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Aviation History
1979
1979 - 2712.PDF
206 FLIGHT International, 21 July 1979 -4 page 203 MILAN BAe Dynamics Group manufactures this infantry- portable anti-tank guided weapon for the British Army under licence from Euromissile, although initially deliveries come from the Franco-German production lines. BAe will participate in the planned mid-life improvement pro gramme. ASEM Anti-Surface Euromissile is the chosen title for a tripartite consortium formed by BAe, Aerospatiale and MBB to design and manufacture a second-generation ship, air or submarine-launched anti-surface ship missile (ASSM) system to meet Nato requirements from 1990 onwards. Feasibility studies have been completed and the results are under consideration. Other British missiles AST 1227 Hunting Engineering is understood to be the contractor chosen to supply the RAF with a missile to meet Air Staff Target 1227. The Advanced Air-to-Surface Anti-armour weapon can be guided after launch by fold- out control surfaces. No guidance system details are known. In the final stage of flight a number of sub- munitions—perhaps parachute-retarded and fitted with terminal sensors—are released, acting as mines or deton ating on impact. A semi-active laser-guided Sabre missile, based on Rapier SAM, was offered by BAe to meet this AST. This light-weight weapon will probably now be funded as a technology demonstrator to investigate advanced guidance systems such as two-colour infra-red seekers. JP233 Although few details are known, models and drawings of this UK-US funded air-field-destroyer on the Hunting Engineering stand at the Paris Air Show seemed to show that multiple high explosive sub-munitions are ejected from the basic underwing container. BLOWPIPE A major portion of the light SAM market could be captured by Shorts, whose Blowpipe will remain in production into the late 1980s. A new guidance unit is being developed and a number of vehicle mounted variants are understood to be on the drawing board. The basic Blowpipe is unchanged so the new guidance unit—which automatically follows the target, whereas current models require manual steering by the operator— could be used with existing rounds. A semi-automatic command to line-of-sight system similar to that of the Tow and Milan anti-tank weapons may have been produced by the attachment of a more sensitive flare detector to the aiming unit. With the operator keeping the cross-wires aligned with the target the automatic missile tracker does the rest. A towed, quadruple Blowpipe launcher/director, with a four-round missile cluster mounted in the standard tube/ launcher alongside a rotatable dustbin containing the tracker, was displayed. Prototype evaluation is under way. The UK Ministry of Defence has funded studies of a four-round turret mounted installation, which could prove attractive to Nato countries. TIGERCAT Deliveries of this weapon are under way to an undisclosed customer who has ordered several million pounds' worth of Tigercat Mk2. SEACAT Test firings of this point defence surface-to-air missile took place from HMS Phoebe against low-level targets last year. The weapon is in service with, or has been ordered by, 16 navies, including the Royal Navy, and remains in production. Three or four-barrelled launchers are used in conjunction with various optical or radar trackers. Recent developments allow Seacat rounds to be modified for the anti-sea-skimmer role. Britain's Aerospace Industry Major private airframe manufacturers Pilatus Britten-Norman THE contract covering the Pilatus purchase of Britten- Norman from the receiver is expected to be signed as these words appear. No major management changes are expected at the Bembridge, Isle of Wight, factory. The new company name will be Pilatus Britten-Norman Ltd. The two companies share a Swiss managing director but it is expected that they will be run essentially as two separate entities. A 1,000m runway is being laid down and is expected to become operational in the New Year. New instruction underway at Bembridge is expected to in case design/production space by some 80 per cent. This may support suggestions of an early increase in the 220- man workforce. Pilatus is reported to have authorised feasibility studies for a new Turbo-Islander. ISLANDER, DEFENDER and TRISLANDER A total of 930 Islanders and Defenders has been ordered. Outstand ing order for 50 Islanders and Trislanders remain to be fulfilled and Britten-Norman reports the sale of nine Islanders and one Maritime Islander at the Paris Air Show, where prices of $235,000 (Islander) and $420,000 (Trislander) were quoted for new aircraft. Since these prices have been stable for about three years an early revision is perhaps to be expected. The new BN-2B Islander is said to cost some six per cent more than previous examples. Waiting time for any type is about five months and total production rate runs at about eight a month. Left Pilatus Britten-Norman Trislander. Facing page Westland WG30 f •
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