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Aviation History
1985
1985 - 1478.PDF
DEFENCE Martin-Baker wins US Navy contract DENHAM ~ Martin-Baker has won the US Navy's contract to develop and produce a new-generation ejection seat. The Navy Aircrew Common Ejection Seat (Naces) will be fitted in the Grumman A-6E (upgrade) Intruder, Grumman F-14D Tomcat, McDonnell Douglas F-18 Hornet, and the McDon nell Douglas/British Aero space T-45 Hawk. The contract, won against competition from Douglas and Stencel, is initially for 734 seats. Part of the Naces programme is establishment of a leader/follower agree ment with Martin-Baker to establish and train a US second-source supplier. Naces has about 40 per cent US content, with Martin-Baker subcontracting to East-West Industries in New York, Tele- dyne in California, and BDM in Virginia. US content will increase to a potential 80 per cent when the US second source starts production. The Naces seat is desig nated Mk 14 by Martin-Baker and will be available in two variants: baseline and update. The baseline version will be fitted in the T-45, F-18, and TF-18 two-seat Hornet, and the Naces update will follow some two years later with the F-14D and A-6E upgrade. Baseline seats will later be upgraded to update standard. The Mk 14 seat uses an onboard sensor package linked to the aircraft attitude, height, and speed sensors by databus. The seat sensors continuously "look back" over the last seven minutes of flight and review likely present aircraft parameters over this period, not the moment of input. This guards against the ejection seat fail ing if the aircraft electronic system is disabled and thus supplies the seat with false information. But the seat has a direct manual backup. "When the handle is pulled, the seat goes and the para chute deploys. Electronics or not, the fully degraded auto- ballistic mode will offer performance equal to, or better than, the present Mk 10/12 zero-zero seat," says Martin-Baker. The new seat also has a dual breathing system. On ejection the occupant breathes oxygen from the onboard bail-out bottle. But should the crew man opt for emergency ground egress by climbing out instead of ejecting, then the seat will provide compressed air, breathing from a bottle, which is safer than oxygen should the aircraft be on fire. The compressed-air breathing system is also auto matically activated on entry into water. Canada shortens HAD list OTTAWA Canada has shortlisted two Swiss and one Swedish company to compete in the final stages of a C$600 million (£348 million) low-level air- defence (LLAD) contract, despite pressure for the work to be placed with a Nato nation. Finalists are Bofors Ord nance of Sweden, offering the RBS70 missile and its radar- directed BOFI 40mm gun system, Contraves with its Skyguard air-defence missile in conjunction with Oerlikon guns, and Oerlikon itself, offering the Martin Marietta Adats with the same Oerlikon gun. Contract signing is scheduled for spring 1986, with first deliveries starting in 1988, according to the Cana dian Armed Forces. An important element in the final decision will be the degree of work placed in Canada by the competitors. All three have aligned them selves accordingly, with Bofors in association with Canadian Marconi, Contraves teamed with Raytheon Canada, and Oerlikon with Litton Systems of Canada. Nato countries will, eventu ally, do 70 per cent of the work, according to the Defence Ministry. Canada will deploy LLAD in defence of Canadian airfields in West Germany and with its Norwegian rapid reinforcement force. Long-range Gabriel disclosed TEL AVIV Israel has enlarged its range of Gabriel sea-skimming anti- ship missiles with the addi tion of a new long-range version, reports Charles Fleming. The new version, the fourth in the Gabriel family, will have a range of 108 n.m., compared with ranges of between 10 n.m. and 19 n.m. in the three predecessors. It will be jet-propelled, but will also be equipped with a launch rocket-booster which will be jettisoned after take-off. Like the Gabriel Mk III, the new missile will have radar guidance plus electronic counter-countermeasures. It is designed for use on small missile-craft like those used by the Israeli Navy, but manufacturer Mabet, an Israel Aircraft Industries subsidiary, says that it can also be air-launched. Weigh ing 960kg, Gabriel IV will be 4-7m long and will fly at M0-8. Shadow enters the limelight Sikorsky's Shadow is nearing completion at Stratford ready for a scheduled first flight at West Palm Beach, Florida, in mid-June. Shadow (Sikorsky helicopter advanced demonstrator of operator workload) will validate the single-pilot concept for the US Army's LHX programme. The evaluation pilot will have two sidearm controllers and two stacked multifunction colour CRT displays and a Hud. Yet to be fitted is a chin-mounted infrared-vision turret. FLIGHT International, 18 May 1985 I
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