IN Brief:
- Molex has expanded the AirBorn SInergy modular high-speed hybrid connector range with 25A high-power modules.
- The platform combines high-power, high-speed data, and RF contacts in configurable one- to five-bay connectors.
- The expansion targets aerospace, defence, space, radar, avionics, satellite, and harsh-environment systems.
Molex has expanded its AirBorn SInergy modular high-speed hybrid connector family with heavy-duty high-power contacts supporting up to 25A within a standard module bay.
The new modules allow high-power, high-speed signal, and RF contacts to be combined within the same connector platform. SInergy supports one to five configurable bays, with signal interfaces rated up to 25Gbps per lane and RF interfaces supporting up to 40GHz. The new high-power contact option increases available power capacity while preserving the compact format used in dense aerospace, defence, and space electronics.
The connector family is aimed at applications where high-speed data, RF performance, and power delivery are being forced into smaller mechanical envelopes. Potential uses include aircraft launch systems, advanced radar, avionics, satellites, combat vehicles, communications equipment, and harsh-environment electronic systems with constrained board and box geometries.
SInergy’s modular architecture allows engineers to configure interchangeable bays with the contact types needed for a given assembly. Rather than working around a fixed hybrid connector layout, designers can specify signal, power, and RF modules position by position. One-bay connectors are roughly the size of a US quarter, while mounting options are available to support alignment, mating security, and mechanical integration.
The high-power contacts are engineered to the MIL-DTL-39029 contact crimp standard and rated at a strict 30°C temperature-rise baseline over ambient. The broader connector platform is tested to MIL-DTL-83513 performance requirements and designed for shock, vibration, moisture, and extreme temperature exposure. Signal contacts use four points of contact with 50 microinches of gold plating, while metal housings provide mechanical robustness and EMI/RFI shielding.
Aerospace and defence platforms are carrying more sensors, faster processors, wider-band RF front ends, software-defined functions, and higher-density power conversion. Those changes compress more electrical functions into smaller enclosures while increasing the penalty for interconnect weakness. A connector that once carried a narrow signal role may now need to handle bandwidth, current, shielding, vibration, and thermal rise in a single interface.
High-integration RF platforms show the same pressure at system level. Hardware such as Direct RF FPGA technology for wideband systems pulls conversion, processing, and RF functions closer together, while compact field equipment such as short-range battlefield radar systems demands rugged packaging around sensing, processing, power, and display electronics. The interconnect layer has to carry those gains across boards, modules, and enclosures without becoming the limiting component.
Hybrid connectors can also reduce sourcing and qualification burden. Dense systems have often required separate connectors for power, high-speed data, and RF, each with its own footprint, cable route, documentation, mating hardware, and approval work. A configurable platform can cut board congestion and simplify the bill of materials, provided the mixed-interface design meets the required electrical and mechanical performance.
Thermal management remains a critical constraint. Delivering 25A through a compact connector bay creates value only when the surrounding assembly can dissipate heat and retain contact reliability across the duty cycle. The 30°C temperature-rise baseline and de-rating data will be important for avionics bays, satellites, radar enclosures, and combat-vehicle systems where cooling options are limited and service conditions are severe.
The shift also reflects a broader manufacturing reality in defence electronics. Production output depends on connectors, test systems, calibration, approved suppliers, lifecycle data, and configuration control as much as headline processors or sensors. That same production discipline is evident in Leonardo UK’s extended test support arrangement, where equipment readiness and test continuity are treated as core manufacturing requirements.
Molex’s high-power SInergy expansion adds a practical tool for designs where SWaP pressures are rising and separate interconnects are becoming harder to route, qualify, and maintain. The value of the platform will be measured less by one rating in isolation than by how well signal integrity, RF performance, power delivery, thermal behaviour, and ruggedisation hold together inside real aerospace and defence assemblies.
