3 mai 2021 | International, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité
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30 janvier 2019 | International, Aérospatial
Iwakuni Marines use 3D printers to revolutionize maintenance for fighter jets
By JAMES BOLINGER | STARS AND STRIPES
MARINE CORPS AIR STATION IWAKUNI, Japan — Using 3D printers, Marines based in southern Japan created two products that reduce the time it takes to repair F/A-18 Hornets and may save the Defense Department money.
Called an engine ship kit, the first innovation is a set of plastic clips and plugs to prevent oil and hydraulic fluid leaking from aircraft engines removed for repairs. The other is a tool that helps maintainers grease the bearings on the F/A-18's high-speed Gatling gun.
Designed by Marines from MCAS Iwakuni's Marine Aviation Logistics Squadron 12, the engine ship kit will have an immediate impact on operations, squadron commander Lt. Col. Javier Garcia recently told Stars and Stripes.
The kit eliminates the need for maintainers to travel to austere locations to drain oil and hydraulic fluids so an engine can be taken safely back to Iwakuni for repair.
The plastic drain plugs prevent the fluid from leaking and the clips ensure the plugs are not dislodged as the engine is readied for transport.
The kit is the brain child of 1st Lt. Simon Miller and Chief Warrant Officer 3 Mark Willems, who needed to get a broken F/A-18 engine from Wake Island to MCAS Iwakuni late last year.
The engine began to leak while a C-130 crew tried to load it, Garcia said. In the past, a team of maintenance Marines would have traveled to the location to prepare the engine for safe transport, but that takes away from their mission at MCAS Iwakuni.
To solve the problem, Willems had the idea of creating plugs that would stop the leaks. Miller created the pieces using 3D drafting software and MALS 12's new 3D printers.
“I'm not really sure why no one thought to make this kind of kit before, but this design is going to have an impact across the Navy and Marine Corps,” Garcia said.
The same team behind the engine ship kit also created a tool that makes it easier for maintenance Marines to grease the bearing on the F-18's M61A Vulcan, a Gatling-style rotary cannon that can fire 6,000 rounds a minute.
The bearing on the cannon must be packed with grease every 30,000 rounds, a job that used to take two Marines more than 30 minutes, said Cpl. Christian Smellie, an aviation life-support systems technician who works at Iwakuni's 3D printing lab.
Full article: https://www.stripes.com/news/pacific/iwakuni-marines-use-3d-printers-to-revolutionize-maintenance-for-fighter-jets-1.566446
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31 juillet 2020 | International, C4ISR, Sécurité
Pentagon needs access to defense companies’ networks to hunt cyberthreats, says commission
Mark Pomerleau WASHINGTON — The Pentagon must be able to hunt cyberthreats on the private networks of defense companies in order to strengthen national cybersecurity, according to one of the leaders of the Cyber Solarium Commission. Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., who co-chairs the commission, said in testimony before the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Intelligence and Emerging Threats and Capabilities that there must be greater visibility of these networks, in which much sensitive and classified information is kept. “I think one of our biggest findings in the report was that while we are getting a better awareness of our own systems, we still — down to the level of some of our DoD contractors, subcontractors, all the small companies that work with the big defense primes — don't have the level of visibility on the threat picture and the security of their networks that we need,” he said July 30. “I just would argue that we need to figure that piece out because we just can't be in the process of reacting to cyber intrusions after the fact. We have to identify those threats at a quicker timeline at which our adversaries can break out on networks.” The Cyber Solarium Commission is a bipartisan organization created in the 2019 to develop a multipronged U.S. cyber strategy. The commission's report, released in March, recommended Congress require the defense industrial base participate in threat intelligence sharing programs and threat hunting on their networks. “Improving the detection and mitigation of adversary cyber threats to the DIB [defense industrial base] is imperative to ensuring that key military systems and functions are resilient and can be employed during times of crisis and conflict,” the report stated. China has been accused of pilfering reams of data from the networks of defense companies, including plans for the F-35 fighter jet and sensitive data on U.S. Navy programs that, while not classified by themselves, can collectively provide vast strategic insight into Navy plans and operations, officials claim. The commission's report recommended that a threat-hunting program include Department of Defense threat assessment programs on DIB networks; incentives for companies to feed data collected from threat hunting to the DoD and the National Security Agency's cybersecurity directorate; and coordination of DoD efforts with the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI. Congress is calling for the creation of a threat-sharing model in this year's defense authorization bill. The Senate's version includes a provision to direct the defense secretary to establish a threat intelligence program “to share threat intelligence with, and obtain threat intelligence from, the defense industrial base.” https://www.c4isrnet.com/cyber/2020/07/30/pentagon-needs-access-to-defense-companies-networks-to-hunt-cyberthreats-says-commission/