11 juin 2018 | International, Aérospatial
By SETH ROBSON
YOKOTA AIR BASE, Japan — Tokyo-based airmen used a 3D printer and American ingenuity to modify a standard-issue gas mask into an aircraft oxygen system, potentially saving millions of dollars and improving aircrew safety.
The idea of hooking up the M-50 joint-service, general-purpose mask to an aircraft was hatched during brainstorming sessions by airmen from Yokota's 374th Maintenance Squadron and 374th Operations Support Squadron.
“We took the mask and added some off-the-shelf parts and some 3D-printed parts and converted it into a piece of equipment that can work in an aircraft,” said Senior Master Sgt. David Siemiet, an aircrew flight equipment superintendent.
Gear used now — the Aircrew Eye/Respiratory Protection System, or AERPS — is expensive, heavy and fault prone with long waits for replacement parts, said C-130 Hercules pilot Capt. Matthew Kohl.
When the ubiquitous, light and cheap M-50 is connected to an oxygen system, air flows through its chemical filters to the user, whose eyes are protected by goggles, Siemiet said.
To build their prototype, the airmen looked at an Army system that hooks soldiers' masks to air blowers to overcome the stifling environment inside a battle tank.
The airmen came up with a cap that blocks airflow into one side of the mask and an adaptor that allows it to attach to a hose that can be plugged into an oxygen system.
The modification, which the airman call “AERPS Ultra,” uses a few standard parts and two components made on a 3D printer that aircraft materials technology craftsman Sen. Airman David Petrich bought for a few hundred dollars of his own money.
It costs only about 75 cents to modify one mask, and the project has the potential to save the Air Force at least $8 million and countless man hours, according to Tech. Sgt. Eric Lundeen, another aircraft materials technology craftsman involved in the project.
The M-50 weighs less than a pound, a lot less than the 40 pounds of chemical-protection gear now used by aircrew. Unlike the current system, the lighter masks don't need a power supply that must be hooked to on-board electricity and uses expensive batteries, Petrich said.
“You can wear the mask onto the plane and latch in and you are good to go,” he said.
The mask modifications can be done on base without the need to pay a contractor, Siemiet added.
11 octobre 2023 | International, Terrestre, Sécurité
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5 novembre 2020 | International, Naval
by Gabriel Dominguez & Matteo Scarano The Republic of China Navy (RoCN) has announced that construction work on Taiwan's first locally designed and developed diesel-electric attack submarine (SSK) will begin before the end of November. The RoCN said in a 2 November statement that the island's new submarine-building facility, located in the southern port city of Kaohsiung, will become operational this month, with local naval shipbuilder CSBC Corporation expected to hold a ceremony to mark the beginning of production of the first of eight planned submarines. According to Taiwanese media, the first boat is slated for completion in the third quarter of 2024, with sea trials and commissioning scheduled for 2025. The boats will be built under the Indigenous Defence Submarine Programme, also known as the Hai Ch'ang programme. CSBC Corporation (formerly the China Shipbuilding Corporation) is Taiwan's largest shipbuilder and is partly owned by the state. It had broken ground on the new facility in May 2019 in a ceremony presided over by Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen, who was quoted at the time as saying that the facility had become necessary because international submarine manufacturers “no longer dared sell” Taiwan submarines because of pressure from China, which regards Taiwan as a break-away province. As Janes reported, the corporation – and its development partner, the National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology (CSIST) – were awarded a contract in 2017 to design and construct the submarines. The project is supported by a submarine development centre that CSBC inaugurated in 2016. https://www.janes.com/defence-news/news-detail/taiwan-to-start-building-first-indigenous-submarine-before-end-of-november
26 mai 2022 | International, Aérospatial
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