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Aviation History
1990
1990 - 3781.PDF
TECHNICAL: DEFENCE Radar delays stall NATO defence upgrade BY DOUGLAS BARRIE ANATO programme to im prove its southern-region air-defence ground environment is running at least two years late because of long delays in radar deliveries. Under a NATO requirement, US defence electronics company Hughes was awarded a contract for ten D-band HR-3000 radars. Three radars were ordered for Portugal and Turkey with a further two for Greece and Italy. The Portuguese radars form part of Portuguese Air Com mand and Control System (POACCS) programme to im prove its air-defence capability, the first phase of which is now being implemented. According to officials close to the programme, delivery of the HR-3000s is now around three years behind schedule, and "...there is still no real sign of the radars being delivered". The Hughes radars are under stood originally to have been due for delivery in 1988, but this is now not likely to occur until next year. The radar delay has effec tively pushed back the whole POACCS project. Although the stand-alone control facility (SACF), being developed by Siemens Plessey Radar, will be delivered early next year, it will not have any radar feeds. One official says: "Portugal has got half a system". The SACF is designed to use the data from the Hughes radars to produce a recognised air/sea picture (RASP), allowing the Portuguese Air Force to moni tor its airspace and effectively deploy its own forces. Producing the desired RASP will not be possible, however, until the arrival of the Hughes ground radars. According to one official, the difficulty with the radar is based on "...transmitter problems. Ba sically, they keep on going bang." Difficulties may focus on meeting what some suggest is a particularly stringent require ment for the NATO radars. According to one official in Brussels, neither Greece nor Turkey have received their HR- 3000s. He adds that the delay is causing considerable concern. The Turkish radars form part of an overall air-defence ground-environment upgrade for that country. Along with the three Hughes radars, the coun try's command, control and communications network is being improved. The two radars on order for Italy are intended to improve what many consider to be one of the weakest areas of NATO air-defence coverage. In attempting to refocus NATO's overall Air Command and Control System pro gramme, now under pressure because of the collapse of the Warsaw Pact, NATO planners are concentrating increasingly on the southern region. • ARES prototype prepares for armament flight tests BY JOHN BAILEY IN MOJAVE The prototype ARES low-cost attack aircraft, designed and built by Burt Rutan's Scaled Composites, has completed its initial programme of envelope- expansion and performance- evaluation flights, and is being prepared to start armaments trials with a 25mm cannon. The General Electric GAU-12 cannon was installed earlier this month and flight testing will resume early in January. Douglas Shane, Scaled Com posites director of flight opera tions and ARES chief test pilot, says that the gun trials should require between 15-20 flights, and will concentrate on "...the structural implications of the gun installation, and the han dling qualities of the aircraft as the gun is being fired". The ARES prototype has com pleted 102h of testing in 72 flights since February this year, and Shane says that "...in all areas, it has exceeded our pre dictions or hopes". The all-composite ARES is to demonstrate the feasibility of building a low-cost, agile multi- role fighter for close-air support or anti-helicopter missions. Armament will include the cannon, two AIM-9L Side winders and' four Stinger mis siles. A two-seat trainer is on the drawing board. The unconventional, asym metric ARES planform is de signed to shield the engine inlet from gun gases throughout the flight envelope, and uses blast pressure loads along the star board side of the fuselage to offset the yaw moment pro duced by the gun recoil. The forward fuselage is posi tioned 7cm to the left of the aircraft's centreline and the port-mounted engine is offset by 8°, although the exhaust tailpipe is on the centreline. Shane says that some minor modifications to the tail area have been necessary to align engine thrust with the centre line, in addition to the larger- chord elevators and modified ailerons which have helped to reduce stick forces during high- g manoeuvres. The one remaining problem has been reducing the residual ARES is about to start cannon trials (Picture by Craig Schmitman) engine thrust after landing, and Shane says: "We are touching down at low speeds, but we are using up a lot of runway to get it stopped". Scaled Composites is not yet marketing the privately funded ARES, although several poten tial customers have flown the prototype, including the deputy commander of the US Navy's Air Systems Command. The Air Force is interested in evaluating ARES early next year. Rutan's prime market is'over- seas governments which hjave a requirement for a high-perform ance multirole fighter, but may not be able to afford F-16s or their equivalent. ARES would sell for about SI million a copy, depending on the configuration, with the airframe and avionics costing "about the same as the engine", according to Rutan. Rutan is proposing a low-cost evaluation programme for a mission-specific ARES version, under which Scaled Composites would build two prototypes for operational testing, at a total cost of about $5 million. If a foreign government wished to acquire ARES, Rutan says the aircraft could be built abroad under licence. Scaled Composites would participate in the development, and there would probably be some manufacturing workshare for its sister company, Wyman Gordon Composites. • FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 19 December, 1990 - 1 January, 1991 n
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