Newsdesk — Military Aviation

Adour Upgraded

Rolls-Royce has announced improvements to the F405 Adour turbofan engine, powerplant of the US Navy’s McDonnell Douglas T-45A Goshawk jet trainer. The improvements follow the discovery of cracks and other “thermal distress” in the combustor and high pressure nozzle guide vanes of high-time F405s, the result of excessive cyclic usage of the T-45A. More cycles have been recorded than anticipated, a consequence of improved fuel efficiency. Revised combustors and nozzle guide vanes will be available by the end of this year and will be progressively fitted to the fleet. Rolls-Royce is also redesigning the low pressure nozzle guide vanes and is working on a solution for some cracking in the jetpipe. Neither of these are critical life limiting issues.

The package of improvements comes as the RAAF nears the decision to select an airframe and engine to meet its lead-in fighter trainer contract. The Goshawk is being offered to the RAAF with the International Turbine Engines F124 with the Adour as an option, along with the Adour powered BAe Hawk and the Macchi MB-339FD with RR Viper turbojet.

Elint Role For F-22

A Pentagon study into possible future derivatives of the Lockheed Martin/Boeing F-22 fighter has defined electronic intelligence gathering (Elint) and attacking enemy air defences as the most likely ancillary roles for the new generation air superiority and long range precision attack aircraft.

The F-22 Derivatives Study completed by the contractors and USAF in May favours the F-22 in these roles due to its ability to switch configuration with little modification and still defend itself. The study says the Elint mission is attractive for the F-22 but there are possible complications as in order to remain stealthy the aircraft would have to return to base to pass on data unless a low probability of intercept datalink could be fitted.

It is believed that for an Elint F-22 to maintain its effectiveness it would have to immediately relay the information it gathers, requiring a satellite link and ‘very directional’ antenna to maintain stealth. At the moment, no one knows how to add such an antenna without compromising stealth.

Night Attack Naval Tomcat

A strike fighter version of the Grumman F-14 Tomcat capable of delivering precision guided munitions (PGM) at night has entered service with the US Navy.

The modified Tomcats can perform multimission, high speed, long range sorties that can escort strike packages to a target, deliver two PGMs, serve as an airborne forward air controller and provide reconnaissance data for follow-on missions.

The basis of the conversion is the installation of a modified Lockheed Martin AN/AAQ-14 Low Altitude Navigation and Targeting for Night (Lantirn) underwing pod. It is similar to the system used by the USAF on its F-16 and F-15E fighters but is upgraded to carry a Global Positioning System (GPS) and inertial measurement unit.

A streamlined development and acquisition program was employed for the upgrade, one which could provide a model for future military aircraft upgrades due to its efficiency.

The modified Tomcats entered service just 232 days after the production contract was signed.

Hughes/Siemens Plessey Air Defence Bid

Hughes Aircraft and Australian company Siemens Plessey have teamed to propose a solution for the RAAF’s Air Defence Project Air 5333, the upgrading of Australia’s ground based command and control air defence system.

The release of the tender for the project is expected this September, the project providing for a major expansion of existing air defence capabilities and functionality. The Hughes/Siemens Plessey team plans to respond with a proposal that combines the latest software, modern commercial data processing equipment and state of the art communications hardware.

Rockwell Wins NZ GPS Contract

Rockwell has won a New Zealand contract to supply 250 handheld Precision Lightweight GPS Receivers (PLGR), representative of the latest military global positioning system technology.

The units will be used mainly by New Zealand Army soldiers and land vehicles for precise positioning and navigation within the country and for its international peacekeeping operations.

All had been delivered by June this year. PLGR is the standard handheld/portable GPS receiver of the US Department of Defence and more than 60,000 have been delivered.

The latest version — the PLGR+96 — features software enhancements to give it additional capabilities and features including targeting interface with laser range finding, wide area GPS enhancement and autonomous positioning accuracy to four metres circular error of probability (CEP), secure Y-code differential GPS of accuracy to less than one metre CEP, jammer direction finding and remote terminal display capability. Unit price is less than $US2000.

CN-235 Australian Development Study

Indonesia’s IPTN has signed an agreement with Australian companies Hawker de Havilland, Hawker Pacific, Honeywell and Aerospace Technical Services to study a range of options for the future development and local production of the CN-235 Phoenix multirole transport aircraft.

The JAS 39 Gripen multirole fighter formally entered Swedish Air Force service recently. The F7 wing has 20 Gripens in service which it is using for pilot training and tactics development, while the first Gripen squadron will become combat ready on the aircraft next year. Some Gripen flight testing is still being carried out even though Saab has officially completed development work on the aircraft. In addition, flight testing with the AIM-120 Amraam missile does not get underway until next year. Meanwhile the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration has requested that Volvo Flygmotor (who builds the Gripen’s GE F404 derived RM12 turbofan) study possible alternative powerplants for the aircraft, including the GE F414, Eurojet EJ200 and SNECMA M88-3. (Saab)

This ITEC F124 turbofan was successfully installed into a T-45 Goshawk at St Louis on July 2 in preparation for ground and flight testing from late July/early August. Flight testing of the F124 Goshawk is due to conclude in December with US Navy certification of the new airframe/powerplant combination planned for about March next year. The F124 powered T-45 is on offer to the RAAF for its lead-in fighter program. If the T-45 is selected, AlliedSignal will assemble F124 engines for the RAAF plus 72 F124s for the Czech Republic at Hawker de Havilland in Perth. Meanwhile all but the first Goshawk for the RAAF would be assembled at Avalon with Rockwell ASTA. McDonnell Douglas has not revealed the number of Goshawks it is offering in its tender. (McDonnell Douglas)

The primary aim of the project is to present the CN-235 to the RAAF to fill its Project Air 5190 light tactical transport requirement for a Caribou replacement, although the consortium is strongly marketing the aircraft to fill a number of other Australian defence needs. Among these are replacing the HS.748 in both RAAF and RAN service, replacing the RAAF’s Dakotas, filling the Army’s fixed wing aircraft requirement and meeting the Broad Area Aerial Surveillance Fixed Wing Platform requirements.

According to the consortium, this multirole proposal has many benefits including significant cost savings due to one aircraft type performing five roles and the maintenance, logistics, spares and operational savings implied by that commonality; and advancing commercial connections between Australia and Indonesia. Regional commonality would also benefit as Malaysia, Thailand, Brunei, South Korea and Papua New Guinea already operate the CN-235.

According to Mr Aditya Kusuma, IPTN’s Vice President of Sales: “The multirole concept represents a complete package for the RAAF’s requirements. The inclusion of Hawker de Havilland, Hawker Pacific, ATS and Honeywell will bring the respective strengths of a number of the finest aerospace companies in Australia. Hawker de Havilland has the technical expertise in airframes, engines and long term integrated logistics support, while Honeywell is world known for its abilities as systems suppliers, integrators and providers of value added, high technology fully integrated products. Hawker Pacific, through restructuring at its sister company, Hawker de Havilland, has acquired significant aircraft assembly experience, while ATS is known for its project management, military flight test experience and technical aircraft marketing skills”.

Other contenders for the Caribou replacement contract are the Alenia G222 and the CASA CN-235.

DSTO Tests F-16 Bulkhead

Australia’s Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO) has been awarded a contract by Advanced Repair Technology International (ARTI) to test a proposed bonded repair to USAF F-16 bulkheads.

F-16s have commonly suffered cracking in the three rear fuselage bulkheads to which the fin is attached, caused by high manoeuvre loads. Traditional repair techniques require extensive work involving dismantling that section of the aircraft to carry out a total replacement of the parts.

A bulkhead repaired with the ARTI solution is now being fatigue tested at DSTO’s Aeronautical and Marine Research Laboratory in Melbourne to assess its feasibility. The ARTI repair method is based on bonded composite technology originally developed by DSTO and licenced to Helitech, the Australian partner in ARTI along with the USA’s DynCorp.

If the tests are successful there will be a useful spinoff to the RAAF in bonded composite repairs to the F/A-18 Hornet.

First Fokker 60s Delivered

The Royal Netherlands Air Force has accepted delivery of four Fokker 60 Utility aircraft it ordered in 1994, marking the first delivery of this aircraft, a stretched, multi purpose transport variant of the Fokker 50 regional turboprop.

McDonnell Douglas has delivered the first two seat F/A-18F Super Hornet to the US Navy’s Patuxent River test centre. F/A-18F number one will be used primarily for carrier suitability trials and it will begin sea trials early next year. The F/A-18F was the third Super Hornet delivered to Pax River, while the fourth Super Hornet built, F/A-18E4, successfully completed its first flight on July 2. In all the Super Hornet fleet has clocked over 100 flights and 200 flight hours. (MDC)

The Fokker 60s are part of the initial batch of 15 aircraft the company announced it would complete following its bankruptcy earlier this year. An additional 15 aircraft have also been authorised for completion. The RNethAF is also shortly due to take delivery of two Fokker 50s it has ordered.

The Fokker 60 can be quickly converted to and from different configurations including carrying 45 fully armed troops, 24 stretchers or up to seven tonnes of freight. Compared to the Fokker 50 it is 1.62m (64in) longer, has increased operating weights and more powerful 2750shp (2050kW) PW127B engines.

Upgraded T-45A Cockpit

US Navy student pilots will soon be receiving more effective training in an advanced digital cockpit aboard the McDonnell Douglas T-45A Goshawk thanks to the development of what is termed ‘Cockpit 21’ by the manufacturer.

Approval of the new cockpit by the Department of the Navy follows an extensive flight evaluation in a T-45A in both land and carrier based operations. Cockpit 21 was developed to replace the T-45A’s analog displays with digital displays similar to those found on the USN’s F/A-18 Hornets and other carrier based jets. This commonality will reduce the time and cost of learning.

RAAF Hornet A21-22 is back in the air again after a two and a half year layup. In November 1993 when in service with Tindal based 75 Squadron, the Hornet suffered an inflight fire in the right hand engine bay caused by the failure of an airframe mounted accessory drive bearing. The aircraft recovered safely back to Tindal but extensive damage to its Y557.5 bulkhead meant that the F/A-18 had to be sent to the US Naval Depot North Island in the US for repairs (where major USN F/A-18 repairs are conducted). With the bulkhead fitted, A21-22 returned to Australia in January 1995 for reassembly by the RAAF’s 481 Wing and also underwent the Hornet Critical Modification Program with Hunter Aerospace to incorporate warranty modifications. In all the repairs cost $4m, a tenth of the cost of a new aircraft. Pictured is A21-22 when it was in service with 77 Squadron in 1990. (Bill Lines)

The new cockpit will be incorporated into T-45A production from aircraft number 84, scheduled to be delivered in October 1997. Retrofitting it to earlier aircraft is also being considered and the system is included in the McDonnell Douglas tender to meet the RAAF’s lead-in fighter requirement.

Nulka Production Agreed

Australia has signed a Memorandum of Understanding on the joint production of the Nulka active missile decoy system for the RAN and USN.

Nulka is designed to provide protection against anti ship missiles (ASMs), producing a radio frequency image similar to the host ship’s and then moving away from the ship theoretically taking the incoming missile with it. It is capable of decoying several ASMs simultaneously. The decoy is derived from the DSTO’s hovering rocket and incorporates that technology. It was jointly designed by Australian and US industry.

The initial production run will be carried out by British Aerospace Australia and involves a number of Australian and US companies as subcontractors.

Nulka will enter RAN service in late 1998, equipping FFG and Anzac class frigates.

Vintage Maritime Patrol

One of the world’s smallest air arms — the Tongan Air Force — has introduced a maritime patrol element to its order of battle.

The TAF has taken delivery of a 35 years old Beech 18 twin which will be used to patrol the island nation’s 700,000km² of territorial waters. The veteran Beech cost a reported $90,000 and has had some $250,000 worth of surveillance and communications equipment installed.

The Tongan Air Force was created in 1986 with a single Victa Airtourer trainer.

NJS Challenges Fleet Support Decision

National Jet Systems’ executive chairman Warren Seymour has attacked the Department of Defence over its handling of a tender for Australian Defence Force training support.

NJS has provided six Learjets and crews for target towing since 1990 and recently lost the contract to Sydney based Pel-Air.

Speaking at a National Aviation Press Club luncheon, Mr Seymour said: “The Commonwealth — in its wisdom — has decided to discriminate against companies with stability and expertise the size of National Jet and I believe the tendering process gives cause for public concern. It’s not a case of sour grapes …. I’ve been around the industry long enough to know you’ve got to accept the highs with the lows”.

Mr Seymour said the Government failed to get the retendering process underway at the end of the five year term and that NJS was asked to provide a one year’s extension until the end of June this year. The new tender was finally released in January this year with the successful tenderer starting on July 1. At the end of April, NJS was told that “despite our exemplary record in meeting the terms of the previous contract, our tender price was too high”.

Mr Seymour quoted the Defence Purchasing Handbook which states: “The capacity, capability, quality of service and bona fides of the supplier assume greater importance (than pricing) … costs are only one consideration and the primary concern is to ensure that the supplier can do the job to the desired standards”.

NJS lodged a complaint with the Minister of Defence and a review took place which upheld the original decision.

Mr Seymour says that despite what is stated in the request for tender documentation, the government is able to change the evaluation criteria without informing the tenderers, which “amounts to changing the rules in the middle of the game …. it’s dishonest and unethical …. [and] only serves to corrupt the entire evaluation process”.

NJS does not accept the evaluation criteria have been applied in the manner outlined in the tender documents or as represented to the company, that it is consistent with Defence Department policy or that NJS and other unsuccessful tenderers have been treated fairly on the basis of the declared evaluation criteria.

In other, more cheerful NJS news, the company is to establish a BAe 146 simulator centre in Perth. The $6m, level 4 simulator will be operational from December this year and will be used to check and train not only NJS pilots but also others from South-East Asia.