Update – Boeing Skyfox

The will to succeed and the necessary finance for such a complex project though are often not always harmonious and so the project went little farther than flight test under its former ownership. For eighteen months the originators of the project, Flight Concepts Inc, of Los Angeles, searched for a major backer with the result that the giant Boeing Military Airplane Company of Wichita, Kansas, took up the reins of the project last November.

With Boeing at the helm, Skyfox is set to fly and probably capture a worthwhile share of the military jet trainer market in the years ahead.

Boeing logically points out that there are still over 1 ,000 T-33s in existence today with some 800 of these being presently operational including 154 in the US forces alone. Primary sales targets will be Portugal (who still want their long-promised Skyfoxes), South Korea, Canada, Greece, Mexico, Thailand and Taiwan. Boeing is able to either fully refurbish and build the aircraft at their own Wichita facility or locally using the indigenous aerospace industrial resources of the country concerned. This latter approach will win many orders as it provides a golden opportunity for an emerging nation to develop its own aerospace industrial potential while gaining a first-rate jet trainer at possibly half the cost of any equivalent in the same performance range.

The Skyfox prototype began flight tests in August, 1983 and has since logged more than a hundred hours. Basically the aircraft is a zero-timed T-33 featuring a new front windscreen, composite SR-71-like splayed fairings ranging from the nose back to the wing root, new wingtips with anhedral winglets and a totally redesigned empennage that supports two pylon-mounted Garrett TFE-731-3 turbofans of 3,700lb thrust. The mods are topped off by a new tail, new ejection seats, avionics and fuel system to finish with an aircraft that is 20% lighter in dry ramp weight than a T-33 with 42% more power and up to three times the mission endurance.

Quoted performance is sufficient to place the Skyfox in the Alpha Jet/Hawk class yet at around half the price, claim Boeing. A maximum level speed of 505kts and five minutes to climb to 30,000ft combined with greatly enhanced manoeuvrability would leave the average T-Bird driver green with envy. Skyfox grosses at 14,400lb (6532kg) and can ferry out to ranges of 3000 nautical miles. Of interest is that the cavernous rear fuselage area which once housed the single 5,200Ib thrust Allison J33 turbojet can now be used for additional fuel tankage or any number of specialist ECM-type electronic packages. This enables the aircraft to be used in the electronic warfare and surveillance role in addition to pure jet training.

It is this latter capability that today is of greatest interest perhaps to our own Department of Defence.

During November the RAAF finally issued its long-expected Request For Tender (AFT) concerning civilian-operated flight support for the RAN and RAAF in the years ahead. Pacific Aviation presently operates their Lear 35s in the RAN fleet support role and also conducts some work for the RAAF in radar calibration, target towing and high-altitude mapping work that was previously performed by the Amberley-based Canberras.

The new requirement though is a little different in that it seeks to replace the role of No77 Squadron’s Mirage fighters in the RAN fleet support function that due to performance limitations cannot be satisfactorily undertaken by civilian executive-type jets. What the RAN specifically needs is what they had with the RAN FAA A-4G Skyhawks, a nimble combat jet with excellent subsonic performance and mission endurance.

The RAAF willingly took on this role in 1983 with the demise of the RAN fixed-wing element of the FAA. Only problem was that fairly soon No77 Squadron found itself flying a good third of its budgeted hours in support of the Navy. This was more than the Air Force had anticipated and came on top of the introduction of the F-18A Hornet when many of the Mirage maintenance technicians and not a small number of aircrew were suddenly de-camped to the US to bring the Hornet transition programme up to speed. Additionally, as the OCU (Operational Conversion Unit) was in the process of converting its final Mirage course this was also a task that was by mid-85 to become the responsibility of No77 which is presently home to more than 50 aircraft.

Sans their navy Skyhawks, the RAAF had to fill the void as their own Mirages would be unable to undertake the task by 1988 and the Hornets were definitely not intended for this role at any time. Enter the RFT for navy and air force high-performance support and a bevy of Boeing salesman bearing glossies singing the praises of Skyfox in both civilian and military liveries.

All potential tenderers have to date been briefed on the Boeing Skyfox project while Australian Aviation understands that a particularly well-credentialed group has made a firm bid in a company with a major Australian aerospace concern. The offer has particularly attractive repercussions for the overall Australian aerospace industrial scene as it in essence offers the opportunity to refurbish a potentially large number of Skyfox aircraft for ex-port to third parties. Boeing also has a vested interest in developing the Australian aerospace industrial base due to its ongoing Australian Industry Involvement (nee AIP) programme by way of offset contracts set against the billions of dollars invested in-Boeing airliners destined for local operation.

As we said, at the beginning of this article, the Skyfox programme is certainly an interesting one, and now you know why.

If handled properly, the Skyfox could mean much more to Australia than just another international jet trainer programme as it is an opportunity to further develop our own aerospace resources base in the years ahead. The outcome of the RFT. which will be known around late 1986, will certainly be most interesting.