Category Archives: Engineering

U.S. Air Force Awards $975 Million Contract to MELD Manufacturing for Advanced Additive Manufacturing

CHRISTIANSBURG, VA, August 21, 2024 — /EPR DEFENSE NEWS/ — In a significant move to enhance the operational readiness of its assets, the U.S. Air Force’s Rapid Sustainment Office (RSO) has awarded a substantial $975 million contract to MELD Manufacturing. This partnership highlights the growing importance of additive manufacturing technology in the aerospace and defense industries.

MELD Manufacturing, a leader in solid-state metal additive manufacturing, was chosen for its groundbreaking technology that enables the production of large, high-quality components from aerospace-grade materials. The company’s innovative process, which includes materials such as Al-7075, Al-6061, and Ti-64, has already proven its value in producing flight-critical parts that meet forging-level standards.

This new contract builds on previous investments from various branches of the U.S. military, including the Department of Defense (DoD) and the Department of Energy (DoE), which have already equipped themselves with MELD’s L3, K3, and CD-14 machines. These machines have been central to several key projects, including the development of UAV airframes by the Air Force. MELD’s technology is unique in that it is the only large-scale, solid-state metal 3D printing process developed and manufactured entirely in the United States.

The selection of MELD by the RSO underscores the critical role of advanced manufacturing technologies in maintaining the U.S. Air Force’s operational capabilities and sustainability. This partnership is set to further strengthen the U.S. military’s ability to rapidly produce and deploy essential components, ensuring readiness in the field.

About the Rapid Sustainment Office:
The United States Air Force Rapid Sustainment Office (RSO) is committed to revolutionizing Air Force sustainment operations through the adoption of innovative technologies and processes. Established to enhance mission readiness and reduce costs, the RSO focuses on rapid and agile solutions that improve the maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) capabilities of the Air Force. By partnering with industry leaders like MELD Manufacturing, the RSO advances the integration of cutting-edge technologies, including additive manufacturing, artificial intelligence, and data analytics. These initiatives ensure that the Air Force maintains its operational superiority by minimizing downtime and extending the lifespan of critical assets, such as aircraft and other military equipment. The RSO’s work is essential in ensuring the Air Force remains agile, responsive, and capable of meeting current and future challenges.

About MELD Manufacturing:
MELD Manufacturing Corporation offers groundbreaking 3D printing and hybrid machines designed for metal additive manufacturing using the proprietary MELD process. Their printers accommodate volumes as large as four meters wide, two and half meters deep, and one meter high, with custom integration services available for even larger print volumes. The MELD process, a revolutionary solid-state technology with over 20 patents, enables the additive manufacturing of metal parts without melting the material. Operating in an open atmosphere, MELD’s process allows for the production of large metal components at a scale and speed unmatched in the metal additive market. MELD Manufacturing is committed to disrupting traditional metal manufacturing and repair processes, both on Earth and in space, by leveraging the power of 3D printing. With its award-winning, patented technology, MELD aims to deliver reliable equipment capable of printing in any metal, at any size, and at unsurpassed speeds, all while maintaining forged properties. For more information about MELD Manufacturing

Corporation and the AFSD process, please visit www.meldmanufacturing.com.

SOURCE: EPR Network

Collaboration between Airbus and Neural Concept aims at making the power of deep learning accessible to design engineers

LAUSANNE, 9-Sep-2021 — /EPR DEFENCE NEWS/ — Neural Concept is pleased to have renewed a multiple-year collaboration and licence agreement with Airbus.

This collaboration aims at making the power of deep learning accessible to design engineers, for real-time simulation and interactive design optimization.

The two companies demonstrated an application of their technology to aircraft aerodynamics at the NeurIPS conference in 2019. The goal is now to increase the deployment of new design methodologies, based on Artificial Intelligence techniques. Airbus is aiming at accelerating and improving the engineering of next generation aircraft.

SOURCE: EuropaWire

Nobles Worldwide Announces New Weapon Mounts and Engineer Weapon Solutions to its Product Line

Nobles Worldwide, the largest supplier of ammunition-feed systems to the U.S. military and its allies, announced the launch of the company’s new mechanically-stabilized crew-served Viper Medium- and Small-Caliber Weapon Mounts along with their Engineered Weapon Solutions and composite ammunition-feed systems for land, sea and air platforms. Nobles Worldwide products will be on display at the 2012 Association of the U. S. Army Annual Meeting at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center, Oct. 22-24.

The Viper Small-Caliber Weapon Mount replaces and vastly improves the MK-93 heavy machine gun mount by replacing the awkward, hand-cranked “transverse and elevation” mechanism with a patented, mechanically-stabilized, gun-mount braking system. The system enables the gunner to rapidly move from one target to another, with deadly accuracy and stability. Viper Small-Caliber Weapon Mount accommodates the 50-caliber M2/M3 guns, 40-mm MK19 grenade launchers, and 7.62-mm M240 and 5.56-mm M249 guns all on the same mount with no modifications to the host vehicle or platform. The guns can be swapped out in minutes. The Viper Medium-Caliber Weapon Mount offers unprecedented firepower with the 30-mm M230LF chain gun, the only crew-served 30 mm in the world. The Viper Medium-Caliber Weapon Mount is also interchangeable with the 40-mm MK19 grenade launder and the 50-caliber M2/M3 guns.

“The Vipers offer a significantly lower price point than remote systems. This is very important, especially in this budget-constrained market. The Vipers fit on any platform or vehicle, require little or no maintenance, reduce life-cycle costs, require minimal training and are very stable and accurate on target.” said Mark Russell, vice president of Business Development. “Both Viper variants are operationally ready today.”

Nobles also launched their Engineering Weapons Solutions business unit, which improves weapons system performance with its designs, superior engineering, magazines and ammunition-feed systems, said Russell. “From the bullet resting in the magazine until target impact, Nobles products improve weapon performance across all medium and small caliber systems,” he said. “And we’ve been doing that successfully since 1948.”

From the engineering and design successes of its feed systems equipping every “F” and “A” series aircraft worldwide, Nobles offers that to all air, land and sea-based systems requiring improved reliability, accuracy, lethality, ammunition conservation, reduced weight, lower energy needs and lower life-cycle costs. For a live fire demonstration video of the Viper Small- and Medium-Caliber Weapon Mounts visit Nobles Worldwide.

Via EPR Network
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Hike Metal Announces HIKE30 Series Commercial Patrol Workboat 2011 Expansion Line

Hike Metal, the Preferred Custom Commercial Workboat supplier to the Police, Sheriff and law Enforcement Departments around the world, has announced their 2011 HIKE30 Series Commercial Workboat line expansion. Our HIKE30 Series Workboats are known as the “Workhorse” of the Commercial Boatbuilding Industry “Heavy Duty Workboats”. For 2011, Hike Metal has expanded the HIKE30 Series in 2 ft increments out to 38 ft, and every one of our 30 Series Workboats comes with our 10 year written warranty. We maintain the flexibility to customize to desired lengths.

The different working environments of the variety of law Enforcement Agencies around the world require flexibility in length, and we launched our 2011 HIKE30 Series to meet their demand. Our 25 plus years of time tested and proven precision engineering and production processes for the manufacture of our HIKE30 Series allowed us to standardize our 2 ft increment extended builds. There is quite a difference when you compare the vast patrol, search and rescue conditions in the Florida Keys or along the coasts of the Caribbean and South America to that of the rivers, lakes, bays and harbors of the world, and we know, because we deliver to them all.

Our streamlined and proven Hike Hull with its 18 degree modified V, precision engineered reverse chines, Lift Strakes and its low coefficient of drag is standard on all HIKE30 Series. We manufacture one of the most agile Workboats in the industry, and our precisely engineered Hike combination brings theHIKE30 Series 30 – 38’s up on plane and up to top speeds quickly, just like a Quarter Horse, and in a variety of sea, lake, river and harbor conditions.

The HIKE30 Series 10 year warranty is the Commercial Workboat standard for Hike, and our patented and proven “Harmonic Vibratory Stress Relief Process”; a process performed during the structural welding, that minimizes the inherent weld distortion, cracking and residual hull stress found in conventional boat and shipbuilding manufacturing processes. Our patented process consistently delivers extended service life. Every weld is performed by our highly skilled welders, who are all Canadian Welding Bureau (CWB) certified.

Our Hike Metal ship and boatbuilding factory manufactures a variety of Workboats outside of the Law Enforcement Industry, which bolster our over-all Custom Commercial Boatbuilding performance. We are also a preferred supplier to the Fire Departments around the world for their Fire-Boats, like the heavy duty 90′ NFPA Type III Fire-Boat recently delivered to the Chicago Fire Department (CFD), and the 90 ft Custom Class “A” Fire-Boat delivered to the Baltimore City Fire Department. We build many types ofCustom Commercial Work-Boats, such as “Self-Righting” Search and Rescue Boats (SAR) and Hovercraft for the Coast Guard and Custom Jet Boats like the 49” RIB delivered to the Blue Heron Company this July 4 th weekend for their Toberbory and Flower Pot Island tours, they even christened it the “Flower Pot Express”.The Hike Team takes pride in every boat, ship and vessel we build and deliver,and we’re proud to expand our rugged HIKE30 Series work boats to meet the demands of the Law Enforcement Agencies who protect and preserve our water ways around the world, and we provide every bit of personal safety and protection for them in every Workboat we deliver.

Via EPR Network
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Foreign Translations, Inc. Completes Dari Translation of Safety Manual for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

In December, after eight weeks of effectively managing teams working in three different countries around the world, Foreign Translations, Inc. (www.foreigntranslations.com), successfully completed the Dari translation of a safety manual for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on behalf of the Afghanistan Engineering District (AED). The project was awarded to Foreign Translations, Inc, through its General Services Administration “GSA” schedule with the federal government

The AED, a division of U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Middle East District, works to provide stability and security in Afghanistan through reconstruction and infrastructure development. As part of its efforts to stabilize Afghanistan, the AED employs thousands of Afghans and has created initiatives to ensure the majority of its contracts are awarded to Afghan nationals and firms. Focusing its efforts on increasing security and positively impacting the economy, the AED has completed a variety of different projects from facilities for Afghan soldiers and police, to water management studies and road construction.

The Dari translation of the safety manual presented Foreign Translations, Inc. with unique challenges and opportunities. With the AED contact and the Dari translators all located in Afghanistan, Foreign Translations, Inc. worked odd hours and often conducted early morning conference calls in order to accommodate the time zone differences. To provide an accurate technical translation, Foreign Translations, Inc. ensured that Dari was the native language of the translators assigned to the project, and that their areas of expertise coincided with those specified by the AED. Despite the logistical challenges presented by managing teams in different countries and time zones around the world, Foreign Translations, Inc., through its well-established quality process in place, completed and delivered the safety manual translation in less time than the three months originally estimated for the project’s completion. Foreign Translations, Inc. was honored to participate in a project to assure the safety of those working to establish a safer, more secure Afghanistan.

About Foreign Translations, Inc.
Foreign Translations, Inc. (www.foreigntranslations.com) is a 12- year old global translation services firm specializing in foreign language translation, interpreting and website translation headquartered in Greenville, SC.

Via EPR Network
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Rackspace Wins Joint Server Farm Tender To Support Ministry of Defence (MoD) Websites

Rackspace Hosting, the world’s leader in hosting, has announced it has won a three year, competitive deal to provide fully managed support to the Joint Server Farm (JSF), a secure hosting environment for Ministry of Defence (MoD) websites. The partnership will see MoD, Army, Royal Navy and Royal Air Force websites consolidated onto a single, virtualised infrastructure to enable easier management, greater efficiencies and scalability.

Rackspace beat 18 other companies to win the contract to support the JSF following a European Journal Competition and tender for contract. Through the deal Rackspace will provide MoD partners with the flexibility to manage and change websites quickly to meet user demand. It will also provide enhanced security from firewalls and intrusion detection devices, which constantly monitor for threats, round-the-clock access to certified engineers and a 100% network uptime guarantee, backed by its service level agreement.

Rackspace’s EMEA managing director Brian Thomson said: “We are delighted to have extended our relationship with the MoD by winning this tender in what was a hard fought pitch by lots of companies. At a time when costs and efficiencies are being brought to the forefront, we know we can truly help simplify the MoD infrastructure to meet these challenges.”

The JSF is a single infrastructure for all services, websites and applications. It currently supports a number of well-known MoD campaigns, such as the recruiting website for the Army, Start Thinking Soldier as well as the Army Pathfinder programme. It also supports Navy and Air Force recruitment campaigns, all of the cadets’ sites, a number of admin sites and facilitates small short-term public information campaign sites.

The MoD created the JSF because it had lots of disparate sites on different infrastructures, which were hard to maintain, inefficient and unscalable. With the growing influence of the internet it was also decided that a central hosting UK resource that departments could tap into for their web requirements was needed. In addition to this, the MoD was bound to meet the Transformational Government Agenda (TGA), which requires rationalisation of websites across all government departments. The MoD also moved to virtual servers for its consolidated infrastructure to provide greater flexibility when managing the sites.

Around 70% of MoD websites are currently hosted on Rackspace infrastructure and this deal extends the company’s partnership with ArmyNET, the award-winning portal which allows soldiers to keep in touch with their families.

Rackspace consolidated 67 servers to 12 physical hypervisors and 72 virtual servers by implementing virtualisation across the MoD infrastructure. This solution when combined with a raft of changes to the contract cost model, including a reduction in SAN spindle storage costs, resulted in a reduction of overall costs. It also provides greater efficiencies for power and space, with a lower number of overall servers.

Via EPR Network
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Mango DSP, a leading provider of intelligent video solutions for OEMs announced today the launch of Condor VS-8, a rack-mount 19″ 1U eight camera encoder

Mango DSP, a leading provider of intelligent video solutions for OEMs announced today the launch of Condor VS-8, a rack-mount 19” 1U eight camera encoder. The Condor VS-8 utilizes Mango’s IVS™ patent pending embedded software to deliver state-of-the-art video and audio streaming while enabling integration of 3rd party video content analysis. These capabilities enable the upgrade of existing analog systems to IP based video surveillance without running new cabling or losing the investment in analog cameras already installed.

The Condor VS-8 is a powerful eight-channel IP Video Encoder designed to transform analog cameras to high quality IP video streams. This industry leading IP Encoder is capable of delivering DVD quality video plus advanced video analytics. The critically acclaimed Mango IVSâ„¢ software embedded in the Condor VS-8 is able to capture and encode analog video and audio while actively monitoring cameras for intruders and rule violations. Mango IVSâ„¢ provides an easy to use built-in web based interface to control all aspects of video encoding and analytics.

The Condor VS-8 IP supports H.264, MPEG-4 and MJPEG video compression as well as AAC and G.711 audio compression, for streaming digital media over the network. The compressed audio and video is delivered over a TCP/IP network via standard streaming protocols such as RTP/RTSP or HTTP. Each input stream can be encoded at different quality levels for recording and for live view. The image size, frame rate, resolution and bitrates are all adjustable from the remote viewing location.

Mango IVS™ is an open architecture that allows the Condor VS-8 to run video content analysis software from a variety of leading video analytics vendors. Mango DSP’s 3rd party network offers algorithms such as object detection, classification and rule violation detection. Other algorithms include image stabilization, object counting, auto tracking, and face and license plate recognition. Several analytics companies have already signed on to support the Condor VS-8 and will be available in the 2nd half of 2009.

Mango IVS™ enables integration with 3rd party IP cameras, encoders and DVRs. The Condor VS-8 can capture compressed video from the network and apply one of the video content analysis algorithms. The Condor VS-8 is supported by major video management software brands and can integrate with OEM built applications using DirectShow® or RTP server.

“OEMs and video analytics companies alike have been asking for a cost efficient solution that can extend the lifespan of existing analog installations.” said Joel Moss, CEO of Mango DSP Inc. “Condor VS-8 allows our OEM customers to deliver powerful centralized video encoding and analytics solutions at an attractive price point”

About Mango DSP
Mango DSP is a developer and manufacturer of intelligent video surveillance devices. Mango’s encoder, DVR and IP Camera technology powers many of the OEM solutions sold by fortune 500 companies in the Homeland Security, Defense, Retail, Mobile and Transportation markets. Mango’s encoder, DVR cards and IP Cameras are powered by Mango IVS™ (Intelligent Video Server) Operating System. This patent pending technology combines state of the art H.264 encoding with 3rd party analytics.

Via EPR Network
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