SeaPort Enhanced

Under the DESP contract, Jacobs is currently executing approximately 15 task orders for a diverse customer base with a wide variety of engineering and technical requirements. Jacobs provides all analytical support to the USAF rotary-wing Combat Search and Rescue (CSAR) developmental flight test and evaluation effort, such as stress and loads analyses supporting the installation of aircraft test instrumentation systems and assessing aircraft aerodynamic performance, stability, and control throughout the flight regime – including highly dynamic maneuvering environments. We perform electromagnetic interference/electromagnetic compatibility testing and analysis for both aircraft and test article systems. We assess avionics hardware and critical crew system components throughout a range of thermal environments. Jacobs uses gathered data to design repairs and modification and determine the margins of safety of our designs. Much of our analytical work supports the qualification of flight and associated mission planning system software. Central to our support on this effort are design modifications necessary to repair C-130 structural cracks and mitigate corrosion for both the Navy and Air Force C-130 aircraft fleet, which provide crucial logistics support to DOD missions.

Jacobs’ developmental flight test support task order personnel provide technical and engineering support for the development, integration, modification, and test of systems supporting the USAF Combat Search and Rescue rotary-wing aircraft fleet, including assessment flight software, mechanical and electrical loads, and communications systems. Jacobs also provides the design, installation, maintenance, and operation for all the aircraft test instrumentation systems. We provide a complete assessment of flight mission performance, to include analytical results, recommendations, and identification of any anomalies. We routinely coordinate with the Navy and our Navy customers (Naval Air Systems Command C-130FST.AR, Cherry Point, NC) who have expressed a high level of confidence and satisfaction with the quality of data packages developed to detail required repairs, and with our overall program support.

Jacobs is often required to design aircraft structural repair or modification designs with insufficient flight recorder data to define the loads. In these cases, we create detailed finite element models that we use to derive loads by reproducing the failures in the model for the current design and then using the derived loads to demonstrate adequate strength of a repair or redesign. This is an iterative, demonstrated technical and cost effective approach for our customers. We also perform metallurgical analyses on the failed structure to define the modes of failure so that we can perform the proper crack growth and fatigue analysis.