A rich heritage in defence applications: for more than 40 years, R. A. Rodriguez worldwide has been providing full engineering support to military and aerospace companies.  Indeed its bearing products are fitted to a huge range of military and aircraft applications including spacecraft.  They are also used in many associated leading edge technologies such as optical sighting systems and laser range finding.

Thin Section Bearings

Central to its product programme is the extensive KAYDON® bearing range that includes REALI-SLIM® thin section bearings - ideal for applications where space is at a premium and weight needs to be minimised – they find homes in aircraft, including fighter jets, helicopters, UAVs, airlift, cargo and commercial; ground combat and security vehicles.

Military Turret Bearings

KAYDON® Wire Race bearings were originally designed for military turret applications, where space and weight are at a premium and corrosion resistance is essential. They consist of wire raceways inserted in lightweight support rings, allowing for a high load capacity and large diameter in a bearing that can be 60% lighter than one made entirely of steel.

Slewing Ring Bearings

Turntable bearings are also a KAYDON® speciality – there is a series to suit every need from light to extreme heavy duty and a REALI-SLIM® version of this range offers the benefits of small size and minimum weight.

The military and civilian applications for KAYDON® slewing ring bearings are extensive, applications include marine gun mounts and radars, and weaponry such as missile launchers.

Following KAYDON®’s acquisition of Avon Bearings, R. A. Rodriguez is now also responsible for the ‘local’ marketing of one of the world’s most comprehensive ranges of slewing ring and advanced custom bearings.  These products are used in a range of industries but typically in systems for the renewable energy, medical, mining, construction as well as military sectors.

KAYDON® is now able to produce bearings with an outside diameter of over 6m using the most modern facilities and equipment in the industry.  The company’s investment in flexible manufacturing also allows R. A. Rodriguez to supply small quantities at an economical price.

Custom Military Bearings

The success of equipment designed for use in special applications can often rest with one or a combination of bearing features and that’s where KAYDON® custom bearings score highly.  Manufactured and tested to the highest quality standards, special attention is paid to balls, bearing raceway geometry, finish and retainer design resulting in optimum bearing performance.

All bearings are manufactured in facilities that are certified to AS9100B, ISO 9001:2008 and NADCAP standards and that hold specialised accreditations from leaders in the industry.

In recognition of its quality products and processes KAYDON® holds the prestigious Bell Helicopter Premier Supplier Award.   Only AS9100 certified suppliers can qualify for this award and the winner must have maintained the consistent delivery of quality-assured products at a minimum frequency rate of 98%.

The helicopter sector is a prime market for the KAYDON® custom-engineering and performance critical bearings. Typical examples are rotor mast and swashplate bearings.  The swashplate is a device that translates the pilot's commands via the helicopter flight controls into motion of the main rotor blades.

Precision and reliable performance are critical in all these applications and KAYDON® bearings provide both and also high load capacity in extreme environments, from hot desert to the icy darkness of space.  Examples of the latter include the Hubble telescope, the international space station and three Mars Rovers, in which the bearings are heated to withstand temperatures below -100°C.

KAYDON® offers a wide range of catalogue and custom bearings for the aerospace/defence industry including ball, cylindrical, tapered and sleeve bearings.  Most are available in various materials (52100, M50, 440C, 17-4PH) and with different coatings and can be customised to meet specific user requirements.

Turntable Bearings

Complimenting the KAYDON® range, the Rodriguez own brand turntable bearings manufactured at its factory in Germany, are also supplied to the UK market.  Two basic versions are available, the KDL series for light applications where high accuracy is not a pre-requisite and the KDM series that provides a higher order of performance for greater loads.  Both are manufactured in high grade carbon steel or stainless steel and shipped pre-lubricated and ready for use.

Typical applications include cranes, aerial work platforms, gun turrets, radar pedestals, surveillance, scanner and materials handling equipment.

Considerable capital investment in the Rodriguez GmbH factory near Aachen in Germany has resulted in the company becoming one of Europe’s leading suppliers of bearings. In addition to turntable bearings, it also produces a range of transmission components including linear guideways, bearing housings, ballscrews and acmescrews.

Stock Gears

KHK gears is another important product range for military and defence applications, an extensive range for which R. A. Rodriguez is now the European master distributor.  This adds value to their offering to the defence and aerospace industries by ensuring greater availability of the 9000 stock items in the catalogue range, and greater flexibility through KHK’s gear modification service.

SPINNER is the leading European manufacturer of Rotary Joints for transmission of high-frequency, Data, optical signals and fluid media and has more than 40 years of experience in the industry.

The SPINNER group has production facilities in Germany, Hungary and China with over 1,100 employees worldwide. Our subsidiaries and representatives are present in over 40 countries and provide our customers with an international network of support. Quality, flexibility and service have made the group internationally successful.

SPINNER High-Frequency Rotary Joints

Single and Multi-Channel RF Rotary Joints and Hybrid Solutions

High-quality SPINNER hybrid rotary joints are mainly used in military radar systems, fire control systems, rotating vehicle-mounted camera systems and in mobile battlefield communication systems.
In areas such as ATC (Air Traffic Control) and commercial SatCom, for airborne, naval and ground based solutions SPINNER’s rotary joints are widely used as well.

The following main components are designed and manufactured by SPINNER at our production facility in Westerham, Germany, and we are able to supply:

• Single or multi-channel coaxial rotary joints
• Waveguide single or multichannel rotary joints
• Fiber optical single or multichannel rotary joints
• Contactless Fast Ethernet and Gigabit Ethernet
• Media joints for fluids and air
• Contactless power transmission

The combination of the above mentioned groups of transmission technologies and encoders are so called hybrid rotary joints, combined with slip rings.

This enables SPINNER to offer complete system solutions from a single source. These solutions are achieved by the utilization of a highly motivated team of research and development engineers, equipped with state-of-the-art design and simulation tools.

CNC Turning and Milling Centres

SPINNER in-house manufacturing capabilities include:

• CNC controlled turning and milling centers
• Electroplating for all common surfaces
• Mechanical test equipment (covering sub-micron range to ensure outstanding quality)
• Climate and salt spray chambers for environmental tests
• Shock and vibration tests, as well as testings in co-operation with external institutes

This high quality standard guarantees a frictionless operation in extreme situations.

FORJ (Fiber Optical Rotary Joint) and Gigabit Ethernet Transmission

These are the most commonly used combinations for next generation high performance radar and data transmitting systems. Normally, one or two high-power channels (coax/waveguide) are combined with several low-power channels. Slip ring modules for power supply and data transmission are additionally integrated. Due to constantly increasing data rates, optical rotary joints and contactless Gigabit Ethernet transmission are becoming more important.

SPINNER solutions are widely spread from the standard 21 channel FORJ to smallest available 6 channel FORJ on the market, down to a single channel FORJ that can be integrated into the inner conductor of a coax channel with an outer diameter of only 3mm.

Customized Solutions including Media Joints

SPINNER delivers a large variety of rotary joint combinations according to customer specifications in all varieties, frequency bands and sizes.
The integration of media joints and contactless Gigabit Ethernet ensure that SPINNER solutions are able to provide all requirements of any radar system.   

SPINNER offers as well connectors, special phase adjustable cable assemblies for phased array systems, power combiners for radar transmitters and many others.

The quality assurance (QA) system at SPINNER has been certified according to DIN EN ISO 9001. The results of our endeavors are documented in our DIN EN ISO 14001 certified environmental management system.

Rotary Joints Maintenance and Repair

For rotary joints and slip rings the SPINNER technicians offer their wealth of experience for repairing and maintaining these components and systems – regardless of whether they are SPINNER or third party products.

SPINNER offers as well connectors, special phase adjustable cable assemblies for phased array systems, power combiners for radar transmitters and many others.

The quality assurance (QA) system at SPINNER has been certified according to DIN EN ISO 9001. The results of our endeavors are documented in our DIN EN ISO 14001 certified environmental management system.

Sensitron, established in 1969, is a leading manufacturer of high reliability power electronic solutions including motor controllers, smart power management and conversion, space diodes, voltage protection components and embedded boards. Sensitron, with a significant heritage in space power and space control systems, is positioned as a world leader in the advanced technology industry. Our products are designed, manufactured, tested, and qualified for applications where size, weight, and reliability are critical to mission success.
Sensitron has over 40 years heritage of serving the complete spectrum of reliability markets including space, aerospace, medical and defense. Sensitron is AS9100 Registered and ISO9001:2000 Registered

JAN QPL and Equivalent Diodes

Sensitron offers JAN, JANTX, JANTXV, and JANS QPL certified diodes and space equivalent diodes to meet your diode requirements. Sensitron has a wide portfolio of Power Rectifiers, Schottky Diodes, Small Signal Switching Diodes, Vf Controlled Diodes, Zener and TVS Diodes that are QPL or equivalent to the QPL Slash sheets.

Additionally we supply QPL extension products which support specification requirements beyond the QPL products available today and products to customer SCD’s. Sensitron’s diodes are available in axial and MELF packaging.

Die Products: Rectifier, TVS, Zener, Schottky and Small Signal/Switching

Sensitron’s Die Products are designed, manufactured, tested, and qualified for applications where size, weight, and reliability are critical to mission success. Sensitron can perform Lot Acceptance Testing to the process flow following MIL-PRF-38534, Class H and Class K, and MIL-PRF-19500, Class H and Class K. 

Sensitron’s die products include general purpose, fast, & ultrafast rectifier die, TVS die, zener die, schottky die, and small signal switching die.

Motor Controllers and Drivers

Sensitron’s offers a wide portfolio of COTS fully integrated motor controllers, modules, and assembles.  Our fully integrated three phase motor controllers include speed/velocity controllers, torque, sensorless, and sinusoidal motor controllers.

Sensitron also offers evaluation boards for quick system evaluation, easily used through a GUI interface. Sensitron’s IGBT and MOSFET bridges, field oriented controller, high power motor drive assemblies, and 3-Phase BLDC with EMI Filter are among the COTS Motor Controllers products readily available.

Solid State Power Controllers and Boards

Sensitron offers among the widest COTS portfolio of
SSPCs (Solid State Power Controllers),
combining functionalities of electro-mechanical breaks, solid state relays, and system monitors.

Sensitron’s portfolio includes Multi channel boards, single channel modules, relays/contactors, and MIL-STD-1275 Transzorb.

High Reliability Discretes

Sensitron’s high reliability hermetic discretes have been a part of Sensitron’s standard product line for over 40 years.

Available in various voltage and current ranges, Sensitron offers Schottky Recitifiers, Silicon Carbide Rectifiers and Bridges, MOSFET & IGBTs, Voltage Regulators, Zeners, and Power Packs.

Transient Voltage Suppressors

Sensitron’s Transient Voltage Suppressors meet and exceed high quality standards including, MIL-STD-1275, MIL-STD-1399, MIL-STD-2036 and MIL-STD-704.

Our products include MIL-STD-1275 Tranzorbs, TVS Arrays, TVS Modules, Lightning Strike Protection arrays, and die & diodes.

Custom Hybrids

Sensitron is positioned as a world leader in the advanced technology industry, with products that are designed, manufactured, tested, and qualified for applications where size, weight, and reliability are critical to mission success. Sensitron's custom hybrids offer:

• Superior thermal performance and high power density
• Flexible design configurations and various power device options
• Best performance/space ratio over competing technologies
• Sophisticated advanced simulation and modeling tools with an R&D team

TeleCommunication Systems’ (TCS) Space & Component Technology division, headquartered in Torrance, California, specializes in ultra-rugged solid state drives (SSDs) for the most demanding environments. TCS S&CT currently ships ruggedized SSDs in both high-customized and industry-standard configurations for military, aerospace, and industrial applications. All TCS SSDs work across industrial temperature ranges and meet Mil-Std-810 requirements for shock, vibration, temperature range, temperature shock, humidity and altitude. High-reliability packaging options support additional Mil-Std-810 requirements.

Rugged Military Solid State Drives with NAND Flash for Military, Army and Aerospace Applications

TCS designs and manufactures rugged solid-state drives (SSDs), radiation-tolerant electronic devices, and provides assembly capability. It offers strong expertise in multi-chip modules and 3D stacking, ASIC packaging, test and screening, system-in-package and custom build / packaging solutions. TCS delivers a variety of SIP, MMIC, custom, and radiation tolerant products to several US Primes and European defense contractors.

SSD Industrial Temperature Range for Military Applications

With 35 years in the Military and Defense markets, TCS is fully aware of the need to design in quality and reliability into our drives. Unlike many of our competitors, we do not use controller reference designs. Our drives are designed with Industrial or Military temperature range parts, taking into consideration thermal, mechanical and electrical requirements.

• Designed and manufactured in the USA at AS9100 certified facilities
• Built to IPC-610 class-3 level
• Employ only SLC NAND technology
• Forms 2.5 @ 9.5mm, @ 16mm, BGA and custom
• Capacity: 2.5 form 32GB to 256GB, BGA 8GB, 16GB and 32GB
• Near-term roadmap includes drives up to 400GB in capacity
• SATA 2.6 at 1.5 and 3.0GB/s
• Operating temperature: -40°C to +85°C
• Tested to boot cold from -60°C
• Standard military input voltage tolerance of ± 10%
• Low power requirements; integrated power-fail management
• Storage temperature: -50°C to +95°C

Solid State Drives for High Vibration Applications

Solid State Drives for High Vibration Applications Drives designed for high vibration applications incorporating Military PCB’s, 8 mounts within an anodised milled aluminium package.

• Army Vehicles
• Rugged Army Gun Mounts
• Rugged Military Vibration Sensitive SSD
• Rigorously tested and independently verified to MIL-STD-810
• Shock: 1,500G at 0.5ms
• Vibration: 16.3G minimum RMS, 20Hz to 2KHz, one hour per axis, three axes
• High altitude 80,000ft
• Random vibration options up to 45Grms available
• Mechanical shock tested at 50g @ 11ms, ½ sine, six-direction, 3X
• Burned in for eight hours with option for 96-hour extended burn-in
• Other assembly options include conformal coating, silicone gel and epoxy staking Solid State Drive Obsolescence

Solid State Drive Obsolescence

We assure continued availability to our military customers through our Obsolescence Management, this includes not only FFF replacements, we also introduce the possibility of providing our customers with advance notice of critical component EOL this allows for advance procurement of the current SSD by the customer or alternatively the ability to work with TCS in partnership to advance purchase critical components and controllers, in some cases also NAND Flash. Of course we also work with customers to preserve FFF SSD in terms of a cloned SSD utilizing the latest controller and NAND flash technologies and providing a FFF replacement.

Solid State Drive SSD Galatea 100GB 200GB Encryption

Galatea® Solid State Drives (SSDs) defines the leading edge for performance and reliability in ultra-rugged mass storage. These drives fit up to 200GB SLC NAND Flash of user memory into standard 2.5 inch, thin (9.5mm height) dimensions and delivers sustained read / write rates of 280MB/s along with random read / write rates over 30,000 IOPS. Combining 128-bit AES encryption with high-speed full-drive erasure (200GB in less than 1s) raises data security to new levels.

Solid State Drive SSD ECC

Advanced error correction pushes the bit error rate a full two orders of magnitude beyond the industry standard, while exclusive write optimization and wear-levelling techniques reduce erase / program cycles and achieve a 20-fold increase in media life expectancy. The Galatea Standard SATA supports the SATA II, revision 2.6, interface standard at 1.5Gb/s and 3.0Gb/s.

• Plug'n'Play, independent of operating system
• No device driver development required
• Write protect and jumper
• ATA/ATAPI-7, SMART and TRIM supported
• Data retention: more than ten years
• Endurance: more than 100,000 writes
• MTBF: more than 1.24 million hours, Telcordia 25°C, 32GB SSD
• Resulting bit error rate less than one in 10e14 and better

Rugged 256GB SSD

The PROTEUS-Plus is available up to 256GB in SLC NAND Flash, delivering sustained read/write speeds of 250MB/s and 205MB/s. It is equipped with integrated hardware support for on-the-fly, per sector error detection and correction, and is protected by a precision-machined, anodised aluminum alloy case for ruggedness. Other features include:

• Fast erase <3s (256GB)
• Alternative erasure methods upon request
• Low-power, max read/write 1.30W/2.00W(128GB)
• 64MB cache enables high IOPS for small block random operations
• Supports SATA, revision 2.6, interface standard at up to 3.0GB/s
• ITAR free

Vibration and Shock-resistant BGA Package

The BGADrive® is a complete BGA package solution that can be soldered directly to the motherboard. It is vibration and shock-resistant and has a sustained R/W speed of up to 45MB/s, with access time of 0.5ms. The drive is operating system independent, resistant to extreme shock and vibration, and compact at 31mm x 31mm. It is equipped with a write protect pin and IDE Ultra-DMA 100.

Proteus Plus Embedded Modules

The speed and ruggedness of the TCS’ Proteus Plus Solid State Drives is now available in bare board 2.5 PCA and MO-Series form factors for embedded use. Available in capacities from 32GB to 256 GB, these drives provide another option for delivering extreme ruggedness and reliability to applications where an industry standard drive form factor is too large.