FLIR Multi-Sensor System For ARH Ready For Limited User Test

FLIR Systems' [FLIR] BRITE Star II stabilized multi-sensor system for the Army's Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter (ARH) Target Acquisition Sensor Suite is ready for the Limited User Test, a company official said.

The multi-patented BRITE Star II system incorporates high-resolution infrared imaging sensor, low-light color sensor, a diode-pumped laser designator/rangefinder and an internal measurement unit (IMU) for precise target location.

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Four weeks of day and night testing at Yuma Proving Ground, Ariz., where the Army "just shot the heck out of this laser," piling up 300 flight hours, are completed, Bill Sundermeier, president of Government Systems, told Defense Daily in a recent interview. FLIR and ARH teammates Bell Helicopter Textron [TXT] and Rockwell Collins [COL] focused on testing and validating key performance capabilities of the Target Acquisition Sensor in preparation for the Limited User Test scheduled for later this spring.

"We had no failures," he said, adding that the Marine Corps has evaluated BRITE Star II and both the Army and Marine Corps consider they have ever seen so much energy on the spot.

The testing resolved "all significant areas" noted in the 13 improvement areas identified at the critical design review in November/December 2006, the company said.

The laser spot on the target is very intense and won't divert at Hellfire laser-guided weapons ranges. The objective always is to try and get at least 90 percent of the energy of the laser on the target for 95 percent of the time you're trying to laze, he said.

"It's really the first diode-pumped laser designator," he said. Diodes take less power to drive them and throw off less heat, and the lifecycle is much greater, "100 times greater than an incandescent lamp that you're flashing," as is the case in most other designators.

This coherence on target is something FLIR has been working on for a number of years using its own funds. The company looked to the future and saw that flash lamp designators needed to cool down between firings and could not cover 360 degrees. Diode pumped lasers eliminate those issues.

Bell continues to work with the system in Yuma, while FLIR has rented the range and is testing and refining other BRITE Star II systems there, Sundermeier said.

Meanwhile, there are platform problems. Recently, the Army issued a show cause order to ARH producer, Bell, giving the company 30 days to show cause why the program should not be cancelled after schedule delays and cost increases (Defense Daily, March 22).

Last week, the Army said it wanted to work out issues with Bell, saying problems were procedural, not technical (Defense Daily, March 26).

FLIR is vertically integrated, which is why they can offer products very competitively, Sundermeier said. It is headquartered in Portland, Ore., where final integration on BRITE Star II will be done. While there is an existing line, a new space for the product line will be opened in about four weeks.

The predecessor to the BRITE Star II is currently fielded on the Marine Corps' fleet of UH-1N helicopters, many of which are in theater in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Northrop Grumman [NOC] has procured several of the predecessor BRITE Star airborne thermal imaging laser designator systems for the Fire Scout unmanned helicopter as part of the SDD phase for the Navy's Littoral Combat Ship.

In 2005, Bell won a $210 million cost-plus-incentive-fee contract for system development and demonstration (SDD) for the ARH, defeating a bid by Boeing [BA]. BRITE Star II was chosen by Bell in July 2006 for the ARH Program.

FLIR was part of the ARH team, and a subsequent fly-off requested by the Army and won a $2.4 million SDD contract and a $28.1 million follow on order in January 2007. The company will provide 28 systems for low rate initial production.

TICKER(S): FLIR Systems' [FLIR]: Bell Helicopter Textron [TXT]: Rockwell Collins [COL]: Northrop Grumman [NOC]: Boeing [BA]: