23 Jul 02. DRS Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: DRS – News), announced at Farnborough the launch of the new CPI-406 Emergency Locator Transmitter (ELT).
The CPI-406 is a modular, deployable aircraft beacon system that incorporates advanced technology in a single crash-hardened unit, exceeding current ELT requirements for automatically deployable systems. At the onset of an incident, the Beacon Airfoil Unit (BAU) separates from the aircraft and immediately transmits a distress signal, which includes the aircraft identification number,
to the International COSPAS-SARSAT network. With optional Global Positioning Indicator (GPI) encoding, the BAU also will transmit the last known latitude and longitude to aid in search and rescue. In incidents occurring over water, the BAU floats indefinitely, providing reliable localization of crew and aircraft and the highest rate of ELT survivability and data recovery available today. The CPI-406 ELT was developed by the company’s DRS Flight Safety and Communications
unit in Carleton Place, Ontario, Canada.
“Already accepted for use on military helicopters, the CPI-406 is the world’s most advanced deployable Emergency Locator Transmitter,” said Mark S. Newman, DRS Technologies’ chairman, president and chief executive officer. “This new product reinforces our position as the global leader in this technology and underscores the confidence of our international customers in these systems.”
The CPI-406, a 121.5/406 MHz deployable ELT, is designed to be a direct
replacement for the company’s CPI-113, a 121.5/243 MHz ELT system.
For over 30 years, DRS has delivered more than 4,000 similar deployable
emergency avionics systems to international fixed-wing and helicopter platforms, including the U.S. E-4 and U.S. Navy F/A-18C/D and -18E/F Super Hornet aircraft, Canada’s CP-140 Aurora aircraft and Cormorant Search/Rescue helicopters, the United Kingdom’s Royal Navy EH-101 Merlin and Royal Air Force Support helicopters, Italy’s MMI (Marina Militare Italiana) helicopters and Tokyo’s Metropolitan Police helicopters, among others. The recovery rate of DRS’s
deployable flight recorder and ELT systems exceeds 95 percent of reported incidents. Recovered data provide detailed information of the events during an incident and are utilized for accident investigation, training, aircraft and avionics design and manufacture, and flight safety procedure development.