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Aviation History
1990
1990 - 2743.PDF
F ARNBOROUGH R EPORT US Navy freezes FEWSG programme The US Navy's • Fleet Elec tronic Warfare Support Group (FEWSG) airborne trainer programme has been "put on ice", according to offi cials. The programme was intended to provide aircraft capable of simulating an electronic warfare environment, giving naval per sonnel training in combating electronic warfare. According to sources, there is no funding for FEWSG this year with only study funding being made available next year. Sources at Gulfstream, one of the leading contenders for FEWSG with its SRA-4, a sub stantially modified business jet, confirm that the project is on "hold". Next year's funding will only be for a study re-examining the FEWSG concept. The future of a similar NATO project, the Multinational Electronic War fare Support Group (MEWSG), is also thought to be unsure. MEWSG, because of its re quirements, needs a larger airframe than the US project, in the class of the DC-8, rather than the Gulfstream IV. • Gulfstream's SRA-4 FEWSG contender has been "frozen" GE shrinks GE90 for Airbus A330 General Electric (GE) is of fering a smaller-fan version of the 422kN (95,0001b)-thrust GE90 for future Airbus A330s. Unveiling a mockup of the engine, GE Aircraft Engines chief executive Brian Rowe re vealed that the company is de veloping the new GE90 core with a smaller fan "for aircraft like the A330". GE says that it could offer a 2.90m-diameter version of the 3.10m composite fan, which forms the basis for the engine to power the still-to-be-launched Boeing 767X. This might solve the installation problem pre venting consideration of the GE90 for the A330 - which has an undercarriage too short to accommodate the GE90's un precedented diameter. Airbus Industrie has given the idea a cool reception since the new engine would increase the aircraft's range to the point where it might become a com petitor to the longer- range A340. A senior GE executive noted, however, that the A340 itself was likely to grow, saying: "We're working with Airbus to see where we fit into their overall strategy". A refanned version of the GE90 would mean developing a different low-pressure turbine and would involve two or three years' fur ther work ibefore certification. The A330 is powered by the General Electric CF6-80E1. Lack of orders for the 767X means GE will have time to develop the GE90, says Rowe. "We're spending between $3 million and $5million per month now on the engine...the delay has benefited us by allow ing us to optimise the design". GE90 flight testing will be aboard a Boeing 747. The en gine will be certificated at 378kN thrust, and then derated to 320kN for the initial version of the Boeing 767X (to be called the Boeing 777 when it is launched). Core testing of the GE90 begins in the second quarter of 1992, with the first full engine test later in the year. • MBB main rotor for First Team MBB is to design and pro duce the main rotor for the Boeing/Sikorsky First Team entrant in the US Army's Light Helicopter (LH) competition. First Team says that MBB was invited to join because it would otherwise have had to duplicate the West German company's development work on bear- ingless main rotors. Data provided by MBB is in cluded in the First Team pro posal which has now been sub mitted, along with the compet ing SuperTeam offer, to the Army. The MBB unit would be similar to the system in the BO. 108 which has been flying for two years. First Team explains that the BO. 108 BMR has a 9.5% equiva lent-hinge offset, similar to that of its proposed LH, giving it high agility, crisp response and high control levels. It says: "MBB's participa tion...reduces development risk and cost, may lead to interna tional applications of LH design elements and could make avail able MBB's extensive experience in other helicopter technologies, including design and fabrication of composite components and structures". MBB says: "All the talking about a two-way street seems to be finally happening. This is the first time that a US combat Buckley debates production options helicopter could be using Euro pean technology." Sikorsky says that it has de termined the percentage share of the programme that MBB is gaining but is not revealing it until or unless it is selected. The Army's decision is now set for February next year. US defence secretary .Dick Cheney's reduction of the planned LH purchase to 1,292 means that First Team at least would now definitely build the helicopter on a single produc tion line. Sikorsky president Gene Buckley says: "The prototypes will be built at Sikorsky. There are discussions under way as to whether the production phase will be at Sikorsky or at Boeing. "The first phase of the pro gramme will have single lines split between Boeing and Sikorsky and in production we would offer a single set of lines but with options depending on what the government wants to." Buckley says different areas of the aircraft would be assembled at different plants but with a single final assembly line. D AIMING FOR AMERICA Emphasising its bid for the US Joint Primary Air Trainer System QPATS) requirement, Agusta showed its S.211 at Farnborough in US training colours. For the JPATS bid Agusta has teamed with Grumman. Another candidate unveiled at the show was Romania's IAR.99 Soim, teamed with Jaffe Aircraft to bid for the 600-aircraft requirement. FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 12 - 18 SEPTEMBER, 1990 19
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