US Marine Corps picks Honeywell IntuVue 3D Weather Radar for KC-130T Upgrade

RDR-4000 IntuVue™ 3D Weather Radar

MyAerospace Catalog System Display-RDR-4000 IntuVue™ 3D Weather Radar
IntuVue™ is available on the B777, B737, A320, A330 and A340 as SSFE/BFE equipment. It is also part of the integrated surveillance system the Aircraft Environmental Surveillance System (AESS) on the Airbus A380, it has also been selected for the A350.Other certifications are pending. Be assured that Honeywell will continue to evolve the IntuVue™ family of advanced weather detection radars to offer you increased Efficiency, greater Safety, and enhanced Performance across your fleet.

USMC KC-130T's refuel F18C's

KC-130T
The KC-130T is US Marines Corps Reserves refueling tanker, similar to KC-130R, but with updated avionics, including the Bendix AN/APS-133 radar. The Marine Corps Reserve operates 24 KC-130Ts, but they do not perform the same type of missions as the Navy Reserve C-130T's.

AN/APS-133

The AN/APS-133(V) which will be replaced by the new radar is one of the most widely used color weather radars in US military service. Based on the commercial RDR-1F radar, the APS-133(V) is fitted to most US Air Force transports as well as several Marine Corps aircraft including the KC-130T. It first entered military service as part of C-141B upgrade in the 1970s. Installed on C-5, C-18, C-130, E-3, E-4, E-6, KC-10, and VC-25 (Air Force One) aircraft. The US Marine Corps introduced the later Type 2 in its aircraft in 1984.
The stabilized parabolic antenna can emit either a pencil or fan beam and has varying scan angle. In the Type 2, the sector scan control panel allows adjustment of the scan angle from 15° to 75° to each side of the centerline, and the cen-terline can vary up to 75° to the right or left of the aircraft’s longitudinal axis. The receiver/transmitter uses a solid-state modulator that transmits on three different pulse widths depending on its mode and has two Pulse Repetition Frequencies (PRFs).

SPECIFICATIONS •

• BAND I (9.375 GHz)
  TRANSMIT POWER 65 kW
• RANGE 
• weather: 300 nm (345 mi; 556 km) 
• mapping or beacon: more than 250 nm (288 mi; 463 km) 
• skin painting/air-to-air: 30 nm (34.5 mi; 55.6 km) 
• PRF 200 or 800 Hz
• PULSE WIDTH 0.4, 2-35, or 5.0 rmcrosec 
• SYSTEM WEIGHT 104.4 lb (46.4 kg) 
• ANTENNA BEAM WIDTH 2.9° (30-in antenna), 4.4° (22-in antenna)
• ANTENNA SCAN RATE 45°/Sec

RDR-4000M

Honeywell IntuVue 3D Weather Radar Selected for US Marine KC-130T

[Avionics Today 10-31-2014] Honeywell Aerospace’s IntuVue 3D Weather Radar System has been selected by the U.S. Navy as part of its upgrade for 14 U.S. Marine Corps KC-130T aircraft.
The IntuVue RDR-4000M incorporates unique functionality, such as skin-paint mode during formation and air refueling operations. Skin-paint mode enables a pilot to detect another aircraft and either home in on it or navigate toward it, without requiring visual contact, or maintain aircraft separation during conditions of reduced visibility. It also makes use of a three-dimensional volumetric buffer to store a complete 3-D map of the weather and terrain visible by the radar, among other functions designed to reduce pilot workload.

High Resolution Ground Mapping Mode

“Building on a commercial product saves the government critical research and development funds and cycle time by taking advantage of Honeywell’s commercial investment to develop this critical military product,” said Heath Patrick, vice president of the Americas defense aftermarket division of Honeywell Aerospace. “By using the IntuVue RDR-4000M on its KC-130Ts, the U.S. Marine Corps will be better prepared to handle severe weather, hail, lightning and turbulence to conduct efficient and safe missions, thanks to a system that has been proven through millions of flight hours.”

Hercules Operators Conf 2010 - Honeywell-Weather_Radar_Tech-Tom_Henderson.pdf presentation compares the new RDR-4000 with the AN/APS-133 it replaces.

Honeywell’s RDR 4000 Moving into Bizjet Cockpits | Aviation International News