Bearings are machine elements that enable machine parts to move at high speed and bear huge amounts of load. Bearings offer restrictions to relative motion in the machine part to direct the movement in the desired direction and reduce friction between the parts. Aerospace bearings are designed to operate at higher temperature and speed. These types of bearings are made out of high capacity and light materials such as aluminum alloy, composite materials, and engineered plastics, among others. Bearings in an aircraft find applications in jet engines, landing gear, flight controls, and aircraft interiors among others.

The competitive landscape helps vendors get detailed information regarding their competitors on the basis of their product offerings and business strategies. The report reviews major players that offer aerospace bearings and outlines the findings and analysis on how well each aerospace bearings vendor performs within our criteria.

Vendors who fall into this category generally receive high scores for most evaluation criteria. They have strong and established product portfolios and a very strong market presence. They provide mature and reputable products and services. They also have strong business strategies.

They are established vendors with very strong business strategies. However, they have weaker product portfolios. They generally focus on a specific type of technology related to the product.

Innovators are vendors that have demonstrated substantial product innovations as compared to their competitors. They have very focused product portfolios. However, they do not have very strong growth strategies for their overall businesses.

They are vendors with niche product offerings and are starting to strengthen their positions in the market. They do not have very strong business strategies as compared to other established vendors. They might be new entrants in the market and require some more time before gaining significant traction in the market. Landing gear supports the entire weight of an aircraft during landing and ground operations. Demanding environments of landing gear present challenges in extreme temperatures, vibration, mechanical abuse, and potential exposure to hydraulic oils and other fluids. In landing gears, spherical, ball, and rod end bearings are used. Bearings used in landing gear are required to be lightweight, compact in size, should have long life, and capable of reducing friction with reduced maintenance. Low-friction, load-carrying bearing materials made from composites and thermoplastics provide bearings used in landing gear with weight-saving and cost-saving advantages. Aero-engines are high demanding applications, requiring extreme reliability and very tight tolerance limits. In an aircraft’s engine, ball and roller bearings are used and are required to operate in life-critical situations. The key characteristics of bearings used in an engine include suitability for high-speed rotation, operability in high-temperature, and high reliability. Selecting bearings for an engine requires thorough study of its design, materials, lubricants, operating speed, and thermal limitations. Steel used for an engine’s bearing rings and rolling elements are usually produced using vacuum degassing or vacuum melting techniques to attain the highest levels of cleanliness and homogeneity. The material used in bearing manufacturing are required to be subjected to metallurgical, chemical, and mechanical inspection prior to being manufactured into bearing components. An aircraft flight control system consists of flight control surfaces, respective cockpit controls, connecting linkages, and necessary operating mechanisms to control an aircraft's direction of flight. It requires the use of roller bearings. These are self-aligning bearings with roller held by retainer between inner race and outer race. They can take the form of single or double row bearings. The main characteristic of these bearings is low starting torque when compared to ordinary spherical and rod end bearings.