Honeywell is to acquire Saab's heads-up-display (HUD) assets for use in a variety of its avionics offerings. As part of the acquisition agreement, Saab will partner with Honeywell to develop and strengthen its HUD product line. The displays give pilots increased situational awareness, especially at night or in difficult weather conditions.

The addition of the HUD assets will further strengthen Honeywell's comprehensive end-to-end avionics and safety offerings. They will be integrated into Honeywell Anthem, a new revolutionary integrated flight deck with an intuitive user interface and highly scalable design, which will also feature state-of-the art characteristics such as wide field-of-view, high image resolution, low system latency and lower weight. It will also be made available for Honeywell Primus Epic flight decks and standalone retrofit solutions.

“Heads-up displays are an essential offering for the aviation industry and have been known to reduce pilot workload, increase situational awareness, improve access to airports with Enhanced Flight Vision System and enhance safety,” says Vipul Gupta, vice president and general manager, Avionics, Honeywell Aerospace. “The addition of HUDs as part of our wider avionics offerings will provide our customers in business aviation, air transport and defense segment a great safety tool that can be particularly useful during takeoff and landing, which are typically the most crucial parts of any flight.”

“Saab believes that this agreement further establishes Saab and Honeywell as long-term partners and increases greater market opportunities,” adds Carl-Johan Bergholm, senior vice president and head of Saab's business area Surveillance.

The main purpose of HUDs is to make it as easy as possible for pilots to see and absorb their necessary flight or mission details. This allows them to remain “head-up and eyes-out,” instead of looking down or away from what is occurring around them, thus reducing the risk of safety incidents. Also, as part of an Enhanced Flight Vision System, HUDs enable pilots to take off and land at lower minima and thus avoid go-arounds and diversions.

The HUD solution will be available as a retrofit or forward-fit option. Paired with Honeywell's industry-leading heads-down solutions, the HUD addition will enable Honeywell to offer a harmonized cockpit to customers.

The completion of the transaction is subject to certain closing conditions including the accomplishment of certain development milestones.