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Aviation History
1990
1990 - 0080.PDF
TECHNICAL: DEFENCE Spain to update Boeing CH-457C Chinook fleet T he Spanish Government and Boeing Helicopters have signed an agreement to modernise nine CH-47C Chi- nooks to the US Army's ad vanced CH-47D configuration. The contract is valued at approximately $70 million. Spain is the first overseas cus tomer to sign a contract for Chi nook modernisation. In October 1989, the UK's Ministry of De fence (MoD) signed an intention to proceed to upgrade more than 30 Royal Air Force Chinooks. It plans to sign - a contract with Boeing before mid-1990. The Spanish Army's air arm— Fuerzas Aeromoviles del Ejercito de Tierra (FAMET)—received the first of 18 CH-47Cs from Boeing in December 1972. FAMET's Chinooks are operated by Batallon de Helicopteros de Transporte Cinco (BHELTRA-V) which is based at Colmenar, about 30km north of Madrid. FAMET's Chinooks destined for Boeing's modernisation production line will undergo ini tial preparations in suburban Madrid by Aeronautica Indus trial (AISA), working under con tract to Spain's defence ministry and assisted by a technical team from Boeing. The first aircraft is expected to be delivered to AISA by April 1990, sent to Boeing by midyear, and returned to FAMET as a CH-47D by mid- 1991. • Japan converts F-104J to aerial target The first Japanese-converted QF-104 aerial target, modi fied from an F-104J Starfighter, made its first flight late last year from Komaki Airport. A Mitsubishi Heavy Industries pilot flew the normally un manned target during the first flight to test the converted air craft's flight characteristics. Two QF-104 prototypes are undergoing unmanned test flights on Iwo Jima island. Around 30 F-104Js are ex pected to undergo modifications between 1991 and 1994. • India to launch LCA development India is ready to launch full-scale engineering development of an indigenously designed light combat aircraft (LCA). The announcement was made by pro gramme director Dr Kota Harinarayana at the annual gen eral meeting of the Aeronautical Society of India last month. The LCA programme was launched in 1983 by the newly formed Aeronautical Develop ment Agency (ADA), in response to a requirement by the Indian Air Force for a lightweight fighter aircraft for the 1990s. By 1986 ADA had assembled a team of 300 engineers and scientists drawn from Hindustan Aero nautics Defence Research and Development Organisation and the National Aeronautical Lab oratory (NAL) to work on the project. The team has now grown to 600. The project definition phase was completed at the end of 1988. The product is a lightweight, single-engined multi-role, all- weather fighter which meets IAF's specifications for a short- take-off and landing aircraft with rapid acceleration, supersonic speed and high agility. The "compound" shape was chosen to meet these requirements, according to Harinarayana. Carbonfibre accounts for about 30% of the structural weight, a higher proportion than many of the current generation of fighters. Other advanced materials, such as aluminium- lithium, maraging steel, ti tanium, Kevlar and poly carbonate, will also be used. The LCA is a control-config ured vehicle with negative longi tudinal static stability essential for high performance, says Harinarayana. A quadruplex dig ital fly-by-wire system has been adopted for the aircraft, with digital avionics in the cockpit, including full-authority digital engine control. A series of light weight computers is linked by three multiplexed digital databases to all the aircraft systems. The aircraft has seven external weapon stations, which can carry a maximum load of 4,000kg. The internal capability includes a Computer-aided Gothic wing design for LCA (above). Advanced materials make-up much of LCA LCA-materials I I Aluminium-lithium alloy C_DCFC 22 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 17-23 January 199C
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