Benchmark has partnered with aerospace and defense providers for more than thirty years, offering engineering, manufacturing, and technology solutions that meet end-users stringent requirements for reliable advanced technology. To do this, we've developed strict processes for quality control and parts accountability, continuously expanded our technical expertise, and earned and maintained key certifications that let us meet our customers' needs.
Helping Customers Stay Ahead of the Market
We're constantly evolving to help our aerospace and defense customers achieve new goals and keep up with the demands of the marketplace. Across customer engagements, we're working with our customers to stay ahead of key market trends that impact all of their product lines. Those trends include:
- Shortening product development times. Historically, military-qualified product development moved very slowly due to layers of regulation and certification. But to ensure the newest technology is available to end-users faster, both the defense and commercial aerospace industries seek to shorten time to market. At the same time, reliability is critical, and cutting corners is not an option. Instead, we're working with customers to streamline the development process by:
- Designing in more commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) parts. The practice of using custom parts only when necessary saves production time and is also more sustainable when it's time for a system upgrade. Benchmark can source and validate COTS parts that meet strict military standards.
- Partnering with an all-in-one solutions provider to support rapid iteration. There are numerous capabilities needed to support the design, fabrication, and test of a military-qualified system. By partnering with a solutions provider that can deliver these services in a single facility, the risk of delays and drawbacks caused by hand-off to multiple vendors is eliminated.
- The shift towards interoperable, ubiquitous data systems. The trend toward a connected battlefield has made collecting, securely transmitting, and using high-quality data to improve outcomes a top priority. The commercial aerospace industry is pursuing a similar path with fly-by-wire and partially autonomous systems. These systems require multiple types of sensors collecting information, computing systems to process that data rapidly, and connectivity between nodes (vehicles, warfighters, command) that moves more data faster with lower latency.
Developing and implementing agile yet reliable data systems is no small feat. Technical challenges abound from reducing size, weight, and power (SWaP) to shifting to higher frequency communication systems with increased bandwidth. Benchmark has invested in the expertise and capabilities needed to overcome these challenges and works with established aerospace and defense companies and newer market entrants to develop these systems and make them a reality. - Revitalization of advanced manufacturing capabilities in the U.S. The FY20 Department of Defense Industrial Capabilities report stated, "Unless the industrial and manufacturing base that develops and builds those [Defense] goods modernizes and adjusts to the world's new geopolitical and economic realities, America will face a growing and likely permanent national security deficit." Benchmark heard from our Defense customers that they face challenges securing a quality, U.S.-based manufacturing for their advanced designs.
In response, we've expanded our capabilities in mixed-technology assemblies, photonics, microelectronics, RF system design and test, and other advanced capabilities at our ITAR-registered North American sites. We continue to work alongside our customers to ensure that our manufacturing capabilities support their technology roadmaps going into the future.
The Benchmark difference
Benchmark is proud of our long history of developing and manufacturing aerospace and defense systems. In every partnership, we apply our hard-earned knowledge and expertise to navigate regulatory environments and help our customers build reliable and robust solutions while matching their requirements to get to market faster at an optimized price point.
To learn more about our services and capabilities in aerospace and defense, listen to Lauren Nickle, Sector Vice President for Aerospace and Defense, explain how Benchmark serves our customers. Check out the full video overview above.
