Honeywell Charts the Future of the Primus Epic Cockpit

Honeywell has ambitious plans for Primus Epic, the integrated flight deck that forever changed the way pilots manage, navigate and operate their aircraft. With its debut in 1996, Primus Epic broke new ground and became the first choice of aircraft manufacturers and pilots worldwide. 

Fast forward to 2025 and Primus Epic is installed on thousands of best-selling business jets, regional airliners and helicopters, including models produced by Gulfstream, Dassault, Embraer, Pilatus and Leonardo.

The next iteration of Honeywell’s industry-leading cockpit, now in development, will be called Primus Epic 3.0.Due to launch in 2026, Epic 3.0 will address obsolescence and keep the most successful integrated cockpit in history highly relevant for at least the next 10-15 years. 

Epic 3.0 and Anthem: Meet the Future of Avionics

“Primus Epic 3.0 will build a bridge between Epic and our exciting next-generation Honeywell Anthem flight deck,” Woirhaye said. “Anthem is the future of avionics for new aircraft designs, while Epic will extend the service life of existing fleets and provide operators with many advanced Anthem features like touch-enabled controls, enhanced 3D graphics and cloud-native services.”

Honeywell Anthem builds on Primus Epic’s legacy of reliability, flexibility and extraordinary pilot experience. Like Epic, Anthem is highly scalable and versatile enough to fit the needs of almost any platform. It also includes new features like touchscreen interface, cloud connectivity, faster processing speeds and seamless integration with air traffic management.

“We are intentionally blurring the lines between Epic and Anthem to enable fleet commonality and ensure a seamless transition for customers,” said Jorge Verduzco, Honeywell Product Line Director for Integrated Avionics.

Primus Epic Evolves to Meet Future Needs 

"Over time, many of Anthem's unique capabilities will be incorporated into the Primus Epic 3.0 platform, enhancing its performance and expanding its functionality, which will make Primus Epic more valuable for pilots and operators,” Verduzco added.

“Working with aircraft manufacturers and responding to their input, we will support the Primus Epic installed base for many years to come and continue to add features to improve safety, situational awareness and performance,” he said.

Primus Epic 3.0 growth features will include:

• Addition of a complete system solution to monitor and detect GPS interference (jamming and spoofing) and provide resilient navigation solutions. 
• SmartView synthetic vision system and INAV upgrades including surface alert (SURF- IA) and other advanced safety features using 3D and 2D moving map display features.   
• Next-Generation Flight Management System (NGFMS) improvements like full-phase required time of arrival (RTA) and functionality enabling FMS connectivity to electronic flight bag and offboard computing apps. 
• Introduction of SAL-3 compliant cybersecure aircraft gateway to accelerate Honeywell’s connected avionics vision and streamline wireless information flow between pilot, maintainer and operators over certified and non-certified systems in and around the aircraft.
• Flight controls enhancements such as next-generation autothrottle, flight director, full-envelope protection and soft go-around capabilities. 

Primus Epic Set the Standard on Day 1

From Day 1, Primus Epic delivered unprecedented integration of navigation, communication and flight management systems. It featured large flat-panel liquid crystal displays, a Windows-like display architecture and a human-centered cockpit design to make flying easier and more intuitive than ever before. 

“A unique virtual backplane network is the heart of Primus Epic. It uses modular architecture to streamline maintenance, improve cooling and reliability, and reduce wiring, space and weight requirements,” said Verduzco. “Honeywell Anthem takes Epic’s modular philosophy and evolves it to meet the requirements of today’s connected aviation ecosystem.”

Primus Epic was certified on the Dassault Falcon 900EX and Gulfstream G550 business jets in 2003. Those initial certifications marked the start of Epic’s rollout across a wide range of business jets, regional airliners and helicopters.

It has also been adapted into manufacturer-branded avionics suites like PlaneView on Gulfstream models and EASy (Enhanced Avionics System) on Dassault Falcons. In 2021, UPS began replacing 1980s-era avionics systems on its Airbus A300F aircraft with Primus Epic.

Faster processing, higher-resolution displays, improved graphics and a more intuitive pilot interface are hallmarks of Primus Epic 2.0, which launched in 2018. Ongoing investment pushed platform capabilities to the 2.0+ level with advanced features like the SmartView synthetic vision system, next-generation flight management system and 3D IntuView weather radar.

“Primus Epic’s unique systems architecture has enabled this flagship platform to stay relevant for three decades and counting,” Woirhaye said. “Primus Epic is the bedrock on which Honeywell Anthem is built, and we will continue to evolve Primus Epic to meet operators’ needs for many years to come.”