Stop Press & Farnborough News

Meanwhile, Sweden is aggressively tar geting the nations participating in EFA with its JAS39 Gripen. Already Germany has been given access to classified information on the Gripen in return for keeping Sweden informed of the status of EFA. Sweden sees the Gripen fulfilling Germany’s proposed lightweight EFA (refer p5 Aug 92 AA) role or it could take part in a light EFA programme, which it sees as basically being a two engined Gripen in concept.

Flanker With Tiald:

A major surprise at Farnborough was the appearance of the updated Sukhoi Su-35 Flanker with a GEC Ferranti Thermal Imaging and Laser Designator (TIALD) pod.

The updated Su-35 features digital systems, which means that modern western electronics can now be fitted to the aircraft. While the TIALD pod was only on display, it is thought that integrating it with the Flanker should not present any major problems.

The GEC Ferranti pod was used successfully by RAF Tornados during the Gulf War and it could also be adopted for a number of other attack aircraft such as the F-16 and Harrier.

Improved Tu-2047:

Tupolev and Aviastar are examining improved variants. of the Tupolev Tu-204 medium range airliner with improved payload range performance. A new variant, ostensibly called the Tu-204-200 would feature a slightly rede-signed wing and 20% greater internal fuel capacity, giving the aircraft a maximum range of 3240nm (6000km), as opposed to the current 1900nm (3500km). As well, there would be an increase in payload of 5000kg. An all cargo variant is also being developed, with first deliveries during 1995. Russian certification of the Soloviev engined Tu-204 is expected by year’s end, while the Rolls-Royce powered variant should be certificated by the end of 1993.

Sweden to Order Aew Saab 340s:

The Swedish air force is close to ordering an airborne early warning (AEW) variant of the Saab 340 featuring the Ericsson Erieye radar.

The order, which should be confirmed by November, would be for two firm and six on option. The 340AEW is being jointly developed by Ericsson and Saab and fea tures the Erieye active array radar mounted above the fuselage. The radar can be used simultaneously in the AEW and maritime and battlefield surveillance modes. The 340AEW would have an endurance of seven hours when fitted with underwing tanks, cruising at 285kt (530kmh) at 23,000ft. Ericsson is also offering the Arieye mounted on the Fokker 50 and Fairchild Metro, an aircraft of this kind was initially used for trials with the Swedish air force.

Tristar Freighter Orders:

First orders for the Lockheed freighter conversions of its Tristars are said to be close at hand.

Conversions for 21 L1011s from Saudia and operators in China, Russia and the US are expected during the coming year. Three firm orders are needed to launch the programme.

Conversion would involve strengthening the external and internal structure and cutting out and fitting a large freight door. Initially this would take nine months and later four months, however, if enough orders were forthcoming, Lockheed would establish a production line to further reduce aircraft downtime.

A potential market for 50 conversions is. projected, costing about $US7. 5m each.

Boeing Refines Larger 737:

Boeing is working towards a programme launch for March 1993 of its new generation 737-X, aiming to make first deliveries during 1996.

The stretched 737 would feature an eight frame fuselage stretch, giving five more rows of seats (30 economy class seats), a wing stretch of five meters, a more flexible interior and possibly a choice of engines between a refanned CFM56 and a clipped fan IAE V2500 in the 26,000lb thrust class. Boeing is aiming to reduce direct operating costs by 15% compared with the current 737-400, while the cruise speed would be closer to Mach 0. 8, rather than the current Mach 0. 75. Only minor changes would be made to the cockpit, allowing commonality with the current 737 range.

Glonass to Continue:

Russia is proceeding with the development of its Global Navigation Satellite System, Glonass, which will now become operational during 1996-97.

The Russian Glonass system would complement the current Global Positioning System (GPS) which is owned and operated by the US Defence Department. This will help alleviate some countries’ concerns over the prospect of US GPS dominating international civil aviation. Furthermore, with both GPS and Glonass operating, users of a dual GPS-Glonass receiver will be protected against the effects of one or two satellites failing.

Fourteen Glonass satellites have so far been launched out of a total of 24. The US GPS also uses 24 satellites.

New Gulfstream Corporate Jets Launched:

Gulfstream Aerospace announced two new business jets at Farnborough.

The two models launched were the ultra long range Gulfstream V and Gulfstream IV-SP. The most significant of these is the new Gulfstream V which the company claims will be the longest ranging, highest flying and fastest business jet available. Gulfstream have revealed an operating cell- ing of 51,000ft, speeds of up to Mach. 90 and. an intercontinental range of 6300nm (11,675km).

The Gulfstream V will involve a stretched Gulfstream IV fuselage giving an internal cabin length of 15. 58m (51ft) seating a maximum of 19 passengers (typically 14), an enlarged two crew flight deck, galley, fully equipped office work station, large baggage compartment and a bathroom that may be fitted with a shower.

The Gulfstream’s very long range will mean it will have the capability to fly one stop to any point on the globe and non stop between such city pairs as London/Honolulu and Cairo/Darwin. Engines will be the 15,000lb class BMW Rolls-Royce BR710 and first customer deliveries will begin in 1996.

The other new model launched was the Gulfstream IV-SP (special performance), a greatly improved GIV. Increased weights and range give the IV-SP a 50% improve ment in payload radius over the earlier GIV. The improved performance is the result of modifications to the wings, empennage, fuselage and landing gear. Available immediately, the IV-SP also has a revised interior. • CORPORATE JETSTREAMS: British Aerospace announced two new corporate versions of the Jetstream 31 commuter at Farnborough.

An eight/nine seat and a 12 seat version are now on offer, BAe claiming that internal volume of the corporate Jetstream is 70% greater than the Beech King Air 200, while still having similar direct operating costs. The corporate Jetstream has a cruising speed of 265kt (490kmh) making it competitive with jets on short stage lengths. A corporate Jetstream would cost approximately $US4. 5m.

The launch of the new models marks a change in BAe’s marketing strategy as the company tries to head off declining airliner sales.

Stealthy European Air-To-Air Missile:

British Aerospace and Saab, along with Thomson CSF, have begun stud- ies of a stealthy medium range air-to-air missile.

With an in service date of around 2000, the stealthy active radar seeking AAM would have a range of 54nm (100lam) and is seen as a follow on to the BAe Skyflash and would rival the Hughes AIM-120 AMRAAM. The S225X, as it is known, will be offered as a beyond visual range missile for the Gripen and for export versions for the eventual European Fighter Aircraft.

Domestic Traffic Softening:

It appears that the recession is at last beginning to take hold within the domestic airline community.

Despite the worst recession since the thirties, Australians were still keen to exploit the many advantages that our now deregulated airlines offered with the result. that traffic boomed like nowhere on earth. However, examining the DoTC data for the months of July and August (refer charts in Airline Affairs) it becomes apparent that traffic now is actually below that of the same months last year. The June quarter is normally very soft whilst much of the September quarter can be affected by the nor mal winter traffic patterns, though more latterly to a lesser extent than in the eighties due to the far greater emphasis on providing affordable fares to the north from the colder southern ports.

For the record, RPKs were at early September, just 11% up on the year to date figures for 1991. At around early April they were 25% up so the year on year gain has been in a steady state of decline since after Easter. This decline in traffic growth began to accelerate around June and has not abated through till presstime with August looking positively sick.

September quarter figures won’t be known till mid to late October and will be published in full in our November edition. Normally, September is a strong quarter while last year’s September quarter was an all time record, eclipsed only by December before traffic began to subside.

With Eastwest, Ansett and Australian losing something in the order of $250m last year it must now be cause for concern to all of them that they are now seeing month on month declines in traffic, load factors and a new entrant entering the marketplace with what must be termed a competitive and marketable product. All this has major implications for the float of Qantas and the eventual future of a perenially losing Eastwest and will bear much closer examination in future issues as the current trend becomes clearer.

To NZ Ansett Flights Delayed?:

Ansett’s plans to fly across the Tasman could be delayed by up to a year because of red tape.

From November 1, Ansett Australia will be allowed to fly Melbourne/Auckland, Melbourne/Wellington and Melbourne/ Christchurch, linking up with sister airline Ansett New Zealand. Ansett is planning to operate from its domestic terminals, which would significantly reduce waiting times at airports. However, the airline has criticised the government for red tape which would delay itsplans, saying it needs to match its words with action. The airline also critised customs, immigration and quarantine agencies, whose officials would have to staff the domestic terminal at Ansett’s expense to process international passengers.

Ansett says that while using international terminals would mean having a lower quality product than having New Zeland flights operating from its domestic facility, it could operate out of Melbourne’s international terminal as a temporary measure. The airline has alsostated that it will not operate the routes at all if they are not viable.

Lufthansa Retrenches 6000:

As part of an agreement with unions, Lufthansa will layoff 6000 workers, as well as implementing a one year wage freeze and longer working hours in an effort to reduce costs.

In return, Lufthansa has dropped a two tier wage structure for Lufthansa Express, and the airline will not go ahead with plans to start a low cost domestic airline. Staff cutbacks will take place over the next two years, and these are in addition to 1800 planned layoffs for this year. The 7800 jobs amount to 15% of the airline’s staff.

Savings due to staff cutbacks, work practice rationalisation and the wage freeze are expected to save the airline $US350m. In other areas, Lufthansa expects to save $US230m by lowering material costs. Lufthansa could lose as much as $US850m this year.

Cathay Buys Steels Catering:

Cathay Pacific has purchased the Canadian catering firm, Steels Airline Catering, which operates kitchens in Darwin and Sydney.

Steels cater for over 3 million passengers annually from Sydney and Darwin and their Canadian kitchens in Toronto and Vancouver, providing meals ranging from $7 for economy class up to $50 for first class. In Australia Steels caters for Air France, Continental, Lauda, Lufthansa, Northwest, Qantas, Royal Brunei, Singapore Airlines and United. Though Cathay presently uses Qantas Catering it is expected that this will change when the current contract expires.

Badgerys Creek Stage One Hearing:

As we closed for press, a public hearing was being held on the stage one proposal for Badgerys Creek.

Stage 1 of the airport development concerns providing a General Aviation airport, including a sealed runway and parallel taxiway, aircraft parking, runway and taxiway lighting, access roads and parking and an airport terminal. In 1991 prices, this development would cost $56m, and according to the FAC the airport would become operational by the end of 1994.

Stage 1 is designed to allow the airport to be easily expanded to allow further development of domestic and international airline facilities.

Tasman Immigration Checks Relaxed

Travel between Australia and New Zealand will soon be simplified because of the streamlining of immigration checks.

The changes now mean that a traveller flying between New Zealand and Australia. will now be able to obtain immigration clearances for their arrival point before leaving their country. Although passengers will now be able to bypass immigration, they still will have to pass through Customs.

The streamlined immigration checks, to be announced by trade minister Mr Kerin, are part of the changes to the Closer Economic Relations agreement.

More Hawks for Indonesia:

The Indonesian Air Force has ordered 24 additional British Aerospace Hawk 100s and 200s.

The Indonesian deal is for 14 additional two seat Hawk 100s and ten single seat Hawk 200 fighters, as well as pilot and technical training, for delivery by 1996. Indonesia was an early customer for the type and currently operates 13 two seat Hawk Mk 53s which are used for training and ground attack duties.

 Caa Launches Enroute Information Service:

The CAA has launched an Automatic Enroute Information Service (AERIS) which will continuously broadcast weather reports for certain locations.

Test transmissions from two VHF stations, Mount William in Victoria and Mount Ginini in NSW, were conducted late last month and these were due to be commissioned at present time. In all, seven stations located on the eastern seaboard will be in operation by November.

AERIS is part of continuing CAA reforms In the area of flight information.

Rffs to Be Withdrawn From Avalon:

The CAA has announced that it will withdraw its Rescue and Fire Fighting Service (RFFS) from Avalon Airport by years end.

The CAA decision is a result of the declining airline training activity that takes place from Avalon, no longer warranting the stationing of RFFS elements. Existing Local Aerodrome Emergency Procedures will now be modified and arrangements put in place to provide rescue and fire fighting services for the airport in the event of an emergency.

The CAA is withdrawing the service to allow it to better spend its resources on services the industry considers more important.

Air New Zealand Reports Profitable Year:

Air New Zealand has bucked the trend of most international airlines with a $NZ115m ($A86m) profit for the 1991/92 year.

The airline has also announced publicly that it is looking to invest in Qantas and may team up with BA and Singapore Airlines as

a joint consortium to acquire the bulk of the trade share being currently offered in our national carrier. Major ANZ shareholder, Brierley Investments has also lodged its interest in acquiring shares in Qantas. Qantas for its part holds a 19. 9% stake in Air New Zealand.

UK Studies Microwave Bomb:

A microwave bomb which would create an electro magnetic pulse on detonation, destroying unprotected electrical circuits is being developed by the UK Ministry of Defence.

The MoD however has stated that it has no operational requirement for such a weapon and that it is being studied purely out of interest. The technology has also been under development by both the US and Russia, the former thought already to possess such a capability.

A microwave bomb would create an electromagnetic pulse, such as that formed by a nuclear explosion, posing a serious threat to communications, modern weapon systems and radars. An explosive charge is detonated at one end of a hollow tube in which a radio travelling wave tube resonates at a fixed frequency, causing the tube to collapse and creating massive magnification of the wave, creating an EMP.

Award Winner to Inspect Fac Environmental Practices:

The winner of the Queensland Young Achiever Environmental Award, to be announced late this month, will have the opportunity of learning about environmental management in the 23 airports managed by the FAC with a visit to Sydney to work with the FAC’s national environmental specialist.

The Federal Airports Corporation is sponsoring the Queensland Young Achiever Environmental Award as part of its corporate philosophy to ensure all opportunities to protect the environment. are taken and in an effort to instil this commitment in future generations.

The Young Achiever will also visit the Brisbane Airport and meet with Federal Airports Corporation environmental officers to witness environmental management practices in action.

FAC Brisbane general manager, Mr Phil Walker, said the FAC was playing an active role in achieving the right balance between protection of the environment and develop- ment. “The FAC is interested in looking for ways to protect the environment, such as working with the Boondall Wetlands Group which assists in education of school chil dren about the environment,” Mr Walker said.

He also said the FAC had adopted an active role in helping identify and provide environmentally friendly solutions on the Airport complex and in the Boondall Wetlands Reserve.

Radar That Even Farmers Might Use:

An airborne synthetic aperture radar which could be used to detect possible archaeological sites, oil slicks and geological deposits as well as aiding deforestation studies and drug enforcement agencies is being developed by the DSTO at Salisbury, South Australia.

While scientists are currently working on the radar known as AuSAR for defence. surveillance and mapping survey requirements, they say the spinoffs for civilian users, including everyone from Fisheries to Customs, mean the system will certainly earn its keep.

AuSAR, which is the brainchild of the DSTO Microwave Radar Division uses high resolution imagery to map or survey an area. According to DSTO researcher, Brian Reid the best way to understand how. AuSAR generates an image is to imagine an aircraft flying at night with a narrow beam spotlight pointing directly out to the side. “Although you would only see a narrow strip of earth at any one time, as the aircraft flew along a straight line we could record each of these strips onto a recorder and generate an entire image, line by line,” said Mr Reid.

“The AuSAR works the same way except that it generates a narrow beam of microwave energy as it flies along. In fact this beam, generated by using powerful signal processing techniques, is only three metres wide at a distance of 50 kilometres. With such a narrow beam we can generate high resolution images with resolutions of about three metres. ” AuSAR is being developed to allow, at any time, detailed observational coverage of up to a 32km wide strip along the flight path. The system, which at this stage will be mounted in an ARDU Dakota for initial trials, provides its own illumination which will allow it to be used in darkness and through clouds, with enough resolution to spot vehicles and small boats.

Mr Reid says the technology demonstrator will start field trials by the end of the year, signalling a major step forward for the project.

Once operational, AuSAR will give the ADF a tool with which it can evaluate the use of Synthetic Aperture Radar for a range of applications, including complicated mapping and survey work. One feature of a Synthetic Aperture Radar which is likely to make AuSAR popular with civilian and industry groups is its ability to see through very dry sand. When flying over dry, sandy areas, a future version of the AuSAR will be able to penetrate below the ground for anything to one half metre. This feature means archaeologists might one day use it to identify digs.

“Century old riverbeds hidden below the surface would show up, given the right soil condition helping archaeological teams understand the history of a region and the sites for possible villages,” he said.

The brightness of the image generated by AuSAR is also affected by the moisture content of the soil. “Agricultural industry representatives are very interested in the concept of AuSAR because it has the potential to help them map out and measure soil moisture levels over large areas,” explained Mr Reid.

These is even a ‘green’ side to AuSAR. It could allow environmental rescue teams to identify oil slicks and map the extent of the slick to plan clean up operations. Deforestation studies could also be aided with the help of AuSAR produced maps. Geologists may also find the system useful because it could help them detect potential geological pointers that could hold the secrets to mineral deposits.

“Customs, Coastwatch and drug enforcement authorities could one day find them- selves using AuSAR because of its ability to spot vehicles and small boats,” Mr Reid. said.

“The ability of AuSAR to form an image through cloud and smoke will allow this sensor to be used in the monitoring of both floods and bushfires. ” The fishing industry might also find AuSAR a useful friend. Large schools of fish swimming close to the surface change the water’s reflectivity and can be detected using this flying Synthetic Aperture Radar.

AuSAR is in an advanced state of design. DSTO engineers, now working to have AuSAR ready for its first demonstrator trials, are looking at a range of areas electronic system design, aircraft integration of AuSAR and the trials planning aspects.

Mr Reid says AuSAR will provide images in real time up to 100km x 32km in 201 minutes. This important research will put Australia on a par with the rest of the world and provide one distinct advantage. Our system will be significantly cheaper than overseas systems.

DSTO is ensuring AuSAR is low cost by taking advantage of new signal processing developments, and new hardware and soft ware systems. As well, without a compromise to quality, DSTO researchers are aiming to use a less expensive data recorder and low cost antenna sub systems.

“The system is designed to be adaptable to a range of platforms and because the technology is low cost state of the art, it will allow appropriate cost/performance trade offs,” said Mr Reid.

To help DSTO in its AuSAR study, Australian researchers are working in conjunction with overseas specialists analysing data from existing systems.

“The development of this equipment in Australia is giving us an understanding of state of the art airborne radar development and associated high speed computing. This allows us to be smarter buyers of equipment and this benefits all Australians. ”