Newsdesk — Military Aviation

Despite this conclusion, reports of technical faults on the An-70 continue to emerge. The aircraft’s first flight in December 1994 resulted in unsatisfactory performances from the propfan gearboxes (leading to an eight week break in flight testing) and since then problems have been reported in the flight control system.

Dsto Wind Tunnel Upgrade

Construction work for a major upgrade to the Defence Science and Technology Organisation’s (DSTO) transonic wind tunnel in Melbourne will begin next year following approval for the $12m project from the Federal Government. Two specialist US companies, Svedrup Technologies and Aero Systems Engineering are competing for the contract which is expected to be awarded in June. The upgraded wind tunnel will be able to operate at speeds between Mach 0.3 and 1.4 and will represent the most advanced facility of its kind in the region. Apart from serving the needs of the Australian Defence Forces, the tunnel will be available to Australian and overseas industry on a commercial basis.

Also at the DSTO, the organisation’s new Air Operations Defence Simulator has begun operations. The simulator is in two parts, one in Melbourne and the other in Adelaide. The Melbourne section caters for pilots and the Adelaide facility is for tactical and sensor operators in maritime patrol and airborne surveillance operations. The two parts can be linked when required, providing aircrews with a ‘virtual reality’ simulation which is flexible enough to be configured to suit a wide variety of experiments related to the performance of aircrew and aircraft systems.

Advanced Kfir Offered To Philippines

The battle to supply second hand fighters to replace the Philippine Air Force’s depleted fleet of Northrop F-5s is hotting up, with Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI) stepped-up efforts to supply upgraded Kfirs. Submissions have also been received for Dassault Mirage F1s, Atlas Cheetahs, ex-South Korean F-5s, ex-Belgian Mirage 5s, MiG-29s and Lockheed F-16s. IAI had originally offered Kfir C7s but is now pushing the Kfir 2000 with the advanced Elta EL/M-2032 multimode radar originally developed for the abandoned Lavi fighter. About 18 aircraft are expected to be acquired by the Philippines whose parliament recently approved the budget for an armed forces restructure. A decision is expected later this year though this could be moved forward due to increasing tensions over sovereignty of the disputed Spratly Islands with China.

F-22 Variants Planned

Lockheed is to examine the possibility of developing new derivatives of its F-22 advanced air superiority fighter to fill strike, reconnaissance and other roles. The first development to be looked at is a suppression of enemy air defences (SEAD) version followed by conventional strike and reconnaissance variants. The company says it will also examine any other developments which might come up in order to maximise its return on the $US18bn spent on F-22 research and development.

The basic F-22 has completed its air vehicle critical design review but the overall programme has slipped due to ongoing budgetary constraints. The prototype YF-22 flew in 1990 but the first of nine pre-production aircraft will not fly until 1997. Operational capability is planned for 2004, an extraordinary 14 years after the prototype’s first flight. The latter date could stretch out even further if budget problems continue.