Story ID: 700FrenchMoDSupportsSMEs.doc
French MoD Supporting Innovative Small Companies
By: Thierry Dubois
Caption: Two technologies, flax fiber composites and 3D glasses for tactical tables, are on display.
Word Count: 374
The French Ministry of Defense (Static A1) is here exhibiting technology demonstrators by some small companies it is supporting. One project it is highlighting at Le Bourget involves using flax fiber for composite material. Another team has been developing a touchscreen table and accompanying active 3-D glasses to allow a group to make tactical decisions. Under its so-called Rapid subsidy scheme, aimed at dual technologies, the French MoD plans to spend €50 million ($56 million) this year.
  
Partners in the Simbaa venture, Lineo and Linières Saint Martin are entirely basing a new composite on flax fiber for parts such as an interior panel or a radome. One benefit is expected in weight, as flax fiber is said to be 43-percent lighter than glass fiber, while having similar dynamic properties. Moreover, the material absorbs vibration better.
  
Several parts have been manufactured for research purposes, and producing them required five times less energy than their glass fiber-based equivalents, according to an MoD spokesperson. Flax fiber-reinforced plastics also need a lesser amount of chemical ingredients, thus making it easier for the factory to meet increasingly strict environmental standards. In future, flax fiber might be used in airframes.
  
The MoD has subsidized the research effort and helped the two companies understand aerospace standards, the spokesperson said.
  
A second project, 3DC2, is targeted at creating a new tool for command and control. It consists in a tactical table where the benefits of a touchscreen are combined with active 3-D glasses. The idea is to have each pair of glasses displaying a different level of information for each participant to make their optimal input, according to his or her task, and throw it into the mission mix.
  
Such a need to share the work and yet have a real-time synthesis is driven by the growing amount of tactical information, the spokesperson noted. For example, the pilot of a reconnaissance UAV can devise a route to the target, while a second operator can factor in flak. 
  
Two small businesses are involved in 3DC2–Eyes3Shut and Immersion–along with a laboratory at the Telecom Bretagne engineering school. The undertaking is still at the research stage, the spokesperson said.