New AR Startup Changing Aerospace Collaboration
Most design teams still share 3D models the old way: screenshots in PowerPoint, sent around on email or presented in Zoom meetings. That process is slow, fragmented, and prone to miscommunication. But a young AR company called Campfire is starting to change that
and major players in aerospace are paying attention.
Founded in 2018, Campfire builds a platform for collaborative design in augmented and virtual reality. It lets teams open 3D files, inspect them at real scale, make changes live, and walk through designs together whether they are in the same room or across the country.
One of Campfire’s early adopters is Collins Aerospace, a division of RTX that builds flight systems, avionics, and other aircraft components. Collins began using Campfire in 2023 to accelerate product development. Instead of passing around static 2D screenshots, teams now meet in virtual space to review CAD models directly. Everyone sees the same thing, in the same moment, from the same angles.
Thomas Murphy, chief engineer of manufacturing programs at Collins, compares the shift to retail’s move from catalogs to e-commerce. What used to take multiple rounds of review and revision now happens in real time.
Designed for How Teams Actually Work
Jay Wright, Campfire’s CEO, says the product was built to be as easy to start using as tools like Zoom or Slack. That means a generous free tier, broad device support, and a simple setup. Campfire runs on Mac and Windows and supports high-end headsets like Varjo. But Wright says most users still join through laptops, tablets, or phones. Only about 20 percent use headsets.
This flexibility lowers the barrier to entry. Companies do not have to buy hardware to test the platform or go through a complex procurement cycle just to experiment. Teams can load a few 3D files, try live collaboration, and upgrade only when needed.
The free version supports up to five projects and five collaborators, with five gigabytes of storage. There are no time limits on usage.
Solving for Speed in High Stakes Industries
In aerospace, every delay in development has a cost. Murphy explains that OEMs like Boeing and Airbus expect suppliers like Collins to match their pace. Faster iteration in the design process helps Collins keep that alignment.
Campfire fits into a review process that often involves dozens of stakeholders. Previously, the workflow looked like this: export CAD screenshots, annotate them in PowerPoint, share action items, update the model offline, repeat. With Campfire, stakeholders can load the same model, explore it in detail, and propose changes in the moment.
The result is not just better meetings. It is fewer meetings. And that adds up to real efficiency.
The Long Game for AR Collaboration
Wright acknowledges that AR and VR have had a mixed track record. Microsoft has scaled back HoloLens. Meta continues to invest heavily, but its Reality Labs posted over four billion dollars in losses in Q1 2025. Enterprise use of AR remains niche.
Still, Wright believes the timing is right. Hardware is getting cheaper. Devices are easier to use. And the need for better collaboration is not going away.
“The promise has been there for a long time,” he says. “It just takes time to reach the tipping point. When you get price, performance, and user experience all in place that is when it starts to take off.”
Collins, Whirlpool, and other early users are showing that it is not just a future idea. It is already part of how products are getting built today.