In recent years, several “building block” technologies initiatives have been funded through government and private investments to address the need for advanced metallic aerostructures with significant reductions in weight and cost. Emerging material, design and manufacturing technologies are being developed and some have been applied to specific aerostucture applications. This paper describes how these programs are culminating on a larger, integrated program initiated within AFRL/VA to target large acreage aerostructures, such as wings and fuselage, for new military and commercial aircraft. The goal is to demonstrate through design, development and testing of representative sub-structures that large metallic structures can effectively compete with composites in terms of overall cost, weight and performance.