircraft integration to ensure future non-disrupted communications for users on-the-move.

Hanwha Phasor is due to launch its electronically steered antenna for land applications, the Phasor L3300, in Q3 2024. It is also set to feature its satellite connectivity solutions at a series of events and conferences globally where it will discuss its entire portfolio of satellite communications options to keep civilians and services personnel connected – in flight, on land, at sea.

Dominic Philpott, Chief Operating Officer of Hanwha Phasor, commented: “We look forward to working closely with Lufthansa Technik over the coming months, while exploring further opportunities to deepen and build upon this partnership.”

Harald Gloy, Chief Operations Officer at Lufthansa Technik: added that reliable inflight connectivity was key for the onboard product quality of airlines around the world.

“Key advancements in antenna technology thereby require equally ingenuous advancements for the radomes that protect these antennas,” he said. “With our decades-long expertise in this field, we will be one of the first to develop and produce an aviation-certified radome solution for the most modern phased-array antennas and provide Hanwha Phasor with perfect coverage, both from a design and a production point of view.”

• Photograph (from left): Lars Meins, Head of Composite Manufacturing at Lufthansa Technik; Christiane Grude, Senior Director OEM Business Units at Lufthansa Technik; Vikki Kooner, Subcontract Manager at Hanwha Phasor; Oliver Rodrigues, Regional Sales Director at Lufthansa Technik; Dominic Philpott, Chief Operating Officer of Hanwha Phasor; Thomas Dages, Director Sales VIP & Special Mission Aircraft Services at Lufthansa Technik; Markus Staar, Head of Connectivity & Data Acquisition Solutions at Lufthansa Technik. Credit: Lufthansa Technik AG / Photographer – Jan Brandes.