Bearings for Military Helicopter Optical Sighting Systems

Precision Targeting in Flight

An Electro-Optical Targeting System (EOTS) enables a military helicopter to detect, track, and accurately target objects from the air. RBC Bearings includes EOTS among its specialized helicopter applications, alongside other precision-engineered components such as swashplate spherical bearings, tail rotor links, damper bearings, pitch link bearings, and lead-lag bushings. This portfolio also includes scissor bearings, control rods, and components qualified to the AS81819 standard with QPL approval, which requires resistance to water, hydraulic fluid, turbine fuel, lubricating oil, antifreeze, and solid contaminants such as dust. In addition, RBC manufactures specialized fasteners including the rotor hub bolt, the swashplate hex bolt, and the pawl-type pitch control rod bolt. RBC Bearings' comprehensive helicopter portfolio covers the complete tail rotor system, main rotor system, actuators, engine systems, gearboxes, and landing gear systems—essentially every major moving assembly critical to helicopter operation. It is no coincidence that an electro-optical targeting system demands the same level of bearing precision as a helicopter's main rotor. Any vibration or uncontrolled wear at the sighting system's pivot point directly reduces targeting accuracy, a consequence that can be critical in military operations. The same principle of precision rotational control applies, although in a very different environment, to industrial positioning and machine vision systems. At BIOSA, we recommend high-precision bearings for these applications because the tighter the allowable wear tolerance, the more important it becomes to select the correct bearing from the earliest stages of equipment design.