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Aviation History
1979
1979 - 2434.PDF
2332 Royal Navy receives Sea Harrier AT the hand over of the first Royal Navy Sea Harrier FRS.l on June 18, British Aerospace aircraft group chair man Sir Frederick Page spoke of "the others in the queue" for the V/Stol aircraft. John Fozard, divisional mar keting director and former Harrier chief designer, feels that exports are about to take off. First Sea Lord Sir Terence Lewin says the delivery of Sea Harrier XZ451 "marked a new era for carrier-borne aviation through out the world." After the ceremony the Sea Harrier left BAe Dunsfold for RNAS Yeovil- ton where the Intensive Flying Trials Unit (IFTU) was due to form on June 26 to begin developing operational procedures. Five Sea Harriers have flown so far, four taking part in the flightiest programme, which is con centrating on the weapons system. The aircraft delivered did not have a radar or nav/attack system, but this will not hamper initial IFTU opera tions. Deliveries will continue at one or two aircraft a month with the last of the 34 currently on order changing hands in mid-1981. Harrier production capacity is five a month on existing tooling. BAe is standardising on the Sea Harrier airframe, with the raised cockpit and space for radar. Argentina, Australia, Brazil, France, India, Italy and Spain are all poten tial customers for the Sea Harrier. Indian defence minister Jagjivan Ram has publicly confirmed the intention to buy Harriers and the country is likely to be the first customer. Spain has said that she will be very inter ested in the Sea Harrier in the near future. Sea Harrier and the associated anti-submarine cruisers Invincible, Illustrious and Ark Royal are not regarded by the Royal Navy as re placements for the large aircraft carrier. Royal Air Force long-range maritime support will fulfil this role. Sir Terence emphasised that the introduction of the aircraft in no way diminishes the need for RAF shore support, especially in the Atlantic. Sea Harrier will give the Navy a quick reaction capability to intercept long range reconnaissance aircraft. The IFTU will commission later this year as No 700A Sqn, and 800 Sqn, the first operational unit, will commis sion early next year before embarking on HMS Invincible. HMS Hermes will receive its first aircraft early in 1981 and Illustrious will take Sea Harriers aboard at the end of 1982. All the ships will carry a Ski-Jump ramp and Invincible already has a 7° Ski-Jump. Hermes will have a 12° ramp and Illustrious a 9° SkiLJump. Trials at RAE Bedford have reached 20° but the practical angle is restricted by the arc of fire of the Sea Dart missile installation. The Sea Harrier programme in cludes three Hunter T.8Ms modified to carry the Ferranti Blue Fox radar. Two aircraft are already flying in the development programme and will later form a part of the training syllabus. Navy V/Stol pilots will follow a common RN/RAF training course culminating in 28hr at the RAF Harrier Operational Conversion Unit. The pilots will then complete 80hrs on Sea Harrier and 20hrs on Hunter T.8M. Controller of Aircraft Air Chief Marshal Sir Douglas Lowe reaffirmed the Royal Air Force's belief in Stovl (Short take-off and vertical landing) as an "essential part of the RAF front line." The service is examining Harrier developments, he said, including the Super Harrier, or Harrier Mk5. The aircraft has the 250ft2, six-pylon Big Wing, Pegasus 11-35 giving 1,5001b more thrust, new intakes to cope with the increased mass flow, Sea Harrier- standard front fuselage and a nav/ attack system based on the new digital Jaguar Navwass. FLIGHT International, 30 June 1979 mum DEFENCE The delivery of the Sea Harrier marks the introduction of the world's first maritime V/Stol aircraft. John Fozard said that conventional Harriers had accumulated 98 per cent of the world's jet V/Stol experience and carried out around 10,000 sorties from 42 ships belonging to nine navies. Sir Terence Lewin spoke of a certain naval chief of staff of an unnamed country who visited Moscow to ask Admiral Gorshkov, head of the Soviet Navy, to supply Forger Vtol aircraft. Gorshkov replied: "The Forger is in very early development and the air craft has a lot of teething problems. If I were you I'd buy the Sea Harrier." Sea Harrier comes in to land on the 56 x 81ft platform of Royal Naval Auxiliary Olwen (below) whife Super Etendard demonstrates a more conventional approach on to Clemenceau (opposite) ASH can take the two-way street THE US Army's Advanced Scout Helicopter (ASH) will probably be come a transatlantic programme. However, the requirement for initial operational capability (IOC) in the mid-1980s will dictate an interim choice from existing US types. Most likely European candidate, following Aerospatiale's success in the US Coast Guard SRR competition, is the Italian Agusta A.129 Mongoose. The local need to operate in conditions as diverse as southern Italian summer heat and north Italian alps gives the A.129 exceptional excess power, adequate to meet virtually any US Army performance and load require ments. Discussions are sufficiently far advanced for the A.129 to have the tentative US Army designations OH-79 and AH-80. A potential timetable is for the US Army to complete afford- ability studies by September, for Asarc/Dsarc procedures to be com pleted by the end of the year and for a request for proposals (RFP) to be issued in December this year or early 1980. The main competitor for the A.129 will almost certainly be a Bell AH-1 Cobra development. The interim choice to meet the early ASH time- scale would logically be an OH-64 ver sion of the AH-64 Advanced Attack Helicopter, even though this would be relatively costly. A proportion of the first 140 AH-64s could be de livered as OH-64s for subsequent re conversion to AH-64. A production decision on the AH-64 is expected in December 1980.
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