Garmin to modernize US Navy and Marine Corps F-5 aircraft

Garmin International, a unit of Garmin Limited, has revealed that its Garmin G3000 integrated flight deck has been selected for US Navy and US Marine Corps F-5 aircraft modernization program.

Tactical Air Support, Inc has selected the flight deck as part of a contract with the US Department of Defense (DOD) for F-5N+/F+ Avionics Reconfiguration and Tactical Enhancement/Modernization for Inventory Standardization (ARTEMIS) program.

The company first choose the Garmin G3000 for the F-5 adversary aircraft training fleet in 2018. This recent award builds upon Tactical Air and Garmin’s strategic relationship now serving the DOD fleet of F-5 adversary aircraft.

Garmin’s commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) G3000 open architecture supports integration with a wide range of mission equipment including military sensors, helmet mounted displays, and advanced electrically scanned radar systems.

The G3000 boasts a large and vibrant high-resolution flight display that interfaces to the F-5’s existing mission computer, enabling advanced mapping, tactical radio capabilities, radar display and more, according to the company.

The non-proprietary interface, software-based human machine interface (HMI), and mission integration will enable the DOD to rapidly deploy new technologies in the future.

Tactical Air has integrated the L3Harris ForceX mission computer along with a wide range of military sensors, communications equipment, and weapons systems into the G3000 touchscreen HMI.

“Garmin is proud to see our integrated flight deck technologies, deployed now on over 25,000 aircraft, also being adopted by the U.S. military and enhancing the mission and safety capabilities of our nation’s warfighters,” said Carl Wolf, Garmin vice president of aviation sales and marketing. 

The F-5 is a supersonic, multi-role tactical fighter and attack aircraft that in this role will provide air-to-air combat training, close-air support training, tactical development and evaluation support. The upgraded F-5 Advanced Tiger (AT) will be used in an aggressor training role, and the G3000 will transform the cockpit with one large area display and two touchscreen controllers.

“These upgrades bring modern safety systems and new tactical capabilities to the older airframes while also solving parts obsolescence and reliability issues within the existing avionics system,” the company concluded.