Ozmens’ SNC Awarded Life-Saving DVE Production Contract for Special Operations & Army Aircraft

Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC), the global aerospace and national security company owned by Eren and Fatih Ozmen, has been awarded a production contract with multiple delivery orders to procure, deliver and support the Degraded Visual Environment Pilotage System (DVEPS) on U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM) and select U.S. Army aircraft.

SNC DVE Solutions enhance visibility and situational awareness for aircrews in low-visibility conditions, enabling them to “see and avoid” obstacles in their flight path during takeoff, enroute and landing phases of flight.

“We are very excited to get these systems in the hands of our military aircrews,” said SNC CEO Fatih Ozmen. “DVEPS will enhance aircraft survivability throughout the entire mission profile by providing critical capabilities not available on current aircraft, such as terrain and obstacle detection, highlighting and alerts.” 

The DVEPS is a multi-sensor system providing real-time situational awareness to aid pilots in maintaining spatial awareness during and after transition from Visual Meteorological Conditions (VMC) to DVE conditions. 

“DVEPS offers a leap-ahead capability to enhanced situational awareness today and provides the foundation for an incremental growth path to a much great capability such as pilotage or supervised autonomy, fully relevant for future vertical lift (FVL) aircraft,” said Greg Cox, executive vice president for SNC’s Electronic and Information Systems business area.

Aviation crews flying closer to the ground in limited visibility conditions will need to be aware of, and avoid, unseen dangerous terrain and obstacles in their path—from trees, to electrical wires, to towers. SNC DVE technology provides terrain and obstacle awareness, including cable and wire detection, in limited visibility conditions, anywhere and at any time. It also allows aircrews to complete missions safely and successfully in multi-ship operations and degraded navigation environments.

SNC was competitively selected for the third phase DVEPS task order following a successful airborne test at the Yuma Proving Grounds in Arizona in 2015. This final phase includes full-rate production of DVEPS systems in Sparks, Nevada.

For more information, visit www.sncorp.com.