Newsdesk – Military Aviation

The new parachutes, which will become the standard Army ‘chute”, are to be manufactured by the West German firm of Bruggemann and Brand, a leading specialist in air cargo handling and restraint equipment. Offset work on the contract, involving partial manufacture and assembly will be undertaken by the Melbourne-based Maxham Industrial Pty Ltd.

Project Winnin Becomes Project Nulka in Big Us/Australia Joint Project Pact:

Australia’s hovering rocket anti-ship missile decay system, Winnie, is to be jointly developed by Australia’s DSTO and the US Navy in a deal estimated to be worth more than $A130m to Australia.

Development of the revolutionary hovering rocket system (refer to Defence Update, p104, Nov 85 AA for full background) will now proceed ahead at a far greater pace than would have been possible with only Australia providing R&D funding and expertise. The new agreement will take the Winnin system, now renamed project Nulka (Aboriginal for be quick”) to fully operational status, at which point manufacturing contracts will be signed which will see it a part of the defensive suite of a large proportion of US, Australian and hopefully other allied naval vessels in the years to come. Nulka is essentially a small hovering rocket that can be launched immediately a threat from a sea-skimming anti-ship missile is detected. The Nulka decoy then hovers a respectable distance from the mother ship emitting a variety of electronic signatures designed to lure, or seduce, the incoming missiles from the primary target. Nulka is designed to be fully self contained and will be housed in a simple above deck launch container suitable for ships from large patrol boat size through to cruisers. It is now hoped that it will become operational by 1990.

Hornet to Get Stand-off Land Attack Missile:

The US Navy is to develop a hybrid of the Maverick and Harpoon AGMs for use against heavily fortified land targets. The new missile will be of great interest to Australia as it will allow our F-111 and F-18 aircraft a stand off attack capability that presently only the F-111 has via its shorter-ranging Pave Tack system employing the GBU-15 glide bomb.

Maverick is a short-range precision-guided attack missile with either a scanning laser, TV or infra-red capability while Harpoon is purely an anti-ship weapon and ineffective against land targets due to the nature of its specialised maritime environment seeker and guidance system. However, as Maverick is a short-range weapon in many cases would lead the attacking aircraft into a situation where it would be forced to penetrate the outer rim of the enemy’s air defence zone. By combining the electronics and guidance system of Maverick with the body of the longer-ranging Harpoon (100kms range) then the attacking aircraft can successfully launch well outside the high-threat area and so create more pressure on the enemy’s air defence force in having a larger region to effectively patrol.

The $US60m programme is expected to take three years to complete and will result in a new missile which will carry the designation of stand off land attack missile (SLAM).

 Jindivik Milestone Reached:

The Government Aircraft Factories reached a milestone during September with the production of the 500th Jindivik pilotless aircraft.

Jindivik remains Australia’s only Indigenous jet aircraft and dates back to 1948 when Australian industry responded to a UK requirement for the development of a remotely piloted target drone. To speed development, the GAF built two manned versions, designated Pika, which made a total of 214 test flights between October 1950 and June 1954. The actual unmanned Jindivik first flew in August of 1952 and became operational two years later with the RN and RAN.

Development Work on Super Ikara Proceeds:

The Government Aircraft Factories and British Aerospace Australia are proceeding on development work on the new Super Ikara ASW weapon.

Super Ikara is basically a development of the standard unit using larger wings and a small turbojet engine to provide an enhanced range, manoeuvring control and even a loiter capability. The weapon can deliver a homing lightweight air-launched torpedo in the same manner as Ikara though at a greatly increased range (60nm) providing an excellent complement to existing and mooted ASW ship-borne helicopter types.

Australia has been involved with the development of Super Ikara (previously refer- red to as boxed Ikara) since the early eighties. The present situation is that the Royal Navy has put out a Request For Proposals (RFP) for such a weapon and BAe Australia is teaming with GAF to fulfil the same British Aerospace UK would be the primary motivator for securing the project from the UK MoD and the selection of a European partner is under discussion as the weapon also has a future in NATO.

Following the success of Nulka (nee Winnin) in securing advance R&D grants in conjunction with a future requirement from the US Navy (reported elsewhere in Newsdesk), it is hoped that Super Ikara might also have US applications as a possible future Asroc and Subroc replacement.

Us Navy Airship Programme Draws a Stage Closer:

The US Navy received a number of in-depth RFPs in late September for the supply of airship vehicles for its Naval Air Ship Programme (NASP). The RFP called for a large airship with an internally mounted radar and processing system of equal or better calibre to that presently used aboard the Grumman E-2C Hawkeye AEW aircraft. The NASP vehicle though will complement the E-2C rather than replace it (refer p35, May AA) and will be positioned as a fully independent perimeter picket in a carrier battle group environment. The RFP calls for a decision to build one full-sized test vehicle for delivery to the USN test facility at Patuxent River no later than late 1989. Following a period of development, it is hoped to be able to have the first NASP units fleet operational by 1992.

The programme provides a major boost to the Bond Corporation-controlled Airship Industries who have teamed with Westinghouse to present what is generally termed the most favourable design. An announcement of the winning contender is due in the first half of next year.