Lockheed Martin [LMT] May 5 said it received an $80.6 million production contract for the Modernized Target Acquisition Designation Sight/Pilot Night Vision Sensor (MTADS/PNVS) for the AH-64 Apache helicopter for the U.S. Army and the Indonesian Army.
The Lot 9 contract includes production of eight targeting and pilotage systems and spares for the U.S. Army and nine systems for the Indonesian Army.
Photo: Lockheed Martin
The program is “going strong,” said Matt Hoffman, M-TADS/PNVS program director at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control, during the Army Aviation Association of America’s Mission Solutions Summit in Nashville, Tenn.
Indonesia is the 13th international customer to purchase the M-TADS/PNVS system, The contract extends production in Orlando and Ocala, Fla., through July 2016.
The program, with the newest sensor almost ready to be added, the Modernized Day Sensor Assembly (M-DSA), adds color to the cockpit and extends the sensor’s range.
The Apache’s modernized sensors combat obsolescence and improve performance, Hoffman said. At the same time, efforts are driving costs down.
Additionally, in March, Lockheed Martin received a $14 million contract to design, integrate and qualify a High Reliability Turret for the MTADS/PNVS, which will aid in improving target track performance and minimize aircraft vibration effects. The Army could potentially save more than $500 million in operating and supporting the system.
“This production lot directly supports the AH-64E production line,” said Lt. Col. Steven Van Riper, Army Apache Sensors Product Manager. “Being able to ‘bundle’ our procurement with one of our Foreign Military Sales partners increases our buying power.”
Van Riper also said an important element of MTADS/PNVS is Performance Based Logistics, which helps Apache crews utilize the sensor system to its full potential.
Col. Jeff Hager, Army Apache project manager, said with Apache slated to remain in service through 2045 and beyond, equipment has to keep moving forward to keep the multi-mission helicopter viable and very capable.
“The M-TADS/PNVS system is helping save lives of our U.S. and allied troops by giving Apache pilots the ability to engage targets accurately, and by improving situational awareness,” Hoffman said.
The First Unit Equipped with MTADS/PVNS was in 2005, and the system provides Apache pilots with long-range, precision engagement and piloting capabilities for safe flight during day, night and adverse weather missions. Lockheed Martin has delivered more than 1,200 M-TADS/PNVS systems and spares to the U.S. Army and international customers, Hoffman said.
Driving costs down, the modular sensor design offers two-level maintenance, which means it can be repaired at the flight line, improving sustainability and maintainability. The supply availability rate is more than 96 percent, Lockheed Martin officials said.
The Modernized Day Sensor Assembly (M-DSA) is the remaining part of the system to be modernized. It extends the range picture and brings color imagery into the cockpit. The new sensor replaces 30-year-old technology, Hoffman said. It adds high visibility and high resolution. The system also now has a new gimbaled laser pointer marker.
It’s a “quantum leap” in technology, he said.
Fred Swisher, M-DSA Program Manager for Lockheed Martin, said the MTADS/PNVS now has three fields of view: medium, narrow and ultra-narrow. The magnification capability allows the ability to identify targets farther away.
Swisher said, Apache aircrew can zoom in on a target to quickly identify it, for example, if ground troops want a red vehicle followed. The color camera can find the vehicle, and the various fields of view help the aircrew follow it.
Van Riper said the M-DSA is about two-thirds of the way through the qualification test program, and yesterday the test aircraft departed for Yuma Proving Ground, Ariz. The final portion of the testing will include live-fire and other activities that couldn’t be done at Redstone Arsenal, Ala.
“We are not overdramatizing (the technology leap of) moving from an analog to a digital system,” Van Riper said. “It really gives our warfighters, our combat aircrews, a level of situational awareness in Apache they have not had in the past.”