Cassidian, the defence and security division of EADS, joins forces with Brazilian systems specialist ATECH, São Paulo, to equip the new EC725 helicopters of the Brazilian Navy with an advanced mission management system. As part of the procurement of 50 EC725 helicopters by the Brazilian armed forces, Eurocopter and its Brazilian subsidiary Helibras signed a contract with ATECH and Cassidian to develop and manufacture the Tactical Data Management System (TDMS) for 8 navy helicopters. The contract worth over €40m will be concluded by 2017.

The Eurocopter/Helibras consortium’s H-XBR programme will equip the Brazilian Armed Forces as part of the National Defence Strategy (END), which established the mid and long term activities to modernize the defence sector in Brazil, supporting development of infrastructure and resources and the restructuring of the Brazilian defence industry. This programme – that is being conducted to establish a national industrial base capable of both conceiving and manufacturing Rotary Wing aircraft in-country – comprises a process for nationalization and mastering of technology for helicopter production, aligned with a policy to internalize the overall production capability in the country making use of the Government acquisition power.

“For Atech, to take part in this consortium, working on this Ministry of Defence programme under the coordination of the Brazilian Air Force, is a great honour and also a great responsibility”, declares the Atech CEO, Mr. Tarcisio Takashi Muta. “Atech is dedicated to the mastering of mission critical technologies. Our presence in this consortium as a supplier of the mission system confirms ATECH’s experience in technology absorption projects, airborne systems and high performance tactical communications systems. We will participate in the development, production and support phases of the project, enabling ATECH to further on maintain these systems. Atech ‘s involvement in this project at this level is in sync with the National Defence Strategy, which also advocates the country’s autonomy in defence technology systems”.

“Our companies have an impressive track record in the field of mission management systems”, explained Dr. Rolf Wirtz, Head of Mission Avionics at Cassidian. “Together, we will provide the Brazilian Navy with an extremely reliable and versatile system to enable the performance of maritime surveillance missions.”

The TDMS is based on Cassidian’s SAMSARA mission management system which processes sensor data from different sources to build a comprehensive tactical situation picture while controlling also weapon and self-protection systems. Thus, the TDMS enhances detection and real-time identification of movements on the surface giving security forces additional time to react.

The TDMS mission computer will be manufactured by ATECH who will also perform the system integration under the supervision of the new Helibras Engineering Centre and support ground and flight tests at the Helibras site, Itajubá/Brazil. In-service support to the Brazilian Navy will also be provided directly by Atech.

“As demonstrated in other military helicopter programmes, like the Squirrel or the Panther, Helibras can draw from well proven experience in managing system integration processes. For the EC725 production programme, our company has again significantly invested in the further development of this know-how by increasing the number of dedicated engineers and contracting suppliers for specific software items.” explains Eduardo Marson, President of Helibras.

The SAMSARA mission management system is already in service with the French customs service. Cassidian capitalizes on a broad experience in mission avionics, being responsible for the military mission management system of the A400M transport aircraft and having delivered a number of avionics systems to a variety of NATO platforms.

Source and photo: EADS