Airbus, L3 Technologies and DRS Leonardo formally sealed their partnership yesterday to develop new fixed and deployable flight recorders for Airbus airliner programs, beginning with the A350 in 2019. The new devices will come in two versions: a fixed crash-protected cockpit voice and data recorder (CVDR) designed by L3, capable of recording up to 25 hours of voice and flight data on a single recorder; and an automatic deployable flight recorder (ADFR) developed by DRS. L3 will serve as the integrator of both devices.

The new CVDR answers EASA and ICAO requirements to extend the duration of voice recording to 25 hours compared with today’s requirement of two hours. Airbus plans to fit two of the CVDRs to shorter-range A320 airliners, greatly increasing redundancy for both voice and flight data recovery compared with today’s airliner installations. 

DRS developed the other version of the new recording system–the ADFR–for longer range aircraft such as the Airbus A321LR, A330, A350 and A380. Offering extended flight time over water or remote areas, the ADFR's sensors will deploy automatically in case of significant structural deformation or water emmersion, ejecting the recorder from the aircraft with a non-incendiary spring-based mechanism. Designed to float, the crash-protected memory module contains to 25 hours of recorded cockpit voice and flight data and comes with integrated 90-day Underwater Locator Beacon (ULB) to help rescue teams rapidly locate and recover flight recorders.