Dec 18 2012
Honeywell has been awarded a $4.8 million contract to install health and usage monitoring systems (HUMS) onboard the entire fleet of U.S. Coast Guard MH-60T helicopters.
For the U.S. Coast Guard, the installation and use of HUMS is critically important and paramount to the success of its missions. Unscheduled maintenance events can cause mission aborts that are unacceptable in the life-or-death situations that the MH-60T is often called to support. The installation of Honeywell's Zing® HUMS 1239 greatly increases the U.S. Coast Guard's ability to complete its mission and has the added benefit of helping reduce maintenance costs.
HUMS is a sensor-based monitoring system that enables preventative maintenance by measuring the health and performance of mission-critical components. By continuously monitoring vibration at numerous points throughout the drivetrain and pinpointing mechanical faults before they become catastrophic failures, HUMS provides actionable information that allows the Coast Guard to anticipate mechanical failures and make anticipatory maintenance decisions. Honeywell's HUMS products can be installed onboard or used as a portable system for rotor or fixed-wing platforms.
The Coast Guard will use 42 Zing HUMS 1239 aircraft kits and 24 ground support kits, all of which will be delivered before the end of 2012, to monitor critical drivetrain components such as the helicopters' rotor shafts, making sure that the aircraft is ready to fly at all times. The data collected by the system is easily downloadable into a user-friendly ground station that allows operators to quickly see the status of all selected components instantly, without the costs associated with traditional contractor support.
The U.S. military as well as ministries of defense worldwide use Honeywell HUMS products onboard rotor and fixed-wing aircraft. Honeywell HUMS products are currently installed or in use on the following:
- U.S. Army AH-64D, OH-58D and CH-47D
- All U.S. Army Special Operations Aviation Command rotor wing platforms
- Thousands of commercial rotorcraft including a wide variety of AugustaWestland, Bell Helicopter, Eurocopter, MD Helicopters, Sikorsky and other platforms
Brian Sill , vice president of Defense Americas Aftermarket, Defense & Space, Honeywell Aerospace
- "Honeywell is a leading provider of HUMS solutions for rotor and fixed-wing aircraft around the world. U.S. Coast Guard MH-60T operators will now have key insight and information about potential mechanical issues before they happen, which will help them keep the MH-60T platform running and available when needed."
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Based in Phoenix, Arizona, Honeywell's aerospace business is a leading global provider of integrated avionics, engines, systems and service solutions for aircraft manufacturers, airlines, business and general aviation, military, space and airport operations.