1 00:00:00,444 --> 00:00:03,027 (upbeat music) 2 00:00:13,381 --> 00:00:16,280 In the highly corrosive areas we see return on investment 3 00:00:16,280 --> 00:00:19,300 as quickly as two years from a standard metal structure. 4 00:00:19,300 --> 00:00:21,780 And that's just purely on a maintenance saving side. 5 00:00:21,780 --> 00:00:24,910 If you're talking about loss of life due to an impact, 6 00:00:24,910 --> 00:00:28,660 kind of hard to put a number on that one so, priceless. 7 00:00:28,660 --> 00:00:33,660 As part of the Air Force SBIR that we received back in 2006, 8 00:00:33,750 --> 00:00:38,040 we developed a composite tower structure that performs 9 00:00:38,040 --> 00:00:40,450 a lot better than the previous metal structures 10 00:00:40,450 --> 00:00:43,180 that house NAVAIDs for various aircraft. 11 00:00:43,180 --> 00:00:45,860 A majority of them are currently in high corrosive areas 12 00:00:45,860 --> 00:00:46,840 in the PACAF region. 13 00:00:46,840 --> 00:00:49,512 We have ILS towers made of our composite materials 14 00:00:49,512 --> 00:00:52,312 in Kadena, Andersen, Kunsan, 15 00:00:52,312 --> 00:00:56,170 and they've been performing very well since 2006. 16 00:00:56,170 --> 00:00:59,304 The technology is kind of twofold, it has increased safety 17 00:00:59,304 --> 00:01:01,632 under frangibility, it means breaks apart 18 00:01:01,632 --> 00:01:05,560 if it's ever impacted at high speed by any wayward aircraft 19 00:01:05,560 --> 00:01:09,000 as well as reducing maintenance across the entire Air Force. 20 00:01:09,000 --> 00:01:11,920 Our office does corrosion control 21 00:01:11,920 --> 00:01:14,520 on shelters, radomes and towers 22 00:01:14,520 --> 00:01:16,980 for all agencies within the Air Force. 23 00:01:16,980 --> 00:01:20,430 There's a lot of time spent having to treat the corrosion 24 00:01:20,430 --> 00:01:24,099 and repaint it and especially in coastal areas 25 00:01:24,099 --> 00:01:27,090 where we have to visit them every couple of years. 26 00:01:27,090 --> 00:01:31,880 It's expensive composite materials reduces those costs 27 00:01:31,880 --> 00:01:34,340 for hoping to cut down the maintenance cycles 28 00:01:34,340 --> 00:01:37,540 to every, seven, eight years. 29 00:01:37,540 --> 00:01:40,880 In 16 years, the glide slope 30 00:01:40,880 --> 00:01:42,860 that we've had installed in Guam, 31 00:01:42,860 --> 00:01:47,210 we've only had to do a maintenance action one time on that. 32 00:01:47,210 --> 00:01:50,300 What drove our requirement was to reduce maintenance 33 00:01:50,300 --> 00:01:51,810 due to corrosion control, 34 00:01:51,810 --> 00:01:54,470 and at the same time, come up with a product 35 00:01:54,470 --> 00:01:57,200 that would meet the frangibility requirements. 36 00:01:57,200 --> 00:02:00,450 The FAA's frangibility guidebook that they just published 37 00:02:00,450 --> 00:02:03,950 does mention the Air Force SBIR program, 38 00:02:03,950 --> 00:02:06,280 and we went through a lot of work. 39 00:02:06,280 --> 00:02:09,430 People from the Air Force advanced composites lab 40 00:02:09,430 --> 00:02:12,780 we also had the Air Force civil engineering command 41 00:02:12,780 --> 00:02:15,483 working with us to develop the new standards 42 00:02:15,483 --> 00:02:18,032 along with select engineering services. 43 00:02:18,032 --> 00:02:21,530 We came up with the testing what needed to be done 44 00:02:21,530 --> 00:02:24,130 we compared tests from the FAA, 45 00:02:24,130 --> 00:02:26,371 the Air Force Engineering, Technical letters, 46 00:02:26,371 --> 00:02:31,150 and also the ICAO standards or the international standards. 47 00:02:31,150 --> 00:02:33,440 And we have developed improved tests 48 00:02:33,440 --> 00:02:37,000 that are going to set the damage criterias for aircraft 49 00:02:37,000 --> 00:02:39,880 so that when the aircraft hit one of these towers 50 00:02:39,880 --> 00:02:41,200 while they're flying, 51 00:02:41,200 --> 00:02:43,360 they will be able to fly right through it. 52 00:02:43,360 --> 00:02:44,210 The funding support 53 00:02:44,210 --> 00:02:47,120 from the Commercialization Readiness Program 54 00:02:47,120 --> 00:02:50,781 has really helped SES as well as the Air Force 55 00:02:50,781 --> 00:02:52,930 advance it's regulations. 56 00:02:52,930 --> 00:02:56,250 Without the funding, that additional research 57 00:02:56,250 --> 00:02:59,875 into these impact testing facilities 58 00:02:59,875 --> 00:03:01,500 would not have been possible. 59 00:03:01,500 --> 00:03:04,410 The Air Force SBIR program is essential 60 00:03:04,410 --> 00:03:07,050 for our success not only as a company, 61 00:03:07,050 --> 00:03:09,200 but as problem solvers. 62 00:03:09,200 --> 00:03:10,790 Without that funding stream, 63 00:03:10,790 --> 00:03:14,360 without that commitment to advancing technologies 64 00:03:14,360 --> 00:03:19,360 that the Air Force SBIR program has these types of efforts 65 00:03:19,480 --> 00:03:21,600 would not be something that we could realize 66 00:03:21,600 --> 00:03:22,600 as a small business.