OVERVIEW OF RELAY PANEL ASSEMBLIES Built around a large variety of Leach relay families, a wide range of power switching assemblies are flying on or are in development for the following programs: Examples: Dassault Rafale, Falcon, Super Etendard EADS Airbus, Eurofighter Eurocopter NH 90 Westland EH101, Super Lynx 300 Key Features and Concepts: In addition to the schematic and electrical characteristics where Leach’s experience can optimise the specified functions, the real added value is the knowledge that Leach provides the best component selection, mounting, wiring options and technologies available. These choices are governed by: Maintenance conditions, LRU at the assembly, sub-assembly or component level Environmental mechanical, thermal and climatic specifications Solutions used to satisfy maintenance conditions include: Relays plugged on sockets or directly on board Relays soldered on a multi layered flex-rigid PCB. Relays soldered on modular PCB’s plugged onto a main frame To accept mechanical stresses sometimes in excess of the relay specifications the following solutions have been adopted: Sub-assembly mounted onto the housing via shock mounts. Shock mounts provide long duration and ensures:    - Vibration attenuation    - PCB free-motion under shock PCBs fixed on metallic frames (interface with aircraft structure) Protection against severe climatic conditions is ensured by either a metallic cover over the whole assembly or by a waterproof design using compatible conductive gaskets with a metal cast housing. Filtering and lightning protection are used to hardened pyrotechnical circuits. Spare relays provide flexibility.