News clips from Farnborough

The UK and the USA have signed a statement of intent to enhance co-operation on military rotorcraft technologies, develop bi-lateral relationships and closer co-operation between MoD research activities at DERA and the US Army Aviation and Missile Command research programmes. This high level accord will provide strategic guidance to the rotorcraft research programmes as well as developing bi-lateral support to the in-service fleets of both Apache and Chinook.

Aircontactgruppen AS of Norway has signed a Letter of Intent with Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation for six new S-92 helicopters. The aircraft, to be delivered between 2004 and 2007, would be offered for operating lease. S-92 launch customer Cougar Helicopter, an offshore oil operator based in eastern Canada, earlier this year signed a deposit agreement for up to five of the aircraft with deliveries starting in 2002. Two civil operators have also signed agreements that will lead to the placement of S-92 aircraft. They are Helijet of Vancouver, British Columbia and Copter Action of Finland.

Flight Visions has been awarded a contract by Pilatus Aircraft Ltd. to supply 10 HUD systems using its Sparrow Hawk Head-Up-Display (HUD) and FV-2000E Symbol Generator for the PC-9 and PC-7 MKII Turbo Prop Trainers. The aircraft will be used for advanced flight and navigation training. An aircraft video system consisting of a HUD camera, video monitor and video recorder will also be included in the HUD system and will be used in the rear cockpit.

Hurel-Dubois has been selected to produce belly fairings for Airbus Industrie's A318 airliner. Development work on the A318 structure has been launched at Hurel-Dubois's Meudon facility near Paris, France, and deliveries for the new 107-seat Airbus are to begin in June 2001. The fairing assembly houses system hardware, and it smoothes the airflow under the lower center fuselage. Each fairing unit is sized at 5.8 x 4.4 x 1.9 meters, and is built from composite panels and metallic beams -keeping the total weight to only 135 kg. The belly fairing is a complex assembly composed of over 1,000 primary parts - most of which are subcontracted to Hurel-Dubois subsidiaries or their primary suppliers.

Pilkington Optronics has been awarded a contract over US$2 million to supply the US Air Force with laser eye protection spectacles for aircrew. The spectacles use polycarbonate lenses with a high transmission dielectric coating to provide protection against devices such as laser rangefinders, target designators and other laser devices. Because of the unique, high transmission coating the spectacles are suitable for day/night and all weather operations. It is this 24 hour capability that represents the major advance.

LiteyeMicroDisplaySystems has introduced its Liteye 300 microdisplay system, the most advanced 640 x 480 VGA and Video monocular microdisplay system currently available, according to Kenneth Geyer, executive Vice President of Development of Liteye MicroDisplay. The Liteye 300 microdisplay system introduced to Europe at Farnborough incorporates revolutionary, proprietary optical technology that increases the field-of-view to 47 degrees diagonal and reduces overall weight to under 1.5 ounces. The amber-greyscale display, also available with a green filter, can withstand a range of temperature from -40degrees C to +80 degrees C, which addresses many critical applications that require other displays to be actively heated and cooled, increasing power consumption, weight, cost and failure in the field.

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