Astronautics Corporation of America is providing its Badger Pro+ integrated flight display system to Bell, a Textron company, for Bell 412EPX and Bell 429 new production rotorcraft.

Astronautics' Badger Pro+ consists of 6x8-inch, high-resolution displays showing primary flight, navigation, and engine data, as well as system synoptics, weight and balance, and checklist information. The system is also able to display high-definition video from multiple inputs and provides night vision compatibility. Badger Pro+ integrates information from across all the systems on the aircraft to provide an operationally advanced pilot interface.

Badger Pro+ is the latest generation of Astronautics' Badger display family with demonstrated reliability over 1,000,000 flight hours in the harshest environments.

"Astronautics has built its reputation on designing reliable, trusted, and innovative solutions that solve our customers' toughest challenges. The Badger Pro+ system provides Bell 412EPX and Bell 429 operators with enhanced situational awareness to reduce pilot workload and exceptional video capabilities for mission support—all with cost effectiveness," said Astronautics President Chad Cundiff. "The readability of the displays is world class with color, contrast, letter sizing, and fonts that provide exceptional viewability. The displays also excel at presenting customizable video in multiple formats."

Key highlights of the Badger Pro+ system include superior graphics and readability, versatile high-resolution video, and proven reliability with operational savings.

Superior Display Capabilities:

- Enhanced viewing with sunlight readability, higher contrast, improved color saturation, and exceptionally wide viewing angle.

- New advisory vertical approach capability.

- LED mode-select lights on autopilot controller for intuitive operation.

- Flashing messages synchronized between displays and readable at all times.

- Accurate and clear on-screen presentation of the helicopter terrain awareness and warning system (HTAWS)—eliminating need for external switching.

- Patented LED-based night vision goggle compatibility.

- Completely sealed enclosure with passive cooling for improved reliability to eliminate any chance of dirt or debris entering the display.

- Seamless interface with other avionics, including advisory vertical approach guidance for areas without approved SBAS/WAAS approaches.

- Highlighted new features for the 429 include tan autopilot feature restoring a climb-out whenever the go-around is pressed and LED light on flight director confirming mode selection.

- Versatile Video Enhancements:

- Includes video inputs for FLIR and cameras on forward display.

- Accepts four video formats (analog and high definition).

- Displays video in full and split screen modes with pan, zoom, and rotation capabilities.

- Reliability and Operational-Savings Features:

- Badger family with proven reliability of greater than 25,000 flight hours mean time between failures.

- Weight savings of 2.7 lbs. per display.

- Built-in flight data monitoring with file download rates up to 20 times faster.