ELECTRO
OPTICS
Raytheon to upgrade Marine Corps
CH-53E helicopter cockpit displays
BY John Keller
PATUXENT RIVER NAS, Md. — Avionics
designers at Raytheon Co. will produce 63 smart multifunction color
display (SMFCD) B-kits to upgrade the
avionics aboard U.S. Marine Corps
CH-53E heavy-lift helicopters under a
$15.1 million U.S. Navy order.
Officials of the Naval Air Systems
Command at Patuxent River Naval
Air Station, Md., are asking Raytheon
Intelligence, Information, and
Services in Indianapolis to produce
these cockpit display upgrade kits.
Marine Corps leaders are attempting
to reduce the number of lost aircraft
and personnel due to poor situational awareness.
CH-53E air crews need to be able
to process, filter, sort, and display
information from various sources
to enhance situational awareness.
The smart displays consolidate all
the helicopter’s survivability information, blue force tracking, and
some time-sensitive threat information onto one display. Marine Corps
CH-53 crews have all this information today, but must view it in different places in the cockpit.
The SMFCD has its own integrat-
ed processor, which enables pilots
to display and manipulate current
data streams cleanly using one col-
or display screen for each pilot. This
SMFCD enables the CH-53E air crew
to view forward-looking infrared
(FLIR) picture information with intu-
itive hover display, aircraft flight
instrument data, integrated mov-
ing map display, and real-time threat
display. This approach can eliminate
the need for a separate pen tablet
computer to display aircraft posi-
tion. The SMFCD can accommodate
future aircraft modifications, such
as Situational Awareness Data Link
(SADL), LARS V12, and Intelligence
Broadcast Receiver.
The CH-53E Super Stallion by
Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. in Stratford,
Conn., is a three-engine heavy-lift
helicopter used to transport Marine
Corps infantrymen and equipment
from landing ships offshore to invasion beaches, and for general-purpose, heavy-lift helicopter operations.
Raytheon engineers are modifying the company’s existing SMFCD
to meet the updated requirements,
integrate a prototype SMFCD system into a CH-53E helicopter, perform qualification and aircraft
flight testing, as well as build and
install prototype displays. On this
order, Raytheon will do the work
in Indianapolis, and should be finished by August 2020 Í
FOR MORE INFORMATION visit
Raytheon online at www.raytheon.com.
Optics and laser gun
sight for machine guns
introduced by B.E. Meyers
B.E. Meyers & Co. Inc. in Redmond,
Wash., is introducing the BOARS-
M2 — short for B.E. Meyers Optics
& Accessories Rail System — optics
and laser accessory rail gun sight
system for M2, M2A1, and M3 .50
caliber heavy machine guns. The
BOARS-M2 is a low-profile mount
that offers a quick-disconnect with
return-to-zero reattach. Key features for the BOARS-M2 include: a
quick detach optics and laser rail,
snag-free design, non-marring
installation, low-height over bore,
and oversized pass-through aperture for use with iron sights.
The BOARS-M2 is composed of
two parts: the lower base and a
quick-detach optics and accessory
rail. This allows for quick and effective changes between day and night
optics without any loss of zero. The
mount also simplifies cleaning and
maintenance. While legacy systems
require users to remove the optic
and mount — resulting in a complete loss of zero — the BOARS-M2
requires only the quick-detach of
the optics and accessory rail, which
preserves optic zero after reinstalling all components.
DARPA smart sensor
powered by the infrared
it is designed to detect
Researchers at Northeastern
University have developed a
next-generation smart sensor for
the Defense Advanced Research
Projects Agency (DARPA) that is
capable of identifying infrared
(IR) wavelengths — without having to have its own always-present
The smart multifunction color display (SMFCD)
consolidates all the CH-53E helicopter’s
survivability information, blue force tracking,
and some time-sensitive threat information
onto one display.
