Astronautics Badger Pro+ Provides Glass Cockpit Upgrade for Huey II

Astronautics Corporation of America’s Badger Pro+ Integrated Flight Display System is providing a forward-fit and retrofit glass cockpit upgrade solution for the Bell Huey II modernization program.

Astronautics is providing each Huey II with three 6x8-inch high-resolution displays, a control panel, and an engine data acquisition unit. Astronautics equipment, along with additional upgraded avionics, transforms the cockpit from analog instruments to a digital, full-glass cockpit, replacing primary flight displays and engine instruments with the same Badger Pro+ Integrated Flight Display System flying on new production Bell helicopters.

“Astronautics’ Badger Pro+ provides the Huey II with new capabilities that extend its mission readiness, including reduced pilot workload and increased precision and situational awareness,” said Brian Keery, Astronautics’ senior manager of displays and cockpit integration.

Badger Pro+ is the latest generation of Astronautics’ Badger display family, which has demonstrated reliability over one million flight hours in the harshest environments. The displays show primary flight, navigation, and engine data, and includes high-definition video from multiple inputs, all with night vision compatibility. Badger Pro+ integrates information from across all systems on the aircraft, providing an operationally advanced pilot interface and a path for adding safety features, such as terrain and traffic awareness and Wide Area Augmentation System compatibility. The readability of the displays is world-class with color, contrast, letter sizing, and fonts that provide exceptional viewability.

Astronautics’ Badger Pro+ is the standard-fit, integrated flight display system on production Subaru Bell 412EPX and Bell 429 helicopters.

There are more than 300 Huey IIs operating in 14 countries with more than 1.2 million flight hours in military and para-public missions.