Honeywell announced that it has been selected to provide research and development expertise for the US Air Force land-based Joint Precision Approach and Landing System (JPALS). Honeywell will help the Air Force develop concept and architecture solutions for precision approach and landing system technologies under a $5.2 M research and development contract.
Honeywell’s team will test key elements, perform software development studies and conduct program analysis for a land-based differential global positioning system (DGPS) aimed at achieving Category II and III approach performance levels. DGPS enables precision aircraft landing by enhancing the accuracy of GPS signals.
“Adverse weather and visibility conditions make aitcraft landings complex and often difficult,” said Scott Starrett, vice president, Military Aircraft, Honeywell Defense and Space. “Our research and development expertise will reinforce Air Force efforts to develop a system that allows military aircraft to land in adverse weather conditions using a common approach and landing system.”
Honeywell’s JPALS team, which includes Sierra Nevada and Boeing, was recently bolstered by the addition of QinetiQ, a leading aerospace and defense technology research company. The team received a $4.2 M contract in March to support the Navy’s sea-based JPALS program. The JPALS program will develop differential GPS-based systems that provide rapidly deployable, mobile, day-night, all weather precision approach and landing capability for military aircraft. It will replace various legacy approach and landing systems with a single system that will be used by all branches of the US military.
The system is also interoperable with Honeywell’s civil Ground Based Augmentation System (GBAS) currently slated for 2008 Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) category I approval. “We are working to develop and certify this innovative technology to help the FAA and Department of Defense ensure timely deployment of this valuable, life-saving technology,” said Starrett. “JPAL and GBAS are critical components of both the Joint Strike Fighter and CVN-21 aircraft carrier programs as well as new civil aircraft programs including the Boeing 787 and Airbus A-380.”