June 2011 Archives
A commercial customer
could be announced within 12 months for a new heavy freighter version of a
hybrid airship in development for the US Army, Northrop Grumman said.
The commercial market
appears to be evolving rapidly even as a Northrop/Hybrid Air Vehicles (HAV)
team is still assembling the first long-endurance multi-intelligence vehicle
(LEMV) ordered by the army a year ago.
"This week we have
begun parts of the inflating process," said Alan Metzger, vice president and
integrated product team leader for LEMV and airship programmes. Nineteen
sections that comprise the structure of the balloon will be inflated over a
period of several weeks, he added.
The army could buy as
many as three of the optionally manned hybrid airships, which rely on both
buoyancy and aerodynamic forces to achieve lift.
An undisclosed customer within the army intends to demonstrate that the LEMV can perch at 20,000ft over a three-week period with a 1,133kg (2,500lb) payload that includes four high-definition electro-optical/infrared sensors, a signals interceptor, radar and three communications relay antennas, Northrop said.
The same vehicle with
a few modifications is already being offered to the commercial freighter
market.
The cargo version can
be designed to carry up to 18,143kg for 1,000nm. Required design changes
include a new freight floor added to a payload bay, and enlarged fuel/freight
module and hover pads added t the landing skids, Metzger said.
Northrop's interest in
the commercial market is moving forward after its chief competitor - the
Lockheed Martin SkyTug - teamed with a Canadian start-up to produce a hybrid
airship for the commercial cargo market. Meanwhile, the US Air Force has also
signed a $82 million contract with MAV6 to develop a surveillance airship with
one week endurance.
"Lots of people have
ideas, and they're all good ideas," Metzger said. "What we have is a vehicle."
The Brazilian
manufacturer revealed the plan at the Paris Air Show only a day after Kawasaki
announced ongoing studies to convert a baseline C-2 military transport into a
commercial freighter.
The KC-390 is being
developed for $1.3 billion by the Brazilian Air Force to receive military
certification in 2016. A stretched model could be available as early as 2018
for the commercial transport market, which includes Brazil's Correios postal
service - the original launch customer for an earlier version of the KC-390.
The civil version
would have to be modified with two plugs added to the 33.91m (111.3ft) length
of the KC-390's fuselage, Orlando Neto, vice president of sales for Embraer
Defence and Security, said in an interview.
One plug would be
added forward of the wing to accommodate a side door for cargo. Another plug
would be inserted into the fuselage aft of the wing to create more internal
space, Neto said.
The existing wings and
engines of the KC-390 are sized to accommodate the stretched version for the
cargo market, he added. The KC-390 also features an avionics system - the
Rockwell Collins ProLine Fusion - design to receive Part 25 civil certification
in 2015.
Embraer's commercial
plans for the KC-390 over-shadowed the lack of further announcements about the
airlifter's supply chain.
Despite recently
entering a year-long joint definition phase, Embraer has yet to finalise
agreements with the engine supplier for the KC-390. Both the CFM International
CFM56 and the International Aero Engines V2500 have been considered for the
order.
Neto confirmed that
discussions are concluded between the company and the Brazilian air force over the
engine supplier. The discussions are now between the company and the suppliers,
although declined to clarify if one of the companies had already been ruled
out.
But the discussions
are also not expected to drag on indefinitely. Neto added that Embraer has a
firm schedule for completing the negotiations, and a contract award is possible
within a few weeks.
The news conference
was billed as an order announcement, but the customer came to lobby the top
leadership of the F-35 programme in full view of the press.
Rear Adm Arne Røksund, a career submariner and now head of Norway's
defence policy, made a plea for the F-35 joint programme office to integrate
the Kongsberg Joint Strike Missile (JSM) even as he confirmed Norway's decision
to buy four F-35 training jets for delivery in 2016.
The missile is one of Norway's top priorities for a successful
industrial participation programme as part of its commitment to buy dozens more
F-35s starting in 2018, he said.
Røksund's remarks were directed to journalists attending the F-35 press
briefing, but it was clear that his message was intended for F-35 deputy
programme executive Maj Gen C.D. Moore seated nearby.
Moore duly responded that the programme is currently assessing all
potential candidates for integration as part of the Block IV software upgrade
scheduled for delivery in 2019. Norway's JSM is one of the candidates under
review, with a final decision next year, Moore added.
That timing happens to correspond with a pending decision by Norway's
parliament to make to commit to buying at least 48 F-35s. Norway's military
intends to buy as many as 56, Røksund said, but that depends on final costs.
Norway has budgeted about $865 million to buy the first four F-35As, but
"there is uncertainty on top of that number", Røksund said.
As Norway's four aircraft on order will serve as trainers, Lockheed will
deliver the jets to Eglin AFB, Florida. Before further F-35s begin arriving in
Norway after 2019, Lockheed will add a braking parachute to slow the jets on
icy runways.
- A finally complete fleet of 13 flight test aircraft has flown more sorties through 15 June than all of last year. That's not unexpected after the test fleet population has roughly doubled since 12 months ago, but it's a major accomplishment. If trends continue, the fleet should have no trouble easily surpassing the 872-sortie goal set by the programme for this year.
- The F-35A variant's AF-1 has come within M0.07 of its top speed of M1.6, and AF-7 has remained airborne for 4.1h.
- At least 17 F-35s, including the retired AA-1 test aircraft and four early production jets, have been flown and delivered.

Fighter-jet engines 'stolen from Israeli base'
"C-12 early flight of the Army's CEASAR EW capability. CEASAR is designed to conduct electronic warfare from above the battlefield. CEASAR will give the Army an organic beyond line of sight electronic attack capability designed specifically to address the concerns of the land forces.
Dan Seal, program manager of Boeing's immersive development environment, briefs reporters on 7 June in St. Louis about the company's new tools for designing the next generation of air dominance fighters.
Lt Col Romin Dasmalchi, former commanding officer of VMM-266, briefs reporters in Philadelphia on 6 June about the operation in which an MV-22 from his squadron rescued the crew of a Boeing F-15E that crashed in Libya.
On one occasion - in one of the international Anatolian Eagles - PAF pilots were pitted against RAF Typhoons, a formidable aircraft. There were three set-ups and in all three, we shot down the Typhoons. The RAF pilots were shocked.Q: Any particular reason for your success?A: NATO pilots are not that proficient in close-in air-to-air combat. They are trained for BVR engagements and their tactics are based on BVR engagements. These were close-in air combat exercises and we had the upper hand because close-in air combat is drilled into every PAF pilot and this is something we are very good at.
Q: What are the Isrealis afraid of?A: What they fear most is that we might learn about their tactics, especially BVR countermeasure tactics, which they have mastered.Q: I heard a rumour that the TuAF once gave PAF pilots the opportunity to fly with and against the Israelis in A. TuAF F-16s pretending to be Turkish pilots - even letting them sit in the Turkish-Israeli ACMI de-briefs?No comments.
On US concerns about the Chinese:
To recall an interesting little story: soon after the first F-16s were delivered to Pakistan in the mid-80s, the PLAAF Chief visited Sargodha. The Americans were there as well. As a gesture of courtesy, the PAF showed the PLAAF Chief one of the F-16s and let him sit in the cockpit. Some US technicians were there looking on. As soon as the PLAAF Chief sat in the F-16 cockpit, the first thing he did was to start measuring the HUD with his fingers, you know, when you extend your little finger and thumb to measure something? This worried the Americans.
They have ways of keeping an eye on the Block 52s without being personally present. The main concern is the transfer of cutting-edge technology - the avionics and radar, the Joint Helmet Mounted Cueing System (JHMCS) the Sniper pod. They have put digital seals all the sensitive technologies, which can only be opened via a code, which only they know. If there is a malfunction or these parts need to be serviced, they will be taken out of the Block 52s and shipped back to the US for repairs/servicing. If we try to pry open these systems without the codes, inbuilt alarms will be relayed to the Americans, which will be a breach of the contract.Q: Will the Americans be able to track the locations of the Block 52s through some sort of tracking devices hidden inside the aircraft?
A: If there are tracking devices then they will be inside the sealed systems, like the avionics suites or the sniper pods because we will not have the ability to look inside. If their Predator and Reaper drones are transmitting their GPS locations via satellite so can a Block 52 F-16.
Even though Turkey produces the F-16, there are some components that are manufactured in the US and only come to Turkey for the final assembly. In one incident, a Turkish Block 50 crashed and the pilot was killed. They salvaged the wreckage and laid it out in hanger and started putting together the pieces to find out the cause. They found a piece of sealed equipment which had cracked open and inside they found some device that looked like a bug. Upon inquiry, it turned out to be a tracking device.

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