Change 7.1 TCAS upgrade available for business jets through service centers and dealers | Press Release

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Press Release

Issued by ACSS, an L3Harris and Thales Company.

October 30, 2012

Change 7.1 TCAS upgrade available for business jets through service centers and dealers

ACSS, an L-3 Communications & Thales Company, announced today that many business jet OEMs are now offering Change 7.1 software for Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance Systems through their service centers. The Change 7.1 software upgrade is available for ACSS TCAS products through service centers operated by major aircraft manufacturers, such as Bombardier, Cessna, Dassault, Embraer, Gulfstream and Hawker Beechcraft. A number of business jet dealers can also upgrade ACSS TCAS products to Change 7.1 capability.

ACSS TCAS products include TCAS II™, TCAS 2000™, TCAS 3000™, TCAS 3000SP™, T2CAS® and T3CAS™.

On December 20, 2011, the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) issued a mandate requiring the implementation of TCAS Change 7.1 for aircraft operating in European airspace. EASA's mandate calls for Change 7.1 software to be installed on all existing aircraft using TCAS II products by December 2015. Once Change 7.1 is installed, business jet operators will be compliant with the new C119c TCAS standard.

"Change 7.1 is a simple software-only modification that provides important safety enhancements for operators," said Jean-Michel Clairis-Gauthier, vice president of sales, marketing and business development for ACSS. "The upgrade can be handled quickly and easily through an OEM service center or dealer."

The Change 7.1 upgrade applies to all manufacturers of TCAS II products and delivers these important safety enhancements: reversal logic, new aural alerting for Adjust Vertical Speed, and "Level-Off, Level-Off" resolution advisories to make it more clear that a reduction in vertical rate is required.

More than 16,000 ACSS TCAS products are installed and operating in air transport, regional, corporate and military aircraft around the world. ACSS is the standard TCAS supplier on a number of business jets, including Citation X, XLS, Mustang and Sovereign from Cessna; Falcon 7X, 2000 and 900 from Dassault; Legacy and Phenom business jets from Embraer; Global 5000 from Bombardier; G350, G450, G500 and G550 aircraft from Gulfstream; Hawker Horizon aircraft from Hawker Beechcraft; and Learjet 40, 40XR, 45 and 45XR aircraft from Learjet.