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September 21, 2004: Measurement Systems
Inc., a division of Ultra Electronics, was selected
by the U. S. Army's Technology Applications Contracting
Office to provide the U.S. Special Operations Command
with Multifunction Control Units (MFCU) for a variety
of military rotary aircraft. The $1.27 million contract
includes extensive qualification testing, first article
units and a total of 370 MFCU production units.
Each multifunction unit is a complex
package of integrated controls mounted into a hand grip
in a helicopter cockpit, providing pilots with remote
control capabilities over forward looking infrared radar,
sensors and digital mapping. The advanced visual capabilities
offered by these sensing devices enable pilots assigned
to U.S. Special Ops' 160th Special Operations Aviation
Regiment (SOAR) to track and quickly identify objects,
personnel and landscape qualities for improved mapping
and for safer and more efficient military operations.
The uniqueness of the control units from Ultra Electronics
Measurements Systems Inc. (Ultra MSI) comes from their
ability to incorporate a wide range of critical surveillance
functions into a single, easy to use control grip for
pilots. Military specifications require that the MFCUs
provide an ambidextrous grip utilizing a standard RS-429
interface, and are to be commonly designed for use in
the MH-47 Chinook, MH-60 Black Hawk and AH-Little Bird
helicopters. The controls being developed by Ultra MSI
will be incorporated into a cockpit joystick that includes
a variety of control switches.
The mission of the U.S. Special Ops is to train, deploy
and sustain Army Special Forces to successfully conduct
worldwide special operations. Its 160th Aviation Regiment
provides aviation support to these special forces. Its
most recent focus has been to plan and execute operations
in the conduct of the war on terrorism, and to that
end it seeks and assigns the best-qualified aviators
and support soldiers available in the Army. The unique
mission of the unit requires that all members be three
time volunteers, i.e. Army, Airborne, 160th SOAR (A),
and these special operations require advanced avionics
and aircraft controls that are completely reliable under
the toughest of battlefield conditions. The recent trend
in military instrumentation design has been to adopt,
where feasible, a commonality of avionics and controls
in a wide variety of aircraft and in certain ground
vehicles. This often requires a unique engineering design,
in this particular case one that enables a multitude
of visual aid and identification functions being packaged
into a single, easy to manipulate remote grip control.
The Army followed strict criteria for determining how
to select the best supplier of these critical avionics
controls. The final product was required to provide
specific engineering capabilities and comply with important
environmental standards. Ultra MSI had to meet rigid
specification criteria for MFCU performance, including
engineering, logistics, and supportability trade-offs
between performance, reliability, maintainability, producibility
and life cycle costs.
In addition, elements such as a supplier's credentials
and services were carefully reviewed, including current
and past supplier performance, the ability to deliver
products based on a stringent schedule, the additional
value that a supplier can offer the Army, and of course
the per unit cost of the hand controls. All were key
ingredients in helping Ultra MSI win the award.
"We're extremely proud to have been selected
by Special Ops to supply these important, state of the
art hand controls," stated Mark Lamoureaux, Vice
President, Sales and Marketing, Ultra MSI. "In
providing the U.S. Army with a combination of technology,
innovation, reliability and value, we're able to
offer our nation's military pilots the best controls
systems available."
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