Below you can find all the winners from the 2022 Excellence Awards which celebrate the greatest achievements and innovations in the industry. The programme provides a platform to recognise the people and companies that are driving change.

Our programme is designed to highlight excellence within the sector by looking at a range of corporate activities including deals, business projects and company initiatives, both internal and in the community.

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You will also soon be able to download our full Awards & Rankings Report which includes all of this year’s rankings, as well as the awards winners, shortlists and company profiles.

Business Expansion

Business Expansion is one of our largest categories and looks at the core functions of business operations within the sector.

This consists of any projects that have expanded the company’s footprint in the sector, including: contract wins; launching in new territories; launching new product lines; the acquisition and expansion of facilities and real estate; acquisition of new machinery or other assets; improved logistics; partnerships; and significant staff increases.

BAE Systems wins the Business Expansion award this year through a combination of significant contract wins and delivery milestones related to both aircraft and related systems.

Shortlist

Environmental

The Environmental category aims to highlight companies that are undertaking projects that reduce their impact on the natural environment or contribute to its general health. With the effects of climate change becoming ever more obvious, corporations have a responsibility to update and change their practices to prevent further damage being caused.

This category includes any projects that have led or will lead to a significant reduction in a company’s environmental impact and carbon footprint. This can include changes to materials and manufacturing, supply chain reviews; reduction in energy use or switches to renewables; recycling initiatives; and carbon offsetting. The category also includes projects that contribute to the environment such as tree planting schemes and river cleaning.

Zero Petroleum wins our Environmental Award this year as a result of its work with the RAF in developing synthetic fuels.

This year has seen the company move to the next phase of its research looking at the scalability and efficiency of the technology and announce plans for a proposed manufacturing facility.

Shortlist

  • Affinity Flying Training Services
  • Airbus
  • Pipistrel Aircraft
  • QinetiQ
  • Zero Petroleum

Financing

Financing recognises companies and institutions that have raised significant capital during the research period whether it be through corporate finance, the capital markets or fund raising.

This includes any significant raising of finance by a company within the sector, this can include corporate lending, funding rounds and equity and debt capital markets issues including share offers and bond issues. We will be specifically looking at high value deals; novel structures; and companies using (for them) new forms of financing such as high-yield bonds.

Shield AI wins the Financing award after it secured significant investment through a Series funding round. The financing sees the company join a select group of multi-billion dollar defense start-ups.

Shortlist

  • Boeing
  • Gastops
  • Shield AI

Innovation

Innovation is the category with one of the widest scopes within the Excellence Rankings as it looks at novel new approaches in every area, from the fruits of research and development to novel new business practices. What all the ranked entities have in common is the demonstration of new concepts not just within their own business but in the sector as a whole.

The category includes any projects that demonstrate an innovative approach to the market. The category crosses over with many of our other categories and can include new products, novel product features, new business practices, new marketing and sales strategies and more.

The United States Air Force (USAF) wins our Innovation award this year following a number of significant developments including the first airman flight of an electric aircraft, the opening of a VR training lab and the first aerial demonstration of the beyond-line-of-sight (BLOS) communication system.

Shortlist

  • Collins Aerospace
  • Elbit Systems
  • Ghost Robotics
  • Northrop Grumman
  • US Air Force
  • ZeroEyes
  • Zero Petroleum

Investments

The Investments category looks at any significant financial investments into a company or its assets, specifically those investments that facilitate expansion of a company’s operations. This can be an investment by the company itself into its operations or by an outside investor be that another company, financial institution, private equity or venture capital firm.

L&T Technology Services (LTTS) wins our award this year following a number of significant investments including opening an Engineering Design Centre in Toulouse, France.

Shortlist

  • Collins Aerospace
  • L&T Technology Services
  • Northrop Grumman
  • Raytheon Technologies
  • Royal Canadian Air Force

M&A

This category includes organisations that have expanded their business operations by entering into significant mergers and acquisitions deals within the sector.

The category specifically looks at the acquisitions of whole businesses or stakes rather than asset transactions and deals must have been closed during the research period.

Parker-Hannifin Corporation, a company focused on motion and control technologies, wins the M&A award following its significant acquisition of UK headquartered Meggitt, a company focused on components and systems for the aerospace, energy and defense sectors. The deal sees Parker almost double the size of its aerospace division

Shortlist

Product Launches

The Product Launches category recognises companies that have launched notable new products or services into the market. This can include physical products, software as well as the launch of services and concepts.

We are specifically looking at novelty, including companies launching products into new areas or innovation in the product’s design, manufacture or marketing.

Red 6 wins the Product Launches award as it demonstrated a new AR training module. The company completed the first multi-aircraft training flight against various augmented reality (AR) assets. This was a technical milestone for the firm as it integrated various live aircraft into a single AR environment.

Shortlist

Research and Development

This category includes organisations that have demonstrated a commitment to the research and development of new products and/or new processes. This can include discovering or creating a unique material, transferring a research or technology development to practice, improving the performance of an existing product or creating a new simulation or design tools.

The category also includes companies that have made significant investments into their R&D processes.

Raytheon wins the Research and Development award this year following a number of notable breakthroughs and investments. This included demonstrating swarm technology in DARPA’s fifth OFFensive Swarm-Enabled Tactics (OFFSET) programme field exercise, where a single operator successfully controlled a swarm of 130 physical and 30 simulated drone platforms.

The company also won a contract to develop the USAF’s first hypersonic attack cruise missile (HACM) alongside Northrop Grumman.

Shortlist

  • Arqit
  • BAE Systems
  • Boom Supersonic
  • General Atomics
  • General Electric
  • Northrop Grumman
  • Optomec
  • Raytheon Technologies
  • Reliable Robotics
  • Saab
  • Sarcos
  • Turner Innovations
  • US Air Force Life Cycle Management Center
  • Wave Engine

Safety

The Safety category includes companies and institutions that have demonstrated best practice in health and safety including compliance to standards and any initiatives taken to improve workplace safety through the introduction of new guidelines, policies or equipment.

It also includes projects and initiatives by companies to improve health and safety in other public environments other than their own workspaces.

Airbus wins the Safety category this year for its work on a number of initiatives including carrying out a flight test campaign in Spain to evaluate a new removable firefighting demonstrator kit on A400M aircraft. The test saw the aircraft conduct drops involving up to 20t of water in less than ten seconds.

Shortlist