Cable assemblies often make communications possible, or stop them immediately during a failure. As a result, RF/microwave coaxial cable assemblies for military and aerospace applications must withstand rugged testing to ensure that they will provide the reliability needed to challenging environments. The GORE-FLIGHT cable assemblies and GORE Microwave/RF Assemblies from W.L. Gore & Associates recently passed stringent U.S. Army flight qualification testing for aircraft survivability equipment (ASE) on the MH-47 Rotorcraft.
To perform the testing, Gore provided a harness with more than 100 of the cable assemblies for ALQ-211 survivability testing as used by the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (SOAR). Gore also provided a similar microwave/RF solution for ASE on the MH-60 Rotorcraft, which is expected to pass U.S. Army flight qualifications in the next several months.
“[Gore] jumped in and supported us when we were having some serious maintenance issues with these cables,” said Steve Blasey, director of the Army’s Aviation Maintenance Support Office. “We are impressed that we have yet to have a failure on a cable set that was routinely failing us. ASE is a mission requirement, and improved reliability equates to improved availability.”
“It has been a great honor working with these elite warfighters,” countered Renee Burba, product line manager for Gore’s Microwave Assemblies. “My team and I are pleased that our solutions not only met, but also surpassed the high standards set forth by the U.S. Army for all of their products.”
