News

2019-03-03

Portuguese AF Chooses Collins Aerospace

The Portuguese Air Force has selected Collins Aerospace for its C-130H Hercules military transport aircraft modernisation effort. Serving as a contractor to OGMA – Industria Aeronautica de Portugal, Collins will provide its Flight2 aftermarket avionics solution, which delivers the cost-effective and low-risk CNS/ATM upgrade solution.

“The Portuguese Air Force uses C-130s for a broad range of missions, including personnel and cargo transport, and even firefighting,” said Dave Schreck, vice president, Military Avionics & Helicopters for Collins Aerospace. “Modernising to the Flight2 system provides their Air Force with the latest generation of avionics aimed at optimising their operations while making the most of their budget and minimizing aircraft downtime.”

Flight2 transforms a federated analogue system into a modern digital glass cockpit that provides commonality to commercial aircraft. Included in the avionics upgrade is a full glass cockpit with new primary flight displays, Required Navigation Performance/Area Navigation flight management system with high altitude release point, and computed air release point precision airdrop software.

As part of the upgrade, Collins will leverage its Flight2 Mobility Mission Application (MMA) architecture, which allows customers to select from a super set of off-the-shelf capabilities. Customers using the MMA architecture can tailor the system to meet specific mission requirements, comply with regional communications navigation surveillance/air traffic management mandates, or maximise capabilities for a given budget.

By upgrading to Flight2, the Portuguese Air Force’s C-130H will be in compliance with the most recent International Civil Aviation Organization standards, while also equipping it with a tactical advantage in military operations.

Flexible and Integrated

Almost all C-130 users want to customise their avionics solutions, but the customization process entails large, often unaffordable non-recurring costs. The Flight2 mission mobility application (MMA) system provides a cost-effective and flexible solution for C-130 customers with smaller fleets and budgets.

Flight2 MMA delivers a superset of functions and equipment within a single hardware and software integrated solution to meet the requirements of most C-130 users and C-130 models. With Flight2 MMA, a configurable software file enables civil and military options. All Flight2 MMA configurations meet CNS/ATM requirements and fundamental military needs (airdrop, search and rescue (SAR) patterns, tactical/remote landings, refuelling, etc.). The system is MIL-HDBK-516B military airworthiness certified, with all required analyses and artifacts processes available for reuse.

This suite of communications, navigation and surveillance equipment seamlessly integrates new-generation avionics with legacy sensors, radios, autopilot and aircraft systems. With its advanced displays and integrated military/civil flight management system, Flight2 delivers the most advanced capabilities available today. At the same time, it's the most cost-effective and lowest-risk CNS/ATM upgrade solution. The system is flying on over 900 fixed-wing aircraft, including the KC-135, KC-10, C-130 P-3, C-2A, E-2C and E-3.

Flight2’s integrated avionics suite gives military mission planners a no-compromise solution to meet both their tactical and civil operations requirements. At the heart of the system is a proven, open architecture that not only provides integration with current digital and legacy analogue instruments and systems, it also ensures seamless modernization to newly emerging technologies.

Because Flight2 continues provides functionality, reliability and value to military operators, the system ensures smooth civil airspace interoperability while meeting specialised mission demands. This works to save operators both time and money.

Seamless Modernisation

With Flight2, military aircraft operators have the widest variety of digital displays, avionics and control units available, from large-format liquid crystal displays (LCDs), to CNS/ATM communications, to the FMS. The open-system architecture of each Flight2 component gives flexibility to specify an avionics modernisation solution that best mission needs.

Flight2 gives the option of installing either 6-by-8-inch or 9-by-12-inch large-format LCDs. Proven in the most demanding commercial and military applications, these high-resolution primary flight displays (PFDs) and interactive multi-function displays (IMFDs) provide pilots with mission-critical information in familiar, easy-to-interpret formats.

With its all-digital CNS/ATM units, Flight2 gives flight crews the clearest, most accurate communications, ensuring compliance with global air traffic control.

The CDU-7000 control display unit is the processing home of the powerful, integrated Flight Management System (FMS). The FMS is driven by a proven complement of autonomous civil and military navigation sensors. This combination enables continuous precision navigation around the world, including an autonomous self-contained approach capability equivalent to a Category I ILS.

In addition, the FMS automatically computes a variety of mission related calculations, including search and rescue patterns and holding procedures for use in both civil and military airspace. The CDU-7000 also drastically reduces workload through automation. The NVG-compatible CDU serves as the primary mode control and status reporting interface with all major avionics subsystems, eliminating the need for inefficient remote control mode and tuning panels.

Legacy avionics can develop CNS/ATM performance issues that could compromise crew safety and mission success. The next-generation Flight2 components are highly reliable, fully ruggedised and mission proven around the world. Each Flight2 unit features a solid-state, all-digital architecture, which greatly reduces vibration- and shock-induced failures. Reliability and maintainability are further enhanced by state-of-the-art fault tolerance monitoring and full-time diagnostics to alert flight crews of any problems.

Configurable Solutions

The evolutionary Flight2 system’s configurable architecture helps to maximise the budget while minimising aircraft downtime. Flight2 seamlessly integrates new-generation displays and avionics with the aircraft’s legacy analogue sensors, radios, autopilots and other systems. This integration brings a host of new capabilities to popular aircraft types, including the C-130, P-3, KC-135, KC-10, C-2A, E-3 and others. Flight2 is based on Rockwell Collins’ Pro Line 21 integrated avionics system – one of the most popular commercial retrofit avionics solution – giving more installation options than any other system. Configurable solutions can begin with simple modernisation of the aircraft’s Communications, Navigation and Surveillance (CNS) systems and end with the creation of the ultimate tactical avionics suite, including satellite communications, large-format digital flight displays, HUD/EVS, tactical situational awareness to Link 16, Flight2 delivers incredible capabilities today while ensuring a path to future technologies and capabilities.

The Flight2 system delivers the most advanced capabilities available today, but with a foundation based on proven, scalable, all-digital architecture. With it, the customer can easily integrate emerging technologies and capabilities into their aircraft. Flight2 is created to address obsolescence issues while providing complete CNS/Air Traffic Management (ATM) capabilities.

Collins Aerospace has delivered over 2,900 Flight2 solutions for military fixed wing and rotary wing aircraft. Of the 900 fixed wing Flight2 solutions, Collins has delivered or is on contract for 190 C-130s upgrades in 15 different countries. More C-130 upgrades have been fitted with avionics from Collins than from any other single provider in the world.

Comments () Views (1785 ) Print

Send To Friend