Rotor Torque

“The new Black Hawks will be assembled at Hawker de Havilland in Sydney and will follow on from earlier Black Hawk and Seahawk programmes. The follow-on order will inject up to an additional 1. 1 million hours of work into the Australian aerospace industry. It will build on existing programmes by extending component manufacture and widening the Australian industry base. ”

All the additional 25 Black Hawks will be fitted with special carrying devices (External Stores Support Systems) that will among other things allow them to carry additional fuel tanks and to travel over distances in excess of 2000 kilometres. This makes them ideal for deploying over the vast distances that may have to be traversed during operations in the defence of Australia.

The new Black Hawks also have the potential to be used as helicopter gunships should this be required. In this role they could provide highly mobile airborne fire support for land operations in areas where other forms of fire support might not be available.

Of interest is that DOD has not specified the powerplant option for this second buy of Black Hawk helicopters. Standard S-70 power is provided by General Electric’s well-known T700 though over the past year this has been challenged by the new Rolls Royce/Turbomeca RTM 322. Rolls are pushing the 322 very hard in Canberra and have offered a retrofit on all Australian S-70 helicopters if their powerplant should be selected for the second batch of Black Hawks. A firm engine decision is expected this August and no doubt the Army helo evaluation team will be left in little peace as both companies fight hard to ensure their engine wins this potentially large and profitable order.

Iroquois Will Most Probably Be Retained in Army Operation

The existing 30-odd UH-1H Iroquois helicopters will most probably be retained in Australian Army service as a complement to any future purchase of a dedicated armed scout/recce light helo.

Initially Army was looking to replace its Kiowa force with a single-armed recce gunship in the Agusta A129 and Westland Lynx 3 class (refer p45 Jan 87 AA). More recently though the thinking at Defence Central has revolved around a mix of updated Iroquois and the new recce gunship.

The updating of the existing Iroquois assets has a lot to commend it. In these fiscally troubled times it seems pointless spending money on a system when an existing asset can be brought up to similar performance standards via upgrading. The UH-1H fleet are in excellent condition and with the level of upgrading already put forward by Bell in conjunction with Hawker de Havilland they could be operated viably well into the next century.

The US and most NATO forces operating the UH-1H are following a line and are either planning or are already in the process of similar upgrades as that envisaged for the ADF machines.

The joint Bell/Hawker de Havilland offer revolves around a two stage update programme that was initially inspired by the US Army’s AHIP Iroquois upgrade project. Though AHIP Is underway in the US its momentum has been slowed somewhat due to the US Army’s fight to keep as many dollars available for Black Hawk procurement as possible.

Stage one of the programme would cost in the region of half a million dollars per aircraft and would entail the upgrading of the Lycoming T53 from -700 to -703 specs which would take it from 1,400shp to 1,800shp. This is achieved by changing the combustor, fuel system and turbine wheel to increase turbine temperatures. Fuel efficiency in real terms would be improved considering the substantial increase In available torque. This alteration would, for instance, allow a UH-1H to uplift 3000Ibs at sea level on a ISA + 15 day compared to the present limit of barely 1600Ibs, or a capability to uplift 8 combat troops in place of a mere three.

Stage one uses essentially the engine and tail rotor from the proven AH-1S Cobra of the US Army and if the mods are

performed in conjunction with routine heavy maintenance then the cost in real terms is minimal compared with the performance gains achieved. Stage two includes the fitting of a two bladed composite main rotor in conjunction with crashworthy troop seats and some special mission options such as night v1s1on equipment, etc. Stage two can also see the addition of a four bladed main rotor as an option. Australian Aviation believes that stage two would constitute an investment of around one million dollars an airframe.

One aspect of the proposal that should provide a major boost to Australian industry would be the ongoing refurbishment of regional UH-1 H’s that could be undertaken by in Australia. There are a number of Iroquois operators in the region In addition to the vast potential market in the Middle East that Australian industry could promote to. At present the US Army is proceeding with AHIP and the West German Army is also looking to update its several hundred UH-1 Hs to stage one as would be several other NATO nations. This of course would help reduce the cost of the upgrade even further claim Bell.

New Helicopter Training Complex for Raaf

A new helicopter training complex at RAAF Base Fairbairn, near Canberra, was formerly opened on May 1st.

The two storey brick and concrete building for No. 5 Helicopter Squadron, costing $900,000 replaces old World War II timber huts. The new building contains lecture rooms, crew rooms and several offices for conversion training of pilots and ground crew.

No. 5 Squadron trains all RAAF helicopter pilots, crew and technical personnel as well as all Navy and increasing numbers of Army helicopter pilots. Since it was formed again in 1964 after World War II service, the Squadron has converted over 700 pilots to helicopter flying.

NSW Police Take Delivery of BK117

The long awaited Kawasaki 117 finally commenced operation with the NSW Police in May this year on a six month trial basis after which they have the option to purchase. The aircraft is the first imported since Pacific Aviation became the Australian distributor and service centre for the BK117 under which arrangement Pacific will be providing Australia wide support for the BK177 and BO105 range of helicopters which they hope to successfully market in this country.

S-76A For VIP Charter

Heli Aust Pty Ltd recently took delivery of a Sikorsky S-76A which when refurbished will be based at Mascot for the VIP char ter market. The VIP interior is being installed by Pacific Aviation and will operate through their facility at Mascot. The S-76A will be the first of this class available for general charter in Australia and could complement the expanding corporate jet charter market.

Industry Meeting on Mascot Development

A meeting was held at Flight Facilities Mascot recently to discuss the development of General Aviation areas. The industry was well represented by the HAA, GAA, Regional Airlines Association and a number of prominent operators and it was agreed that each section of the industry represented would draw up a full proposal and that future meetings would consolidate these proposals into an overall industry submission to the Department of Aviation.

The meeting was very productive overall which was particularly pleasing to the HAA and GAA with the policy of affiliation to promote industry issues on a limited front.

First Black Hawk Helicopters Arrive in Australia

The first and second Sikorsky Black Hawk helicopters destined for the Australian Defence Forces arrived at the Bankstown plant of aerospace manufacturer Hawker de Havilland’s during April. As part of the major Australian industry involvement in the Black Hawk project, Hawker de Havilland receives the helicopter basic structure from the US manufacturer, Sikorsky. HdH then carries out modifications to the airframe structure, installs operational equipment and carries out all systems test and flight testing. The first completed Black Hawk is scheduled for delivery in November this year.

HdH engineers are currently in the US working on systems integration for both the Black Hawk and Seahawk helicopters. To date almost $A1 million of new facilities and equipment have been installed to enable HdH to carry out this task more effectively.

Sikorsky has so far entered into contracts with a number of Australian companies for work valued at around $A135 million. This represents more than 40% of their initial offset and designated work obligation over the eight year period of the programme and is more than 18 months ahead of the required schedule. Other companies to receive significant workload include Rockwell Collins Australia, HdH Victoria, the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Aerospace Technologies of Australia, interscan, Hawker Pacific and ANI.

Good News, Bad News, at Westland

Estland are still grappling with the problem of how to gain sufficient short-term workload to bridge the gap between current in-house production programmes and the emergence of new programmes such as the EH. 101. As a result of this and despite a large UK order, the firm looks set to have to lay off some 2000 of its 7000 staff and close its Weston Super Mare facility near Bristol.

On the eve of the rollout of the Agusta/Westland EH. 101, the UK Government announced that it would order 25 as heavy lift troop transports for use by the RAF in the Army support role. Additionally, the Royal Navy is expected to ultimately require at least 50 of the ASW version of the EH. 101 while the Italian Navy will also require an additional three or four dozen. The order also included 16 battlefield Lynx 3 aircraft in addition to bringing forward delivery of several Sea King helicopters. –

As a consequence of the decision by the British Moo to select the EH. 101 for the RAF, the UK Government has now decided to withdraw its support for the European NH-90 programme. NH-90 was a multi-European effort involving Aerospatiale, Agusta, Westland and MBB in building a Sea King class helicopter to cover a wide range of requirements. Now that the UK will opt for the EH. 101 in place of additional Chinooks and the NH-90 the situation is also now clearer as to eventual production of Westland-built Black Hawks using Rolls Royce/Turbomeca RTM322 powerplants. Like EH. 101, however, these won’t come on line till the early nineties, which still leaves Westlands with at least three tight years ahead without additional orders for its existing Lynx, W30 and Sea King helicopters.

Special Covert Chinook Under Development

Boeing Vertol are developing a Special Forces covert long-range version of the CH-47 Chinook. The new helo would complement the similarly configured Night Hawk version of the UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter which is also being built for specialised covert operations.

Designated the MH-47E, the improved Chinook will essentially be a D version with extra internal fuel capacity, an air-to-air refuelling capability (from a KC-130 Hercules or another helo), special mission avionics and a low workload glass cockpit to enhance crew endurance. The aircraft will also be equipped with the latest in navigation systems and defensive sensors in addition to terrain following radar for long distance nap of the earth flying. Boeing Vertol hope for a firm US Army decision to proceed with an initial purchase of 20 such aircraft by 1989, which would fit in nicely with their on-going refurbishing programme which is presently upgrading 436 CH-47NB/C model Chinooks to D configuration.