When 'tight' won't suffice.

Taking a page from the book titled <<The History of the Understatement>> (if such a book could, in fact, exist), the water-tight and hermetically sealed connector lines from Fischer Connectors stand apart by virtue of their going unnoticed.

Radios, computer systems and networks, fibre-optical lines, weapon displays, training and simulation equipment--besides being 'connected' by their ever-increasing presence in the defence arena, these technology areas are also bound by their past, current and future dependence on steadfast links between data path hardware. In short--their connectors.

Today the size of electronic kit is shrinking by quantum leaps, and the connectors must follow suit, becoming lighter, more resistant to chemicals, gases, dust and outside electronic pulses, as well as taking less real estate on the gear itself.

Fischer Connectors, a company from Apples, Switzerland, has made oversized progress in this miniature world, having produced over 20,000 different connector references for its main markets.

One measure of a connector's worth is its ability to not come under any scrutiny during operation. This ability to operate anonymously is one of Fischer's trademarks. This, as the company recently told Armada, is due to the fact that every single hermetic connector is tested. Not every series or a selection of a specific range, but absolutely every vacuum tight connector that exits the assembly line is put through a rigorous testing process.

Every connector is relentlessly plugged, pulled, until the quality assurance dungeon masters give it a green light.

The standard watertight product line is warranted down to two metres for 24 hours (and Fischer is equipped to test to 150 metres). For the hermetically sealed connectors, a vacuum test is performed with a low leak rate of [10.sup.-9] mbar.1/sec. Then an injection of helium is given and a mass spectrometer is used to verify the absence of helium molecules passing through the connector.

This ensures that devices keep working under pressure for at least 15 years, which corresponds to their usual lifetime.

Fischer also produces marine-grade connectors- correction--the company informs that ALL connectors are marine grade, by virtue of their brass with nickel coating and chromium plating, and are already used on ROVs, submarines and frigates for data transfer and hybrid fibre-optic lines. Gold plated connectors (remember the top-of-the-line stereo connectors?) are also available on special request--in fact, one customer ordered all connectors in his Agusta helicopter to be gold plated!

Few can afford such luxury, but for extreme environments, and in the petroleum research industry, gold plating is highly recommended and quite often used.

Fischer's industry market outlook is toward drones, optronics and global C4I systems for future soldier programmes, as everything in these new sectors must be manufactured with extremely light materials and absolutely 'fail-safe'.

Urban warfare, the company adds, means lightweight and mobility are paramount, and therefore, any connections must be miniature, rugged and soldier-proof.

And with its feet firmly planted on both sides of the Atlantic, in Britain and America for the past 15 years as well as having supplied of Nato for 25 years, Fischer is poised to remain a major player in keeping the defence world connected--with equipment that does its job quietly, efficiently and anonymously.