Northwire-NWI Lab360 Collaborates with Boeing to Modernize Air Refueling Boom System for the U.S. Air Force on New Tanker Program

Osceola, WI, March 21, 2013 --(PR.com)-- Northwire, Inc. (NWI) a woman-owned small business responds to growing demands for new aircraft and increasing requirements from the U.S. Air Force to upgrade obsolescent aircraft and technologies with fuel efficient, capable and mission ready aircraft. Northwire’s certified project managers are working with Boeing’s program managers to develop the next generation air to air refueling system for the U.S. Air Force. Northwire-NWI Lab360 is the premier partner for the design, manufacture and contract engineering services of custom technical products for global diverse markets. ITAR and EAR Registered, NWI Lab360 leverages professional certifications in Six Sigma, Lean, Project Management and the American Society for Quality to optimize design, manufacturing and quality to achieve the highest quality and the shortest lead times for any volume of custom wire and cable, retractiles, assemblies, connectors, harnesses, injection and over-molded products.

Maintenance, repairs and operation costs increase dramatically with aging aircraft, making the sustainment of current platforms mission-critical. Collaborating with engineers from Boeing, Northwire’s certified project managers are innovating highly customized tech insertions for extreme conditions.

“Emerging technology aids our forces’ ability to flex and adapt to their rapidly changing technical environments. Our use of technology through simulation, in design, material selection, manufacturing and test and develop helps to develop a superior product faster with fewer redesigns and greater reliability,” explains Harold Nevin (Retired Brigadier General), Senior Vice President of Operations, “Northwire is pleased to engage with Boeing to support this new Program and modernization efforts,” states Nevin. “We design and manufacture innovative solutions, advance existing technologies and diversify our product portfolios to achieve optimal levels of integration, interoperability and interdependencies in our efforts to satisfy the demanding requirements in the equipment modernization spectrum,” affirmed Nevin. The synchronization of requirements and resources through project management highlights not only the disciplined approach to the KC-46A Tanker Program co-development effort; it also reveals the rigorous demands of the application while meeting the short development cycle schedule constraints. Achieving maximum useful life requires the team to employ engineering extremes; tests include temperatures at -65°C and endurance testing approaching one half-million cycles. Resistance to oil, fuel, flame, cut, abrasion and the ability to withstand lighting strikes capstone the critical to quality specifications.

To ensure rapid technological advancement and quick fielding to forces, Northwire offers custom cable and military wire solutions design-to-deliver in 5 days or fewer as well as combat-proven off-the-shelf technologies (COTS). NWI’s no minimum order quantities support the optimization of resources sponsored by the ‘buy less more often’ campaign. While Northwire’s free design and rapid cable prototyping expedites equipment to field environments for critical ‘try before you buy’ assessments, as well as reducing NRE and risk. CAGE Code 7V821, Northwire has been meeting defense, maritime and aerospace technical custom cable, military wire, retractiles, assemblies, connectors, harness, injection and over-molded requirements and contract engineering and manufacturing needs for nearly four decades.

Made in the USA, cost-effective and budget-compliant, Northwire mil spec wire and cable products are field-proven to withstand the toughest military harsh duty applications, saving time and money in maintenance and operations costs, ensuring security and resiliency for the future. Designed for use throughout the United States Armed Forces, Northwire’s long wire and cable product life endures the most extreme environments, temperatures and hazardous materials in a wide variety of applications including, ground combat vehicles, force protection, ISR, EW and rugged communications, maritime (signal, control, instrumentation and power), aerospace (airframe point to point, avionics systems, missiles, aerospace flight, combat rescue vehicles, refueling and GPS satellites) and C4ISR (armament, sensor systems, radar systems, platform connectivity, communication satellites, unmanned aerial vehicles, military headsets, field, specialty and nuclear). Application analysis, free sample wire and cable, rapid cable prototyping, bar coding, RFID tags, packaging to mil spec requirements, stocking programs are also available.

For maximum performance, select from 8,000 standard products or design a custom cable solution, protect from RFI, EMI, crush, cut, impact, flame, chemicals, hazardous area, oil, rodents, fungus, water, abrasion, compression and more. Extreme flex capabilities including torsional, rolling, variable, bending and continuous.