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Aviation History
1989
1989 - 0064.PDF
First F-15E delivered to USAF The first McDonnell Douglas F-15E Eagle was delivered to the United States Air Force on December 29, and assigned to the 4th Tactical Fighter Wing's 336th Tactical Fighter Squadron at Seymour-Johnson AFB, North Carolina. The 336th TFS is scheduled to receive 24 of the two-seat long-range-interdiction F-15Es by October, to meet the USAF's declared initial operational capability schedule for the type. The 4th TFW, which is the last active-duty USAF wing operating the F-4E Phantom, will eventually receive 72 F-lSEs. Its Phantoms will be handed down to Air Force Reserve and Air National Guard units. The USAF plans to buy 392 F-15Es. Israel shows terrorist style bomb Eurofighter outlines proposal to Belgium Belgium will be offered a 6 per cent workshare in the Euro- fighter programme if it buys 50 aircraft. A Eurofighter team led by managing director Garrie Willox will brief senior Belgian Government military and industrial officials next week on the European Fighter Aircraft. Eurofighter has been briefing Belgian industry on the programme over the last three months, and Willox and his team from Munich hope to persuade Belgium to join the project during their visit. The European Fighter Aircraft is seen as a replacement for the Belgian Air Force's two squad rons of Dassault Mirage Vs. These will not actually need replacing until after 2000, but there is extremely strong pres sure on the Belgian Air Force to select a successor now for industrial reasons. Belgian industry needs the work before the next century, and is said to be unhappy with F-16 work because it is mainly confined to airframe manu facturers. However, the initial agreement on EFA workshare states that each participant will receive a percentage of work in five areas of technology: airframe, engines and engine accessories, avionics, and general systems plus armament equipment. This is particularly favourable to the Flemish- speaking part of Belgium, where most of the electronics companies are based. A 50-aircraft order by Belgium would entitle the country to a 6 per cent work- share, based on a revised prod uction run of 815 aircraft. As the Belgian Air Force would not need the fighter until post- 2000, the initial deliveries to the present four customers, Britain, West Germany, Spain, and Italy, would not be affected. The aircraft would also then be poised as a Belgian Air Force replacement for its early- delivery General Dynamics F-16s. Rivals to the Eurofighter bid are Dassault with Rafale and General Dynamics with the Agile Falcon F-16 derivative. Both Dassault and GD have also offered development work- shares to Belgian industry. A model of an explosive-laden suitcase believed to have been used in the recent sabotage of a Pan Am Boeing 747 was displayed by the organisers of the first international seminar on aviation security, which is to be held in Tel Aviv in February. Menachem Bacharach, vice- president of ICTS, said that the suitcase probably carried up to. 20kg of the Czechoslovakian- produced plastic explosive Semtex, known to have been used by many terrorist organisa tions. ICTS was hired by TWA and American Airlines to improve their security systems. Bacharach showed how the plastic explosive can be moulded to fit the bottom of a Joint STARS t The Boeing/Grumman E-8 joint surveillance, target acqui sition radar system began the fourth and final phase of its flight-test programme with a 6-4hr flight on December 23. The primary objective of the first Phase Four flight was to verify, the digital steering commands that point the phased-array antenna and also suitcase so that it cannot be detected by any X-ray machine or by a human hand. The Israeli expert also showed a model of the activa tion mechanism which, in his opinion, was used in the Pan Am sabotage. The mechanism comprises a timing device and a barometric device. The timing device takes over after the barometer senses that the air craft has reached a certain altitude. This combination prevents premature explosion if the bomb is passed through a low-pressure testing chamber. Another replica displayed was of a radio similar to the one discovered in the possession of suspected Arab terrorists arres- to verify the integrity of the high-power elements of the Norden-designed radar trans mitter. Additionally, signals exchanged between the aircraft and Grumman's Melbourne test centre con firmed the proper formation of both the transmit and receive beams that form the clutter rejection system. ted in Frankfurt last October. The radio-bomb incorporated 300g of Semtex and a double barometric-timer detonation device. He claimed that only "the passenger profile method" used, according to him, by Israel is effective. According to this method the well trained secu rity officer is instructed to "build" the passenger's profile by asking certain questions and by other undisclosed indicators. When a suspicious passenger is located all his baggage is checked very carefully by hand. "With the growing sophistica tion of explosive devices it is vital today to concentrate on the passenger no less than on his baggage. A study of behaviour patterns and computerised pro files of suspects, together with improved detection systems, will assure better results," said Bacharach. The "passenger profile" method will be discussed in a closed session of the seminar. The first international semi nar on aviation security is spon sored by the Israeli Ministry of Transport with the assistance of El Al Israel Airlines. It will be held in Tel Aviv between February 5 and February 9. gins radar tests FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL, 14 January 1989
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