Flight Visions has teamed with French-owned Pilkington Optronics to offer a head-up display (HUD) for the US Air Force's forthcoming C-130 avionics modernisation programme. The US low-cost HUD manufacturer has held talks with the three likely bidders for the contract to upgrade the USAF's Hercules fleet - Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Raytheon.
Sales director David Klinchuch says a request for proposals to upgrade the C-130s is expected in September, leading to a contract award next year. Flight Visions, based in Sugar Grove, Illinois, is offering the potential prime contractors an overhead-mounted derivative of its Night Hawk HUD, as well as flat panel multifunction displays. Pilkington will supply the optical combiner.
The Night Hawk has been selected by Lockheed Martin for its Joint Strike Fighter concept demonstrators. It is a wide field-of-view development of the Sparrow Hawk HUD being retrofitted to US Navy Grumman F-14s. Flight Dynamics and Marconi Avionics are the probable competitors.
Flight Visions is to incorporate Israeli company BVR's embedded air combat training system in its FV-3000 mission computer.
Source: Flight International
