Montreal-based Esterline CMC Electronics’ (CMC) has been awarded a contract for the avionics upgrade of the Royal Canadian Air Force fleet of five Airbus CC-150 (A310) Polaris aircraft.
CMC will upgrade the legacy avionics equipment with its latest generation CMA-9000 Flight Management Systems with vertical navigation functionality and high-performance Global Positioning System Wide Area Augmentation System sensors. The upgrade will improve the fleet’s ability to operate in polar regions via software functionality in the CMA-9000 FMS. The polar capability will allow tanker refueling operations throughout Canada’s North.
Under the contract, Future Air Navigation (FANS-1) functionality, which includes Airline Operational Communication and Controller-Pilot Datalink Communications functions via the CMA-9000 FMS, will be added to the five aircraft.
CMC will perform software development, system engineering design, certification package development, installation kit production and project management. CMC will obtain three Supplemental Type Certifications (STCs) for FMS/GPS, polar navigation and FANS-1 upgrades, respectively. Flight testing is currently in progress, with entry into service planned for 2013.
This is the first certification of an upgraded flight management system on the Airbus A310-300 aircraft. Once certified, the upgrade can be offered to other Airbus A310 and A300 aircraft flying globally. The DND FMS configuration shares a common core with the Esterline CMC Electronics’ FMS that has been certified for the Sukhoi SuperJet 100.