Sensors with boosted range and resolution to be tested on Navy P-3C Orion aircraft
NewsSeptember 14, 2020
CHARLOTTE, N.C. Collins Aerospace Systems (a unit of Raytheon Technologies) has won a 30-month, $19.9 million contract with the U.S. Navy’s Office of Naval Research (ONR) to conduct a maritime experiment of the company’s MS-177A long-range multispectral imaging sensor on a Navy flight-test P-3C Orion aircraft.
Under the terms of the contract, Collins Aerospace will make the MS-177A sensor and supporting flight-test hardware from its existing USAF production line and install it on the P-3C aircraft, with the next phase to be experimental flights in a maritime threat environment. The experiment is aimed at demonstrating the MS-177A’s ability to expand the Navy’s maritime ISR [intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance] capabilities in the Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW), Anti-Surface Warfare (ASuW) and Mine Warfare (MIW) mission domains using a mature USAF sensor system.
Kevin Raftery, vice president and general manager, ISR and Space Solutions, for Collins Aerospace, said of the MS-177A test: "When used in conjunction with other spectrum sensors, our proven MS-177 family of systems can greatly increase the probability of detection for threats, while operating in both permissive and contested environments."
