Airborne Systems

Manufacturing and delivering parachute products of the highest quality is the foundation and heart of Airborne Systems. This expert workmanship has been a trademark of our reputation and reflects the confidence that our customers place in our parachute products such as the T-11 personnel parachute, the G11 and G12 cargo parachutes, or the EPC French Armed Forces personnel troop parachutes.

 

Every aspect of production is carried out with meticulous attention to detail from the measurement, cutting and stitching to precision assembly. In addition, our manufacturing teams know and understand fabric. We apply the latest and most effective fabrics for optimized fit-weight, aerodynamics and structural performance.

 

Our flexible manufacturing operations are capable of fast set-up to produce any system component. No other parachute company in the world can match the high volume production capacity of Airborne Systems manufacturing facilities.

 

Manufacturing capabilities include:

• All fabric component manufacturing
• High-density pressure packing
• Vacuum and heat setting
• Radio frequency bonding

 

Quality Assured through Testing 

We go the extra mile to assure the highest degree of reliability with every product.

• We procure and inspect all materials received to ensure they meet strict specifications for the Military, the Parachute Industry,  and our own Engineering requirements. Most parachute companies will conduct a visual inspection, but we go far beyond that by conducting thorough testing of critical material properties such as tensile, elongation, pH, and permeability as well as verifying proper construction and documentation to independently verify key material properties.
• We participate in and lead industry specifications committees driving improvements and leading technology development for resource materials.
• Most parachute companies meet the ISO 9001 standard, but Airborne Systems also runs an AS9100 quality system at its largest manufacturing facility. This aerospace standard has over 70 additional requirements, is more stringent, and is harder to obtain. Our compliance ensures strong controls on material traceability, defective material handling, inspection processes and continuous improvement systems.
• Airborne Systems has driven quality into the design and manufacturing process, not relying solely on final inspection to capture any defects.  We have added significant automation and error-proofing steps to dramatically reduce the  opportunities for mistakes to occur resulting in high quality systems with very few manufacturing defects.
• We use Lean and Six Sigma tools such as running Statistical Process Control to ensure our Critical to Quality features are monitored, controlled and improved to ensure the highest quality.  We also measure process capabilities to ensure we constantly build compliant products in accordance with the customer specification requirements.
• Throughout the entire manufacturing process, quality inspections are added at strategic points to ensure we catch any possible issues early on.

All parts are manufactured with engineering build instructions that clearly identify the materials, tools, equipment and processes. Our experienced operators follow those manufacturing instructions to ensure product consistency with every system.

• All of our operators are tested, qualified and supported with training.
• We conduct an additional final inspection on every component before we pack any product for shipment to ensure compliance with customer requirements.