ARINC Engineering Services, completed the installation of new navigation systems and advanced communications equipment on the nation’s two OC-135B “Open Skies” observation aircraft, under a contract from Rockwell Collins.
ARINC said it finished the work on schedule at its newly expanded Aircraft Modification and Operations Center (AMOC) at Oklahoma City. Work on the first OC-135B aircraft was completed this year, and the second was delivered to the Air Force on Sept. 30.
ARINC installed Rockwell Collins’s Block 40 Global Air Traffic Management (GATM) navigational upgrade on both planes, as well as multiple new communications systems. GATM navigational capability is required for the OC-135B to meet today’s worldwide Communications, Navigation, Surveillance and Air Traffic Management (CNS/ATM) mandates.
The aircraft were scheduled to have the work done in phases, to ensure that one of the two special aircraft would always be available on short notice for observation flights.
“ARINC is excited to complete this demanding assignment for Rockwell Collins,” stated Jeffery Willis, ARINC director, defense programs, Oklahoma City. “As our first-ever GATM installation program, the OC-135B has benefited from the efficient use of ARINC’s enlarged AMOC facility and the quality workforce we employ at this location.”
The Open Skies OC-135B, a highly modified KC-135 airframe equipped with advanced photographic, video, and recording equipment, and accommodations for extra crew members, surveillance specialists, and technicians, flies unarmed observation flights over participating parties of the Open Skies Treaty. More