Lockheed Martin takes aim at rotary- and fixed-wing aircraft with INFIRNO

A Black Hawk helicopter with Lockheed Martin's INFIRNO turreted sensor mounted in the aircraft's nose. INFIRNO is designed to facilitate repair and maintenance, while offering operators a sensor system that can be easily upgraded and configured for different missions.

By: Wording OD.

Lockheed Martin has conducted the first flight test of its new INFIRNO modular turreted sensor for rotary- and fixed-wing aircraft.

The 15 inch system is designed to enable easy repair and maintenance, while offering military forces a sensor that can be easily maintained and tailored for specific missions.

INFIRNO is built around nine separate line replaceable units (LRUs) that will be supported by a sophisticated built-in test algorithm suite that will tell maintainers when a component fails and requires replacement.

 

A Black Hawk helicopter with Lockheed Martin's INFIRNO turreted sensor mounted in the aircraft's nose. INFIRNO is designed to facilitate repair and maintenance, while offering operators a sensor system that can be easily upgraded and configured for different missions. Source: Lockheed Martin

The company completed more than eight hours of flight tests on an H-60 Black Hawk helicopter in late June. The turret, which was integrated into the nose of the helicopter, was not in its final configuration, Don Bolling, fire control business development director for Lockheed Martin, told IHS Jane's on 15 July.

"[It was] in a configuration [that enabled] us to test it out and measure it against test objectives - [such as] do I have the level of stabilisation that I need to operate on a rotary-wing environment?" he said. "We achieved all of our test objectives, principally, to test the stabilisation … that it would meet what we predicted for that environment."

Lockheed Martin also performed a ground demonstration for an unspecified customer on a commercial ground vehicle with a telescopic mast, similar to Lockheed Martin's Vehicle Optics Sensor System (VOSS) for mine-resistant ambush protected vehicles, Bolling explained.

"You could envision this in a number of ways: you could have a sensor-vehicle combination for [a ground-launched missile], it could be used as an artillery spotter, and there are some other burgeoning ground applications where they are interested in a high-fidelity, high-resolution sensor for additional situational awareness on the battlefield," he said.

Source: Jane's Defence.