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| US Air Force will equip with Thales Deployable Instrument Landing System (D-ILS). Photo: Thales |
[Avionics Today 08-10-2015] The U.S. Air Force has awarded Thales a contract to provide Deployable Instrument Landing Systems (D-ILS). The systems will be used in airfield environments where the ability to provide precision guidance to aircraft on final approach during low-visibility or low-ceiling weather conditions are critical.
The D-ILS will provide the equivalent of fixed-based Instrument Landing System (ILS) capability at tactical airfields and environmentally diverse regions such as areas of natural disaster or humanitarian relief efforts. Thales’ D-ILS is a Commercial-Off-the-Shelf (COTS) system based on the company’s ILS 420 — a fixed- based, dual-frequency ILS for civil and military applications.
The contract includes delivery of two Production Representative Units (PRUs) along with technical orders and provisional technical documentation, training development and conduct, system analysis, architecture and engineering, and contractor support. The Air Force plans to purchase up to 38 systems over the coming years.