November 2010 Archives

Lockheed Martin F-35 is painted around a wall-mounted fire alarm inside the company's fighter demonstration center showroom in Arlington, Virginia. As unintentional satire, it's brilliant.

Buried in Wikileaks' latest document dump exposing about 250,000 US diplomatic cables are a few items of real interest to the global aerospace industry. Here's my list of the five most interesting cables:

1. A cable on 4 November 2009 summarizes a meeting between then-US Central Command chief Gen David Petraeus and King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa of Bahrain. Pushing Petraeus to pressure US fighter manufacturers to participate in the upcoming Bahrain air show, the monarch of Manama noted Dassault Rafale would be represented. Hamad, however, is apparently not a fan of the Rafale, as "he agreed with Petraeus that the French fighter was yesterday's technology". Oh la la!

2. In a cable dated 22 December 2009, Israeli political-military chief Amos Gilad talks about Russian interest in Israeli UAV technology. Although Russia is prepared to pay $1 billion for access to Israeli's latest capability, Israel is not inclined to sell, Gilad says. "Such technology would likely end up in the hands of the Chinese," the cable says, paraphrasing Gilad's remarks. This raises a question about exactly what Russia wants to buy. Could it be the Eitan (or Heron 2), or perhaps a secret project? The cable doesn't say.

3. Qatar operates two Boeing C-17s, but a cable dated 10 August 2009 reveals misgivings. Qatar's military "clearly registered its disappointment" that the US government blocked the installation of the Northrop Grumman large area infrared countermeasures (LAIRCM) as part of the direct commercial sale of the large transports. The chief of staff of Qatari's military was "particularly sensitive", believing the LAIRCM rejection made him look bad to his civilian superiors.

4. Israel's concerns about US arms sales to Arab states are well-known, but two cables illuminate the process. A cable on 18 November 2009 describes Israeli concerns about the US government plan to sell F-15SAs to Saudi Arabia and AIM-120C7 AMRAAMs to Jordan. Another cable on 30 July 2009 explains the F-15SA concerns are focused on the transfer of Enhanced Paveway II bombs, joint helmet mounted cueing system (JHMCS) and active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar. The same cable also registers concerns about the US government's plan to sell Cessna Caravans and Raven unmanned aircraft systems to the Lebanon air force, which Israel fears could become targets in a war with Hezbollah.

5. So far, I have found only one mention of the Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF). A cable on 16 February 2010 summarizes a meeting between Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and his counterpart in Turkey, Vecdi Gonul. Perhaps concerned about preserving national sovereignty, Gonul noted the importance of establishing F-35 maintenance facilities in Turkey.

I'm not a betting man, but I'd be happy to offer a wager today. Somewhere inside Northrop Grumman, someone this morning is busy updating briefing charts that make the case for re-engining and upgrading the sensor on the E-8C Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (JSTARS).

That's because various South Korean and British press outlets are reporting that the US Air Force has deployed the E-8C to the peninsula amidst rising tensions.


Northrop's latest press brief on JSTARS at the Air Force Association's annual convention in September focused on the aircraft's role in Afghanistan. Adapting the E--8C to the rigors of irregular warfare was always a challenge. How can a radar system, for example, tell the difference between an insurgent on a hillside and a mountain goat? Can a "moving target" sensor see the target at all if it is stationary? But Northrop executives assured us that the E-8C could be useful. A radar operator knows a pack of stationary blobs in a field are probably cows, Northrop explained, but several blobs moving quickly toward a friendly location are probably enemies. The E-8C could then cue another airborne platform with a camera to move in closer and verify the identity of the fast-moving blobs.

North Korea, by contrast, is what you might call a target-rich environment for an aircraft like JSTARS. The E-8C specializes in identifying military vehicles moving along roads, a skill that major elements of the Iraqi military probably still remember.

It's worth noting that the E-8C has recently demonstrated a multi-intelligence capability for the first time. Not only can the E-8C scan for moving targets with the APY-7, a synthetic aperture radar embedded in a 7.3m (24ft)-long canoe fairing under the fuselage. The E-8C's testbed aircraft also has tested the Goodrich MS-177 camera, which is essentially the third generation of the Senior Year Electro Optical Reconnaissance System (SYERS) installed aboard the Lockheed Martin U-2 Dragon Lady.

Such improvements show how the E-8C is trying to adapt its role amidst heavy competitive pressure. Raytheon has installed a similar radar called the littoral surveillance radar system (LSRS) on the US Navy's P-3C fleet, which, unlike the E-8C, already has a high-quality camera and a weapons bay. The US Air Force has taken notice of the new capability. An ongoing analysis of alternatives is evaluating how to replace the E-8C, focusing on an upgraded E-8C, a Boeing P-8A adapted with LSRS and unmanned aircraft systems adapted with the Northrop Grumman vehicle and dismount exploitation radar (VADER).

The USAF's study is scheduled to be complete in April. Depending on what happens next on the peninsula, that could be perfect timing to incorporate lessons learned from the E-8C deployment to South Korea. 

It's almost time to say farewell to the General Dynamics F-111, which is affectionately nicknamed the Pig in Australia and the Aardvark in America.
 
The Royal Australian Air Force formally retires the F-111C fleet next Thursday. With the US Air Force F-111Fs and EF-111G Ravens retired since 1997, the story of this long-range strike fighter will be complete.
The F-111 emerged after perhaps the most controversial weapons contract award in history. Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara overruled the recommendation of his military evaluators, which overwhelmingly favored Boeing's riskier approach, and gave the contract to General Dynamics. McNamara's private decision triggered several years of congressional investigations. Meanwhile, his decision to force the US Air Force and US Navy to buy a common airframe proved at least as controversial, with the Navy finally allowed to drop out of the program in 1968 and paving the way for the F-14. The F-111's reputation remained stained by its acquisition legacy until it proved its worth in Operation El Dorado Canyon on April 14, 1986, when the US Air Force bombed five Libyan bases.
I was lucky enough to witness the RAAF's F-111Cs perform the famous dump-and-burn trick at the Singapore air show in February. I also saw a couple of F-111Cs flying over RAAF Amberley in May. Yesterday, the RAAF posted a video tribute to the Pig on its YouTube channel, which I've embedded below (note strange audio editing error at 1:19 mark).
Meantime, feel free to post your thoughts, memories and comments about the F-111 here today.

China's AVIC exhibited a new toy at Zhuhai air show called the TL-8 decoy. The placard on the exhibit booth ominously describes this winged missile body as a "multifunctional medium-sized drone". By using the loaded term "multifunctional", it is possible AVIC merely was describing the airframe's ability as a decoy missile to simulate both aircraft and cruise missiles. Of course, if the TL-8 can simulate other cruise missiles, it can also become a cruise missile. Perhaps even the TL-8's decoy title is itself a decoy?

Another interesting factor to consider is the TL-8's design, which strongly resembles the Northrop Grumman BQM-74 Chukar III target drone. Israel adapted Chukar into the Delilah drone/cruise missile (see Israel air force history on Delilah here). In 1995, Flight International reported that Israel's TAAS sold the Delilah technology to China. I asked the author of that story, Douglas Barrie, who is now an analyst for the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), if he thinks there may be a connection. But Barrie was dubious that Israel would provide China with Delilah's design secrets for any price. However, Barrie was impressed with AVIC's performance claims for the TL-8.

"Quite high speed, bigger and heavier than Delilah also," Barrie wrote in an email. The TL-8 "would make a useful platform for uses other than that of a drone!  If the range figure is credible it would suggest a decent engine with reasonable fuel consumption."

Specs	TL-8	Chukar III	Delilah
Speed	M0.85	M0.81	M0.85
Range	500km	650km	250km+
Maximum takeoff weight	250kg	206kg	250kg
Length	3.77m	4m	3.3m
Wingspan	1.76m	1.9m	1.2m

Before the press fired questions at Sean O'Keefe today, the EADS North America chief executive expounded on his views about the current state of the KC-X competition. It includes an update on the acquisition process and a couple of digs at his competitor Boeing. We'll of course update the blog if Boeing chooses to provide a rebuttal.

EADS North America CEO Sean O'Keefe, who today made his first KC-X-related appearance since surviving a plane crash nearly four months ago, did not rule out the possibility of filing a protest over an apparent mistake earlier this month by the US Air Force that sent proprietary data to the wrong bidders.

Andrea Shalal-Esa of Reuters asks the first question:



I followed-up on Andrea's question:

Lockheed Martin has received the first fixed-price contract for F-35 production aircraft. It took several months of negotiating to convert production orders from cost-plus to a fixed-price format two years early. Was it worth the wait? See the chart below (updated with corrected percentages in "change" column):

Lot	Aircraft	Targeted cost	Targeted average cost	Estimated Actuals**	Change	Average cost
SDD	13	$19 billion	$1.46 billion	$29.06 billion**	52.95%	$2.24 billion
LRIP 1	2
LRIP 2	12	$2.2 billion	$183.33 million	$2.6 billion**	18.18%	$216.67 million
LRIP 3	17	$2.62 billion	$154.12 million	$3.53 billion**	34.74%	$207.65 million
LRIP 4	31	$4.6 billion	$148 million			??

The pre-LRIP-4 data comes from the "selected acquisition report", dated 31 December 2009, on the F-35 program, which FlightGlobal obtained several months ago. No data on LRIP-1 is available. The chart also does not include costs for government furnished equipment, which includes engines. 

Under the cost-plus contract format from the system development and demonstration (SDD) phase through the third lot of low rate initial production (LRIP-3), Lockheed's actual costs exceeded the initial target by 15-34%. Those costs were simply passed on to the government, rather than absorbed by the contractor.

The fixed-price format is supposed to mean that the contractor bears more of the risks for cost overruns. Details of the final agreement on LRIP-4, however, are still not available. We do know the new contract is not a "firm fixed-price" deal. That means a certain percentage of any cost overruns in LRIP-4 could be passed on to the customer. 

The US Air Force has finally confirmed the KC-X tanker contract award will slip into early 2011. Also, according to the USAF, the delay has nothing to do with this new bombshell by Defense News editor Vago Muradian.

USAF Sent Bid Info to Wrong Tanker Rivals

By VAGO MURADIAN
Published: 19 Nov 2010 16:23

Earlier this month, the U.S. Air Force sent letters to rival planemakers about their bids for the $35 billion tanker contest - but it mixed them up, delivering its technical assessment of Boeing's bid to EADS, and vice versa.

The mistake may imperil the service's latest, bend-over-backwards effort to advance the 179-aircraft program, whose previous incarnation was dissolved after the Government Accountability Office ruled the service improperly gave the contract to EADS and Northrop Grumman.

Photo courtesy of US Air Force

China's AVIC aircraft manufacturer is establishing a tradition of unveiling exotic aircraft concepts at the Zhuhai air show. Four years ago, it was a model showing a future, single-engine stealth fighter with canards and forward-swept wings.

AVIC didn't disappoint at the 2010 Zhuhai show this week, unveiling what you might call a stealthy/fan-in-fuselage/compound-pusher/VTOL strike aircraft with internal weapons bays. FlightGlobal photographer Tom Gordon snapped photos on the stand.

Lockheed Martin just issued a statement on the F-35B test programme:

"During a recent durability ground test, fatigue cracks were discovered in the aft bulkhead of BH-1, an F-35B ground test aircraft. The cracks were discovered during a special inspection when a test engineer discovered an anomaly; the aircraft has logged approximately 1500 hours of durability testing. Precautionary inspections were conducted on all flight test aircraft and the CTOL ground test aircraft. No additional cracks were found and flight testing has not been impacted.  The root cause investigation is underway and will determine if the cracks were caused by a test anomaly that is not indicative of flight conditions, an engineering issue or a material failure. Durability testing is conducted early in the development of a new aircraft program to avoid costly sustainment issues later in the life of the aircraft."

The F-35B is supported by six aluminum bulkheads forged by Alcoa Power and Propulsion. Lockheed has confirmed the fatigue cracks appeared on the 496 bulkhead, which is shown pictured below from an Alcoa marketing brochure. The F-35A and F-35C have a different structural system, sharing a very similar 472 bulkhead but not the F-35Bs 496 structure. 

A Lockheed Martin F-22 lost contact with US Air Force air traffic control at 7:40pm (11:40pm EST) yesterday during a routine mission from Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Alaska. A search is underway. As of about 8am EST, the USAF still classified the aircraft and the pilot as overdue.

The USAF has lost two F-22s in accidents since December 20, 2004. Aircraft 014 was lost on that day after maintenance procedures triggered a glitch in the flight control system. Aircraft 008 crashed on March 25, 2009, after Lockheed Martin test pilot David Cooley briefly lost control for 4sec during a 9g, split-S maneuver.

If another F-22 is confirmed lost, the USAF's projected fleet will shrink to 185 aircraft. Lockheed is building the last 20 aircraft this year before the production line closes in February or March 2012. 

Selling weapons to the United Arab Emirates must not be as easy as it looks. Sure, the Emiratis have plenty of cash and happen to occupy the non-Iranian half of the Strait of Hormuz, but they still like to drive a hard bargain. 

The global arms industry has waited for years for the UAE to sign a contract to buy 60 Dassault Rafales, which has already lost more potential customers than BP gas station owners in Louisiana.

Until recently, France was reportedly resisting demands by the UAE to take back about 60 Mirage 2000-9s in exchange for a Rafale sale. But now French newspaper La Tribune has reported the UAE has insisted on a second condition.

In return for buying the Rafale, France must give the UAE's two airlines -- Abu Dhabi's Etihad and Dubai's Emirates -- more landing slots at major French airports, especially Charles de Gaulle near Paris. According to La Tribune, this forces the French government to choose between "two of its industrial jewels": Rafale manufacturer Dassault and Air France.

The nine-year (and counting) KC-X tanker contract saga is rich with emotional moments. I can think of several in a blink: receiving Darleen Druyun's shocking letter of confession to criminal conflict of interest, hearing Sen John McCain rip the US Air Force on the Senate floor before Thanksgiving weekend in 2004, and watching the Pentagon announce Northrop Grumman's victory on Leap Day in February 2008. Today should have added to that list. The original date for the third attempted contract award was November 12, but the evaluation process has been extended to at least December and perhaps beyond.

As we wait, a new, long-form feature on KC-X in Washingtonian magazine -- "Own the Sky" -- uncovers a key mystery.

In Jim Roche's first extended interview on the scandal that led to his ouster in December 2004, the former Secretary of the Air Force reveals to senior editor Shane Harris why he fought McCain so bitterly over the controversial lease deal. Harris writes that a tearful Roche (shown pictured on USAF pistol range, right) recalled the death of his only son in May 1987 and perceived -- with apparently far-reaching implications -- betrayal in his friend McCain's heart-less reaction.

It's unclear whether McCain is aware of Roche's accusation of personal treachery, but the story may be vital to understanding how the KC-X story unfolded. There clearly have been breakdowns in the acquisition system, with the doomed lease deal and the incompetent evaluation of the competitive bidding process as exhibits A & B. But KC-X appears to have been unwittingly born into a blood-feud. It seemed mysterious that Roche, a consummate DC operator, was unable to compromise on a seemingly routine squabble over acquisition policy. Harris' feature finally helps illuminate the possible source of the Roche-McCain meltdown more than seven years ago.

That is not to say the article is perfect. In such a sweeping account of the KC-X story, however, some omissions are forgivable. The enmity between Roche and EADS North America executive Ralph Crosby is touched upon, but the back-story of their career rivalry inside Northrop is sadly absent. The KC-X scandal destroyed many careers, including some belonging to innocent bystanders. It may not be necessary to footnote an aspiring future chief of staff such as Gen Gregory "Speedy" Martin, but his fall from power over a few unfortunate responses to McCain's questions in a Senate hearing speaks to the wider tragedy of the KC-X story. Less forgivable, Harris asserts the B-2 bomber belongs to Boeing. Scheduling an interview with EADS' Crosby, who memorably served as Northrop's B-2 program manager, might have saved Harris the embarrassment.

Yesterday I interviewed Harris, author of "The Watchers" and noted intelligence community journalist, about the feature. A transcript is on the jump:

I stand corrected: The F-117 Nighthawk is not "new Elvis". The difference is that Elvis is dead. But the F-117 is alive, despite its March 2008 retirement. Here's more video of the F-117 flying over the Nellis ranges, with the videographer saying the date -- July 27, 2010 -- over the recording. (WARNING: Some language is NSFW!)

I am reporting in next week's magazine that a subset of the P-3C Orion fleet will outlive its planned retirement by the Boeing 737-based P-8A Poseidon. I'll post the link to the article here when it's available.

I consider the story a testament to the P-3C's record of freakish survival skills.

Adapted from the doomed, 1950s-era Lockheed L-188 Electra airliner, the Orion first survived its predecessor's untimely demise in the regional airliner market. It should have been replaced by the Lockheed P-7 in the early 1990s, but the P-7's setbacks and budget cuts kept the P-3C alive for at least another 30 years. Then, a series of inspections starting about 10 years ago nearly forced the navy to ground the entire fleet due to surprise revelations of fatigue damage. A rushed repair job called the special structural inspection kit (SSIK) kept about half the P-3C fleet in the air. But even that proved insufficient. During the last five years, wing inspections revealed shocking damage caused by corrosion and fatigue. By September 2009, all but 49 of the 120 combat-coded P-3C fleet was grounded. Only a furious effort by Naval Air Systems Command, led by P-3 sustainment lead Bob Holmes, allowed the navy to restore 33 Orions to flying status as of late October. Meanwhile, the navy is quietly investing to rewing at least 29 P-3Cs, allowing a subset of the Orion fleet to remain airworthy long after it is scheduled to be replaced by the P-8A.

Reports of the P-3C fleets demise, despite averaging 16,500 flying hours on an airframe designed to survive 7,500, are truly exaggerated. 

I'm NOT making this up. Be very careful how you pronounce Bell Helicopter's latest technology development program, which the company announced this morning.

Bell Helicopter and U.S. Army Sign Cooperative Agreement to Develop Drive System Technologies

FORT WORTH, TEXAS (November 8, 2010) - Bell Helicopter, a Textron Inc. company (NYSE: TXT) and the U.S. Army Aviation Applied Technology Directorate have signed a $30 million Technology Investment Agreement to develop state-of-the-art drive system technology under the Future Advanced Rotorcraft Drive System (FARDS) program.

It turns out this video is at least four years old, but I just watched it for the first time this morning. It may be an oldie, but it's pretty interesting if you haven't seen it yet. Enjoy.

Good morning, shoppers. Christmas is right around the corner. It's never too early to look for 'stocking-stuffers'. Here's an idea: Cold War icon Tu-95 "Bear" bomber (above) posted for sale last month on eBay!

The auction unfortunately closed on 23 October, but I have good news: Richard Moore, of russianmilitary.co.uk, which arranged the eBay auction, confirmed to me this morning that the bomber is still for sale. The listed eBay price of £10 million (US$16.2 million) is still in the right ballpark, Moore says.

I asked Moore how russianmilitary.co.uk acquired the Tu-95, which does not reveal any identifying marks in the eBay photos. Moore replied that he was entering a meeting, then asked me to call back on Monday. So stay tuned for the back-story, I guess.

You might think £10 million is a little steep, but, honestly, where else are you going to find a working strategic bomber and carrier battle group nemesis at that price?

A new "tactical aircraft" to replace the F-22 could enter service in 2030. The aircraft must be ready to move beyond  prototype stage by 2020. It could be optionally manned or remotely piloted. Its primary mission will remain shooting down enemy aircraft, although it "may" also need to jam communications and electronics and spy.

That's a quick summary of a capabilities request for information issued today by the USAF's next generation tactical aircraft technology program, which is being led by the capability development and planning division of the Aeronautical Systems Center.

We've known that the USAF has been looking at F-22 replacement options for a few years. The process has now entered the stage where the USAF asks industry to submit information. Earlier this year, Boeing revealed concepts for a next-generation F-22 replacement (pictured above). We haven't seen anything new from Lockheed Martin, but that could quickly change as the process moves forward.

In 12 months, the 187th and last Lockheed Martin F-22A Raptor will roll out of the historic final assembly plant -- named 'B-1' -- in Marietta, Georgia. It will be delivered to the US Air Force in February or March, allowing enough time for check-out flights, fixing bugs, coatings and paint. And, for the Raptor, that should do it. Neither the Bush nor Obama administrations supported buying more, a solid if rare display of bipartisan consensus.

But Lockheed's Marietta workforce hasn't quite given up. Jeff Babione, currently F-22 deputy program manager, still seems amazed the program will end in early 2012.

"When I started 20 years ago on the first Raptor I never thought I'd be here for the last one," he says.

Lockheed's workforce is taking special care to preserve the knowledge it takes to build the F-22. The US Air Force earlier this year agreed to store the F-22's special tooling, rejecting an option to destroy the equipment. About 30,000 items will be stored in Conex shipping containers stored in northeast California at the Sierra army depot, which offered to keep the tooling virtually for free, Babione says.  

THE USAF justified the decision to store the F-22's tooling to keep the option open for conducting a major service life extension program, as well as making extensive repairs on battle-damaged aircraft.

Of course, the same equipment can be used to restart the production line. Lockheed is very familiar with the practice. In Marietta alone, Lockheed has resurrected production lines for the C-5, C-130 and P-3 fleet. Heeding the lessons of experience, Lockheed is taking an extra step to smooth the restoration of F-22 tooling. Says Babione:

"We're putting together smartbooks, and it's an illustrated manual -- both text and video that explains how the [F-22] tools were used. So they went through and built the part -- whatever part it was -- and documeneted how to do that. Our lessons from this when we did P-3 and C-130 is you've got a guy out there who's been using this tool for 20 years. And he's got that tape mark over the hole that the tool engineers put in there, but he needed to be back a sixteenth of an inch. So that tribal knowledge is built into that tool. We go put a tool in storage, we pull it back out, we strip it, we paint it, all that knowledge is gone. To avoid any of that - and not that anyone would use a tool incorrectly, but to make sure we don't have to remember how to use that tool -- we're doing a very rigorous job of some 80-plus of these smartbooks that explain how to use the tools. Everyone of those programs experienced a significant start-up problem because they didn't have adequate records of how to use the tools. We're going to avoid that. We're going to have a how-to manual for each of the tools."

Perhaps you've heard the F-35 development program is facing yet another one-year overall extension and an up to $5 billion cost overrun. The story was broken this week by DODBuzz, with a tip from Winslow Wheeler, and followed up by such wide-ranging F-35 observers as Bloomberg reporter Tony Capaccio, Loren Thompson and Bill Sweetman.

It's arguable that the real scoop belongs to the Government Accountability Office. On page 7 of the 17 March 2010 report on the F-35 program, the GAO's auditors predict:

"Additional cost increases and more time to complete development are possible. The preliminary estimate by the [Joint Estimating Team] projected as much as a 30-month extension in the schedule for completing development flight tests, more than the 13-month extension ordered in the restructuring. Defense officials acknowledge that the revised schedule for completing development, testing and supporting the full-rate production milestone is still aggressive. Also, the 2011 budget estimate does not include costs beyond 2010 for the alternate (or second) engine program. Should that program go forward, an estimated $1.6 billion may be needed to complete development in 2016."

Missiles are getting awfully tricky. It was hard enough to develop a missile that can do one thing reliably well. Now the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency wants to develop a single missile that can perform three different missions.

Depending on the target, today's missiles offer a choice between anti-aircraft (AMRAAM), anti-radiation (HARM) and anti-cruise-missile (AERAM).

DARPA's triple target terminator (T3) program, awarded to Raytheon on October 22, could replace all three. Few details about T3 have been released, but Raytheon is expected to perform a T3 flight demonstration in 2014.

That's shortly before the US Air Force plans to launch full-scale development of a dual-role (think AMRAAM + HARM) air dominance missile.

While Raytheon pursues DARPA's T3, the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) has funded Boeing to develop three enabling technologies for JDRADM. The MR ROKM program is developing essentially a shaped-charge warhead for the missile. The SITES program is integrating the guidance sensor and fuse mechanism. And, finally, DRADM-T is developing thrust-vectored controls for the rocket technology.

It's still not clear if T3 and JDRADM technologies could eventually be blended into a production missile, or if they are intended to be competitors. There may be other ideas in the black world. I attended a strange press conference at the Farnborough air show in 2008. Three companies -- ATK, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman -- formed an alliance to pursue dual-role missiles, but steadfastly declined to clarify the potential program.

Raytheon announced today that the company has won a contract to install a large center pedestal display in F-16s owned by the Air National Guard and the Air Force Reserve. Here is the first image showing the 6 by 8in color display inside the cockpit.



Large-format, color displays could soon become essential for a key subset of the F-16 fleet. The US Air Force is considering whether to integrate active electronically scanned array (AESA) radars on the venerable 'Viper'. Having the color display means the pilot would be able to use one of the inherent capabilities of the AESA radar -- the simultaneous interleaving of air-to-air and air-to-ground scans.

There are two AESA radars in the undeclared competition for the F-16 AESA retrofit. The Raytheon advanced combat radar (RACR) is competing against the Northrop Grumman scalable agile beam radar (SABR). Northrop, by the way, offered a competing center pedestal display using Honeywell technology, but lost.