director of the Airborne Public Safety Association (APSA). “The process of receiving calls in dispatch and acting on them quickly using moving map displays has become seamless. Our aerial response times have improved as a result, which is good for us and the people we serve on the ground.”
The integration of all these functions has even opened up new tactical options for airborne LE crews. “For instance, the helicopter’s spotlight can be trained on one part of the ground to attract the attention of the criminals being tracked,” said John Harris, MD Helicopters’ public safety sales director. “Meanwhile, the EO/IR camera can be looking in a different direction to spot them and direct ground-based law enforcement to their location.”
There’s a new addition available for this integrated arsenal, namely IMSAR’s affordable synthetic radar system.
The
smallest (the IMSAR NSP-3) weighs just 7 pounds. Housed in a long, thin enclosed pod that can be externally mounted, the IMSAR synthetic aperture radar system adds crystal-clear radar images to the cockpit’s viewing screens at all hours of the day/night and in all weather conditions.
That’s not all. “Nowadays the integration of all the aircraft mission systems in an airborne computer (called a mission management system) is a must-have for modern police helicopters, dramatically increasing effectiveness and efficiency of the flight operations,” said a spokesperson with Leonardo Helicopters. “In fact, the advanced integration of all the equipment — EO/IR, searchlight, recorder, and downlink — in the mission management system provides the tactical flight officer (TFO) with an enhanced operational picture. This can reduce the flight time dedicated to searching and locating the target while optimizing the related costs.”
Looking ahead, the LE helicopter cockpit of tomorrow may be computer-controlled by an autonomous flight system, freeing the human crew to focus on the most pressing tasks.
“Our MATRIX™ Technology program is developing systems intelligence that will give operators the ability to fly their large rotorcraft reliably as autonomous or optionally piloted aircraft,” a Sikorsky company spokesperson said. “The system allows for the operators to determine whether to crew the aircraft with zero, one or two pilots.”
70
May/June 2021
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84
