Coast Guard chooses weather radar from Rockwell Collins for future MH-65E utility helicopters
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa, 4 March 2014. U.S. Coast Guard aviation experts needed a weather radar system for the service's future MH-65E Dolphin helicopter. They found their solution from Rockwell Collins in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
Coast Guard officials are choosing Rockwell Collins to provide the company's RTA-4114 multiscan weather radar with enhanced ground and shoreline mapping, as well as new maritime surface search mode, as the MH-65E radar sensor system (RSS) for 102 MH-65E helicopter avionics systems. The MH-65E is to join the Coast Guard fleet in 2017.
The Rockwell Collins RTA-4114 will provide the Coast Guard's future MH-65E with a lightweight, flexible, and supportable radar, company officials say. The RTA-4114 automatically scans ahead of the helicopter and combines the returns through advanced digital processing and analysis algorithms to display precipitation rates and weather threats.
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The MH-65E Dolphin helicopter is to be the latest version of the MH-65, the Coast Guard's most ubiquitous helicopter, and will feature an all-glass cockpit with advanced navigation capabilities to meet emerging FAA requirements. The MH-65 is the Coast Guard's version of the French-built Airbus Helicopter (formerly Eurocopter) AS365 Dauphin.
The MH-65 helicopter is designed to operate in all-weather conditions except in icing conditions, as well as at night, and is the primary Coast Guard helicopter used aboard Coast Guard cutters during deployments.
The helicopter has a forward-looking infrared (FLIR) sensor, a heads-up display (HUD), and other avionics upgrades are being installed aboard the H-65 as part of the conversion-sustainment initiative to sustain the airframe for the foreseeable future.
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The Rockwell Collins RTA-4114 weather radar features automated tilt, clutter removal and gain management, as well as automatic compensation for many predictable atmospheric and climatic conditions.
Under the Coast Guard contract, Rockwell Collins will provide an enhanced RTA-4114 radar with a new maritime surface search mode and advanced ground clutter-rejection algorithms expanding the radar’s ground mapping capability for shoreline and over water use.
For more information contact Rockwell Collins online at www.rockwellcollins.com, Airbus Helicopters at www.airbushelicopters.com, or the U.S. Coast Guard at www.uscg.mil.
John Keller | Editor
John Keller is editor-in-chief of Military & Aerospace Electronics magazine, which provides extensive coverage and analysis of enabling electronic and optoelectronic technologies in military, space, and commercial aviation applications. A member of the Military & Aerospace Electronics staff since the magazine's founding in 1989, Mr. Keller took over as chief editor in 1995.
