Vector Aerospace of Toronto will join Airbus Helicopters and Rockwell Collins in a joint effort to develop and market the Pro Line Fusion integrated avionics solution for Airbus rotorcraft.
The trio announced the agreement last week at the Paris Air Show.
In a statement, Troy Brunk, vice president and general manager of Airborne Solutions for Rockwell Collins, said the “Pro Line Fusion provides Airbus Helicopters with one of the most advanced avionics and the highest level of efficiency for the rotary wing cockpit. The enhanced situational awareness features provided will result in reduced pilot workload and greatly increase flight safety for operators.”
Airbus’ AS332 / 532 MK1 helicopters will be the first targets of the upgrade, likely in the summer of 2016.
“In our constant search for customer satisfaction, we have identified the need to offer modern but affordable glass cockpit retrofit solutions to our customers to allow them to extend the operational life of their helicopters,” explained Matthieu Louvot , senior vice president, Customer Services, for Airbus Helicopters, adding that the partnership “will allow us to answer this need in a competitive way.”
Declan O’Shea, president and CEO of Vector Aerospace, said the company will “bring the reactivity and flexibility needed to develop affordable upgrades. We are confident that this cooperative program will be a great success to the benefit of our customers.”
With advanced graphical interfaces and configurable multi-function display windows, one of the selling features of the Pro Line Fusion upgrade is its ability to help pilots keep their eyes forward during all phases of flight and in all flying conditions.
The avionics package includes mission-specific operational profiles such as offshore platform approaches, hover in place, and extended search and rescue patterns.
