Avionics News July 2023 - 53

surveillance and reconnaissance) capabilities in extreme
combat environments. Like so many other commercialto-military
conversions, USSOCOM turned to a proven
partner - in this case, L3Harris - to deliver an affordable
and easy turnkey solution.
" This particular project came about as a direct result of
some past efforts of ours where we were really looking
to provide a turnkey solution, " explained Luke Savoie,
L3Harris' president of Intelligence, Surveillance and
Reconnaissance Sector. " It takes experience to
do it on time and budget. "
While many people in the aviation industry
think it's relatively easy to transform an
FAA-certified private, business or commercial
aircraft into a military platform, in actuality,
it's anything but. L3Harris has been doing it
for a long time, and it has learned firsthand that
it's even more challenging when the goal is to
create a true multirole aircraft on a budget.
" We have a business unit that is built
purely around the needs of ISR missions and
modifying aircraft for direct use, whether it's
the military, defense, or homeland security, "
Savoie said. " We inducted 72 aircraft last
year and delivered 46. And that was across 26
aircraft types - everything from 747s to cropdusters. "
The
AT-802U gets drafted
To create a truly successful multirole platform, you first
have to start with the right kind of aircraft. While it seems
obvious, it's actually more complicated than you think.
Sometimes, you have to think out of the proverbial box.
In determining which aircraft would be the basis of
its Sky Warden program - every military aircraft needs
a cool nickname - Savoie said his team started with a
completely clean slate.
The Sky Warden is the first forward-fit
deployable combat aircraft that will feature
a tandem Garmin G3000 touchscreen
integrated cockpit.
While every mission type has its own
specific needs and requirements, he explained
that when an aircraft is designated as
multimission, that makes it more challenging
to meet all the various needs while keeping
an eye on a relatively tight budget. After all, controlling
costs is the main reason the military bases these aircraft
on FAA-certified airframes.
" Multirole is just that; a single platform that can
transition to have multiple uses, " Savoie said. " A true
multirole aircraft can stay in the air for long periods of
time with multiple sensors to track a lot of targets. At
the same time, it can fly low and slow so it can escort a
convoy - not only providing information on what's ahead
but also providing offensive firepower if that's needed. "
" As a company that specializes in modifying existing
aircraft, we had no biases when we started to look for
something that can stay aloft for a long time, carry a
heavy load, operate anywhere, is robust, easy to maintain,
and is also highly survivable, " he explained. " We also
wanted it to operate off of any surface - water, land or
snow - so it had to be a taildragger.
" When we looked at everything, it just ended up
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Avionics News July 2023

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