Italy’s law enforcement agency helicopters to feature LISA-200W AHRS

AgustaWestland has awarded a contract to Northrop Grumman to provide the attitude heading reference system (AHRS) in support of the Agusta-Bell 412 helicopter fleet.

Under the €1.4m ($1.8m) contract, Northrop will deliver and install the LISA-200W AHRS to replace LISA-4000 onboard the AB-412 helicopters, which are operated by the Italy’s law enforcement agency, the Guardia di Finanza.

Northrop Grumman Italia managing director and general manager Marco Clochiatti said, "The LISA-200W utilizes the latest fibre-optic gyro technology for improved performance and functionality, making it an ideal candidate for aircraft retrofits and upgrades."

The lightweight, fibre-optic gyroscope-based AHRS, LISA-200W can measure pitch, roll, magnetic heading and turn rate of an aircraft.

Capable of being integrated with minimal impact on existing avionics, the LISA-200W provides aircraft attitude, heading and flight dynamics information to flight deck displays, flight controls, the weather radar antenna platform and other aircraft systems.

Featuring modular architecture to provide greater flexibility to meet a variety of requirements, the system provides several digital and analogue interfaces, coupled with high maintainability and reliability, for new platforms and retrofit applications.

Additionally, the system offers high-speed data refresh rate and output which meets the stringent requirements of a fly-by-wire quadruple-redundant control system.

Till date, Northrop has delivered more than 4,000 LISA-200 family of products, which include a configuration integrated with an embedded GPS receiver to provide highly accurate navigation functioning.

Image: An Agusta-Bell 412 helicopter conducing mission. Photo: Northrop Grumman Corp.