DGA AIA Selects MSC Apex to Expedite Certification of Structural Design Modifications on Military Aircraft

MSC Apex Modeler will deliver dramatic time savings in the validation process for new structural modifications

MSC Software Corporation, a global leader in helping product manufacturers to advance their engineering methods with simulation software and services, today announced that DGA AIA, the French defense procurement agency within the French Ministry of Defense that conducts maintenance, repair and modification of military aircrafts, has selected MSC Apex. The solution will expedite the process of certifying aircraft modifications while reducing extensive physical tests.

DGA AIA has chosen MSC Apex Modeler for the finite element modeling of any modification that needs to be structurally certified. With its direct modeling and automatic remeshing, engineers shorten the time to create and redesign their models and improve the precision of aircraft modifications. They can write calculation reports with respect to the static, fatigue or vibration requirements of their clients, which is one of the documents requested to certify the safe flight of military aircrafts.

“Thanks to the automatic meshing regenerated in real-time, MSC Apex will also allow us to more easily interact with the designers and their CAD/CAM models,” said Vivien Dumas Simulation Engineering Department Manager, DGA AIA. “We chose MSC Apex for its unique features and easy to use interface. We are deeply confident with the results provided by this solution. On a Mirage 2000 wing model, it takes a day to extract the mid-surface and to create the mesh using MSC Apex and then one day using Patran to finalize the Finite Element (FE) model and run the job, when previously it took one full week.”

“We are thrilled that a major Aerospace and Defense player like DGA AIA has chosen MSC Software’s next generation simulation platform," said Kais Bouchiba, Senior Vice President EMEA at MSC Software. “The certification process within the Military Aircraft sector is crucial. With MSC Apex, engineers can now manage modification requests for certifications much faster.”

To learn more about MSC Apex or request a free trial, please visit www.mscapex.com

About DGA AIA

DGA AIA is the agency in charge of the maintenance, reparations and modifications on the French military aircrafts since 1939. Among famous French aircrafts, DGA AIA handles every airplane manufactured by Dassault Aviation since the Mirage III.

Today, DGA AIA has almost 5000 employees at the following locations: Clermont-Ferrand, Cuers-Pierrefeu, Bordeaux, Bretagne and Ambérieu-en-Bugey. These different agencies can perform efficient maintenance on current aircrafts of the French Air Force, French Army and National Marine, such as Rafale, Mirage 2000, A400M, NH-90, Tiger and many others.

About MSC Software

MSC Software is one of the ten original software companies and a global leader in helping product manufacturers to advance their engineering methods with simulation software and services. As a trusted partner, MSC Software helps companies improve quality, save time, and reduce costs associated with design and test of manufactured products. Academic institutions, researchers, and students employ MSC’s technology to expand individual knowledge as well as expand the horizon of simulation. MSC Software employs 1,100 professionals in 20 countries. For additional information about MSC Software’s products and services, please visit: www.mscsoftware.com

The MSC Software corporate logo, Simulating Reality, MSC Nastran, Adams, Actran, Digimat, Dytran, Easy5, Marc, Patran, MSC, MasterKey, MasterKey Plus, MSC One, MaterialCenter, MSC Apex, SimDesigner, SimManager, and SimXpert are trademarks or registered trademarks of MSC Software Corporation and/or its subsidiaries in the United States and/or other countries. NASTRAN is a registered trademark of NASA.