Product Specifications
The L3Harris designed and built dropsonde and sonobuoy launcher is a critical component enabling NOAA to provide high quality weather models and forecasts that provide life and property-saving information. The product is used for hurricane surveillance mission ensuring critical hurricane data is always collected. L3Harris provided the design engineering, fabrication, and installation for the majority of the modifications on the current Hurricane Hunter. The dropsonde launcher modification is one of many special mission aircraft modifications we have performed for over 30-years.
The L3Harris dropsonde launcher features a gate valve and an air cylinder, which use cabin air pressure to launch dropsondes clear of the aircraft. The sonobuoy launcher permits gravity drop of a sonobuoy from an unpressurized aircraft cabin. Along with design of the launcher assembly and launcher controller assembly, L3Harris performed the structural substantiation, expendable safe separation analysis, and test plans and procedures for these systems. L3Harris has the expertise available to build, install, and test a dropsonde launcher for multiple customers. In addition to the dropsonde launcher for NOAA, we have fabricated dropsonde launchers of this design for the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR).
As OEM of this system, L3Harris is uniquely positioned to ensure the success of this product for your mission.
