Tactical Air Support, Inc, has completed a first on a Northrop F-5 equipped with Garmin‘s G3000 integrated avionics system. The supersonic airplane will soon be used by the U.S. Navy for air-to-air combat training, close-air support training, tactics development and evaluation support, Garmin said.
“The maiden flight of the G3000-equipped F-5 is a significant achievement as it is a testament to the rapid implementation time and flexibility afforded by a Garmin integrated flight deck,” said Garmin’s vice president of aviation sales and marketing, Carl Wolf. “In just under six months, Tactical Air was able to complete the engineering design, installation and achieve first flight.”
The G3000 was integrated with the F-5’s existing mission computer to provide advanced mapping, tactical radio capabilities, radar display and more. The bezel keys, dual touchscreen controllers and L3 ForceX mission system that the pilot uses to interface with the G3000 flight display are designed so that the Navy pilots can control them while wearing gloves. The G3000 also supports night vision google operations through its synthetic vision technology.
“As a career test pilot with over 7,000 flight hours, I have flown aircraft from the simplest to the space shuttle,” said Tactical Air’s chief test pilot Ken Hamm. “Without a doubt, I can say the F-5 cockpit is one of the most capable and flexible of all.”
