Aircraft designers at Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL) in Bangalore, India, needed flight data recorders for civil and military helicopters. They found their solution from avionics supplier L3 Aviation Products in Grand Rapids, Mich.
Hindustan Aeronautics is choosing the FA2300 Modular Airborne Data Recorder/Acquisition System (MADRAS) for the HAL Advanced Light Helicopter and Light Combat Helicopter (LCH) production programs. The companies made the announcement in July at the Farnborough International Airshow in Farnborough, England.
The FA2300 MADRAS is a line-replaceable unit (LRU) produced in Bengaluru, India, that provides high-speed recording of flight data and audio that are crucial for post-flight analysis and accident investigation.
MADRAS records data as quickly as 256 words-per-second for a minimum of 25 hours and has the capability to record four channels of high-quality audio for as long as two hours.
The recorder’s high reliability in the field and single-LRU design result in lower costs over the life of the system, L3 Aviation Products officials say.
L3 provides services and support on the MADRAS system at its facility in Bengaluru, India, which was approved in early 2018 as a CAR 145 repair station serving civil aviation and other non-military customers.
MADRAS is custom configured for data acquisition as a data recorder for helicopters, business aircraft, unique-mission, and military aircraft. It offers 20,000 hours mean time between failures; has a range of analog, digital, and discrete inputs; outputs to ARINC 747 for connection to a quick access recorder (QAR); offers military options; has available control units, microphones, accelerometers, and installation accessories; and offers common ground support equipment with FA2100 cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder.
The Hindustan Aeronautics Light Combat Helicopter is a multirole combat helicopter ordered for the Indian Air Force and the Indian Army. The aircraft is designed to operate at high altitudes. Full-rate production of this aircraft began in 2016.
The LCH has a glass cockpit with integrated avionics and display system and an onboard target acquisition and designation (TADS) system. The pilot wears a helmet mounted sight as his principal instrument for targeting and triggering the helicopter’s weapons.
The combat helicopter has an electronic warfare (EW) suite from the South African division of Saab Group with a radar warning receiver, laser warning receiver, and a missile approach warning system.
The LCH has an integrated data link to participate in network-centric operations. Its onboard sensor suite, developed by HAL in cooperation with Israel has a CCD camera, a forward looking infrared (FLIR) imaging sensor, laser rangefinder, and a laser designator. The helicopter has an M621 cannon in a Nexter-built THL 20 turret and integrated into the helmet-mounted sight.
The helicopter can carry four 70-millimeter anti-tank guided missiles and MBDA Mistral 2 anti-air missile. Rockets also are available for attacking ground targets. For more information contact L3 Aviation Products online at www.l3aviationproducts.com, or Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. at https://hal-india.co.in.
