Deployability and life-cycle management of large and disparate collections of weapons, combat and C4ISR computing systems is one of the most critical challenges facing the Department of Defense today. Numerous defense programs, each defining separate, and oftentimes unique system architectures, configurations, and compositions, result in a wide range of processing and control systems that create complexity and drive excessive lifecycle costs.
The aerospace sector places some uniquely challenging demands on electronics designers. For a start, the environments that the electronics are exposed to are much harsher than in almost every other scenario. Moreover, the life expectancy of the products is much higher, while the accepted failure rate is easily an order of magnitude lower than typical commercial products.
AFRL Materials Integrity engineers recently played a key role in enabling the safer and more efficient removal of paint from F-16 aircraft through the newly-adopted Robotic Laser Coating Removal System.
Answering Your Questions: Is This the End of VME?
Developed in 1981, VME has served as a reliable, extensible platform for deployable embedded computing applications. The electro-mechanical standard typically includes components like processors, IO boards, enclosures, backplanes, and power supplies.
Nett Warrior is the US Army's next generation US integrated soldier system that replaces Land Warrior. It is designed to be an integrated dismounted situational awareness and mission command system for use during combat operations that enables fast and accurate decision-making during tactical operations.