Newsdesk – Military

Sea King Loss:

The RAN lost another Westland Sea King ASW helo on July 16 when one of its Nowra-based aircraft lost transmission oil pressure some 65nm from Jervis Bay. The helo made a controlled ditching but later sank in 2000 fathoms of water.

The Sea King helicopters were originally purchased by the RAN in 1975 and since then five have been lost, all at sea and fortunately without injury to crew. Seven remain in inventory and they are nowadays used for close in-shore ASW and mine countermeasures research.

Biggest Farnborough Ever:

This year’s Farnborough air show, held in the first week of September, will be the biggest ever. At press time there were firm commitments from over 600 aerospace companies demonstrating some 150 different aircraft to a total crowd expected to exceed a quarter million people.

Newcomers to the show are many. In the civil line, the new BAe ATP and Aeritalia/ Aerospatiale ATR plus Fokker’s F50 will all make their Famborough debut while in the GA sphere performances by France’s ATL and Britain’s recently certificated ARV Super 2 light trainer will show the way to the future generation of light aircraft ultimately destined to re- place Cessna’s ubiquitous 152 next The stars of the show however will undoubtedly be BAe’s new EAP and Dassault’s Rafale. These two experimental fighters embody the bulk of advances that the generation of European combat aircraft will comprise. As ultimate F-16 and Mirage replacements their development progress through the next few years will be keenly watched. While the Soviets unfortunately won’t be displaying the latest Fulcrums, Flankers and Foxhounds they will, we are told, be flying the Halo large helicopter and the AN-124 Ruslan heavy lift strategic transport.

On the commercial side Boeing will be flying flags for its new 737-400 and the flagship of Seattle, the 747-400 and is bound to announce some new orders for both types at the show. Airbus will meanwhile be upping the ante on its A320, particularly as that aircraft is due to rollout in a matter of weeks from its Toulouse rollout assembly hall. On the speculative side, watch for a massive order of Fokker 100 twinjets by an international leasing company and don’t be surprised if McDonnell Douglas uses the show as a timely occasion at which to officially launch their long-awaited MD-11 trijet while Airbus may do likewise with their A330 and A340.

Irrespective of what occurs, we will be bringing you all the news in our special November issue Farnborough Report, don’t miss it!

Australia Critically Low on War Reserves:

Speaking at the July Air Power conference at the Strategic & Defence Studies Centre of the ANU, ex-Chief of the Air Staff, Air Marshal David Evans, revealed that the RAAF at best had only one day’s y’s reserves of smart weapons in the event of a high-level conflict. Though the prospect had been mooted for many years, it was ars, it was indeed interesting to have an official endorsement of the situation. Predominant in the lack of reserves is the various versions of Harpoon and to a lesser extent the PGM kits for the RAAF Paveway laser-guided bombs in the 500b, 1000b and 2000lb class in addition to the new GBU-15s for the the is largely employed by the Navy which carries stocks aboard its four FFGs, three DDGs and six Oberon class submarines. Air Marshal Evans pointed out that while these are excellent naval weapons it might take days or even weeks for such ships to reach the scene of action 1 whereas the RAAF with its strike triad could respond much sooner to an ing threat. The emerging RAAF uses Harpoon aboard its 2 20 P-3Cs, 19F-111Cs and emerging F-18A units. At a million dollars a round Harpoon is an expensive missile to have in inventory in great numbers though defence officials consider that as now constitutes the single most important weapon system in the Australian strike inventory the existence of at least 100 rounds would be considered the lowest number to prudently hold in stock.

Name Change for Cac:

Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation, which coincidentally celebrates its 50th anniversary this September, has had its name changed to Hawker de Havilland Victoria Ltd. The change became effective on July 1, exactly one year after Bankstown-based HdH acquired CAC Meanwhile the company is looking to expansion and has commenced work on a new $1. 5m specialist helicopter maintenance facility at Townsville. The facility will provide localised maintenance for RAAF Iroquois  helicopters and Caribou aircraft in addition to offering routine support to civil operators in Northern Queensland. To be opened in 1987, the facility will also provide more than 100 specialist jobs and will assist in support of the future Black Hawk fleet from 1988 onwards.

Fringe Benefits Tax Could Well Sink Dibb Report Aspirations:

The hope that Defence would be able to sustain an annual real term budgeting increase in the region of 3% is looking doubtful following the realisation that Defence might well have to pay out as much as $300m this year to meet it’s Fringe Benefits Tax obligations.

The FBT has to be paid on a number of De ence functions including subsidised housing meals and various allowances related to reset ling, etc. As Defence housing covers some 25,000 people and almost every soldier, sailor or airman enjoys subsidised meals, then De- ence more than any other institution is to be hit by this new and vastly unpopular t tax. On the civil side, our airlines will alone have to pay out upwards of of $16m this year in extra tax to the government (refer to Airline Affairs). The airlines quite rightly complain that this new tax either come off the DotA’s Cost Reno can even be classified as an expenditure deduction meaning that each company, or department, liable for FBT has to finance it out of its net profit. It takes virtually $2 nett to pay $1 FBT ability as the FBT is non-deductible as an expense and tax at 46c (soon to be 49c) has to be paid on that $2 before it is available to pay for the FBT.

Returning to to Defence, the Dibb Report is firmly anchored on the DoD being able to win a 3% gain in budget in real terms per annum. While this seemed likely six months ago, is now doubtful under the present budgetary constraints. Furthermore, an annual payment in the region of $300m for what have always been standard service benefits and allowances will only serve to undermine what is left of de ence morale (refer story on p. 18 this issue) and to scuttle the necessary re-equipment programmes due to be spelt out in the soon to be released White Paper.

Indonesia Confirms F-16 Order:

Indonesia confirmed recently that it will acquire 8 F-16A Fighting Falcons from General Dynamics. Indonesia has also signed a l a letter of intent on four additional aircraft. The first F-16 is expected to enter service in 1989 and will used primarily to maintain AURI technology levels at the advanced state required of modern-day combat aircraft. AURI’s present technology base lies with the Northrop F-SE and with ourselves ves acquiring the F-18A Singapore and Thailand the F-16 and Vietnam ultimately the latest generation of Soviet Fulcrum and Flanker aircraft, Indonesia did not wish to be left behind in the regional technology environment.

 Hawk 200 Crashes:

The new BAe Hawk 200 single seat fighter, which first flew on May 19, crashed during a display rehearsal on July 3 killing its plot. BAe believe that loss of consciousness through G-induced blackout to be the primary reason for the accident. Several USAF F-16s have been lost in similar circumstances while the two Northrop F-20 Tigershark accidents have both been provisionally accredited to this new and frightening medical problem that is caused essentially by the aircraft now being able to pull more G forces than pilots can physically accept.

The Hawk 200 is a single-seat version of the successful two seat Hawk 100 trainer, of which some 633 have been sold to date In place of the second seat is space for additional fuel while the elongated nose allows a wide variety of radars and sensors to be used to suit a particular client’s needs. A new wing provides 30% greater lift while power is supplied by an uprated version of the Adour, the Mk871 which produces around 6,2001b thrust in development form. BAe have priced the Hawk 200 around the £7m mark fully equipped and hope to be able to sell the aircraft largely on its economy of operation and the concept of utilising it as a smart weapons platform, placing the performance capability in the missile rather than the launch aircraft. BAe will build a second Hawk 200 prototype and hope to have this aircraft flying by next May.

Defence Force Air Support Contract Hotting Up:

The battle to supply the RAN with high and low speed support aircraft is hotting up with a planned Request For Tenders (RFT) expected to be issued this November for what will be the largest contract to be offered by Defence to a civil aviation operator.

The requirement is to some extent complementary to the Learjet target towing and radar tracking contract recently won by Lloyd Aviation of Adelaide. This latest contract though will feature the use of true combat type aircraft as the operational environment will require high-speed work at all levels that could not be undertaken by civil jet aircraft.

Following an Intent to Register Interest (ITR) late last year a flurry of activity has been taking place both here and abroad to win the new contract which will see a minimum of 500 hours flying per annum. Overseas companies known to be active are Flight Refuelling from the UK and Flight International and Flight Systems from the USA. Locally, Pacific Aviation, TNT Air, Lloyds and Transecutive are all actively pursuing the contract which should be finalised early next year for a hoped for initiation of service by July when Mirage activity at William-town begins to wind down to the point where RAN fleet support flying by the RAAF can no longer be guaranteed.

The emergence of this interesting requirement may well usher in some unusual aircraft to fulfil the terms of the contract. Amongst aircraft types so far nominated are ex-Israeli Air Force A-4 Skyhawks, BAe Hawks, Hawker Hunters, the Boeing Skyfox, F-86 Sabres and Lockheed T-335.

Of note also is that this requirement could well lead to many others including the provision of VIP Flight operations and inflight refuelling training using, for instance, A-4 Skyhawks with their centreline refuelling pod, in place of an expensive RAAF 707 for purely training and familiarisation purposes with the F-18 force. The cost of training with an A-4 instead of a 707 would save a considerable amount of money in a situation where the primary mission is to gain experience at plugging on to the drogue Ether way the Defence Forces are set to expand their use of civilian assets at a time when their budgets are proving to be under great stress.

Longer Legs for the Hornet:

Australia and Canada look set to become launch customers for a new line of underwing fuel tanks that will serve to increase the endurance of the F-18 Hornet.

Presently under development by the US Brunswick Corp in association with MDC, the new tanks increase capacity from 330 gallons to some 480 gallons while the composite construction of the larger tanks ensures that their empty weight is only increased by a mere 13kg from 100kg to 113kg despite a volumetric increase of some 45%. Going on previously published data this would allow a Hornet, armed with either four 1,000lb Paveway LGBs or two Harpoon ASM a radius of action in the region of 700nm, about 100mm better than is presently realised.

The new tanks enter fight test in Canada later this year and hopefully will be in both Australian and Canadian service by the end of 1987. Locally the GAF is hoping to be able to bid competitively to build the tanks using the vast resources of its excellent though underutilised composites facility.

Also under study at MDC is the development of a fast pack type conformal tank mounted above the dorsal spine. This option has not been funded and may not be retrofittable and most likely will feature as part of a dedicated strike Hornet that may eventuate, USN funding permitting, early in the 1990s

Pilatus Pc-9 Contract Signed:

Hawker de Haviland won their largest-ever order in July with the signing of the formal contract for the acquisition of Pilatus PC-9 trainers for the RAAF. HdH will be responsible for manufacturing the aircraft in a deal worth Deny the RAAF requirement was for $230m. Initially the RAAF 69 aircraft but currency erosion has already lowered this to 67 and many sources believe that ultimately this figure could reduce further if the Au Australian dollar deteriorates further the blue ribbon Swiss Franc.

The first two PC-9s will be acquired direct from Pilatus with the type entering official line service at Point Cook in 1988. The CT-4 Airtrainer will be retained for ab initio work while the larger PC-9 will serve to cut by half the hours required to reach jet standard formerly using the Macchi MB-326H. It is estimated that this will save upwards of $20m a year as the turboprop PC-9 costs around $900 an hour to operate as against $1500 for the ageing Macchi.

Our Hercules Come of Age With 400,000 Accident-Free Hours:

That versatile workhorse of the skies, the Hercules, has achieved 400,000 accident-flying hours with the RAAF. The milestone came up on 14 July when OC Richmond, Air Cdre John Mitchell, flew 36SON Hercules 02 on the 400,000th hour. The aircraft also has achieved another milestone this year. Hercules aircraft now have completed 30 years of continuous service with countries around the world.

The 400,000 hours have been accumulated by the 36 Hercules aircraft operated by the RAAF since the 1958. The RAAF “Here’ delivered in was particularly proud of its accident-free record with the Hercules and believes the 400,000 hours achievement must come close to a world record for any operator.

 First Flight for RTM322 Engine Aboard Black Hawk Test Bed:

Flight trials of Europe’s newest helicopter engine, the Rolls Royce Turbomeca RTM322, have begun two weeks ahead of schedule and only five weeks since the first ground run in a Sikorsky S-70C h OC helicopter The twin engine helicopter made its maiden flight with the new engines on 14 June at Rolls Royce’s Bristol, UK, fight test centre.

More than 300 hours will be flown before engine certification in late 1987 and flight trials will cover all operational requirements. Production engines will be available in 1988 As the flight programme takes off, bench test work is continuing and some 4000 hours of bench running experience will be gained during 1986-87. Some 1400 hours of bench running have already been achieved in Britain and France since the engine first ran in early 1965.

The RTM322 is rated at 2100 shaft horsepower and potential applications include the Sikorsky Black Hawk and Seahawk, the Anglo-Italian EH101, the Westland 30, European NH90 and a single-engined version of the Agusta A129.

Adour T-33 Proposed:

The US specialist aeronautical engineering firm of Flight Systems has launched a re-engining campaign for the Lockheed T-33 jet trainer. Flight Systems advocates the fitment of the Rolls Royce/Turbomeca Adour that powers the BAe Hawk in place of the standard Pratt & Whitney J33 turbojet that is now becoming expensive to maintain.

The modification would produce a jet trainer with 60% more endurance, a third less fuel consumption and fractionally more thrust. Maintenance would be less than a quarter that experienced with the aged J33 while the saving of some 180kg in weight through using the ligh ter and smaller Adour would result in additional fuel uplift.

Flight Systems also point to the Adour now being available through the US Foreign Military Sales system owing to its use aboard the USNS new Goshawk trainers. Of the 700 T-33s sill flying about half are planned to be operational beyond 1995 and at least half of this number are envisaged as being candidates for Adour re-engining.

Jindalee Well Into the Final Stages of Evaluation:

Australia’s Jindalee Over The Horizon (OTHB) radar is now well into the final stages of its official RAAF evaluation cycle. Development of the radar commenced during the late seventies in collaboration with US scientists and it is hoped that the first unit will become operational before the end of this de decade.

with a Basically OTHB operates by bouncing HF waves off the ionosphere. By doing this a computer-aided radar image can be generated a range of between 1000km and 4000km depending upon prevailing ionospheric conditions. Dawn, dusk and night time are all degrading factors in the performance of an OTHB radar though with experience much of the spurious returns at such times can be fire-red out to present a real time image. Jindalee is also not hindered by the horizon and has tracked patrol boat sized vessels out beyond 1500km from the coast.

Jindalee’s great weakness though is that it cannot determine height. It will locate a target at great range and be able to isolate this target into a ten or so-kilometre box though inevitably an AEW aircraft or fighter will be required to give precise location data and visual recognition.

As a complement to these systems though OTHB is excellent as it also is unaffected by stealth technology measures as its return is dependent on the target size rather than its particular shape or design characteristic. Obviously this holds great importance to the USA and Soviet Union as they both race to develop their own OTHB systems. Another asset is that it is difficult to jam as OTHB employs as standard many of the classic and- jam systems, such as frequency agility, that are expensive additions to standard microwave radars.

While the system is vulnerable to some extent to ground based saboteurs they would have to in turn destroy much of the 2. 8km long antenna array to fully degrade the overall capability. Conversely attacking aircraft would have to range deep into Australia (the transmitter is located 100nm NW of Alice Springs) and at all times would be visible for several hours prior to ‘reaching’ their target.

As this issue goes to press the RAAF is running trial intercepts using F-111 aircraft in the aggressor mode. The results of these trials will go a long way towards deciding whether the RAAF will proceed to build several additional OTHB radars as recommended by the Dibb Report.

Lockheed Team With BA to Develop New Variant of the 146:

Airlifter specialist, Lockheed, has teamed with British Aerospace to develop new freighter versions of the 146 airliner.

Lockheed will design a rear loading ramp configuration for the four-engined airliner and will no doubt also examine the possibility of giving the aircraft additional STOL performance by way of wing enhancements to suit it to possible future military tactical airlift requirements. Lockheed Georgia presently build the venerable Hercules and C-SB Galaxy.