Pepin Associates, a research and development company focusing on advanced composite structures for aircraft, has signed a $1.6 million contract with the U.S. Air Force to qualify its conformal fabric for composite aircraft structures. The fabric, developed and patented by Pepin Associates, conforms to complex shapes, thereby reducing fabrication costs and enabling the design of highly contoured composite structures common on advanced aircraft. The contract is a Defense Acquisition Challenge Program award and was one of 15 such contracts awarded nationwide.