NIAR Werx's 777 Cargo Conversion a 'Beachhead' Program

Under the 777 project, Werx will assist in the development of an STC for the conversion that will be owned by partner company Kansas Modification Center.

NIAR Werx's first Boeing 777-300ER passenger-to-freighter modification project will be conducted inside the organization's 111,000-sq-ft hangar in Wichita. (Photo: National Institute for Aviation Research at Wichita State University)

By Jerry Siebenmark • Senior Editor

September 10, 2021

Officials behind the NIAR Werx and Kansas Modification Center's (KMC) new Boeing 777 passenger-to-freighter conversion program say it is the first of many modification programs to come. Werx and KMC took delivery in September of their first Boeing 777-300ER for the cargo conversion program. Werx director Dave Jones told AIN it is the first of three conversions of the Boeing widebody jet that the organization’s MRO program—in partnership with KMC—expects to complete and deliver by the end of 2023. More 777s will follow, added KMC CEO Jim Gibbs.

Werx is a two-and-a-half-year-old organization founded by the National Institute for Aviation Research at Wichita State University to provide a host of services to OEMs, suppliers, other businesses, and military aviation companies—especially startups—seeking to do projects as small as one-off parts manufacturing all the way up to retrofitting commercial airliners for special missions and other purposes. At the same time, it provides real-world learning and experience for WSU engineering students and students enrolled in the airframe and powerplant and avionics programs offered by the university’s technical college, WSU Tech.

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