Open Innovation: Transforming the surfaces of aircraft to reduce drag without coatings

FLITE will modify the surface of select aircraft with its patented, coating-free laser technique, with the objective of reducing the drag effect (or resistance due to air friction) under both wet and dry conditions. By modifying the surface of metal, plastic, glass or ceramic materials to become intrinsically superhydrophobic, as described in our patent, we expect that any liquids which appear on the treated surface either by condensation, collision or precipitation, will be removed energetically due to the newly-introduced roughness on the treated surface.