Honeywell Ships UCAV Engine with Business Jet; Helo Avionics to Come

Honeywell has shipped the first F124 engine for the unmanned combat air vehicle (UCAV) being developed jointly by the Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the U.S. Air Force and Boeing. Well proven in a variety of light fighter and trainer aircraft, the 6,300 lbs thrust F124 will be installed in a UCAV airframe to demonstrate the feasibility of suppressing enemy air defenses with remotely controlled unmanned aircraft. A UCAV technology demonstrator is due to fly early next year. Meanwhile another Honeywell unit will this September deliver the first Primus Epic control display system for the Raytheon Hawker Horizon business jet, with the first for any helicopter application (in the Agusta-Bell AB139) to follow not far behind. China, too, is adopting Primus Epic; Aviation Industries of China having signed a $25 million contract for deliveries to retrofit indigenous Y-8 cargo aircraft at the rate of five aircraft a year over ten years.