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COMPETITIVE ASSESSMENT OF TECHNOLOGY 116 Civil versions of the rotor could broaden the services provided by small regional aircraft and helicopters and increase the passenger capacity of limited airports. Avionics The application of digital electronics has already made major improvements in avionics systems capability and reliability while reducing weight, volume, and cost per unit of capability. The new generation of B-757, B-767, B737-300, MD-80, and A310 aircraft all utilize digital flight control systems. Major increases in the use of the latest developments in microcircuitry will permit the attainment of ultrareliable, fault-tolerant systems architecture. Such systems are vital to the implementation of active controls and computer-integrated flight management systems. The forward-facing crew cockpit (FFCC) on the A310 is an advanced design comparable with the latest U.S. planes. However, it should be noted that the color CRT hardware essential to such systems was developed in Japan. Both Aerospatiale and British Aerospace are conducting advanced flight deck programs that have developed the use of multifunction CRT displays. Similar advanced crew stations are being developed by U.S. manufacturers. Advanced avionics, in conjunction with active controls and the incorporation of flight management systems, can potentially produce fuel savings of up to 20 percent, weight reductions of as much as 10 percent, with attendant reductions in operating cost of 5 to 10 percent. The advances in avionics also have extensive room for application to general aviation and regional aircraft, and U.S. strength in this area is applicable to these classes of aircraft. In rotorcraft the U.S. is judged to have an advantage in both flight management and automated control. Much of the electronics/avionics capability in commercial transports is the by-product of technology developed for military aircraft. This is as true for foreign countries as it is for the United States. In military avionics, the United States still leads the rest of the world; as long as the United States continues the close synergy between civil and military avionics technology, it is doubtful that any foreign country will soon surpass the United States in this technology. However, as noted earlier, the Japanese did develop present aircraft-quality color CRT hardware for the European and U.S. aircraft industry. Japan does have the development capability and potentially lower costs that would enable it to challenge the U.S. leadership in aircraft avionics (digital computers), given the opportunity. Presently, flight deck and flight controls technology
