Military Embedded Systems

UH-60V Black Hawk avionics display upgraded to digital and completes CDR

News

February 19, 2016

Mariana Iriarte

Technology Editor

Military Embedded Systems

UH-60V Black Hawk avionics display upgraded to digital and completes CDR

WOODLAND HILLS, Calif. The U.S. Army Prototype Integration Facility, Redstone Defense Systems, - the prime contractor - and Northrop Grumman have completed the Critical Design Review (CDR) of the UH-60V Black Hawk program.

Northrop Grumman provided a mission equipment package for a digital cockpit upgrade of the U.S. Army's UH-60L Black Hawk helicopters under a 2014 contract. The same scalable cockpit design will replace older analog gauges with digital electronic instrument displays in the UH-60V Black Hawk.

The Black Hawk is ready for transition to the fabrication and integration phase, officials say. Key elements that were assessed during the CDR include the open, scalable design using model-based engineering and a partitioned software architecture; the technical data package with government purpose rights; navigation system performance; and portability of software applications.

The UH-60V Black Hawk digital cockpit is aligned with the Future Airborne Capability Environment (FACE) standard as well as meets the standards for safety-critical software development and is designed to comply with the Federal Aviation Administration and European Aviation Safety Agency's Global Air Traffic Management requirements.

The first flight of the UH-60V aircraft is expected in January 2017.

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