Elbit to provide spare circuit cards for Apache helicopter helmet-mounted targeting system
WARREN, Mich., 6 March 2014. U.S. military aviation experts needed spare electronic circuit cards for the Integrated Helmet and Display Sighting System (IHADSS) of the U.S. Army Boeing AH-64 Apache attack helicopter. They found their solution from Elbit Systems of America LLC in Fort Worth, Texas.
Officials of the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) detachment in Warren, Mich., announced plans this week to award a contract to Elbit worth about $685,000 for 68 embedded computing circuit cards for the AH-64's Sight Electronic Unit (SEU), an electronics box in the helicopter's IHADSS.
The IHADSS provides a visually coupled interface between the AH-64 pilot and the helicopter. It has a helmet-mounted display monocular with a 40-by-30-degree field of view with symbology and video overlays.
Electro-optical sensors on the nose of the Apache helicopter are slaved IHADSS monocular on the pilot's helmet, which match the sensor's view with the pilot's head. It is an essential element of the Apache helicopter's look-and-shoot system, which enables the pilot to search for targets by moving his head, and engaging targets as he sees them.
The SEU and circuit cards are critical for the safe operation of the AH-640 helicopter during nighttime nap-of-the-Earth (NOE) flight, DLA officials point out.
The SEU controls the night sensor line of sight (LOS) by monitoring and reporting the pilot's head position, assuring that the night sensors correctly point where the pilot looks. SEU or circuit card malfunction during nighttime NOE flight could risk a helicopter crash.
The circuit card is proprietary to Elbit, and no other suitable sources for the part are available, DLA officials say. There are no other applications, military or commercial for the part.
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Elbit acquired the Apache IHADSS product line, as well as technical and data rights, in about 2000, and has the facilities, personnel, and technology established to manufacture the parts, DLA officials say. No other contractors are being qualified to provide these parts.
For more information contact Elbit Systems of America online at www.elbitsystems-us.com, or the DLA Warren detachment at www.landandmaritime.dla.mil/offices/DLAWarren.
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.
