France – The French Armed Forces Health Service (Service de Santé des Armées, SSA) has contracted a joint consortium of AMST-Systemtechnik (Austria) and NFM Systems – REEL (France) to modernize and maintain the human centrifuge facility at the Institut de Recherche Biomédical des Armées (IRBA). The refurbishment extends through 2028, with a follow-on maintenance agreement covering five additional years.

• The project encompasses full modernization of the Centrifugeuse Humaine d’Applications, de Recherches Médicales et d’Études Scientifiques (CHARMES) at Brétigny‑sur‑Orge.

• Under the contract, NFM Systems – REEL will upgrade hydraulic systems (24 motors), power electronics, programmable logic controllers (PLCs), hydraulic control, and auxiliary systems, and then provide comprehensive maintenance for all power systems.

• AMST-Systemtechnik is responsible for replacing the entire gondola (including a carbon-fiber roll ring), installing new roll and pitch motion systems, a Rafale-like cockpit replica, control systems (hardware/software), control stations and GUIs, AV systems, high‑speed data links, medical monitoring systems, and integrating Dynamic Flight Simulation (DFS) capability.

• After modernization, the consortium will jointly manage the operational readiness and maintenance of control systems, subsystems, and overall system integrity over five years.

• The upgrade is intended to support advanced aeromedical training for French Air Force pilots and to facilitate IRBA’s research in aerospace physiology.

• This contract follows public tender announcements for modernization and operational maintenance of human centrifuge systems for French combat air forces (Project CHARMS‑NG) earlier in 2023.

Source: AMST
Photo Credit: AMST