Honeywell wins first production contract for its T-Hawk™ Micro Air Vehicle

Honeywell (NYSE: HON) announced today that it has received a $65 million production contract for its Micro Air Vehicle, known as the T-Hawk™.

The $65 million agreement is for 90 T-Hawk™ systems. Each system consists of two T-Hawk™ vehicles and one ground control unit, spares, training for operators and maintainers, and field support. Hardware deliveries of the 90 systems will begin in the second quarter of 2009 and conclude in December 2009.

Each T-Hawk™ is small enough to carry in a backpack and is equipped with video cameras that relay information back to foot soldiers using a portable handheld terminal. The circular vehicle, weighing 17 pounds and 14 inches in diameter, can easily fly down to inspect hazardous areas for threats without exposing warfighters to enemy fire. Honeywell's T-Hawk™ also has the unique ability to take off and land vertically from complex desert and urban terrains without using runways or helipads.

"Honeywell's versatile and highly capable T-Hawk™ will help our war fighters conduct more effective missions while keeping them out of harm's way," said Ed Wheeler, President, Honeywell Defense and Space. "Our T-Hawk™ delivers more than 40 minutes of flight endurance, more than 40 knots of airspeed and will operate to altitudes of more than 7,000 feet."

The system has been deployed in Iraq to keep American troops safer by identifying enemy threats from the sky. The deployment is the first time a ducted-fan unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) has been used during combat missions.

"Honeywell has unsurpassed experience in developing ducted-fan vertical takeoff and landing unmanned air vehicles," Wheeler said. "Our highly precise controls allow the T-Hawk™ to operate at very high altitudes or just inches from the ground, providing unprecedented hover and stare capabilities for enemy detection or other missions in war zones."

The system requires minimal operator training and includes two airborne vehicles and a portable ground station used to guide the aircraft and receive images from the cameras. The ground station can be used to program a flight path for the T-Hawk™ or control it manually. The aircraft also can be optionally equipped with electro-optical cameras for daylight operations or infrared cameras for night missions.

A civilian version of this technology is being evaluated by the Miami Dade Police Department for law enforcement applications.