- Company to upgrade 14 aircraft
- Flight2™ most widely used C-130 modernization solution
Toulouse, France. 12 September 2017. One year after the French Defense Procurement Agency (Direction Générale de l’Armement) selected Rockwell Collins to modernize 14 French Air Force C-130H Hercules military transport aircraft, the company has completed its first Flight2™ avionics system integration for the program in Toulouse.
The work took place in the company’s fully operational system integration laboratory which allows French Air Force C-130 crews to evaluate the integrated system on real hardware in a simulated cockpit environment. Engineers can test or modify new capabilities with existing frameworks before integrating it in a live environment.
“This milestone is the next step in supplying tested modification kits directly to fielded French Air Force C-130H aircraft,” said Philippe Bardet, managing director, Rockwell Collins for France. “Upgrading to the Flight2™ system provides the French Air Force with the latest generation of avionics that provide a tactical advantage in military operations and external conditions, while optimizing budget and minimizing aircraft downtime.”
Flight2™ provides a next-generation communications navigation surveillance/air traffic management solution that enables the C-130H to comply with the most recent International Civil Aviation Organization standards. More C-130 upgrades have been fitted with Rockwell Collins avionics than any other single provider in the world.
Rockwell Collins will also install its dual Head-up Guidance System complete with infrared camera for asset detection and EVS multispectral enhanced vision system to improve pilot situational awareness on the French Air Force C-130H. Together these solutions will further enhance the aircraft operational capabilities and to support specific mission requirements.
Through the industrial partnership established by Rockwell Collins, Sabena Technics and Lockheed Martin, this program will allow France to develop new capabilities on the C-130H. The combined expertise will provide long-term, local, reliable support to the French Air Force C-130H fleet.
