Honeywell to Supply 3-D Weather Radar to Airbus

Air Safety Week, Oct 20, 2008

Airbus Industrie has selected Honeywell's IntuVue 3-D Advanced Weather Radar for A320s, A330s and A340s, a contract valued at $300 million, including aftermarket, over the life of the program.

Honeywell's IntuVue offers flight crews the ability to detect and avoid previously unforeseen turbulence, wind shears and dangerous storm activity so they can make more informed route decisions -- thereby increasing passenger comfort and safety while decreasing weather-related costs due to injuries and aircraft damages.

Honeywell's IntuVue weather radar is already standard equipment on the Airbus A380 and A350 as part of the ground-breaking Aircraft Environment Surveillance System.

Deliveries are planned to start with the single aisle A320 family (A318, A319. A320, and A321) in the first quarter of 2010 with the long range A330s and A340s, including freighters, shortly thereafter.

Garrett Mikita, Honeywell's air transport and regional president, said "the IntuVue weather radar can significantly reduce operating costs while making air travel more comfortable and secure. Operators using IntuVue weather radar are experiencing 50 percent fewer turbulence-related incidents compared to aircraft equipped with conventional radars."

Turbulence-related injuries cost the airline industry more than $100 million per year.

IntuVue is the first fully automatic weather radar system certified to the FAA's Enhanced Turbulence Detection Minimum Operation Performance Standard (MOPS) that enables pilots to see and avoid turbulence sooner. It is the only commercial radar that utilizes pulse compression for greater accuracy at longer range -- a technology used previously only in military radars. This technology enables improved in-flight decisions by providing weather analysis tools for viewing storms in three-dimensions at up to 320 nautical miles ahead of the aircraft, which allows for optimum re-routing around or through weather resulting in an 11 percent reduction in fuel burn.

IntuVue is standard equipment on the Boeing C-17 and will be on the Gulfstream 650 when it enters service. It is also certified and flying on the Boeing 777 and 737NG.

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