UK MoD Plans Anti-Collision System For Eurofighter Typhoons, F-35s

The UK MoD is developing an anti-collision system that can be fitted to Typhoon fighter jets to avoid mid-air crashes, BBC reported Wednesday.

The Military Aviation Authority (MAA) had warned the MoD that a crash between a typhoon and a commercial jet could cause substantial loss of life, the report said.

The report says the majority of mid-air collisions involving UK Military aircraft have taken place below 3,000ft, and with RAF aircraft now spending more time at a medium level than they did previously, there is an increasing likelihood of a fast-jet conflict with commercial air traffic.

The report says that last year’s collision between two Tornados had occurred because of lack of collision warning system onboard the aircraft.

The MAA's annual air safety report published on Wednesday praised "good progress" by the MoD overall, but said failure to upgrade safety equipment on Typhoons was "unsustainable".

“Anti-collision software should also be fitted to the new F35 fighter", the director general of the MAA, Air Marshal Richard Garwood was quoted as saying.

“There were "well documented failings over the fitment of an airborne collision avoidance system (ACAS) to Tornado GR4", he said.

Automatic collision avoidance systems can be helpful for other General aviation and military aircrafts also so as to avert major collisions. Such devices will be a game changer if installed on drones to avoid collisions without human help.