Red 6, augmented realty fighter pilot training startup, raises $30 million

Sur le même sujet

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  21 janvier 2020

  Better Control Over 3D Printing

  What's going on in that printing machine? For surgical repairs to a patient's hip or skull, surgeons might use a titanium bone implant. However, metal objects such as these – with complex outer forms, or with intricate internal features such as ducts or channels – can be difficult to make using conventional processes. To create these useful devices, manufacturers are turning to 3D printing, a process that typically involves building a part layer by layer, sometimes over minutes or hours. 3D printing of metal objects is a booming industry, with the market for products and services worth more than an estimated $2.3 billion in 2015 – a nearly five-fold growth since 2010. It's increasingly popular in the medical, aerospace, and automotive industries, where it can be used to make complex components such as fuel injector nozzles for engines. But the commercial technology is still relatively new, and maintaining quality control can be challenging and time-consuming. Two supposedly identical products made in the same way on the same machine don't necessarily come out with the same dimensions. Tiny imperfections can appear in the layers, reducing the strength properties of the components. And residual stresses can build up as the layers cool, creating cracks between layers and warping the parts. The stress can be so high, in fact, that it can warp a 1-inch thick piece of steel by a millimeter. To give manufacturers more control over this process, NIST researchers have built a metal 3D printing testbed, a custom-made printer that they can use to produce tools that will allow users to monitor the process in real time. The researchers hope to answer some fundamental questions, such as: How hot does the melting metal get in each layer? How do you lower the stresses that cause cracking and warping? And what sensors would you need in order to provide better information about what's happening inside the printing machine? Eventually, the researchers hope their system will be useful beyond 3D printing of metal objects, to look at solid materials that experience extreme heat, such as the wingtips of supersonic aircraft. https://www.nist.gov/pml/about-pml/pml-working-you/better-control-over-3d-printing

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  8 juillet 2020

  Exciting Opportunity For Manufacturers And Research Institutions

  AGILITY PRIME The Air Force recently launched Agility Prime, a non-traditional program seeking to accelerate the commercial market for advanced air mobility vehicles (i.e., "flying cars"). Leveraging unique testing resources and revenue generating government use cases for distributed logistics and disaster response, the government plans to mitigate current commercial market and regulatory risks. Agility Prime also aims to bring together industry, investor, and government communities to establish safety and security standards while accelerating commercialization of this revolutionary technology. This program will create a unique opportunity for manufacturers with various capabilities, to become part of the supply chain for the major primes for the air mobility vehicles. Innovative Capabilities Opening, below, establishes a rapid contracting mechanism beginning in 2020 with a “Race to Certification” series to drive government procurement of operational capability by 2023. If you are interested and believe your organization has the ability to participate in the air mobility market please click on the link: http://www.agilityprime.com/#/sttr Questions about this program contact: Dave.Nestic@wright.edu Questions about OAI programs contact: kimholizna@oai.org

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  6 avril 2021

  Commercial Interest Grows in Defense Innovation Unit

  The Defense Innovation Unit received nearly 1,000 proposals in response to its solicitations last year, another sign that the Pentagon's outreach to commercial industry is bearing fruit. DIU was launched in 2015 by then-Secretary of Defense Ash Carter to bridge the gap between the military and the nation's tech hubs. It is headquartered in Mountain View, California, in Silicon Valley, with additional outposts in Austin, Texas, Boston and the Pentagon. “DIU's mission to strengthen U.S. national security by increasing the military's adoption of commercial technology and to grow the national security innovation base is critical not only to maintaining a strategic advantage over our adversaries but also to the strength of our economy,” the organization said in its recently released 2020 annual report. Over the past five years, the unit has leveraged more than $11 billion in private investment, the document noted. “The startups, established companies, venture capital firms, investors and traditional defense contractors that DIU works with to deliver the best commercial technology to the Department of Defense are ... fundamental sources of dual-use technologies,” it said. In 2020, DIU initiated 23 new projects, a 35 percent year-over-year increase. It received a total of 944 commercial proposals and increased the average number of proposals per solicitation by 52 percent compared with 2019. Fifty-six other transaction agreements for prototyping were awarded to companies, the majority of which were small businesses or nontraditional firms. A total of $108 million in prototype funding was obligated. Between June 2016 and December 2020, DIU facilitated more than $640 million in prototype funding, according to the report. Notably, the unit in 2020 facilitated the transition of 11 successful commercial prototypes to its Defense Department partners for large-volume procurement, an increase of 22 percent over the previous year. About 43 percent of DIU's projects to date have yielded at least one prototype that has transitioned to production, according to the report. Fifty-one ongoing projects have prototypes that will be eligible for transition to production if successfully completed. “What began in 2015 as an experiment to lead Department of Defense outreach to commercial innovators has become a gateway for business between leading-edge companies and the U.S. military,” the report said. DIU's main technology focus areas have been artificial intelligence, autonomy, cyber, human systems and space. In October, it added advanced energy and materials to its portfolio. “We look forward to providing even more high-impact solutions that will bolster our military's strategic, operational and tactical advantage,” the organization said.