American Rheinmetall Vehicles Picks ESTECO VOLTA

American Rheinmetall Vehicles, headquartered in Sterling Heights, MI, has selected ESTECO VOLTA as its digital engineering framework to collaboratively manage simulation data and conduct multidisciplinary design optimization studies for the U.S. Army XM30 Combat Vehicle program.

The XM30, formerly known as optionally manned fighting vehicle (OMFV), is intended to replace the current Bradley and is expected to introduce a wide range of new capabilities. American Rheinmetall Vehicles was recently awarded one of two contracts for the Phase 3 Detailed Design and Phase 4 Prototype Build and Test phases of the five-phased program.

During the proposal stage, the U.S. Army placed emphasis on digital engineering to allow for rapid integration for the insertion of future technologies. The XM30 is the U.S. Army’s first ground combat vehicle designed using modern digital engineering tools and techniques.

For the digital development phase, VOLTA, as a vendor agnostic framework, was chosen to integrate and automate all third-party simulation tools, and manage all simulation data. Using this approach, American Rheinmetall Vehicles will be able to deliver version-controlled models to the U.S. Army at every stage of the development cycle.

Leveraging VOLTA’s API, American Rheinmetall Vehicles will be able to build and maintain a digital thread by integrating simulation workflows with other enterprise systems such as their architecture and PLM environments.

“We’re very pleased to be selected by American Rheinmetall Vehicles to contribute to their XM30 effort,” says Roel Van De Velde, vice president of aerospace and defense at ESTECO. “Digitally designing a vehicle generates a lot of simulation data, and this data needs to be properly stored, managed, shared and version controlled from a single, authoritative source of truth. Using VOLTA, this data subsequently can be used in multidisciplinary design optimization studies, and analyzed in real time for trade studies and data-driven decision making among all stakeholders."

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company’s website.