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Aviation History
1987
1987 - 2270.PDF
DEFENCE GE picked for ATF displays BURBANK General Electric's (GE) Aircraft Instruments Depart ment at Wilmington has been selected hy the Lockheed Aeronautical Systems Com pany to supply the multi function displays for the United States Air Force's YF-22A Advanced Tactical Fighter (ATF) prototype. The GE multi-function displays will feature flat- panel, full-colour liquid crystal technology to display maps, flight data, and other information to the pilot. Functioning as primary and secondary displays, they will be integrated with the aircraft's headup display. The pilot will manipulate the displays by touch-sensitive panels, voice activation, or hand controls. At present, Lockheed and its team members, Boeing and General Dynamics, are devel oping two flying prototypes of the YF-22A for the demon stration-validation phase of the programme. Team forms for Turbo Tracker ABBOTSFORD Conair Aviation and IMP Aerospace have joined forces to develop a Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6- powered turboprop conver sion of the Grumman S-2 Tracker. The partnership has led to a division of responsibilities between the two Canadian companies for the certifica tion and marketing of the Tracker conversion to mili tary and civilian customers. Each company will develop a turboprop model of the Tracker, using a version of the P&W PT6A-67 gas turbine engine driving a five-blade Hamilton Standard propeller. IMP Turbo Tracker is targeted at the military market, and the Halifax- based company is hopeful of winning a contract to re- engine the 29 CAF CP-121 Trackers still on strength. Conair has aimed its efforts at certificating a PT6-powered version of its successful Fire- cat firebomber variant of the S-2. The IMP version will be the first to fly, and a PT6 is now installed on a CP-121 on loan from the CAF. IMP will develop the engine mounts, intake and cowlings for both military and com mercial versions. The proto type conversion is expected to fly before the end of the year. Re-engining the CP-121 would increase the aircraft's service life beyond the year 2010 and allow the aircraft to deploy further from home base, because many military airbases in Canada and the USA no longer stock Avgas. The CAF has made no formal commitment to the Turbo Tracker programme, but the recent Canadian Defence White Paper recom mended "modernising the existing fleet of medium- range patrol aircraft". De Havilland is offering a maritime patrol version of the Dash 8 should the CAF elect to replace rather than modernise the CP-121 fleet. Conair has completed 28 Wright R-1820 Cyclone- powered Firecats at its Abbotsford, British Columbia facilities, with two more aircraft scheduled to enter service early next year. Conair expects to fly the prototype Turbo Firecat in March 1988 and have the aircraft certifi cated by June. • Flight evaluation of a Grumman-built Firecat was completed this summer to gather baseline performance data. With a maximum take-off weight of 26,0001b, the Turbo Firecat will have a normal retardant load of 3,2951it (725 Imp. gal.) plus 1731it (39 Imp. gal.) of foam concentrate. The most promising poten tial customer for the Turbo Firecat is France's Securite Civil, which purchased 14 of the piston engine version. Since the French firebombing fleet flies fixed patrols during high hazard periods, the Conair proposal includes outfitting the aircraft with external fuel tanks to increase its range and endurance. Conair also plans eventually to re-engine its own fleet of Firecats. Meanwhile, France spent the summer evaluating Conair's firebomber conver sion of the Fokker F.27. The F.27 is being considered as a possible replacement for Securite Civil's Douglas DC- 6B firebombers. Securite Civil also char tered four of Frontier Heli copters' (a Conair subsidiary) Bell 205s for operations in Sardinia this past summer. Each helicopter had a belly- mounted fire retardant tank. Conair reports that these operations were successful and that the company sees a large market for helicopter firefighting tanks not just in France, but also in other Mediterranean countries. Canadair is also looking to France as a launch customer for the new Pratt & Whitney Canada PWlOO-powered Canadair CL-215T. Industry reports suggest an initial order for 15 aircraft. There is also a proposal to convert the 11 P&W R-2800-powered CL-215s still in service to PW-100 power. Spain has ordered 18 Aero spatiale AS.332 Super Puma Mk II helicopters in exchange for the purchase by France of five Casa C.212 Aviocar trans port aircraft. The Spanish Army already has 30 AS.332s in service. The new helicopters will be assem bled at Casa's facility near Madrid. The French Air Force, which is getting 12 Lockheed C-130 Hercules to supplement its fleet of Transall C.160s, has temporarily put off the purchase of the Franco- Italian ATR42M military transport in favour of the Casa 212s. TRACER British Aerospace has developed a 4in-diameter spherical radar reflector to enhance the radar signature of small target drones. The CPL4 reflector gives a 0-5m2 cross-section at 8GHz and lm at 10GHz. The reflector consists of a number of concentric nesting plastic spheres, each of a different dielectric constant. Royal Air Force aircraft will continue to use Goose Bay, Labrador, as a low-level train ing base even if Nato selects Koniya the Turkish rival base, UK Defence Minister George Younger has indicated to Ottawa. PLO pilots now number about 200, according to Israel. Members of PLO are said to have been trained in Libya, Cuba, Pakistan, North Korea, and the Soviet Union. Israel says that PLO pilots have flown helicopters to Nicaragua. Purple Warrior, one of the largest exercises ever to be run in the UK, is being held until November 21. It involves 20,000 troops, 40 ships, and 130 aircraft. The exercise will include amphibious and air borne landings to protect and stage a large-scale civilian evacuation from hostile forces. Japan's Defence Agency has ordered three more Lock heed C-130H transport air craft at a cost of $92-8 million. The three Hercules are scheduled to be delivered by March 1990, and will be assigned to the Air Self- Defence Force's Air Trans port Wing. Mitsubishi's T-2 modified control-configured (CCV) research aircraft has com pleted its allotted flight test programme. The aircraft will be used in future as a special trainer for test pilots. Madrid City Council wants the USAF's Torrejon de Ardoz air base on its outskirts to be dismantled. The Madrid Council has no power to enforce the motion, but the vote will have an influence on the Spanish Government's current negotiations with Washington over the with drawal of some US forces from Spain. 12 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL, 7 November 1987
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