Lockheed Martin [LMT] and H.N. Burns Engineering agreed to collaborate on technology that they say will enhance military helicopter pilots’ ability to fly in low visibility conditions caused by weather, dust or other obstructions.
By combining Burns’ high-resolution imaging laser radar with Lockheed Martin’s experience in pilotage and sensor systems, the team said in a statement it will work toward developing affordable solutions that improve pilots’ spatial orientation and situational awareness.
H.N Burns Engineering President Buck Burns said in a statement the company’s laser radar technology helps pilots fly, land and take off in degraded visual environments (DVE), with emphasis on brownout, cable warning and obstacle avoidance.
Lockheed Martin Advanced Rotary Wing Program Manager Alex Shepherd said Monday via a spokeswoman that low visibility can be defined as rain, fog, dust, snow and nighttime conditions and that the Army and U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) previously described low visibility to include en route, landing and takeoff scenarios.
Shepherd said brownout is a condition experienced when a helicopter attempts to land in a desert environment and the sand or soil is churned up into a cloud, enveloping the platform and resulting in a loss of visibility and spatial orientation. Cable warning, Shepherd said, is the ability to detect wire or cable obstacles that are in the helicopter’s low altitude flight line. Shepherd said obstacle avoidance can include terrain and cultural features (man-made items) that the pilot must avoid to ensure low-altitude safe flight, takeoff and landing.
The team is currently exploring multiple technologies with a focus on affordability, Shepherd said, to allow for implementation on multiple platforms that need advanced sensor solutions. Shepherd didn’t say when the company expected to have this DVE solution available for the market, but said Lockheed Martin, in collaboration with Burns Engineering, will explore how it can move the team’s DVE solutions into production and adapt them so they can easily integrate onto existing helicopter platforms.