Defence Helicopter meets FAUN
James Careless from Defence Helicopter magazine caught up with FAUN TRACKWAY's J Alun Jones, Managing Director to discuss why FAUN Helicopter Landing Mats are an essential part of modern engineering equipment.
“We’re based in Anglesey, North Wales and our business has been producing portable aluminium roadways and runways for the defence industry for more than four decades. Today, we supply our products to over 40 different armed forces worldwide.
“Our Helicopter Landing Mats (HLM) were originally designed and produced for the UK Royal Air Force. The panels which create the HLM can be manufactured in a range of sizes to suit the specific requirements of civilian and defence users.
“The kits we provide to assemble the mats are made up of three elements, TRACKWAY panels, air potable cages to ease transportation, and accessories such as a bolt down kit that secures the position of the mat – particularly important in extreme weather conditions.
“The most common issues our clients look to us to overcome are brown-out and foreign object damage, both of which affect the safety of the pilot and the maintenance of the aircraft.
“Brown-out is often more problematic in dry, dusty locations - when an aircraft is landing, the sand is blown up which obstructs the pilot’s view of the landing area.
“Foreign object damage can occur when helicopters land on terrain that includes small rocks and items that can become trapped in the engine.
“Since we began delivering our products, the requirements from the industry have altered. Now, civilians and military want panels that are very lightweight and easy to construct so that they can deploy greater numbers of them to multiple locations, using less space and reducing costs in transporting them.
“As a result, we have redeveloped our HLM to support these needs, ensuring it is lightweight, versatile, and robust. It has interlocking panels and is NATO palletised for easy deployment, whatever the situation.
“Export strength has continued to shield us from the impact of defence cuts in the West, so despite the economic downturn, we have recorded some strong results at financial year end.
“Looking ahead, we are developing a new Aircraft Landing Mat (ALM), designed by our engineers and tested by the US Army’s Engineering and Research Centre (ERDC), which has a unique key locking system that prevents any lateral movement on the matting.
“An alternative ALM is required by the US military as its traditional landing mats are not suited to modern aircrafts such as the F-16 Fighter Jets which reach extreme temperatures and are significantly heavier than previous models.
“The prototype we are working on can also be made into a traditional helicopter landing pad so rotary craft can easily identify where they may land and a kit has been created so that lights can be installed in the mat ensuring a safe landing after dark.
“This latest development with ERDC’s engineers is part of a broad range of activity we have been involved with in the States ahead of the launch of our US office later this year.
“As the requirements from our clients continue to change, we will continue to evolve our HLM and ALM designs to provide the most innovative products possible in order to meet demand from the industry.”
