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Aviation History
1981
1981 - 0534.PDF
580 FLIGHT International, 28 February 1981 Honeywell delivers first production laser-gyro BOEING has received the world's first production laser-gyro inertial refer ence system (IRS) from Honeywell. Honeywell is supplying 400 laser- gyro IRSs for Boeing 757s and 767s, and Boeing holds options on a further 200. Honeywell is to deliver the first military laser-gyro to McDonnell Douglas for flight-testing in an AV- 8B in August. The Honeywell IBS is a strapdown system comprising three laser-gyros mounted at right angles to each other, along with three accelerometers. The gyros provide the aircraft's angular rate about the pitch, roll and yaw axes, while the accelerometers give linear data. The computer uses this data to perform navigational calcula tions like attitude, speed and heading, which it passes into the air data system. Laser-gyros are being developed by several companies—including Litton, Sperry and Crouzet/Sfena as well as Honeywell—to replace conventional mechanical gyros, which are expen sive and require careful maintenance. A laser-gyro compares the frequen cies of two laser beams travelling in opposite directions round a triangular path in a block of glass, thus giving the gyro's turn rate. Honeywell esti mates that laser-gyros offer twice the lifetime and 80 per cent lower main tenance costs compared with mechanical gyros, at half the unit cost. Hughes radar for Norway HUGHES is to supply its air defence radar (HADR) to Norway to supple ment the country's Nato air defence network. HADR is designed to Nato's European specification, giving long- range three-dimensional information to battle commanders. The system automatically detects, classifies and reports on targets, and its low side- lobes give good jam resistance. Hughes is making four HADRs for West Germany in a $36 million con tract. • Hughes has completed 100-5hr of flight-tests with the AN/APG-65 radar developed for F/A-18 Hornets of the US Navy and Marine Corps. Hughes is guaranteeing a mean time between failures of 106hr for production radars. .^**M , The Royal Thai Air Force has ordered two F-SE combat simulators from General Electric, for delivery in 1983. The simulators will comprise two likenesses of F-5E cockpits, fitted with the Compuscene computer-generated image visuals shown Bendix avionics for Britannia and China Airlines BRITANNIA AIRWAYS and China Airlines have chosen Bendix 700- series digital avionics for the Boeing 767s which they have on order. Britannia's choice includes RDR-4A colour weather radar, radio altimeter, transponder with discrete address beacon system (Dabs) capability, VOR, ILS, ADF and DME. China Airlines has specified all of the above, along with the Bendix VHF transceiver. FieldTech will provide service backup for Britannia's Bendix avionics from its Heathrow base, as well as being responsible for the British Airways Boeing 757 avionics ordered from Bendix recently (Flight, January 24). • Lufthansa has selected Bendix RDR-4A weather radars for its forth coming fleet of 25 Airbus A310s. The airline holds options on a further 25. Lucas' digital turboshaft LUCAS has won a two-year US Army contract for research into full- authority digital engine control for turboshafts. Bell and Avco Lycoming are also participating, and a computer simulation of a Bell 222 with an LTS 101 and Lucas SDS 300 controller will be used. Lucas aims to produce a full- authority control for later versions of the LTS 101. Pulses... Litton Aero Products has delivered its 1,000th LTN-211 VLF/Omega navigation system. Deliveries be gan in 1978, and continue at 50 a month. Ratal Electronics is splitting its MESL subsidiary into three com panies. Racal-MESL Radar will con tinue the company's radar pro ducts, which include the Clarabel shot-detection radar. Racal-MESL Microwave will make microwave integrated circuits, and Racal- MESL Securities will continue the company's security activity. Valtec is a new fibre-optics com pany formed by Philips and M/A- Com. Northrop has received a $6-8 mil lion follow-on contract for E-3A Sentry navigation and guidance systems. Northrop has already de livered 27 E-3A navigation systems, which use Northrop's Omega, Delco inertial platforms and a Ryan Doppler velocity sensor. Eurocoiitrol has been chosen to advise Greece on the modernisa tion of its civil air traffic control system. A new ATC centre is envis aged, with an automatic data pro cessing system. Cecsa has been awarded a Pta 450 million (£2-3 million) secondary radar contract by the Spanish Min istry of Civil Aviation. Seville Air port is to receive four secondary radars, and more are planned for other Spanish airports. DeVore has won Federal Aviation Administration sponsorship for a pilot evaluation of its pulse-light approach slope indicator (Plasi) at Oklahoma. Ultra Electronics (part of the Dowty Group) has delivered the first of its microprocessor-based flight-deck warning systems to BAe for the BAe 146. The system in cludes a central warning panel and an aural warning device. Ferranti has delivered a fourth Argus 700 computer worth £93,000 to BAE Dynamics at Bristol for military software (programming) research.
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