Browse Topic: Defense industry
The H-60 Black Hawk remains a cornerstone of U.S. Army Aviation, but its legacy avionics architecture presents modernization challenges. To ensure long-term operational relevance and interoperability with future platforms like the Future Long Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA), the Army is implementing a Modular Open Systems Approach (MOSA). This strategy facilitates rapid technology integration, enhances sustainment efficiency, and mitigates obsolescence. The Army's MOSA adoption aligns with regulatory mandates such as the National Defense Authorization Act and Department of Defense (DoD) acquisition policies, ensuring modularity, scalability, and interoperability across aviation systems. The application of modern open standards, such as the Future Airborne Capability Environment (FACE®), within the Black Hawk supports software reuse and hardware commonality, reducing lifecycle costs and vendor lock. A phased modernization approach, including a Digital Backbone architecture supported by Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE), will streamline future avionics upgrades while maintaining compatibility with existing and future fleet assets. This transformation positions the Black Hawk for sustained operational effectiveness in multi-domain operations, reinforcing the Army's aviation modernization objectives.
New forms of highly automated Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) aircraft, such as electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) vehicles, could transform transportation, cargo delivery, and a variety of public services. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) conducted a series of flight demonstrations in collaboration with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and Sikorsky Aircraft (a Lockheed Martin company) to progressively evaluate autonomous technologies. The autoland flight test research is a first in series for investigating the world’s first procedural descending-decelerating automated landing with vertical guidance Instrument Flight Procedures (IFP). The Sikorsky Optionally Piloted Vehicle (OPV) experimental UH-60 Black Hawk was used to evaluate a flight path’s four-dimensional trajectory (4DT) management into primitive commands and then follow those commands to a Point-in-Space (PinS) landing to the ground. All flight procedures were manually flown to the ground at 12 degrees with a 20-knot tail wind to ensure flight safety before automation was engaged. New and novel high precision approach procedures could pave the way for all future VTOL operations.
Ever-increasing modeling and simulation capabilities and the desire to use simulations in support of system qualification, regulatory compliance, and other critical decision-making roles, raises the bar on the need for rigorous V&V of all aspects of the models used to create the simulation data. US Department of Defense Directives and Instructions, and emerging regulatory and industry standards on Modeling and Simulation in a Digital Engineering context require rigorous M&S Verification, Validation, and Accreditation (M&S VV&A). These specifications aim to create trusted and credible simulation data that can be used in critical decision-making roles on complex systems. Implementing a well-defined, structured, model-based and standards-based M&S VV&A Process early in the program lifecycle facilitates collaboration and documented buy-in on M&S VV&A for program with customers and/or regulatory agencies. This collaboration increases acceptance throughout the program and product lifecycles. This paper describes how Model-Based Systems Engineering tools and Digital Engineering ecosystems can support the M&S VV&A Process. The model-based construct facilitates creating metrics dashboards, leveraging model-based artifacts for improved communication of M&S VV&A status, quality, maturity, and completeness.
ABSTRACT Today’s combat vehicle designs are largely constrained by traditional manufacturing processes, such as machining, welding, casting, and forging. Recent advancements in 3D-Printing technology offer tremendous potential to provide economical, optimized components by eliminating fundamental process limitations. The ability to re-design suitable components for 3D-printing has potential to significantly reduce cost, weight, and lead-time in a variety of Defense & Aerospace applications. 3D-printing will not completely replace traditional processes, but instead represents a new tool in our toolbox - from both a design and a manufacturing standpoint.
This SAE standard establishes the requirement for suppliers to plan a reliability program that satisfies the following three requirements: a The supplier shall ascertain customer requirements b The supplier shall meet customer requirements c The supplier shall assure that customer requirements have been met
This Engineering Bulletin and its annexes provide guidance on the application of Human Engineering principles and practices to the analysis, design, development, testing, fielding, support, accident investigation, and training for military and commercial products throughout their intended life cycles.
This SAE Standard establishes the requirements for nondispersant, mineral lubricating oils to be used in four-stroke cycle piston aircraft engines. This document covers the same lubricating oil requirements as the former military specification MIL-L-6082. Users should consult their airframe or engine manufacturers manuals for the latest listing of acceptable lubricants.
The use of additive manufacturing to produce rotorcraft components is challenging due to demanding material property performance requirements. The need to contend with high cycle fatigue, fretting, and vibratory loading conditions has driven our industry to use high pedigree materials that are fully characterized and with well established and understood processes to transform them into parts. No additive manufacturing processes or materials approach this level of understanding today, making it difficult to utilize the technology to manufacture components designed to be produced using conventional methods. This has limited consideration of the technology in the sustainment segment of our business. Customers have a quite different perspective. Additive manufacturing has been identified by the Department of Defense as a critical technology for the sustainment of their vehicles and weapons systems. Each branch of the military and the Defense Logistics Agency has resources and facilities established to support the proliferation of 3D printing capability. They have all experienced success producing shop aides, tools, prototypes, and surrogate parts to address real time, point of use challenges in depots and in some cases, at or near the battlefield. This success has prompted the DoD to challenge our industry to find ways to utilize this technology to address component shortages due to obsolescence, lost tooling, or a lack of qualified sources. This paper presents Sikorsky's activities and programs that have been initiated to meet this challenge. This will include approaches for component characterization and business case analysis used to evaluate the practicality of using additively manufactured surrogate parts in legacy vehicles.
The U.S. Department of Defense has begun the acquisition of the next generation of military rotorcraft, named Future Vertical Lift (FVL), to replace its aging fleet. U.S. Army Futures Command intends to sustain FVL under a new strategy of maintenance free operating periods (MFOP). This study developed a discrete event simulation to evaluate MFOP success given component reliabilities, desired MFOP duration, and operational tempo of a battalion with thirty aircraft. The simulation compared notional FVL aircraft with improved reliability to today's fleet. Results indicated that inherent reliability alone was insufficient to achieve MFOP goals and that prognostics and diagnostics with robust information management are necessary. Sensitivity studies found the recovery effort after an MFOP was linked to the MFOP duration. Recovery downtime was tied to both the duration and operational tempo. Availability and cost improved with moderate gains in MFOP duration by eliminating unnecessary preventive maintenance but overextending the MFOP sacrificed aircraft dependability for marginally greater availability and savings.
The United States Marine Corps often operate their helicopters in austere environments where degraded visual environments (DVE) such as brownout are regularly encountered. DVE significantly increase the risk to operations and have led to many mishaps across the Department of Defense. In response, engineers from the United States Navy are designing a system to augment the legacy flight control system (FCS) on the CH-53E. The system is designed to preserve the legacy FCS functionality to limit the impact on the current platform airworthiness and reduce developmental flight test. The Low Speed Precision Control (LSPC) system provides decel-to-hover with position hold functionality, allowing the pilot to modulate command references via trim beepers, cyclic fly through, and trim release. A piloted simulator test was performed with three test pilots to evaluate the handling qualities with and without LSPC engaged, in several fleet representative conditions. LSPC was found to reduce workload marginally in good visual environments and in low light conditions; however more substantial reductions were shown for approaches into brownout conditions. In addition, LSPC was shown to significantly reduce lateral drift during final approach into brownout and lateral and longitudinal drift in a hover. Inherent system bandwidth limitations were found to degrade the performance of the system for anything more than moderate control inputs. Overall, LSPC was successful in augmenting fleet representative approaches in the simulator for degraded visual environments.
A primary factor for the development of military avionics systems is the requirement for a Modular Open System Architecture (MOSA). The US Department of Defense (DoD) is driving MOSA-compliant systems to achieve benefits in cost and flexibility within their procurements. MOSA definitions are examined in light of advances in computing disciplines that open the interfaces necessary for the aircraft operator to update and manage their fleet's Health Awareness Systems (HAS). Opening the relevant HAS interfaces via software configuration toolsets and MOSA building blocks avoids contracting for costly software changes and gives control of the update to the operator. Two business related factors are presented for consideration in developing the best way forward while using MOSA principles to guide development. These factors are (1) Intellectual Property (IP) and (2) the underlying investments companies make to develop IP. The need to routinely update the HAS to incorporate fleet lessons learned is inherent in the system's support. Updates may also reflect new methodologies that deliver the desired system control to the operator. The paper demonstrates a MOSA-compliant architecture via an example. Within the example, efficiencies are driven by an end-to-end Digital Thread that minimizes errors and rework while reducing the overall cost of change for the full platform lifecycle. The approach enables organic operator support, lowering the overall cost of aircraft operations. The design and support of the platform’s Health Awareness System benefits from the application of linked-automation.
On August 1, 1963, the first two Canadian Sea King helicopters arrived at their new home station, Shearwater, Nova Scotia and joined the Royal Canadian Navy. On Saturday, December 1, 2018, three Canadian Sea King helicopters, now part of the Royal Canadian Air Force, made their final flight over their home station at Patricia Bay, British Columbia. This paper outlines some of the highlights of the intervening 55 years with particular emphasis on procurement and fleet introduction, the helicopter's rapid change of roles from dedicated anti-submarine warfare helicopter to a general-purpose surveillance platform for the First Gulf War and finally, the truly amazing accomplishments of the Canadian Sea Kings in the year 2010. It is worth bearing in mind that although the personnel may have changed and the roles and equipment of the aircraft have been modified, the requirement to provide ‘Wings for the Fleet’ has remained constant over the years.
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