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Aviation History
1981
1981 - 3347.PDF
Italy's aerospace industry trainers or on three. By the beginning of 1962 three S.211s will be flying, and the type is already com mitted to production follow ing market studies conduc ted among 18 existing SF.260 operators. First potential S.211 customer is believed to be Singapore, with a requirement for 25, while Burma and Zaire are showing firm interest. Siai Marchetti can see 100 orders for 12 air forces in clear prospect, and first deliveries are scheduled for the end of 1982; planned production rate is 50 a year from 1983 onwards. Four years ago Siai Mar chetti, which Agusta pre fers to be regarded as the lead company of its aircraft division, gained board approval to go ahead with a private-venture jet trainer. There were two considerations: reduced cost, and new technology to allow adequate perform ance from a necessarily small, simple aircraft. Technology included the use of the JT15D turbofan from the Cessna Citation business aircraft, and a supercritical wing. The air craft structure, however, was to be ultra-simple and of sheet metal, using large- scale bonding techniques derived from experience on the CH47 helicopter, which Siai Marchetti assembles. The S.211 also makes ex tensive use of glassfibre in secondary structures and has only 2,000 parts, com pared with 30,000 in a con ventional aircraft, says Siai Marchetti. The prototypes have been built on production tooling and the static test specimen is almost complete. Siai Marchetti test pilots are delighted with the aircraft, but extensive tufting of the first prototype suggests some flow breakaway around the back of the in takes and over the rear fuselage. Basic price of the S.211 is $1-2 million (in 1981 prices), compared with the Hawk and Alpha Jet at between $4 millionn$6 mil lion a copy and the MB.339 at $3-5 million (Siai Mar chetti figures). The real justification, however, is in operating costs, where Siai Siai Marchetti S.211 first prototype Marchetti claims that a syllabus including the S.211 beneath the advanced trainer produces pilots 40 per cent cheaper than one which goes from primary trainers direct to the bigger jets. The reduced number of aircraft types in a two-air craft inventory produces its own economies, but Siai Marchetti maintains that the direct operating cost of the S.211, at only $200 per flight hour, compared with $400-$600 for a conven tional jet, more than offsets this effect. The company maintains that the S.211 has adequate performance for much of the syllabus where a Mach 0-85, 8g air craft is not needed. Aermacchi does not re gard the S.211 as a direct competitor, and doubts the arithmetic of fuel savings in a typical low-utilisation air force. The MB.339's main, and highly respected, adversary is the Hawk, with the Alpha Jet seen essen tially as a political aircraft which wins when the climate is right and when greater emphasis is on attack than on training. On the two-versus-three trainer question, Aermacchi is content to produce its own sums on total costs of the two-aircraft pilot train ing concept, and to say that if the US Navy does it with two then there must be some merit in it. The com pany quotes $3 • 5 million for the MB.339, claims that the Hawk can be T 9 times as expensive, and that the Alpha Jet can come at up to $8 million a copy. Life-cycle costs are vital (as is initial finance), and Aermacchi is at pains to point out that while its 4,0001b-thrust uprated Viper burns as much as the Hawk's more powerful Adour turbofan, its overall running costs are less. Its simplicity of handling, ability to take hamfisted slam accelerations, and its overall toughness more than compensate for the fact that pure jets are out of fashion, says the com pany. Only three Viper-powered MB.326s have been lost through engine-related causes in 1-2 million flying hours—five times better than the average, says Aermacchi, which is watch ing the Garrett/Volvo TFE 1042, but will want proof of integrity before switching allegiance in any future projects. If you have a primary ground-attack role, then you probably need a Hawk; if not, an MB.339 will suffice, Aermacchi says— citing Peru, which wanted a pure trainer and bought 339s, and Indonesia, which needed significant attack capability and went for Hawks. Agusta speeds A.129 develop ment as US hopes fade Defence Peter Middleton reports from Milan SCHEDULED first-flight date of the Agusta A.129 Mangusta anti-tank heli copter will be brought for ward from September to May 1983 in order to get the aircraft to the Paris Air Show. There will also be a complete dynamic-test vehicle and three more prototypes. The target in- service date for the Italian Army is still 1985. Plans to sell the A.129 to the US Army as a scout helicopter in revised con figuration, using a single T7O0 turboshaft and Martin Marietta mast-mounted sight, received a blow with the selection of modified Bell OH-58AKiowas to- fulfil the role. Design of the A.129 had been delayed to allow the installation of almost any combination of single-or twin-engine power pack. Prime target for the stan dard twin-Gem-powered anti-tank version of the A.129 remains West Ger many, where Bell is pushing the four-bladed Cobra. Agusta believes that the A.129 is not only a superior fighting machine, but that the proportion of offset work which can be placed within West Germany from an A.129 purchase of 250 machines would be much greater than that from the Cobra. Agusta is quoting $2 million-$3 million for the 129, against what it sees as $6 million-$9 million for the US Army's AH-64 advanced attack helicopter. The A.129 is predicated on a totally different philosophy to that of the AH-64: only the crew is armour-protected, with FLIGHT International, 24 October 1981 1255
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