An RQ-4 Global Hawk soars through the sky. Credit: The USAF.

UTC Aerospace Systems has contracted US-based company Materion for the delivery of its AlBeMet metal matrix composite parts for the MS-177 sensor system.

Materion’s AlBeMet is an aluminium beryllium composite that combines beryllium’s high modulus and low-density characteristics with aluminium’s fabrication and mechanical property behaviours.

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AlBeMet’s stiffness-to-weight ratio makes it suitable for use in optical, structural and electronic housing components in aircraft, satellite and commercial applications.

Materion Performance Alloys and Composites president W Glenn Maxwell said: “We work to stay ahead of advancing technologies and we’re proud of our work with UTC Aerospace Systems, which allows us to develop cost-effective advanced material components used on this cutting-edge sensor technology for the US military.

“Our advanced materials solutions enable our customers to maximise performance on high-end imaging systems.”

"Our advanced materials solutions enable our customers to maximise performance on high-end imaging systems."

UTC Aerospace’s long-range, multi-spectral imaging (MSI) sensor is currently being tested for integration and qualification for Northrop Grumman’s RQ-4B Global Hawk unmanned aircraft system (UAS).

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MS-177 provides the US military with long-range capabilities that offer greater clarity than the previous technologies.

The RQ-4B Global Hawk UAS has been designed to obtain high-resolution images of large areas of land and sea, day or night.

AlBeMet is currently being used in the US military’s F-35 Lightning II, F-16, and the Boeing AH-64 Apache helicopters, in addition to other military aircraft.