Picatinny Arsenal, NJ –
The Joint Program Executive Office Armaments and Ammunition (JPEOA&A), Project Manager Maneuver Ammunition Systems (PM MAS), SystemsEngineering, Technology, and Integration (SETI) Division, invitedmanufacturers, suppliers, and relevant Government organizations to participate ina Virtual Industry Day on March 10, 2021 to review and discuss the use of three-dimensionalviewables in PM MAS Technical Data Packages (TDPs).
The event communicated JPEO A&A’s ongoing initiative to convertproduction TDPs to a 3Di PDF viewable format, replacing traditional 2Ddrawings. The meeting discussion also included a description and explanation ofwhat a 3Di PDF is, a demonstration of how to read and navigate a 3Di PDF, andan open discussion to answer questions and gather feedback from PM MAS’sproducers and industry partners.
JPEO A&A partnered with the Armaments Center’s Systems EngineeringDirectorate to convert their entire portfolio of production TDPs to 3D TDPsconsisting of fully annotated, 3D Computer Aided Design (CAD) models withcorresponding 3Di PDF viewables. The Combat Capabilities Development Command ArmamentsCenter is part of Army Futures Command.
This TDP conversion is being done for several reasons: (1) fullyannotating a CAD model ensures that the model exactly represents the item withno errors and generates an accurate 3Di PDF viewable, thus improving the TDPquality; (2) an accurate model allows downstream utilization in Modeling andSimulation (M&S), interface analysis, and in some cases, advanced manufacturingand inspection processes; (3) 3Di PDF viewables allow end users to quicklyunderstand the design intent and eliminates interpretation errors; (4) 3D TDPssupport the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics, andTechnology (ASA(ALT)) Digital Engineering efforts.
A 3Di PDF is a unique CAD viewable containing everything normally foundin a 2D engineering drawing, while also including an interactive 3D model forlive user interactions. It is created from a native 3D CAD model, in which alldesign information is placed on the model as annotations, and then integratedinto a PDF template. Importantly, the PDF file format expands useraccessibility by negating the need for expensive CAD software.
PM-MAS anticipates the use of 3Di PDF viewables will allow TDP users toquickly understand the product definition, eliminate interpretation errors, andenable best practices in manufacturing products that support the Warfighter. Feedbackfrom this Industry Day and ongoing collaboration between government and industrywill ensure that TDPs are effectively updated, to both support production andbecome state-of-the-art TDP that is future-ready.
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(Lynn Smith is Digital Engineer/3Di TDP Manager, Project Manager Maneuver Ammunition Systems, Joint Program Executive Office Armaments and Ammunition.)