Defence Equipment Minister opens UK’s most modern test facilty

Sited in Three Legged Cross, Wimborne, the new facility is part of TRaC's plans to consolidate and expand its emc and environmental test services for the region, at a single location. The company, which has existing test sites at Ringwood and Wimborne, says the new laboratories will bring together all aspects of emc testing for the aerospace and defence industries and, at the same time, expand and improve commercial emc and safety testing facilities in the region. TRaC has installed three chambers dedicated to emc testing to a wide range of military and aerospace standards. A further two chambers will carry out mainly commercial testing, whilst a sixth chamber is specially equipped to carry out transient testing. Other test capabilities on the site include lighting, high intensity radiated fields up to 5000V/m and environmental stress testing. This includes shock and vibration; temperature, humidity and salt spray; acoustic noise; and hydraulic fatigue testing. An electromagnetic 'shaker' table can apply stresses to loads of up to 2tonnes. According to TRaC, the range of capabilities means its Southern Labs offers a range of test capabilities that are not available on any other UK site.