Ian Sheppard/LONDON
Despite delaying certification of its ground collision avoidance system (GCAS) until September, Dassault Electronique is still confident that the system will head off AlliedSignal's market domination with the enhanced ground proximity warning system (EGPWS).
The French company, now allied to Thomson-CSF, is flying the GCAS on a Dassault Falcon 2000 and had hoped to receive European certification this month. The delay has been caused by the company rather than the programme, however, says Olivier Hue, director of civil programmes.
Dassault is also working with Aerospatiale on the display systems which it expects to incorporate by the end of this year. The company says that it is "in discussions" with Airbus to fit a unit to one of its aircraft for possible certification in early 1999.
Despite Airbus' decision to select EGPWS as standard on new aircraft from 1999, Dassault says that the consortium told it that "-it is best for the customer to have a competitor for the AlliedSignal box". Dassault says that Airbus "decided to move along" nevertheless.
While the company says that airlines have shown "considerable interest" in the GCAS, none has made a firm commitment, although it hopes a joint marketing agreement with Sextant Avionique to include GCAS in a Sextant avionics suite will be the key to its future, particularly on Airbus aircraft.
Source: Flight International
