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Aviation History
1989
1989 - 2550.PDF
designed to maintain the Draken's effectiveness until the mid-1990s, and up to 64 aircraft will be converted by the end of 1989. Based on the J35F version, the J35J modification and life-extension programme includes an extensive system update with a modified radar, an improved infrared seeker, and IFF equipment. Two additional stores pylons are fitted, allowing additional weapons or auxiliary fuel tanks to be carried. Austria received the last of a batch of 24 J350e Drakens (former Swedish Air Force J35Ds) on May 18, this year. SWITZERLAND FFA AS.202 Bravo Series production of the AS.202/18A Bravo piston-engined primary trainer continues. The Bravo first flew in March 1969, with a 112kW engine, as the 202/15, which was followed by the more powerful 134kW 202/18 in 1974 and the 195kW 202/26 in 1978. Civilian and military oper ators have bought more than 170 Bravos. Customers: Indonesia 40, Iraq 40, Oman 4, Morocco 10, Uganda 8. FFA 2000 Eurotrainer Aimed at the military and civilian ab initio training market, the four-seat, composite-construction Eurotrainer was launched in April 1988 with an order from Swissair, which will use the aircraft to train future airline pilots. In military operation the piston-engined FFA 2000 is intended to take students as far as their transition to tandem-seat turboprop-class trainers. The prototype Eurotrainer will be rolled out in April 1990 in preparation for a first flight during the following month. PILATUS PC-6 Turbo-Porter The current production version of the Turbo-Porter is the PC-6/B2-H4, which has an increased payload. This was achieved by improving the aerodynamic efficiency of the aircraft by fitting new wingtip fairings and an enlarged dorsal fin. All PC-6s built since mid-1985 are of the H4 variant. Earlier PC-6/Bl-H2s and B2-H2s can be retrofitted to H4 standard if equipped with an electrical longitudinal trimming system. By mid-1987 470 PC-6s of all models had been delivered to civil and military operators, including those built under licence by Fairchild in the United States. Customers: PC-6 Angola 6, Argentina 8, Australia 19, Austria 12, Bolivia 18, Burma 7, Chad 2, Colombia 12, Ecuador 3, Iran 15, Jugoslavia 9, Peru 21, Switzerland 20, Thailand 43, USA 2. PC-7 Turbo-Trainer The Royal Netherlands Air Force became the 15th military customer for the PC-7, ordering ten in October 1988. The aircraft entered service earlier in 1989 and are operated by a civilian contractor. Lightweight Martin-Baker Mk 15 ejection seats are optional on new aircraft, and are also available for retrofit to older aircraft. The first production PC-7 flew on August 18, 1978, and more than 390 had been sold by late 1988. Customers: Abu Dhabi 24, Angola 12, Austria 16, Bolivia 24, Burma 17, Chad 2, Chile 10, Guatemala 12, Iran 35+, Iraq 44, Malaysia 44, Mexico 85, Netherlands 10, Surinam 2, Switzerland 40. PC-9 The Royal Australian Air Force took delivery of its first PC-9/As in December 1987. Two aircraft were supplied complete by Pilatus, followed by six in kit form and components for 11 more. Hawker de Havilland and the GAF division of Aerospace Technologies of Australia will then manufacture 48 more, taking Australia's total procurement to 67 aircraft. The Australian Government selected the PC-9 instead of the locally designed A.10B in December 1985, and placed an order for 69 aircraft in July 1986. This was later reduced to 67 for financial reasons. The prototype PC-9 flew on May 7, 1984, and was followed by a second aircraft, to production standard, on July 20, 1984. Although it bears a strong external resemblance to the PC-7, the PC-9 has only 10 per cent commonality with the former. Major differences include a ventral airbrake, reduced wing span with enlarged ailerons, a longer dorsal fin, and undercarriage doors. The PC-9 has an 857kW PT-6A-62 turboprop engine driving a four-blade propeller which, together with the struc tural changes, gives a significantly improved fjerformance over the PC-7, including a maximum ow-level speed of 496km/h, an initial climb rate of l,247m/min and a time to 4,575m of 4min 30s. Stepped tandem seating is fitted under a revised canopy with Martin-Baker CH-11A zero-zero ejection seats. Pilatus teamed with British Aerospace to market the PC-9 to the Royal Air Force. That order went to the Shorts Tucano, but the link has since resulted in the sale of 30 PC-9s to the Royal Saudi Air Force. By mid-1989 130 PC-9s had been sold to six customers. Two of these have not been officially disclosed, but are reported to be Angola and Iraq. Switzerland's four aircraft are equipped for target- towing duties. Customers: Australia 67, Burma 4, Saudi Arabia 30, Switzerland 4, undisclosed 25. TAIWAN AERO INDUSTRY DEVELOPMENT CENTRE AT-TC-3 Tse Tchan Known locally as the Lui- Meng, a single-seat attack optimised version of the AT-TC-3 became operational during 1987. A 2,700kg external weapons load may be carried and wingtip launch rails for Sidewinder AAMs are E rovided. Further enhancement of the attack capa- ility by the installation of a Westinghouse AN/APG-66 radar is under study. Designed by AIDC with assistance from North rop, the first XAT-3 prototype flew on September 16, 1980. The aircraft is a twin-turbofan tandem- seat trainer with an unswept wing of supercritical section. Power is provided by two Garrett TFE731 engines, each giving 15-57kN thrust. For weapons training and light-attack duties a semi-recessed gun pack with twin 0 • 5in machine guns can be insta lied in a weapons bay beneath the rear cockpit, and external stores can be carried on one underfuselage and four underwing hardpoints. An A/A37U-15TTS aerial target system can be carried on the centreline pylon. Customer: Taiwan 60. Ching-Kuo Taiwan's Indigenous Defence Fighter (IDF) took to the air for the first time on May 28, 1989. Named Ching-Kuo at its official roll-out cere mony on December 10, 1988, the prototype will be The Mil Mi-14 Haze is in service with the Polish joined by three more aircraft for an extensive flight- test programme. Up to 250 production aircraft, including some 40 two-seat training variants, are required to replace F-104 Starfighters and F-5E Tiger lis from the mid-1990s. AIDC plan to build 15 Ching-Kuos each year, but state that this could be stepped up later to 30 a year. The IDF programme was launched in 1982 with an overall budget of $1 billion, but the actual cost is now expected to be in excess of $4 billion. Powered by twin Garrett TFE1042 reheated turbofans, the supersonic Ching-Kuo has a swept wing, an all-moving tailplane, and a single fin and rudder. Intakes are mounted on the fuselage sides below long leading-edge extensions which continue for almost the entire length of the high- visibility cockpit canopy. Early models of the TFE1042 are expected to be rated at around 37-8kN thrust, giving the aircraft a maximum speed in the order of Mach 1 • 2. Later engine refine ments could achieve a thrust increase to 53-4kN and allow speeds to rise to Mach 1-6. General Dynamics has been actively involved in the programme since its inception, acting as airframe design consultant, while Lear Astronics (formerly Lear Siegler) has assisted with avionics integration and provided the fly-by-wire control system. Other US companies associated with the IDF include Litton (INS) and Westinghouse (electrical power systems). Israel's Electro-Optics Industries is supplying the headup display. Equipped with a Golden Dragon 53 multimode pulse-Doppler radar (locally developed from the General Electric AN/APG-67(V)), the Ching-Kuo is optimised for air-superiority and air-defence roles, but will also be able to undertake anti-shipping missions. Armament includes an internal M-61A Vulcan cannon, Sky Sword I AAMs, and Hsiung Feng II anti-ship missiles. SOVIET UNION ANTONOV An-26/32 Production of the An-26 Curl twin- turboprop transport and its hot-and-high deriva tive, the An-32 Cline, continues. Delivery of 95 An-32s to India, where it is known as the Sutlej, began in July 1984, to replace C-47 Dakotas and C-1I9 Packets; an additional 20 aircraft were ordered in 1987. The original An-24 Coke passenger transport, from which the An-26/32 series was developed, first flew in December 1959. The An-26 was revealed in 1969, and an improved An-26B version was announced in 1981. The An-32, with almost twice the installed power of the An-24, followed in 1977. Peru became the third customer for the An-32, placing an order for 22 to replace its fleet of An-26s. Deliveries of the Litton Omega-equipped aircraft began in May 1987. 56 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 19 August 1989
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