Astronautics Corporation of America is providing its AFI4700 RoadRunner electronic flight instrument (EFI) to the Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) Tactical Airlift Program Office (PMA-207) in Patuxent River, Maryland under their C/KC-130T Global Positioning System Performance Based Navigation Upgrade program. The upgrade enables PMA-207 to mitigate avionics obsolescence and improve operational safety across all their C/KC-130T variants with Astronautics’ Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) technical standard order (TSO) approved, Design Assurance Level A (DAL A) EFI.
Astronautics’ RoadRunner EFI is a commercial off-the-shelf, form-fit replacement to the attitude director indicator (ADI) and horizontal situation indicator (HSI) for the C/KC-130T aircraft. The RoadRunner combines ADI and HSI functionality into a single digital unit, minimizing pilot workload by replacing four analog primary flight instruments with two digital primary flight instruments—one for the pilot and one for the co-pilot—with only minimal structural changes to the cockpit.
“Astronautics’ RoadRunner EFI is providing PMA-207 with a timely and easy-to-install upgrade for their C/KC-130T fleet,” said Eyton Zelazo, Astronautics director of displays and cockpit integration. “Not only is the RoadRunner extending the C/KC-130T lifecycle and standardizing instrumentation across the variants, but it is also enabling compliance with performance-based navigation certification and modernizing the primary flight instrument to allow for area navigation and required navigation performance applications, thereby improving operational safety for flight crews.”
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Download free sample pages More informationAs part of the IDIQ (indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity) contract, Astronautics is supplying PMA-207 with two RoadRunner EFIs per aircraft, along with a customized, certified flight application and onsite support for ground and flight testing. To date, Astronautics has provided PMA-207 with 17 RoadRunner EFIs, out of an anticipated 74 units PMA-207 will order through 2027 for retrofit of 27 C/KC-130T aircraft, including spares.
The C/KC-130T are multi-mission medium lift tactical transport/tanker aircraft used for airlift operations, transport of personnel or cargo, and air-to-air or air-delivered ground refueling.
