Management of Precipitation Static on F/A-18 Canopies

F/A-18 canopies and windshields are prone to accumulate high (>70 kV) levels of electrical charge on the outer surface during operation due to precipitation static charging that is carried and stored until discharged. Currently this charge is removed, after landing, by ground personnel, by wiping with a conductive glove. This process of allowing accumulation of charge and subsequent removal by personnel is a process that the Navy would prefer to eliminate due to inherent hazards to flight and ground crew and potential scratch damage to the transparencies. The solution is to eliminate the possibility of charge accumulation during flight. Eikos Inc, teamed with The Boeing Company, proposes that the solution is to make part or the entire surface of the transparencies conductive by enhancing that surface with Invisicon technology, which utilizes carbon nanotubes in an extremely thin veil that can conceivably be deposited either in bands or over the entire transparency surface. In this effort the team will produce and test subscale and full scale transparencies against Boeing procurement specification to validate and position the technology for insertion into the F/A-18 program.