Lockheed Martin, on behalf of Team Apache Systems LLC, will (ceremonially) deliver its first Modernized Target Acquisition and Designation Sight/Pilot Night Vision Sensor (M-TADS/PNVS), also known as Arrowhead, for the Apache AH-64 helicopter to the U.S. Army later today, May 10, 2005, during the Army Aviation Association of America's national convention in Orlando, FL.

Lockheed Martin's Arrowhead kit provides an advanced electro-optical targeting and pilotage system to Apache crews that will maximize safe flight in day, night and adverse-weather environments.

Arrowhead continues a 20-year legacy of serving as the eyes of the Army's Apache AH-64 attack helicopter with the first fielding of the current TADS/PNVS in 1983. Arrowhead's newly designed forward-looking infrared (FLIR) sensors use cutting-edge image processing techniques to give pilots the best possible resolution to avoid obstacles such as wires and tree limbs during low-level flight. The roll-out of the first Arrowhead kit in an M-TADS system under the Lot 1 contract comes almost twenty-three years to the day of signing the first TADS/PNVS production contract. Several retired officers from the 1983 contract signing were present today to witness the second generation fielding of the original system.

Arrowhead improves performance and reliability of the legacy TADS system by over 150%, reduces maintenance actions by nearly 60%, and enables two-level field maintenance—achieving a savings that approaches $1 billion in Army operation and support costs over the anticipated 20-year lifespan.

FMI: www.lmco.com