Aerospace + defense

Nye Lubricants will take part in its second high-profile NASA mission in 2021 with the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), scheduled to launch on December 24 from French Guiana. This infrared telescope, developed in conjunction with the European  Canadian space agencies, will be used to study and compare the evolution of exoplanets to planets in…

To ensure NASA’s new X-57 “Maxwell” electric aircraft would be energy efficient and safe for use, NASA carried out extensive ground vibration tests, simulating the stresses it would experience during a real flight. With the increasing demand for electric-powered ground transportation, NASA wanted to prove that an aircraft could also be electrically powered. The result…

AstroAccess, an initiative dedicated to advancing disability inclusion in space exploration, and Zero Gravity Corporation (ZERO-G) successfully completed a parabolic flight with a crew of 12 ambassadors with mobility, vision and hearing disabilities on Sunday, October 17. On Sunday, the ZERO-G aircraft ascended to an altitude of 32,000 feet, at which point the vehicle commenced…

The DAGRX and SAYBRX small form factor (SFF) line replaceable unit (LRU) computers featuring Intel processors and flexible I/O deliver high performance in a compact package. The modular I/O approach in both rugged and lab variants empower users to select what is necessary for the application, optimizing size, weight and power (SWaP). The DAGRX and…

By Michael Hoffman, of Dragos and the SANS Technology Institute Few industries require more product validation and qualification than the military and aerospace sectors. Before any new technology is approved by the military’s regulatory agencies, they must undergo many levels of technology development, often in a simulated environment. This test environment is designed to push…

Some people have a project car. Weekends and evenings are spent tuning, working Bondo and fiberglass to patch holes, cursing the frustrations of electrical work, and relishing the feeling when the engine roars to life for the first time. My ‘project car’ is actually a Rotorway JetExec helicopter. Same journey, same payoff, slightly different license…

Laird R&F Products, a DuPont business, now offers a series of innovative thermal products that help aerospace and defense design engineers tackle rising heat loads in advanced electronics. “With more components in tighter spaces in aerospace and defense technology, design engineers need to manage more heat than ever before while protecting sensitive components from damage…

S.S. White Technologies, provider of flexible rotary shafts for the aerospace industry, is the supplier of flexible shafts that transmit power to activate the critical Collins Aerospace Thrust Reverser Actuation Systems (TRAS) on the Pratt & Whitney (IAE) V2500 turbofan engines that just passed 250 million flight hours of service. S.S. White provides a set…

Abaco Systems announces a design win which supports a customer with upgrades to a Minehunting system, which is a towed sonar array that uses multiple sensors to identify and detect mine-like objects. These upgrades will provide faster processing and the latest technology which will increase safety for warfighters. This win contains Abaco’s VP780 FPGA card,…

S.S. White Technologies is the supplier of flexible shafts that transmit power to activate the critical Thrust Reverser Actuation Systems (TRAS) on the CFM LEAP 1-B turbofan engines that powered the first flight of the B737 MAX 10 aircraft. S.S. White provides a set of flexible rotary shafts per LEAP 1-B TRAS that transfer power…

I hope you’ve been enjoying our monthly Future of Design Engineering Series of webinars as much as I have. Recently, we had an engaging talk by Charlie Light, Program Manager for the Space Based Nuclear Detonation Detection Program at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Light’s discussion of the aerospace/defense sector was fascinating. Once dominated by very…

“Measure twice and cut once” is a common expression in manufacturing, but it’s easier said than done when machining difficult materials. That’s why, when a global aerospace manufacturer sought to eliminate an entire second stage from its drilling processes while also improving hole quality, it turned to metal cutting specialists. Here, James Thorpe, global product…

Curtiss-Wright Actuation Division announced that it has been awarded a contract to provide Exlar® Electro-Mechanical Actuators to Federal Equipment Company in support of their weapons elevator systems for the Ford-class aircraft carrier program. Exlar actuators are used in several other mission critical areas on the Ford-class carriers, including the Jet Blast Defector, Integrated Catapult Control…

Abaco Systems, Inc. announced the release of two boards, the SBC314C single-board computer and RAR15XC avionics data bus communications XMC mezzanine board, for embedded flight-certifiable applications. Previously only available as part of the FORCE2C rugged line replaceable unit (LRU), the two are now each available as separate boards. The SBC314C 3U VPX single board computer,…

NASA’s Perseverance rover will be landing on Mars on February 18th. Was there once life on Mars? This is the question that one of the most complex robotic systems ever built by humankind has set out to answer. Several of maxon’s electric drives are used for handling the soil samples — and to control the…

SAKOR Technologies Inc. has announced that it recently provided a dynamometer test system to General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. for use in testing starters/alternators for military remotely piloted aircraft (RPA) of the Predator class and larger. The system has a 58 horsepower (Hp) AccuDyne AC 4 quadrant motoring dynamometer and other subsystems configured for starter/generator…

Abaco Systems, Inc. announces an initial award of a $900k design win, with a lifetime potential win of several million, for ground control interface supporting Space Force’s Protected Tactical Satellite (PTS) Communication Program (SATCOM). PTS serves as a next-generation anti-jamming satellite communication system to support warfighters globally. Abaco is proud to continue our strong tradition…

Sakor Technologies Inc. announced that it recently provided a dynamometer test system to General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. for use in testing starters/alternators for military remotely piloted aircraft (RPA) of the Predator class and larger. The system features a 58-hp AccuDyne AC 4 quadrant motoring dynamometer and other subsystems configured for starter/generator testing and is…

Exact Metrology, a comprehensive 3D metrology service provider and hardware sales company, proudly represents PolyScan XL. Part of the Polyrix PolyScan Surround 3D Scanner family, these scanners are motionless by design during the inspection. Their unique calibration avoids the need for data alignment or sticker targets, and multiple baselines increase accuracy when measuring points. The…

Superior Tube, the specialist manufacturer of high quality, small diameter metal tube products for the defense and aerospace sectors, amongst others, has been awarded three prestigious Nadcap reaccreditations for its heat treating, welding, and non-destructive testing programs. Nadcap (National Aerospace and Defense Contractors’ Accreditation Program) assesses and supplies independent accreditation of specialist manufacturing processes and…

FANUC America, a factory automation solutions provider, and CNC Software, global CAM systems provider of Mastercam, has introduced a new post processor designed to optimize 5-axis capabilities in FANUC CNCs. The new post processor allows advanced machine tool operators to reduce their cycle times while boosting part accuracy, particularly for CAD/CAM generated 5-axis simultaneous contouring…

Abaco Systems announced that it has secured orders from a major US prime contractor that will see Abaco’s innovative single board computer and avionics solutions deployed as part of a next generation SOSA aligned 3U VPX embedded computer system for advanced electronic warfare (EW), SIGINT and ISR applications destined for the military aircraft of the…

Alpine Advanced Materials has completed Electromagnetic Interference (EMI) testing on HX5 and found the lightweight aviation grade thermoplastic nanocomposite to have exceptional attenuation when bare or plated with various thicknesses of nickel and copper. The highly engineered HX5 has already demonstrated its strength and performance for use in complex components, but the results of the…

maxon has collaborated with drone startup Flybotix to develop performance-optimized brushless dc motors for a new kind of inspection drone. With the know-how gained from this and other projects, maxon is making inroads into the new UAV market, where the reliability and quality of components are becoming more important.  Two rotors instead of four was…

Abaco announced that it had received orders from a major prime contractor to support the upgrade of the computing capability of a European nation’s fleet of 70 fighter aircraft. Two of Abaco’s rugged 6U VME Power Architecture single board computers (SBCs) will be at the heart of each multiprocessor onboard mission computer. Insertion of the…