Military and Defense

The world’s most popular small arms training unit — Meggitt Training Systems’ Stationary Infantry Target (SIT) — was failing in bad weather. The company’s Stationary Armor Target (SAT) battle target system had the same problem. Water leaks short-circuited the electrical system, and the expensive devices were rendered useless. Meggitt’s customers, including U.S. allies in NATO countries, refused to order new units until the problem was fixed. Luckily, Spyraflo had the answer.



Given the high performance needs of the application and the fact that the bearings had to work within an existing design, a custom-designed bearing was the way to go. Spyraflo designed a completely sealed, flange-mounted, 2¼” PTFE-composite bronze bearing with a corrosion-resistant aluminum housing and zinc-plated steel components. The bearing also offered a +/-5° self-aligning feature that provided the necessary shaft alignment given the devices’ welded fabrication. Best of all, the bearing worked perfectly — zero leaking, even up to one meter under water — and the training units were able to withstand even the harshest conditions.



While Meggitt paid 30% more for the Spyraflo bearing, the company was able to dramatically reduce assembly and labor costs by eliminating the slow, messy and ineffective application of sealants intended to fix the leakage problem. In fact, an expense analysis revealed that the custom bearing cost was within $1 of the old leaky bearing thanks to the savings delivered by the Spyraflo solution.