Widescreen Hdtv

L-3 Communications has announced that its Canadian Electronic Systems (L-3 ES) subsidiary has been awarded an $89.6 million production contract from Boeing Integrated Defense Systems of St. Louis, MO, to produce the cockpit display suite for the F/A-18 aircraft. The display suite is slated for installation on Canadian and Australian F/A-18A/B aircraft as part of Australia's Hornet Upgrade Program and Canada's F/A-18 Incremental Modernization Project.

The contract provides for the delivery of 647 displays through December 2008. Each display suite will consist of a combination of multifunction, repeater and situation displays embodying a digital moving map capability. The upgraded displays are full-color, high-resolution Active Matrix Liquid Crystal Displays (AMLCDs) that provide precise navigation/time reference, digital tactical imagery and enhanced graphics and video imagery, either individually or in combination.

The pre-production display suite successfully completed first flight and formal flight milestones earlier this year in a Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) F/A-18. Completion of the Australian fleet-wide incorporation of the modification is planned for December 2007, with completion of the Canadian program to follow.

"This contract represents the culmination of several years of effort between L-3 ES, the end-user community, Boeing and our industrial partners," said Richard Ackerman, vice president of contracts, marketing and projects at L-3 ES. "The new display suite will support improvements in aircraft sensors, mission computers and weapons systems, and will provide significantly reduced life cycle cost when compared to the existing displays."

COPYRIGHT 2005 Millin Publishing, Inc.
COPYRIGHT 2005 Gale Group

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