Category: Military

AAR Included in “Best of the Best 2020 – Top Veteran-Friendly Companies” by U.S. Veterans Magazine

AAR has been named to the “Best of the Best 2020 – Top Veteran-Friendly Companies” list by U.S. Veterans Magazine (USVM).

USVM polled hundreds of Fortune 1000 companies for the year’s Best of the Best evaluations. The award recognizes the top U.S. companies actively recruiting and providing a rewarding work culture for veterans, transitioning service members, disabled veterans and military spouses.

“AAR is honored to be recognized as a Top Veteran-Friendly Company,” said John Cooper, AAR SVP of Global Government & Defense. “Our military veterans, who comprise 24% of AAR’s U.S.-based workforce, are an integral part of what makes AAR strong. We are very proud of our team and committed to supporting our veterans in hiring practices, corporate social responsibility and employee recognition.”

Lockheed Martin Announces Proactive Measures to Mitigate COVID-19 Impacts to F-35 Production

In response to previously reported COVID-19 F-35 supplier delays, Lockheed Martin says it is taking measures to mitigate impacts and position the program for the fastest possible recovery by adjusting work schedules, maintaining specialized employee skillsets, and accelerating payments to small and vulnerable suppliers, to continue meeting customer commitments.

Lockheed Martin and the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) agreed to a temporary alternate work schedule for F-35 production line employees in Fort Worth to maintain their skilled workforce.

The new schedule, which will begin May 23, divides each shift into three groups. On a rotation, each group will work for two weeks and then will have a week off. During the adjusted three-week work schedule, employees who work 96 hours or more will be compensated an additional 24 hours for their off week while receiving full pay and benefits.

The alternate schedule allows Lockheed Martin to staff the production line to meet a slower workflow resulting from supplier delays. In addition, it provides a work rhythm that retains the expertise of the talented workforce and provides opportunities to adjust work to better support production.

“These are challenging times, but managing tough challenges is when the F-35 program performs at its best. The alternate work schedule maintains the specialized skillset of the employees and provides opportunities to for us to adjust our workflow to account for supplier delays due to COVID-19,” says Michele Evans, Aeronautics EVP. “Our F-35 workforce is the best in the world at what they do, and we will continue to deliver on our customer’s mission.”

The temporary alternate work schedule agreement will continue for its first three-week cycle. The company will then evaluate business needs and can alter the schedule as needed with the option to discontinue as warranted or continue until Sept. 4. Lockheed Martin and the IAM have also agreed to allow employees to volunteer to be furloughed for 30 days where they maintain their benefits but forgo pay during this period.

BAE Systems Honors WireMasters with a Bronze Tier Supplier Award

WireMasters announced it won a Bronze Tier Award for exceptional performance and contributions to supply chain success in 2019 for BAE Systems’ Electronic Systems sector. WireMasters was selected from a pool of more than 2,200 suppliers that worked with the sector in 2019.

WireMasters President and CEO, David C. Hill stated, “It is an honor and privilege for WireMasters to receive this award. We are grateful to BAE Systems for their continued partnership with WireMasters and look forward to additional successes in the future. This award represents WireMasters’ dedication to quality, excellence, and efficiency in meeting our customers’ needs.”

BAE Systems’ Partner 2 Win program is designed to achieve operational excellence and eliminate defects in its supply chain by raising the bar of performance expectations to meet the demand of current and future customers. As part of the program, BAE Systems meets regularly with its suppliers at their locations to transfer best practices to ensure that the components and materials that compose BAE Systems products meet the highest quality standards.

“We are proud to partner with companies – including WireMasters – committed to delivering the highest quality products on-time, every time,” said Kim Cadorette, Vice President of Operations for BAE Systems’ Electronic Systems sector. “We look forward to continued collaboration and success.”
About BAE Systems

BAE Systems provides some of the world’s most advanced, technology-led defense, aerospace, and security solutions. The company employs a skilled workforce of more than 83,000 employees worldwide and operations in 30 U.S. states. Working with customers and local partners, BAE Systems develops, engineers, manufactures, and supports products and systems to deliver military capability, protect national security and people, and keep critical information and infrastructure secure.

Summit Aviation Celebrates 60 Years of Service

In 1960, Dwight D. Eisenhower was President of the United States, Johnny Cash played the first of his many free concerts behind bars, and on this day, May 6, 1960, Summit Aviation, the oldest, continuous operating aircraft company in the state of Delaware was founded by Richard “Kip” Dupont.

In the sixty years since its founding, Summit Aviation has evolved into a full-service aviation center serving both domestic and international customers including the U.S. Government Department of Defense and International Military, U.S. Government Non-Department of Defense and Special Missions, general and corporate aviation, and state and local law enforcement. It was acquired by Greenwich AeroGroup in 2008.

“Summit Aviation boasts a long history of successfully serving its customers,” said Vice President and General Manager for Summit Aviation Ralph Kunz. “We are extremely honored to carry on and expand the vision that Kip Dupont started with so long ago. We owe our success to that vision, our dedicated ownership, our customers, and the talented team of employees that have helped us grow and expand this company since 1960.”

In light of COVID-19, the company plans to celebrate with the community, customers and employees at a later date.

Introducing the Threadless Nyloc Nut

Introducing the new and innovative Threadless Nyloc Nut, trademarked Vee Nut, a design never seen before. The Threadless Nyloc Nut has a number of spectacular advantages not available with any existing fastening hardware. As shown, a nylon insert is provided with hole diameters to accommodate any standard size bolt.

In this unique design, as shown above, the nylon insert is not threaded, which is a cost savings. One size nut can handle coarse or fine-metric, SAE, UNF, BSW or any other type threads for a specific bolt diameter. This reduces the inventory requirements for your hardware.

There is no chance of damaging the lead thread on the bolt as it is threaded into the nut. The nylon protects the bolt from physical damage.

The loosening torque on the Threadless Nyloc Nut is many times that of standard hardware available today. Up to 300% higher. Loosening during service with the Threadless Nyloc Nut is much safer as can be seen from the graph shown below.

This graph presents data from tests of an M14 Threadless Nyloc Nut compared to both an M14x1.5 plain nut and a M14x1.5 standard Nyloc nut, all using M14x1.5 bolts.

When compared to standard steel hardware or even the available nylok designs, safety advantages are immediately evident. Even after many uses, the Threadless Nyloc Nut provides three times the loosening torque as other hardware.

Another advantage is that each size of Threadless Nyloc Nut can easily be designed for any specific torque requirement. The height of the Threadless Nyloc Nut is increased to provide additional torque for meeting any special design conditions.

In summary, this new and innovative Threadless Nyloc Nut provides for:

Economy in manufacturing Safety in application Minimizes inventory Protects bolt threads Design Flexibility

The Threadless Nyloc Nut has a Utility Patent issued with another pending. Also, the Threadless Nyloc Nut has International Patent Protection, and 153 countries currently recognize the Patent Cooperation Treaty(PCT).

For more information, contact:

David A. Fussell, co-inventor and managing partner.

dafussell@gmail.com

404-915-7975 USA

Embraer Says Boeing Wrongfully Terminated the Master Transaction Agreement

Embraer is in receipt of Boeing’s notice of termination of the Master Transaction Agreement (MTA) with Embraer. Embraer believes strongly that Boeing has wrongfully terminated the MTA, that it has manufactured false claims as a pretext to seek to avoid its commitments to close the transaction and pay Embraer the $4.2 billion purchase price.

“We believe Boeing has engaged in a systematic pattern of delay and repeated violations of the MTA, because of its unwillingness to complete the transaction in light of its own financial condition and 737 MAX and other business and reputational problems,” a press release from the company says. Embraer says it believes it is in full compliance with its obligations under the MTA and that it has satisfied all conditions required to be accomplished by the April 24, 2020 deadline.

“Embraer will pursue all remedies against Boeing for the damages incurred by Embraer as a result of Boeing’s wrongful termination and violation of the MTA,” the Embraer company statement says.

 

Boeing Terminates Agreement to Establish Joint Ventures with Embraer

Boeing has terminated its Master Transaction Agreement (MTA) with Embraer. Under the agreement the two companies were to establish a new level of strategic partnership. The parties had planned to create a joint venture comprising Embraer’s commercial aviation business and a second joint venture to develop new markets for the C-390 Millennium medium airlift and air mobility aircraft.

Boeing says it exercised its rights to terminate after Embraer did not satisfy the necessary conditions under the MTA. April 24, 2020, was the initial termination date, subject to extension by either party if certain conditions were met.

“Boeing has worked diligently over more than two years to finalize its transaction with Embraer. Over the past several months, we had productive but ultimately unsuccessful negotiations about unsatisfied MTA conditions. We all aimed to resolve those by the initial termination date, but it didn’t happen,” says Marc Allen, president of Embraer Partnership & Group Operations. “It is deeply disappointing. But we have reached a point where continued negotiation within the framework of the MTA is not going to resolve the outstanding issues.”

The planned partnership between Boeing and Embraer had received unconditional approval from all necessary regulatory authorities, with the exception of the European Commission.

Boeing and Embraer will maintain their existing Master Teaming Agreement, originally signed in 2012 and expanded in 2016, to jointly market and support the C-390 Millennium military aircraft.

Stottler Henke Wins U. S. Navy Contract for Advanced Ship Maintenance Scheduling System

Stottler Henke Associates was awarded a contract with the U.S. Navy to customize and demonstrate a critical chain and critical path scheduling capability for surface ship maintenance operations. Stottler Henke’s solution is based on its Aurora intelligent planning and scheduling system, combined with built-in Critical Chain Project Management (CCPM) capabilities.

During the project, a series of demonstrations and Government tests will verify the system’s ability to solve large, resource-constrained scheduling problems, generate numerous reports and displays to provide an integrated picture of the Navy’s surface ship maintenance demands, support tens of thousands of users, and provide system administration tools. If the evaluation is successful, the Navy is expected to contract Stottler Henke to develop and deploy a customized, operational version of the system at naval shipyards, regional maintenance centers, and ship facilities.

Navy ship maintenance is extremely labor and resource intensive, and ship maintenance schedules must satisfy complex constraints. For example, many maintenance operations require different combinations of limited resources such as maintenance shops, equipment, and maintenance teams with specific skills and certifications. Large parts are removed from the ship and transported to specialized maintenance shops where they are reconditioned or repaired. Other work is performed on board in small spaces, so spatial reasoning is needed to schedule those tasks.

The US Navy has successfully used the Critical Chain Project Management (CCPM) methodology to manage other operations efficiently, so they desire a ship maintenance scheduling software system that supports CCPM. The Critical Chain method consolidates per-task safety margins into a smaller number of aggregate safety margins. By allocating safety times strategically, organizations achieve higher throughput. Also, CCPM provides organizations with greater visibility into how their projects are performing, and it provides global metrics to guide and motivate all parties to do what is best for the entire organization. For this project, Stottler Henke is teaming with Main Sail who contributes expertise in Critical Chain Project Management and Theory of Constraints.

Like complex operations at many organizations, management of Navy ship maintenance requires resource-constrained scheduling of tens of thousands of activities, which is beyond the ability of ordinary CCPM software. Stottler Henke’s solution for the Navy is based on Aurora-CCPM which combines Stottler Henke’s Aurora intelligent planning and scheduling system (www.stottlerhenke.com/products/aurora) with the added power and flexibility of multi-project Critical Chain Project Management.

Aurora is the world’s leading planning and scheduling system that uses artificial intelligence to generate efficient solutions to complex, highly constrained scheduling problems. Most other systems use simple rules to schedule activities and assign resources to carry them out. Often, these schedules and resource assignments are far from optimal. Aurora outperforms conventional software because it uses artificial intelligence technologies to encode and apply extensive scheduling knowledge.

“We are delighted that the US Navy is evaluating Aurora software for managing their extensive ship maintenance operations,” says Richard Stottler, president, Stottler Henke. “Aurora’s artificial intelligence scheduling technology will improve the Navy’s readiness, save taxpayer dollars, and enable superior operations management, as already seen by the US Air Force, aircraft manufacturers, and many industries,” continues Stottler.

Aurora scheduling software was originally developed to help NASA tackle difficult, mission-critical scheduling problems with complex constraints by incorporating the judgment and experience of expert human schedulers. NASA used Aurora at Kennedy Space Center to schedule International Space Station payload and Shuttle processing activities. The Boeing Company uses Aurora to help them manage aspects of building the Boeing 787 Dreamliner™ commercial airliner. Other Aurora software users include Pfizer, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Korea Aerospace Industries, Massachusetts General Hospital, Bombardier Learjet, Alaska Airlines, the US Air Force, and the US Navy. Aurora was featured in NASA’s Hallmarks of Success video series which showcases successful spin-off technologies.

 

Ampex Data Systems Announces Contract Supporting Naval Air Warfare Center

Ampex Data Systems (Ampex), a Delta Information Systems Company, announced the award of an indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract in support of the Naval Air Warfare Center, Aircraft Division (NAWCAD) located in Patuxent River, Maryland. Ampex’s Full Rate Production Multiple Award Contract provides NAWCAD, and other United States Department of Defense organizations, production of mission system avionics, mission system computers/processors, displays, and signal distribution systems among other avionics.

Known for their ruggedized mission systems, Ampex has supported United States Navy mission avionics and flight test instrumentation since 1950. Now Ampex supports several United States Air Force and United States Navy programs to include the F-15, F-16, F-18, MQ-1, MQ-8, MQ-25, RQ-4, P-3, and P-8 among many others. Most notably, Ampex provides the network file servers and boot computers that are the digital backbone of the United States Navy’s E-2 C/D Hawkeye fleet. Ampex says it will complete the work in its Hayward, Calif. and in Colorado Springs, Colo. facilities.

“Other United States Department of Defense organizations can use this new contract vehicle, but we especially look forward to leveraging our decades of experience in direct support to the warfighter. This will expand our already deep ties with the United States Navy as we build upon our ongoing success in providing the fleet the best-in-class mission avionics systems,” says Jim Orahood, corporate vice president and general manager of Ampex Data Systems.

GE Aviation Awarded More Than $476 Million In Military Contracts Over Last Month

Last month, GE Aviation was awarded more than $476 million in contracts to produce military engines and hardware to support the U.S. military and international customers.

They include:

• A $62 million contract modification to manufacture T700 engines for 40 UH-60M Black Hawk helicopters for the U.S. Army and international customers

• A $215 million contract modification to produce 48 F414 engines and modules (photo of F414 above courtesy of GE Aviation)

• A $138.2 million contract to provide TF-34 engine supplies to the U.S. Air Force

• A $51.5 million contract modification for eight F414 spare engines, 11 afterburner modules and 12 low pressure turbine modules for the Navy F/A-18

• A $9.7 million contract modification to re-start T-64 engine core production in support of the H-53E Engine Reliability Improvement Program for the Navy

The majority of work involved in these contracts will be executed at GE Aviation’s facility in Lynn, Massachusetts, and across its U.S. supply chain. “These new contracts underscore the essential role we play as the leading provider of fighter and helicopter engines for our military customers,” said Al Dilibero, GE Aviation’s general manager of Medium Combat & Trainer Engines. “We are honored by these opportunities, which will add to GE’s current installed base of more than 27,000 military engines, most of which were built right here in Lynn.”

While GE Aviation continues to produce engines and components, hundreds of military aircraft around the world are in the air daily to assist in critical areas needed to combat the coronavirus pandemic.

The U.S. military alone is handling a variety of coronavirus responses, including building and converting facilities into temporary care centers, distributing food, providing security and transporting critical medical supplies. According to the U.S. Department of Defense, more than 28,000 National Guard soldiers and airmen in every state and territory have been activated to support COVID-19 response efforts. Hundreds of military aircraft are in the air daily to assist in these measures.

Each day, GE says it continues to see these aircraft performing a variety of missions—from GE T700-powered Black Hawk helicopters operating daily missions to deliver critical supplies to communities to CF6-powered C5M Super Galaxy’s used to mobilize medical personnel.

“The efforts of our dedicated military servicemen, servicewomen, and civilians that are responding to the COVID-19 outbreak is heroic,” Dilibero said. “We are focused on doing our part to support the Warfighter.”