FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1978
1978 - 0012.PDF
FLIGHT International, 7 January 1978 AEW Nimrod radar reaches full power N ow about six months into its flight-development programme, the airborne early warning (AEW) radar for Nimrod is about to be operated at full power for the first time. All flying is being carried out from Woodford using the converted Comet which was rolled out in March last year. The Comet has a representative antenna in the nose, a full prototype radar system, and instrumentation. Flying has so far concentrated on clearing the aerodynamic perfor mance of the modified Comet. This has been particularly important as the aircraft has much more side area ahead of the centre of gravity than production AEW Nimrods. The radar has been operated at low power, and system integrity and signal quality checked at several hardware inter faces. Static targets on the ground have been detected, but performance in this regime will not be seriously evaluated until the flight-measurement phase is entered, soon after first operating the radar at full power early this year. Test rig Radar components have been tested at full power by Marconi-Elliott at Borehamwood, and system perfor mance is being evaluated in a test rig at Radlett. Over the coming 12 months or so results obtained from computer software development tests will be compared with data recorded during airborne trials to assess radar performance. The radar development programme has still to reach its em ployment peak—.probably late this year—although with no programme landmarks against which progress can be measured it is not clear whether development effort will drop away sharply after the prototype trials have been completed. The next event sig nificant to the public will be the first flight of a complete twin-antenna sys tem in a definitively shaped AEW Nimrod. The first of the 11 aircraft due to carry the full system reached final assembly at Woodford about two months ago, but it may be next year before installations are completed. Marconi-Elliott's Basildon factory has also started development of the AEW Nimrod communication system, a project which will roughly equal the radar programme in timescale and employment. Each aircraft will even tually carry more than 100 replaceable communication - system units. UK philosophy with Nimrod differs from US practice with aircraft such as E-2A and E^3A, as the aircraft will act primarily as a sensor that feeds in formation to a ground-based command and control system. This does not rule out the possibility of controlling ground forces, ships or other aircraft directly from an AEW Nimrod, but the communications system is being designed primarily to provide basic information to any battle station with a receiver that operates at Nimrod wavelengths. The communication system will operate at HF and VHF wavelengths and transmit both voice and digital- radar data. Techniques for obtaining "secure" data-Hnk performance are at the core of the development pro gramme. The UK seems certain to stick with its own ideas on how this should be done, a matter which is at the root of much discontent in other Nato countries, especially West Ger many. Although the cost of AEW Nimrod development is estimated at about £400 million over five years, sup porters of the project are stressing that this is a relatively small pro portion of Britain's steadily diminish ing defence budget. It will amount to about four per cent of UK defence expenditure over the next five years, and operating costs are likely to be as low as one per cent thereafter. The system is seen by many as an essen tial defence "umbrella," especially im portant to Britain, which has less opportunity of receiving an indepen dent attack warning than most other European countries. The UK also has a very large flank to protect on the North Atlantic and needs an effective overwater early-warning and shipping- monitoring system to replace ageing Shackletons as soon as possible. Exporting the aircraft is not ruled out, but there is a growing reluctance Flight measurements are about to begin on the system-test AEW Nimrod. The aircraft's communication system, which is now beginning to take shape, is soon to be installed in the first AEW airframe at Woodford to look upon the AEW Nimrod pro gramme as an international invest ment. Aircraft sold abroad are likely to have a simpler communications system than RAF aircraft. A deterrent I to hard selling is the fact: that most | countries look for an airborne com mand and control post, but that few nations seem willing to foot the bill for incorporating such changes. If Nato chose to use AEW Nimrod as its standard early-warning aircraft the unit price would be much lower than the £36 million which emerges when the cost of the RAF order is divided by the number of aircraft involved. The above figure includes all develop ment and a contingency for ground- based communication - system com ponents. Compared with other options currently available it is clear that AEW Nimrod is- the most effective system for the UK, and that at the price quoted it is good value for money. Eastern tour for Decca Sperry salesmen DECCA Systems Division engineers and salesmen and Sperry representa tives are to tour the Middle East and Far East later this month, travelling as far as Jakarta in Indonesia in Decca's Jetstream demonstrator. The aircraft will carry several Decca and Sperry products, the centre piece of which is a combined Sperry gyro-platform/Decca Doppler radar system^ offering high-accuracy, self- contained navigation. The Jetstream will leave Biggin Hill on January 28.
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
