Systematic and AgustaWestland, a Finmeccanica company, are working together to provide an enhanced rotorcraft situational awareness (SA) capability.

Following the signing of a Heads of Agreement in January this year, this joint development will integrate Systematic’s SitaWare command and control software with AgustaWestland’s rotorcraft platforms.

With funding provided by AgustaWestland, Systematic has already conducted the initial scoping study which investigated the possibilities to further enhance on-board SA for both aircrew and passengers, whilst also considering the SA needs of tasking headquarters and the units supported by aviation.

Geoff Hoon, AgustaWestland’s Managing Director for International Business said: "We are pleased that this project with Systematic is moving forward quickly, as we see good business potential not only in Denmark but around the world on a number of our military helicopter platforms. This project is just one example of our long running commitment to work with Danish industry and to deliver long term benefits to Denmark."

"The aim of this project is to further enhance awareness of the land and maritime situations in the cockpit, thereby better connecting the rotorcraft to its operating environment." says Stephen White, President Systematic UK, "At the same time we need to overcome the challenge of providing this much needed capability by exploiting data and hardware already available on the platform in order to minimise weight, cost and development impact".

Hans Jørgen Bohlbro, Director of Product Management C2 Systems goes on to say "SitaWare Frontline has been specifically designed to minimise bandwidth requirements, at the same time it has the ability to maintain a high update rate of friendly force tracks, making it ideally suited to this job. The software also has a small footprint with a lean GIS which allows it to be installed on existing processors and displays in the aircraft."

With the initial study now completed, the integration of SitaWare Frontline with the AgustaWestland AW101 avionic systems is now underway. The system will also be available on AW159. SitaWare Frontline will provide a further enhancement to the modern, fully integrated, reduced workload cockpits of the AW101 and AW159, by providing aircrew with enhanced SA.

SitaWare Headquarters and WebCOP will also be integrated into the AgustaWestland Skyflight Mission Planning System, which will address a significant capability shortfall in connecting rotorcraft headquarters to the wider command and control networks. With significant engineering support from AgustaWestland an initial operational capability will be available early next year and will go through field tests and trials with the Royal Danish Air Force.

The output of this industrial cooperation project is initially directed at the Danish Armed Forces for use on the Danish Multi Role Helicopter (DMRH). Once the initial operational capability has been proven, Systematic and AgustaWestland will go on to develop a full operational capability which will be offered on the international market.