VDC's Aydin Displays chosen for new aircraft

Video Display Corporation announces that its Aydin Displays, Inc. subsidiary has been selected by BAE Systems in Greenlawn, NY to supply rugged 24" Flat panel display monitors for use in all the Mission Tactical Display Consoles on the new P8A Multi-Mission Maritime Aircraft (MMA).

The Aydin Displays 24" Rugged Flat Panel Display was selected by BAE Systems for its severe ruggedization characteristics while being extremely light weight for airborne applications. Its superior high-resolution (1920 H x 1200 V) display performance includes Aydin's new flicker compensation technology used for displaying waterfall images used in sonar applications. Aydin's new flicker compensation technology allows the user to select a specific predefined viewing window on the display to apply flicker compensation, thus allowing the user to run both rapidly-changing video without smear and sonar images at the same time. The initial $2.6M contract calls for Aydin to supply displays for seven prototype (P8A) MMA aircraft for testing. Follow-on contracts to supply the expected orders for an additional 108 planes are anticipated. This does not include foreign military sales. Typically, foreign military, which currently use the P3C aircraft for anti-submarine warfare, are expected to upgrade to the newly designed P8A aircraft in the future.

Ultimately, the US Navy's expected requirement for 108 planes is to take place over the next several years. Each P8A aircraft will be equipped with five or six of BAE's Mission Tactical Display Consoles located over the aircraft's wing. Each console will feature two Aydin 24" wide-screen, multifunction displays which equates to 10 to 12 displays per aircraft. One of the two displays in each console is designed to include a SAW (Surface Acoustic Wave) touch screen.

"This represents a significant award for Aydin," stated Ron Ordway, CEO of Video Display Corporation. "The program is one of the most prestigious display programs of this type to be awarded in several years. For Aydin to have been selected by BAE Systems shows the level of confidence the Navy has in the performance, quality, and longevity of Aydin's products. Aydin Displays' monitors will be an integral part of this next generation aircraft used for anti-submarine warfare, reconnaissance and intelligent gathering."