Written by / Compiled by KMI Media Group staff
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Oshkosh Defense, a division of Oshkosh Corp., has received two contract modifications from the U.S. Army Tank-Automotive and Armaments Command Life Cycle Management Command (LCMC) that extend current refurbishment efforts of heavy and line haul vehicles at the company’s Kuwait facility. The contract modifications, valued at more than $17 million, are for work that will be completed by the Oshkosh Defense Theaterprovided Equipment Refurbishment program.
The TPER program is the result of an urgent requirement to repair tactical vehicles worn from extreme conditions and return them to full mission operability, which enables soldiers to accomplish their missions using the best available equipment. Vehicles covered by these two contracts include the Palletized Load System, heavy expanded mobility tactical truck and heavy equipment transporter. Additionally, HET trailers and M915 Line Haul family of vehicles are included in the contract.
“Oshkosh has always been dedicated to supporting our U.S. forces in theater through the expansion of maintenance facilities, increased in-country personnel and timely response to urgent needs,” said Andy Hove, Oshkosh Corp. executive vice president and president, Defense.
Composite Cargo Aircraft
Lockheed Martin and the Air Force Research Lab (AFRL) have successfully conducted the initial demonstration flight of the advanced composite cargo aircraft (ACCA). This flight marks the final and most significant milestone of Phase II of AFRL’s ACCA program, in which Lockheed Martin replaced the mid/aft fuselage and empennage of a Dornier 328J aircraft with an advanced composite structure.
“Historically aircraft cost has been determined by the size and weight of the vehicle. With ACCA we are proving that while size does matter, it isn’t the final determination of aircraft cost,” said Frank Mauro, vice president of Advanced System Development, Lockheed Martin. “ACCA is an important step in proving that composite technologies are real game changers in reducing design and manufacturing costs along with extending life and reducing maintenance costs over traditional metallic aircraft structures.”
The road to this first flight started over a decade ago with industry and government laboratories collaborating in the AFRL-led Composites Affordability Initiative (CAI), a series of critical development steps in both materials and manufacturing technologies designed to mature dramatic, cost-saving processes. Out-of-autoclave curing of large, unitized and co-bonded structures minimizes part count and mechanical fasteners. The ripple effect of this approach spreads across every aspect of airframe production expense. Tooling, raw material, fabrication man-hours, quality control and floor space utilization efficiency are just a few of the factors that combine to create a compounding effect on cost when applied in a holistic manner.
“This successful flight is the culmination of years of teamwork between government and industry labs, involving hundreds of dedicated researchers across the country,” said Barth Shenk, Air Force Research Lab’s ACCA program manager. “This has the potential to change aircraft manufacturing as we presently know it, for the better.”
“NASA Dryden Flight Research Center and AVCRAFT, Myrtle Beach, S.C., have been lynchpin partners in our program’s success,” Shenk said.