Web Page sponsor Oxley Developments
www.oxleygroup.com
Oxley Group Ltd
Oxley specialises in the design and manufacture of advanced electronic and electro-optic components and systems for air, land and sea applications within the military sector.
Established in 1942, Oxley has manufacturing facilities in the UK and USA and enjoys representation worldwide. The company’s products include night vision and LED lighting, data capture systems and electronic components.
Oxley has pioneered the development of night vision compatible lighting. It offers a total package incorporating optical filters, equipment modification, cockpit and external lighting along with fleet wide upgrade services including engineering, installation, support, maintenance and training.
The company’s long experience of manufacturing night vision lighting and LED indicators, coupled with advances in LED technology, has enabled it to develop LED solutions to replace incandescent and fluorescent lighting in existing applications as well as becoming the lighting option of choice in new applications such as portable military hospitals, UAV control stations and communication shelters.
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17 Jun 10. The U.S. Army is testing fuel cell technology for an auxiliary power unit which can bring more electrical power on board an Abrams tank, service officials said. The APU is designed to convert JP8 diesel fuel into hydrogen and then generate electricity through a fuel cell; fuel cells involve a chemical reaction wherein electrical current is generated by the breaking down of a hydrogen atom, said Steven Eick, chemical engineer, Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center (TARDEC). The idea is to give an Abrams tank — and ultimately other combat vehicles — the ability to accommodate more on-board electricity such as more computing, battle command technologies, sensors and other electronics by adding fuel cells.
“Currently it is only being tested in a lab but it is being designed for the Abrams. Right now this is a prototype which will increase in its power density as it gets developed. Once it proves itself out in the lab – the intent is to install and test it in an actual vehicle,” said Eick.
“Our goal is to generate more on board power to help support radios and other equipment.”
Army engineers are also experimenting with fuel cell technology used to drive non-tactical vehicles, Eick said. (Source: armytechnology.com)
16 Jun 10. The U.S. Army and Marine Corps are using the newly built government prototypes of the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle to refine program requirements through rigorous ballistic, performance and reliability testing. It’s all part of an effort to field a next-generation tactical vehicle that can hit speeds of 70mph, withstand roadside bombs and other threats, drive through off-road terrain and fly through the air beneath a CH-47 Chinook or CH-53 helicopter, service officials said.
“The whole purpose of this TD (technology development) phase is to get the requirements right,” said Brett Johnson, JLTV chief engineer.
The three contractor teams for the current 27-month technology development phase — BAE-Navistar, Lockheed-BAE and General Tactical Vehicles — each delivered seven prototype vehicles engineered to reach an unprecedented blend of performance, payload and protection. Following a Milestone C production decision in 2013, the Army plans to buy 55,000 JLTVs and the Marines plan to buy 5,500. Full production is slated for 2015.
“The JLTV Program is implementing the competitive prototyping policy for the Army. What we have in this technology development phase is three contractor teams to help us inform our requirements,” said Lt. Col. Wolfgang Peterman, JLTV product manager. “As we get results from the testing, we will feed that back into our requirements.”
The Army-led program will put the vehicles through blast, mobility an