Viking announces world demonstration tour
Viking Air Limited (Viking) of Victoria, British Columbia, has announced its plans to hold a world demonstration tour for its Guardian 400 aircraft.
During the CANSEC Defence & Security show, Viking unveiled the tour, which will include detailed briefings and demonstrations of flights in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, India, Southeast Asia, Oceania and North America.
The Guardian 400 demonstrator aircraft – which is a special variant of the Viking Series 400 Twin Otter – features a left-hand SCAR pod with Hensoldt Argos EO/IR imaging turret, multi-spectral HDTV camera, mega-pixel HD Thermal Imager, laser range finder, multi-mode auto tracker and Remote Image Bus (RIB) video feed for display on the cockpit MFD or crew workstation. The demonstrator will also feature a right-hand SCAR pod with Leonardo Osprey Radar System and Sentient Vidar Camera system.
In addition to its mission sensor package, the prototype will be equipped with an Airborne Technologies’ tactical workstation with high definition touchscreen monitors, data/voice/video recorder, Mission Management Unit (MMU), mission radar communications, intuitive hand controller for MCU & SLR camera targeting, CarteNav AIMS mission system software, Kestrel MTI targeting software and IKHANA ergonomic mission seat for optimised crew comfort. The demonstrator model will also be equipped with Viking conformal bubble window, left and right wing-mounted hard points by IKHANA, Thunder Bay Aviation stretcher racks and an aft lavatory for crew comfort.
“As we’ve anticipated development of a Guardian 400 technical demonstrator for many years, to now be able to show off its unique performance capabilities and incredible versatility to interested military and government organisations in their home countries is exciting to say the least,” Viking Executive Vice-President, Sales & Marketing Robert Mauracher said.
The target launch date of the demonstration tour is set for September 2019, and after completing all the proposed demonstration flights across the rest of the world, the tour will culminate in Ottawa, Canada, to coincide with the 2020 CANSEC Defence & Security show.