Curtiss-Wright continues to underline its capabilities in the flight test instrumentation sector. The company has announced a $24 million contract with Nellis Air Force Base for flight test instrumentation (FTI) that will be used to support the F-35 Technology Refresh (TR-3) program that provides a series of upgrades to the F-35’s software and hardware.
Curtiss-Wright has supported Nellis with FTI solutions since 1998 and for the last three years worked with the base, the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division, and the F-35 Joint Program Office to define the distributed FTI system that enables the test and evaluation of the F-35 TR-3.
In Europe, Airbus chose the company to provide FTI equipment for installation on a Eurofighter Typhoon instrumented production aircraft. Curtiss-Wright will provide data acquisition and encoding units that capture flight test data from the structure, engines, and other systems. Meanwhile, Curtiss-Wright’s Dublin facility has received EASA Part 21 certification, allowing it to provide data acquisition units to in-service aircraft and expanding its business beyond purely FTI products.
In related news, Scientific Research has received a supplemental type certificate for the use of Curtiss-Wright’s Fortress CVR25 recorder in the Beechcraft T-6 Texan II trainer. Fortress combines voice and flight data recorders, integrated data acquisition, independent power, and a quick-access recorder based on an SD card.