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Aviation History
1973
1973 - 0073.PDF
FLIGHT International, II January 1973 45 AEW Nimrods for the RAF? Work is now under way to modify a Comet to carry a Marconi-Elliott Avionics airborne early warning radar for trials in connection with the adoption of an AEW aircraft by the RAF. The Comet is part of the CA (control of aircraft) fleet, and the quite extensive airframe changes needed to carry the radar are shown in the artist's impression on this page. No decision is likely to be taken by the British Government on either the radar or its carrier aeroplane for several years. On January 19 last year the Government announced that a further squadron of Nimrods—eight aircraft worth £35 million with spares and equipment—would be acquired for the RAF. An RAF spokesman told Flight earlier this week that it had not yet been decided whether these aircraft would be used for maritime reconnaissance or AEW. An aircraft of this size would fit the AEW role very well, and last year's order is seen as a way of buying time until the Government decides what equipment it wants; the Hawker Siddeley produc tion line would otherwise have to close This artist's impression depicts the Ministry of Defence (Procurement Executive) Comet which is to be modified to carry a Marconi-Elliott Avionics early-warning radar for flight trials. The large, Nimrod-style dorsal fin has been added to counteract the reduced weathercock stability resulting from the radome installation. The RAF's AEW programme is described on this page down. It is therefore uncertain whether these eight aeroplanes will be fitted with standard Nimrod anti submarine equipment, or whether they will become the first of a new family of AEW aircraft. The in-service date may be as much as a decade away, and it is probable that one or more may be fitted with representative equipment for extended trials. At least two attempts have been made to provide the RAF with an AEW aircraft. In the early 1960s Hawker Siddeley proposed a twin- engined carrier-borne AEW aeroplane to meet the NAST 6166 requirement. The radar system for this design was proposed by Elliotts, but the pro gramme was cancelled about 1966 with the British Government decision not to proceed with new aircraft carriers. Work on the avionics continued at a low key until 1969, when the Govern ment placed an order with Elliotts to develop an airworthy FMICW (fre quency modulated intermittent con tinuous wave) system. It was intended that this equipment would be carried in quite small aircraft, and the HS.748/Andover and the VFW-Fokker 614 were both proposed. This pro gramme itself was cancelled in 1971. As an interim measure a squadron of Shackletons has been fitted with the American designed AN/APS-20 radar, originally fitted to Gannet AEW.3s. The follow-on aeroplane, which may be the Nimrod, represents a very considerable advance over the Shackleton in its role of national (as opposed to purely Fleet) defence. The RAF will be the only European nation The retractable air-stairs of the Court Line TriStar, seen here on the prototype aircraft, are wide enough to take two passengers abreast. The units are stored in the aft cargo compartment. The first Court Line TriStar, which has 400 seats, was rolled out at Palmdale last Monday SENSOR Mr Heseltine's European policy of across • border aerospace - company integrations, now proposed twice in public speeches, is arousing some alarm in France. The feeling is that the British minister is trying to overpower European partners. Pro ject consortia formed for specific projects are the flexible solution for many years ahead, in the French view. Mr Heseltine should, French observers feel, foster these rather than the idea of power blocs. Air France's request to the French Government for permission to order further Boeing 727s is in abeyance pending negotiations with Dassault on the Mercure 200. This version, with increased payload/range, will have 16,000lb JT8D-17 engines and is intended to widen the market for what so far has been a specialist short-haul aircraft more suited to Air Inter's network. Recent retaliatory terror bombings in border towns in Eire are leading to a rapid intensification of the Irish forces' border patrols. The 12 Cessna F-172 Reims Rockets newly acquired by the Irish Air Corps are already being flown intensively in border areas and are expected to be armed with button-on rocket pods and GPMGs within a few weeks. A repeat order is being con sidered, together with an increase in the IAC's pilot strength. Only the delicate political situation has prevented the replacement of its aged Vampire Trainers with re furbished ex-RAF Jet Provosts and the Irish Government is now con sidering alternatives. But improve ments in the Irish Army's equip ment and the IAC's forward observation role are being given higher priority. Market research by more and more international manufacturers of civil aircraft is pointing to a gap for a 200-seat airliner powered by two GE CF6-6 or two Rolls-Royce RB.211- 22s for introduction at the end of the seventies by operators of DC-10- 10 and TriStar fleets. A new market gap also coming into focus is for the same basic airframe, with 200 seats, but for very long ranges powered by three RB.211-22s or three CF6-6s. Some influential sections of the British aerospace industry are feel ing the need for an additional PR presence in European capitals, where the British day-to-day case— especially among local newspaper men—is sometimes felt to go by default despite good "strategic" work by the SBAC in London and by" the local embassies. Tne; Royal Aero Club, now part of the United Service Club, is fighting back hard against rising costs. Sub stantial increases in members' sub scriptions will, it is hoped, reverse the current serious deficit.
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