The Target Acquisition and Designation Sights, Pilot Night Vision System (TADS/PNVS) is the combined

sensor A sensor is a device that produces an output signal for the purpose of sensing a physical phenomenon. In the broadest definition, a sensor is a device, module, machine, or subsystem that detects events or changes in its environment and sends ...

and targeting unit fitted to the

Boeing AH-64 Apache The Boeing AH-64 Apache () is an American twin-turboshaft attack helicopter with a tailwheel-type landing gear arrangement and a tandem cockpit for a crew of two. It features a nose-mounted sensor suite for target acquisition and night visi ...

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attributes ...

. Both systems are independent, but housed together.

Lockheed Martin The Lockheed Martin Corporation is an American aerospace, arms, defense, information security, and technology corporation with worldwide interests. It was formed by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta in March 1995. It ...

signed the original TADS/PNVS production contract on 30 April 1982, and the first TADS/PNVS system was fielded in 1983."Lockheed Martin Awarded $385.6 Million Arrowhead Production Contract"
. (Press Release) 26 June 2006.

. Retrieved 18 July 2013

Target Acquisition and Designation Sights (TADS)

TADS contains stabilized electro-optical sensors, a

laser rangefinder A laser rangefinder, also known as a laser telemeter, is a rangefinder that uses a laser beam to determine the distance to an object. The most common form of laser rangefinder operates on the time of flight principle by sending a laser pulse in ...

and

laser target designator A laser designator is a laser light source which is used to designate a target. Laser designators provide targeting for laser-guided bombs, missiles, or precision artillery munitions, such as the Paveway series of bombs, AGM-114 Hellfire, o ...

. The TADS assembly can rotate +/− 120 degrees in

azimuth An azimuth (; from ar, اَلسُّمُوت, as-sumūt, the directions) is an angular measurement in a spherical coordinate system. More specifically, it is the horizontal angle from a cardinal direction, most commonly north. Mathematicall ...

, +30/−80 degrees in

elevation The elevation of a geographic location is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface (see Geodetic datum § Vert ...

and can move independently of the PNVS. The movements of TADS can be 'slaved' to the head movements of the

crew to point where they are looking. This allows images from TADS to be projected onto the crew helmet-mounted optical

sights A sight is an aiming device used to assist in visually aligning ranged weapons, surveying instruments or optical illumination equipments with the intended target. Sights can be a simple set or system of physical markers that have to be aligne ...

, overlaid upon their view of the

cockpit A cockpit or flight deck is the area, usually near the front of an aircraft or spacecraft, from which a Pilot in command, pilot controls the aircraft. The cockpit of an aircraft contains flight instruments on an instrument panel, and the ...

and battle space. TADS contains a

thermographic camera Infrared thermography (IRT), thermal video and/or thermal imaging, is a process where a thermal camera captures and creates an image of an object by using infrared radiation emitted from the object in a process, which are examples of infrared ...

and a monochrome daylight television camera. With the improvements planned with M-TADS in the block III level AH-64D, the monochrome TV-camera is planned to be replaced with a full color camera. It also used to contain direct-view

optics Optics is the branch of physics that studies the behaviour and properties of light, including its interactions with matter and the construction of instruments that use or detect it. Optics usually describes the behaviour of visible, ultraviole ...

(DVO) which the copilot/ gunner (CPG) could see through the Optical Relay Tube (ORT). But in recently fielded models of the AH-64D the ORT along with the DVO has been removed as it was rarely used. It has been replaced in the co-pilot's cockpit by a third Multi Purpose Display.

Pilot Night Vision System

Mounted above the TADS, the Pilot

Night Vision System A night-vision device (NVD), also known as a night optical/observation device (NOD), night-vision goggle (NVG), is an optoelectronic device that allows visualization of images in low levels of light, improving the user's night vision. The dev ...

(PNVS) contains an infrared camera slaved to the head movements of the

pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators, because they a ...

. PNVS can rotate +/− 90 degrees in azimuth and +20/− 45 degrees in elevation. PNVS has a high rate of movement (120° per second) so as to accurately match the head movements of the pilot.

Arrowhead upgrade

As of 2005 a program was under way to upgrade the U.S. Apache fleet to the Modernized-TADS/PNVS (M-TADS/PNVS) standard, also known as Arrowhead.$262.4M in Arrowheads for Apaches
''

Defense Industry Daily Defense or defence may refer to: Tactical, martial, and political acts or groups * Defense (military), forces primarily intended for warfare * Civil defense, the organizing of civilians to deal with emergencies or enemy attacks * Defense indust ...

'', 2 May 2005 This upgrade is claimed to give a 150% performance and reliability improvement, while reducing costs through lower maintenance requirements.

References

{{reflist Helicopter components Lockheed Martin