Newsdesk – Military Aviation

Basically the RANRL development consists of a torpedo-like unit that can imitate the various magnetic and acoustic signatures of a large variety of ships. The unit is towed at a safe distance behind a fishing trawler and triggers off the mines without the need to have the mother ship generate massive amounts of energy to provide the required electrical field. $5. 8m has already been allocated to further testing the concept and if tests prove successful it is hoped the system will be ready for deployment by 1988.

To further boost the ready reaction capability of the system the RAN is to investigate using their existing Sea King helicopters in the sweeping role. The USN is presently using its new Sikorsky CH-53E Super Stallion helicopters in a similar role and if the RAN tests prove viable then ultimately the Sea Kings will be stripped of their ASW equipment so as to increase their mission endurance in the mine countermeasures role. Tests will commence later this year and a decision on the long-term future of the Sea Kings will be made during 1987.

 Boosted Paveway Enters Operational Service:

Designated AN/ AGM-123A Skipper 2, the first batch of rocket-boosted Paveway series laser-guided 1,000lb bombs has entered service with the US Navy. Skipper 2 is powered by a Shrike rocket motor and provides a considerable boost in range for the normally glide-launched Paveway bomb. Skipper 2 will also allow launch aircraft to remain further from an enemy air defence zone and provide enhanced flexibility in attacking such targets at low level where the normal glide approach of the Paveway bomb would allow it a minimal range profile.

The RAAF uses Paveway bombs on its F-111C, F-18A Homet and Mirage IO aircraft and is examining the acquisition of the rocket-boosted Skipper 2 version for delivery later this decade. Cost per round is in the region of $A50,000.

During October, the RAAF also test-fired its first GBU-15 glide bomb using the Pave Tack system that is presently being introduced to the F-111C force.

F-18 Bulkhead Fatigue Problems Under Investigation:

Public revelations during October that an F-18 bulkhead had developed cracks during laboratory fatigue testing has resulted in the RAAF, via the US Navy, making an airframe warranty claim against McDonnell Douglas. Problems of this nature, and the tail fin reinforcement before it, are fully covered in a lengthy and comprehensive technical warranty on the F-18 aircraft.

The bulkhead failed at 2000hrs testing. which is equivalent to seven or eight years of average RAAF usage. The F-18 was designed for a 6000-hour life which would see the aircraft in RAAF front-line service for up to a quarter century. RAAF officials became aware of the problem when the first crack appeared in the test bulkhead in April 1985. At this time and during the following months Australian officials and experts attended a number of meetings and consultations to further discover the cause of the failures. The failed bulkhead is the rearmost of three bulkheads forming the wing attachment points. As a result of this failure, the bulkhead was repaired and further testing continued. In September 1985 the test was again stopped for a similar failure, this time on the left (or opposite) side of the FS488 bulkhead.

Both the RAAF and USN immediately took vigorous action to rectify the problem. McDonnell Douglas has made a proposal to the USN for modification of the bulkhead to ensure a full 6000-hour life. This will involve a redesigned and strengthened frame to be introduced into production aircraft as soon as possible. Aircraft already built will be modified at their first major airframe servicing while the strengthened bulkheads will be included in all new built aircraft.

Saudi Tornado Purchase Finalised:

The massive order for British combat aircraft by Saudi Arabia reported in our last edition has now been finalised. The complete package is actually somewhat larger than originally thought and is valued at around $A11bn.

On firm order are 48 Panavia Tornado IDS interdictor/strike aircraft with all onboard electronics complete as supplied to the RAF. Additionally, some 24 Tornado F. 2 (though believed to be referred to as F. 3s in Saudi service) ADV air defence fighters, 30 BAe Hawk jet trainers and 30 Pilatus PC-9 turboprop primary trainers complete the deal. The selection of the Hawk/Platus package is interesting in that it was by the way of this dual marketing arrangement that BAe hoped to win the RAF primary trainer order earlier in 1985. The latest sales coup by BAe goes a long way towards mending the rift that had been generated between Switzerland and Britain on a trade basis following the selection of the Brazilian Tucano as the RAF’s future primary trainer. BAe still feel that the PC-9 should have won this competition, particularly in view of the very large quantity of British military equipment that Switzerland has purchased in recent decades.

With the BAe Hawk and the Franco/German Alpha Jet now shortlisted as a Vampire/Venom replacement by the Swiss Air Force, this latest sales coup headed by BAe and in favour of Pilatus is just what the British needed in order to eventually see their Hawk in Swiss colours.

Tindal and Derby Bases Begin Taking Shape:

As 1985 comes to a close it is well to note the development that is taking place at the RAAF’s two new northern bases, Tindal and Derby. Tindal comes online in 1988 when the first elements of No. 75 Squadron arrived with their MDC F-18A Hornet fighters. Funds are presently being poured into developing the Tindal Base in both an operational and environmental context in order to overcome some of the bad publicity the base has attracted owing to its remote location.

During a recent visit to Tindal the CAS, Air Marshal Jake Newham, stressed the high quality of housing and support facilities that were being invested in at the base. Presently under plan or construction were 379 modern fully air-conditioned family homes, a sports complex including an Olympic pool and recreation hall plus the highest standard of single-man quarters yet found on an Australian base. The effect of the base on nearby Katherine is also being felt in that the town is experiencing a boom never before seen in the area. The pre-base population was barely 4,000 while this will swell to more than 7,000 by the end of the decade which will also allow Katherine to expand its tourist facilities owing to the higher permanent population base.

Further to the west, Derby is being developed in two stages. Situated 35km south-east of Derby township, stage one will be completed by late 1987 and will include a $60m investment in a bare-bones base comprising underground fuel storage, pumps, full tarmac, taxiway and runway surfacing and basic navigational and approach aids. Stage two will be ready by 1990 and will allow detachments of aircraft to operate out of the base with some measure of in-house support including basic accommodation and maintenance facilities. The base is planned as a well-equipped forward operating station rather than as a permanent accommodation base and will go a long way to extending Australian air power over the north-west of Australia.

Sikorsky Well Ahead on Offset Obligations, Looking Strong on Blackhawk:

The RAN is due to sign for an additional 4 Sikorsky S-70 Seahawks to augment the original 8 ordered during 1984 for their FFG patrol frigates. Signing for the 4 previously optioned aircraft should take place before this April and will ensure project continuity in manufacturing the S-70 line in Australia.

At late 1985, Sikorsky was well ahead of its offset obligations on the total RAN project. The DoD reports that Sikorsky has now placed some $A12. 7m worth of work in Australia against a required objective of $A9m. CAC has taken the lion’s share of the work with contracts to the value of $A6. 5m while Hawker de Havilland (who now own CAC) has a $A1. 9m contract to produce the revolutionary X wing and stabilizer component on Sikorsky’s X wing research helicopter. Interscan Australia has also won a $A2. 2m contract to produce aircraft landing equipment while Rockwell Collins has won a $A1. 8m contract to produce the Tacan navigation units required for the entire projected fleet of 247 Seahawk aircraft. Additionally. Bankstown-based Hawker Pacific has won a $358,555 contract to support the Philippine Air Force S-766 which represents a new approach to local work sharing.

Not confirmed at presstime was the news that the Blackhawk had won DFDC approval as the first stage Iroquois replacement. Defence hope to still be able to announce the outcome of this potentially billion-dollar order by the second quarter of this year. If the Blackhawk does get the nod then an eventual requirement for up to sixty aircraft could be possible. The benefits this would carry to local industry would be profound in their breadth and scope in putting the Australian aerospace industry firmly on the map in terms of manufacturing specialised and cost-effective aeronautical components in the decades ahead.

Beech Make Another Big Sale to the US Military:

Beech have now sold some 237 King Air aircraft to the US and foreign military services. The latest order is for 33 C-12 and RC-12K aircraft split between the US Navy and Army. The C-12 and its variants are special-purpose versions of the civil King Air 200. Value of the order is $US89m and delivery will commence in late 1986.

Japan Orders Additional Orion Aircraft:

The Japanese Defence Agency has signed a memorandum of understanding with the US DoD for the licence production of an additional 30 Lockheed P-3C Orion ASW aircraft. Japan has presently in service and on order 45 of the long range maritime patrol aircraft and is looking to add a further 25 examples to take its ultimate requirement to 100 aircraft. The P-3C Orion replaces P-2 Neptunes, which at one time numbered 132 in Japanese service.

Air Show Dates:

For those planning ahead to attend the next Farnborough and Paris air shows you might like to note the following dates. Famborough kicks off on Sun- day (press day) 31st August, 1966 and runs through till the following Sunday. The five weekdays of Famborough are for the Trade and the final weekend is open to the public.

Meanwhile June 12-21 has been provisionally set as the dates for the 1987 Paris Salon. Paris will open on a Friday (press day), have two public weekends and one week of Trade representation.

Ex-raaf Hercules Aircraft to Aid African Famine Relief:

The Prime Minister announced on December 1st that two ex-RAAF C-130A Hercules transports would be refurbished and used to aid African famine relief schemes under the control of the International Red Cross.

The Australian Government would provide $1. 7m in funding to bring the two aircraft up to flying condition. The nine C-130As are presently controlled by the Dept of Administrative Services while the two aircraft selected will be presented to the Australian Development Assistance Programme so that they can be in operation by this February.

Meanwhile, sale of the ex-RAN Grumman S- 2 Tracker ASW aircraft is near and the aircraft are awaiting transfer by RAAF Chinook helicopter from NAS Nowra to a ship at sea once formal Australian Government approval of the end user is approved. It is believed Asia may be the final destination for both the surplus Hercules and Trackers following strong interest by South Korea in recent months in these aircraft.

New Fatigue Approach to Macchi Aircraft:

Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation’s Engineering Development Department has been successful in winning a $1. 5 million, two-year contract for a new fatigue assessment of the RAAF Macchi MB. 326H jet trainer aircraft.

Called a Durability and Damage Tolerance Assessment (DADTA), this analysis involves a new approach to airframe life management based on predictions of the structure’s tolerance to possible defects such as cracks in critical components.

The first Macchi entered RAAF service in 1967. This marked the beginning of a production program at CAC which eventually delivered 87 Macchis to the RAAF and a further 10 to the RAN Fleet Air Arm. The last aircraft delivery was made during 1972. The RAAF wishes to extend the service life of the Macchi to its economic limit, and operations to the year 2000 are envisaged. CAC has therefore modified the aircraft to ensure it will fly for up to three times its intended design life, without compromising safety standards.

CAC, in association with the RAAF and the Aeronautical Research Laboratories, is also nearing the completion of DADTA for the Mirage fighter aircraft. Techniques developed during the Mirage work will be used throughout the current program. DADTA was developed by the US Air Force as a result of experience with the F-111 and C-5A. These aircraft, designed at the forefront of technology, were found to have serious unexpected structural problems which could not be managed by traditional fatigue monitoring techniques.

The assumption behind DADTA is that all parts have flaws such as cracks, scratches or other damage. An assessment is then made on the impact of each flaw on the structural tolerances of the part, so the service life can be predicted. In this way, areas most sensitive to defects and damage may be controlled and monitored to ensure the safety of the aircraft. The DADTA approach is now a United States Air Force requirement for the design and maintenance of all new aircraft.

Raf Collects a ‘Catch 22” Over Saudi Tornado Purchase:

Desperately short on qualified aircrew, the Royal Air Force has been caught in a classic ‘Catch 22’ situation over the sale of Tornado fighter aircraft to Saudi Arabia, according to Jane’s Defence Weekly.

The RAF have been trying for three years now to bring their front-line aircrew requirements up to quota and have in the past eighteen months been heavily hit by a surge in air-line recruiting. As previously reported in Newsdesk, June AA, a number of European air forces are having acute aircrew manning problems due to the strong enticements of civil aviation.

When the Saudi Tornado sale was announced, it was well received by the RAF as most of the RSAF aircraft were to come from their own allocation through the coming three years. This would then take the pressure off the RAF who would then be able to catch up to their as yet unmet crewing requirement for their own Tornado units. What occurred though was that a large number of RAF pilots are now seeking to leave the RAF to work under contract (at about twice the net pay) for the RSAF on their Tornado programme.

Closer to home, the RAAF reports that its attrition rate amongst aircrew for 1985 was as expected and not too severe considering that the ‘Vietnam hump’ period is presently affecteding overall attrition numbers in all Army and Air Force units alike. An RAAF spokesman confirmed that most attrition is at around the eight or nine-year period when pilots in their late twenties, with young families, are more prone to depart the services in favour of a commercial career. The RAAF had over the past year been hit by a strong pilot requirement by Qantas while Cathay Pacific had also taken its share. Ironically, Cathay had scored more than a few TAA pilots which in turn had placed additional pressure on the RAAF as the domestics look to increase flight hours in the year ahead.

Usaf Look for New Gunship:

A product of the Vietnam War, the gunship, still holds a vital place in USAF strategy. Required nowadays primarily to support specialised rescue missions where massive aerial firepower is required to protect a helicopter rescue force, the present UASF gunship is the AC-130 Spectre, a heavily modified Hercules that is armed with a brace of 20mm Vulcan cannons and even a 105mm Howitzer. USAF THANK YOU The small staff of Australian Aviation would like to sincerely thank all our readers for their strong support over the past year. Name of the game in publishing is circulation, and thanks to you, we have just posted our 11th consecutive bi-annual circulation increase as verified by the Circulation Audit Bureau (CAB). This again makes your magazine the largest selling (up 37% in one year) aviation journal in the region in addition to being the best value.

In terms of value for money, our primary two rivals have during 1985 produced 12 and 6 issues respectively for a total of 748 pages and 458 pages costing the reader (on the newsstand) $29. 00 and $16. 00 for a per-page cost of 3. 8c and 3. 5c respectively. In the same period, Australian Aviation published 4 issues of 544 pages at a newsstand cost of $15. 60 for an investment of a mere 2. 7c per page. Mail subscribers (two and three-year terms) fared even better with an investment of a mere 2. 0c per page, nearly half the cost of our more frequent rival! For 1986 we will be producing six editions varying in size between 100 pages and 132+ while editorial content will always remain above 75% ensuring you the best value magazine at all times. Great efforts have also been made to eliminate the rash of literals that beset the March and November editions of 1985.

has just issued a Request For Proposals on a Spectre replacement for the nineties and an uprated Hercules will probably again be a favourite for this unique role.

Using state-of-the-art electronics the new aircraft will be quieter, have better radar jamming capabilities, carry more firepower and have greater endurance in addition to better self-protection against surface-to-air missiles.

Usaf Looking at a New Air Force One:

Time is finally catching up with America’s Presidential transport fleet of 707 aircraft. There are two official Air Force One aircraft, both Boeing 707s, one is nearing its 24th birthday while the the other is a relatively spritely 13 years old. Both aircraft though are fuel guzzlers by modem standards and exceedingly noisy by comparison with the new generation of jetliners.

Favoured as a replacement are two McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30s which when fitted with additional underfloor fuel tanks would have a non-stop range of more than 7000nm. McDonnell Douglas is presently offering excellent contracts on DC-10s as they need to sell about a dozen more to keep the line active till the projected commencement of MD-11 and C- 17 work around 1987/88. The USAF presently has on order some 60 KC-10 tankers and is talking of expanding this buy to include new Presidential transports in addition to more tankers.

 Lockheed Notch up 1800 Sales of the Long-Lived Hercules:

During November, Lockheed notched up its 1,800th sale of a Hercules airlifter. Number 1,800 is a civil L100-30 which is destined for Air Gabon. Air Gabon is the eighth African customer to order the civil version of the Hercules and will use the aircraft to interline with Air Gabon’s Boeing 747 Freighter. Further north, Lockheed won a $US100m contract with the Royal Saudi Air Force to provide support for their C-130 and C-140 Jetstar aircraft.

 Boeing Museum Takes Off:

It is nice to see aviation companies that appreciate their own heritage. Unfortunately in this day and age many airlines and manufacturers prefer to for-get their past as they myopically focus on the next five-year plan. Boeing, the world’s largest plane maker, is fortunately not one of these companies.

Boeing have recently established the first stage of what will ultimately become an excellent aeronautical museum at Boeing Field, Seattle. The first stage encompasses the period of aviation of the great pioneers including a replica of the original Boeing “barn’ used back in the nineteen twenties Stage two will be opened late next year and will be a six-storey glass-walled pavilion housing a large number of exhibits including a B-17F, Boeing 247, Ford Tri-motor and many more.

In true American fashion, the employees of Boeing have generously raised five million dollars for the museum which they proudly call- “their museum”. If you are in Seattle don’t miss it.

 New Electronic “Roadmap” for Pilots:

Hughes Aircraft Company is developing a revolutionary electronic display “roadmap” for military pilots enabling them to fly low over unfamiliar territory at high speed without having to wrestle with fight charts.

Called ITARS (Integrated Terrain Access and Retrieval System), the Hughes system allows the pilot to constantly update terrain data at the mere touch of a button. Under development for the US Air Force at the company’s Radar Systems Group in California, the system will display colour-coded surface features and man-made structures. The pilot can elect to see the information in look-down, look-ahead or head-up display panels.

The ITARS system will automatically share its stored data with other systems aboard the aircraft to aid navigation and weapon delivery. Sensor blending, mission planning and threat avoidance.

The modular design makes ITARS flexible enough for a variety of applications, ranging from helicopters and small tactical fighters to strategic and reconnaissance aircraft.