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Aviation History
1970
1970 - 0077.PDF
' FLIGHT International, 8 January 1970 Libya's Defence Policy * CANCELLATION BY British Aircraft Cor- •t poration of the contract to supply Libya < with Thunderbird and Rapier air defence systems (announced last week as Flight closed for press and referred to in a * brief news item) followed defection « by Libya on progress payments, and BAC could hardly have acted otherwise after giving its customer adequate time 4 in which to pay. Since the corporation itself had to pay sub-contractors, it had « no option but to discontinue the arrange- . ment, despite prolonged discussions with the Libyans in Benghazi before Christ- * mas. The BAC announcement said: — "We have to announce that despite extensive and friendly discussions con- , ducted since mid-November with the Defence Ministry of the new Libyan * Government concerning its air defence , requirements, it has not been found possible to make arrangements which + would enable the corporation to con tinue to execute its contracts for air defence equipment and for training and « technical support. "The corporation has therefore, with very great regret, given notice for t termination to the Libyan Government in accordance with the terms of these * contracts." • It looks as though the Libyan Gov- v ernment, which overthrew King ldris in whose reign the agreement with BAC was signed, has let the contract go by y default because it does not wish to have an air defence system of this kind. If , the latter supposition is correct, it reflects Libya's changed status in the Arab t world. Instead of being a Western- oriented kingdom, buying British equip ment and allowing the British and Americans training facilities at El Adem and Wheelus. it is now an ally of Egypt and the Sudan; and with "friendly" Arab countries on its eastern and western borders, Libya no longer needs defences against intruding enemy aircraft. It is presumably President Nasser's hope that Libya will now spend its defence money on fighters and tanks, which would sup port Egypt in any major Arab operations against Israel. It was reported last week that France might supply Libya with Mirages. A Libyan order for Chieftain tanks from Britain is still under dis cussion. Mirage F.l Weapon Tests THE PROTOTYPE Dassault Mirage F.l recently began flights with varied weapon loads at the Weapon Test Centre at Cazaux, near Bordeaux, after it had completed a second series of tests at Istres. Before beginning this second phase of tests, the two F.ls had made 120 flights, totalling I35hr. Dassault and Snecma, in a joint announcement, say that these tests were satisfactory and the aircraft's Snecma Atar 09-K50 turbojet with its 7,200kg, 15,8731b thrust enabled speeds over Mach 2-2 to be reached. Assessing RAF Requirements A STUDY WHICH PLAYED an important part in the decision to equip the RAF with the Hawker Siddeley Harrier—ah assessment of VTOL aircraft as weapons systems for close support, comparing them on a cost-effective basis with con ventional aeroplanes—was carried out by Mr J. E. Henderson. newly appointed Chief Scientist of the RAF 57 [Flight last week, page 3), when he was the Air Force's Deputy Chief Scientist. In another exercise which came within his responsibility, the Nimrod was chosen from a wide range of British, French and American aircraft as the best re placement for the Shackleton in the maritime role with anti-submarine capa bility. Mr Henderson (the Ministry of De fence states) has now carried his connec tion with Nimrod a stage further as, under his direction, computer "software" is being developed to measure effec tively the aircraft's efficiency in service. He has also been closely concerned with the detailed studies from which have evolved the criteria for determining the performance characteristics required of the future European multi-role combat aircraft (MRCA). This involved a com prehensive computer simulation of air attack operations, including the use of air-to-air and air-to-ground weapons. The study considered all aspects of offensive and defensive tactics, the effect of aircraft speed and height, effects of electronic countermeasures and tac tical routeing, and defence by fighter aircraft as well as surface-to-air missiles and anti-aircraft guns. As Chief Scientist, Mr Henderson will be basically an "ideas" man, identifying scientific problems throughout the whole Continued on page 65 Wessex HC.2 of 72 Sqn, based at RAF Odiham. seen off the island of Mon in Denmark during a recent NATO exercise. Flown by Fg Off Duncan Donaldson, the aircraft was photographed by Mike Chase of the MoD from another Wessex
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