The Israeli air force is to equip all of its fighters with an advanced tactical-awareness system. A request for proposals (RFP) had been expected before the end of August. All major Israeli avionic- system manufacturers will participate in the competition.
Details of the RFP are classified, but the Israeli air force has a requirement for a system which will allow each pilot to obtain a clear picture of his position in a certain area in relation to other friendly and enemy aircraft.
The equipment is also supposed to have the dual purpose of a collision-avoidance system.
The $7-9 million contract may be contested by Rada, Rafael, Israel Aircraft Industries , BVR , Tadiran and Elbit - some of which may team for the competition.
The Indian air force is to equip some of its fighter squadrons with the Israeli-developed EHUD rangeless air-combat debriefing system. The initial order is worth about $8 million.
Options for more systems and an upgrade of the basic units being purchased could make the contract worth nearly $70 million. The EHUD, developed by BVR, has already been purchased by the Singapore air force.
The EHUD is based on a differential global-positioning system. The current version is housed in the void section of an AIM-9 air-to-air missile training round, although the system is adaptable. Flight data are recorded on a solid-state, non-volatile memory. The data are stored on a removable storage unit.
The computing power of each system enables it to be used for warning against mid-air collisions. The fact that the system is using data from all the aircraft sensors and can distribute it to all other participating aircraft carrying the EHUD can turn it into a tactical- awareness system.
Source: Flight International