Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), the nation’s largest aerospace and defense company, said it has developed a new Collision Warning System to increase military flight safety by warning pilots of potential crashes with commercial and civilian aircraft.
Increasing congestion in the air poses a growing challenge to flight safety, especially for military operations that occur near, or within, civilian airspace.
Extending IAI’s existing air combat maneuvering instruments, the CWS system can monitor nonmilitary platforms and warn of the proximity and risk of collision with commercial aircraft.
The CWS creates an aerial picture and plots existing and projected flight paths of all aircraft flying in the area. This enables the system to identify potential collisions and to warn the pilot in advance of such events. Flight data like the characteristics of the fighter jet and its maneuverability are taken into account and warnings are generated only when a clear and imminent danger exists, IAI said.
Danger is signaled to the combat pilot in three ways — via a voice warning, a graphical indication on a tablet panel and symbols on the existing cockpit displays.
The new system can be embedded in existing systems or as a standalone pod, IAI said, and is designed for 4th- and 5th-generation fighter jets, training aircraft, military helicopters and remotely piloted aircraft.
“The growing congestion of airspace and lack of integration between military and civil airspaces requires new, independent solutions to prevent collisions.
Such systems will improve flight safety without compromising operational freedom,” said Jacob Galifat, general manager of the IAI/MALAM Division.
“The CWS we are introducing today combines the independence, operational freedom, ease of integration and affordability which are so important for the military operator, enabling military pilots to fly safely without risk to civilian or military aircraft nearby, in both training and operational flights.”
The new system was developed by IAI’s MALAM Division, its engineering arm, and will put the technology on display at the I/ITSEC exhibition in Orlando, Florida, November 28-December 2, 2016.
