Aviation International News reports that “Japan Aerospace (JAC) and Kawasaki Heavy Industries (KHI) have signed an agreement with Dart Aerospace to design and certify a fire attack system for the new five-blade Airbus Helicopters H145.” KHI “is partnering with JAC to help test, certify, and install the tank with Dart on the H145.”
Full Story (Aviation International News)
Tag: rotocraft
Airbus Increases H160 Production
Aviation International News reports that the Airbus Helicopters H160 is to enter serial-production seven years “after its unveiling.” Airbus Helicopters saw “firm orders for 52 H160s last year and handed over the first one to Japan’s All Nippon Helicopter in December.” The H160 “was headed to the U.S. ahead of its long-awaited certification by the FAA and route proving flights with U.S. launch customer PHI.”
Full Story (Aviation International News)
Sikorsky Innovations Director Sees Matrix as a Game-Changer for High-Risk Civil Missions
Aviation International News reports that Sikorsky Innovations Director Igor Cherepinsky “sees Matrix as a game-changer for high-risk civil missions, including night-time aerial firefighting and over-water search and rescue (SAR).” Sikorsky is currently “working with the FAA to certify the system, which uses a plethora of onboard sensors, lidar, and cameras mated to proprietary hardware and software. The system comes with a kit that converts virtually any aircraft to varying degrees of add-on fly-by-wire control that Cherepinsky likens to ‘lane assist’ on cars.” Key to the system “‘doing well’ [are] Sikorsky’s proprietary algorithms, which differentiate it from the guidance systems aboard existing drones that Cherepinsky characterizes as ‘sophisticated autopilots following waypoints.’” Cherepinsky said that “Matrix can be flown both line-of-sight and beyond-line-of-sight, and an aircraft equipped with it can have its mission changed from an operator ‘in the cockpit, backseat, Oklahoma, or the moon.’”
Full Story (Aviation International News)