Honeywell to refurbish and upgrade Navy shipboard precision-approach landing systems
PATUXENT RIVER NAS, Md., 8 Oct. 2013. Shipboard electronics experts at the Honeywell Inc. Aerospace sector in Clearwater, Fla., are preparing to upgrade precision landing systems aboard U.S. Navy aircraft carriers and amphibious assault ships.
Officials of the Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) at Patuxent River Naval Air Station, Md., have announced their intention to award a five-year contract to Honeywell Aerospace to upgrade and improve Navy Precision Approach Landing Systems (PALS) on carriers and big-deck amphibs.
The value of the contract has yet to be negotiated. The contract -- a basic ordering agreement (BOA) is for services and materials to fabricate, modify, repair, replace, upgrade, and improve PALS components, assemblies, and associated hardware.
PALS provides precision landing information to air traffic controllers and pilots during final approach while landing aircraft aboard aircraft carriers and amphibious assault ships.
The work is to return the system to a level of serviceability comparable to a new system, and will include previously produced and delivered navigation and communication systems and equipment, to include fault isolation, assembly, disassembly, and refurbishment of parts, components, assemblies, and material for the PALS navigation and communication systems.
Honeywell is the original manufacturer of the navigation, communication, and guidance equipment, and the company is the only qualified provider of the necessary work, Navy officials say.
JPALS is an all-weather landing system based on real-time differential correction of the GPS signal, augmented with a local area correction message, and transmitted to the user via secure data links.
The onboard receiver compares the current GPS-derived position with the local correction signal to deliver a three-dimensional position that is accurate enough for all-weather approaches via an instrument landing system (ILS)-style display.
For more information contact Honeywell Aerospace online at http://aerospace.honeywell.com, or Naval Air Systems Command at www.navair.navy.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.
