Business & GA, Military

Rockwell Collins Develops Brownout Landing System

By Tish Drake | April 8, 2008
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Rockwell Collins, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and Optical Air Data Systems (OADS), Manassas, Va., introduced a system designed to help helicopters land in brownout conditions. The system, called LandSafe, uses fiber optic lasers to "sense through" particulate matter such as dust, snow, rain, smoke or fog while providing altitude, groundspeed and airspeed information to the flight crew, the companies said. Rockwell Collins said the system is being evaluated by the U.S. Marine Corps for the CH-53E helicopter for possible inclusion in Rockwell Collins’ Common Avionics Architecture System upgrade. "For the first time, rotary winged aircraft will have the ability to land and take off at unprepared landing sites anywhere in the world, providing operational commanders with a true expeditionary capability," said Optical Air Data Systems President Phil Rogers.

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