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Aviation History
1991
1991 - 1043.PDF
TECHNICAL: DEFENCE UK tests thin-film combiner HUDs BY GUY NORRIS Flight tests of head-up dis plays (HUDs), fitted with what is claimed to be the world's first airborne thin-film colour-selective graded combin ers, are to be undertaken aboard in a British Aerospace Harrier GR.7 and a Tornado GR.4 later this year. The GR.7 tests, to take place at Royal Aerospace Establish ment (RAE) at Famborough, in the UK, will form part of an evaluation of a modified Smiths Industries night-attack HUD. Smiths has agreed to test the new combiners, covered with coatings developed by the Thin Films division of Omitec Elec tro-Optics, in a side-by-side evaluation with an increased- brightness, wide-field-of-view, night-attack HUD. Omitec is also delivering combiners coated in the new way to GEC Ferranti, which is supplying the first wide-angle HUDs for the Royal Air Force's Tornado GR.4 mid-life upgrade. GEC Ferranti says that the com biner coating will allow the display brightness to be in creased by some "three to six" times of the original. This will make cursive sym- bology easier to read as well as making possible daylight view ing of the forward-looking infra-red image. The Omitec-developed system uses thin-film rugate technology to manufacture "notch" filters of specific bandwidth. The con- Features from the Lavi and Kfir are incoroporated in the Nammer First flight for Israel's Nammer fighter Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI) has begun test flying the Nammer tactical fighter, a proof-of-concept design based on a Mirage/Kfir airframe up graded with new avionics. IAI built the Nammer proto type mainly to demonstrate its capability to install advanced avionics in airframes based on existing designs. The prototype of the Nammer is equipped with an advanced weapon-delivery system inter faced with a multimode pulse- Doppler fire-control radar. The electronic-warfare suite will in clude features originally de signed for the cancelled Lavi fighter. The cockpit design includes a new layout, permitting hands- on-throttle-and-stick operation of all systems in all situations. Four displays — a head-up dis play, two multi-function dis plays and a radar warning/ electronic-countermeasures dis play — will supply the pilot with all vital information. Maximum take-off weight of the Nammer is approximately 15,450kg and maximum pay- load is 6,270kg. The aircraft carries 3,000kg of internal fuel and 3,720kg in external tanks. According to IAI, the concept has been pre sented to a number of air forces. "We will launch such a pro gramme only with a minimum order of 80 aircraft," IAI says. The company claims that the proven delta-canard concept, with new avionics and a new engine, will result in a fighter comparable to the F-16A or Mirage 2000 but costing ap proximately half the price of the latter aircraft. According to IAI, Nammer will have a maximum speed of Mach 2.2 and a 58,000ft (19,300m) stabilised ceiling. The company will offer the Nammer with a choice of en gines — either the Mirage Ill's original Snecma Atar 9K50, eight of which have been pur chased by IAI for testing; or modern, more fuel- and weight- efficient powerplants. • cept enables the wavelength, width and depth of reflection band to be varied independently and across the area of the filter. In this case, the reflection notch is tuned to the primary peak of the green phosphor. Current HUD systems use holographic techniques to pro duce the effect of a notched band using holographic gelatine sandwiched between glass. Omitec says that the thin-film system is better than the holo graphic technique by being rela tively insensitive to viewing an gles and having higher environ mental stability and low out side-world colouration. "It also weighs about half that of the holographic solution," says technical sales manager, Robert Munday. Omitec has also bid the new- technology coating in the com petition to upgrade the HUDs in Saab JA37 Viggens operated by the Swedish Air Force. The company hopes that the RAE trials, plus the evaluation of the upgraded GR.4 HUDs, will open up an international retrofit market of which the JA37 could be the start. "Potentially, this sort of tech nique could be retrofitted to all the HUDs in the world," says the RAE. • Smiths Industries has been contracted by McDonnell Douglas to design, develop and assemble elements of the HUD and signal-data processor for an update of the USAF's F-15. • Tadiran upgrades Pioneer MKD-400 Israeli electro-optics specialist Tadiran has upgraded its MKD-400 stabilised reconnais- sance-payload, day/night obser vation system installed in the Pioneer unmanned aerial vehi cle (UAV). The Pioneer was used ex tensively by US Forces in the Gulf War. The MKD-400 is based on a three-gimbal system, with the optical zoom giving the MKD- 400 three fields of view. The existing MKD-400 is equipped with a Joule-Thomson compressed nitrogen-cooling system, which enables operation of the forward-looking infra-red (FLIR) for up to 6h. To allow the MKD-400 to operate on the new-generation long-endurance UAVs, Tadiran has replaced compressed nitro gen-cooling of the FLIR with a closed-loop system, giving it indefinite operational time. A boresigbt laser target marker has also been added to the system. • FLIGHT INTBRNATIONAL 24 - 30 April, 1991 17
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