INDAL Technologies

The former Douglas Equipment and Douglas SPD businesses based in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, UK have been acquired by INDAL Technologies, a business unit of Curtiss-Wright Flow Control Company with its headquarters based in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada.

All of the key military products manufactured under the former Douglas SPD brand - the MANTIS aircraft handling system, the Mu-Meter runway friction measuring system and the ESHA deck handler and mobiliser ISO container handling system remain available from the INDAL Technologies team in Cheltenham.

Importantly however, in the sphere of aircraft handling both onboard ships and in land based applications, the range of options available from INDAL Technologies is now substantially increased.

As well as the well proven MANTIS handler INDAL Technologies provides a range of marine aircraft landing securing and traversing solutions to the world’s Navy’s and Coast Guard’s.

With nearly 40 years of experience with equipment for shipboard aircraft operation in the toughest possible environments, INDAL is uniquely qualified to design, engineer, and manufacture aircraft handling solutions and aviation support equipment.

Its integrated ASIST system not only enables helicopter pilots to safely land and takeoff from the decks of ships in severe weather and at night, it traverses the helicopter into and out of onboard hangars.

ASIST has been designed for ease of installation on new ship build and as a retrofit option, offering an integrated helicopter handling system with full sea state 5/6 free deck landing operations and the added advantage of no man on deck during flight deck handling.

For environments where high levels of non-integrated manoeuvring are necessary, INDAL’s MANTIS battery-powered handlers have capabilities to accommodate a broad range of helicopters and combat aircraft both onboard ship and on land.

MANTIS is a mid range handler and provides the capability to position helicopters and fighter aircraft within the confines of a flight deck or shipboard hangar space being equally adept at manoeuvring on land based facilities.

Offering fast, precise manual control the MANTIS fits wholly within the aircraft footprint to permit high precision, high parking densities and make the best use of valuable parking on craft ranging from frigates to aircraft carriers.

Key features of the latest unit include sophisticated AC control, digitised computer systems which accurately control both steering and speed to optimise parking density and increased battery endurance post charge. 

The unit is specifically designed to offer clearance even when used with aircraft with extremely low under fuselage ground clearance such as the Sikorsky MH60-R.  This same low overall height provides the combined MANTIS and aircraft with a very low centre of gravity, giving tremendous stability to the towed aircraft even in very extreme sea states.

MANTIS does not require modifications to the airframe as it interfaces directly with the conventional tow points fitted by the aircraft manufacturer and the unit’s free moving ability allows it to acquire aircraft that are damaged or which have landed in adverse conditions in non ideal deck positions.

MANTIS has clearances and lifting capacities for all current and future NATO rotary and fixed wing aircraft within its payload range – ranging from low ground clearance helicopters such as the Sikorsky MH60-R, Merlin EH101 and NH90 to rear wheel interfaced aircraft such as the Apache, EC665 Tiger and even the latest F-35B STOVL JSF and other aircraft proposals with AUM in excess of 30,000 Kgs.

As well as its aircraft handling expertise INDAL Technologies provides marine aircraft landing and securing solutions to the world’s Navy ships and Coast Guard vessels. With nearly 40 years of experience with equipment for shipboard aircraft operation in the toughest possible environments, INDAL is uniquely qualified to design, engineer, and manufacture aircraft handling solutions and aviation support equipment.

In addition to its aircraft handling solutions INDAL provides ship hangar doors, ship telescopic hangars, cable handling systems for towed line arrays and towed bodies and specialized winch applications for submarines.