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Aviation History
1991
1991 - 1233.PDF
OPERATIONS: DEFENCE Multinational F-16 upgr; BY ERIC BEECH The five-nation, $2 billion General Dynamics F-16 mid-life upgrade (MLU) has fi nally been given the go-ahead. The Belgian Government has committed itself at last, follow ing the resolution of internal political differences. The update is still threatened because of the US cancellation of production of Batch 50 F- 16s, which will share the modu lar avionics mission computer. The MLU partners will now have to push for the retention of the computer, otherwise the programme could be delayed for a further year. In addition to Belgium, the Governments of Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway and the Paraguay ore The Paraguayan Air Force has ordered 15 Enaer T-35 Pillan basic trainers. The Chil ean company will be able to make early delivery, having co- cooned at least 12 Pillans in an advanced state of construction awaiting possible orders. The Pillan (Devil), developed jointly by Enaer and Piper, is now in service with four coun tries. The Chilean Air Force operates 80, the last of which was recently delivered. The Spanish Air Force has 40, as sembled in Spain by Casa as the E.26 Tamiz, and Panama ten. Enaer will now close down production of the piston- powered Pillan and will then offer only the Turbo-Pillan. • A shortfall in the delivery of Kawasaki T-4 trainers has forced the Japan Air Self- Defence Force to train some of its pilots in the USA. The first 13 Japanese cadets will leave in July to complete their flying training on US Air Force Northrop T-38 Talons. It will be the first time that USA have completed letters of offers and acceptance for the programme. This permitted the US Air Force to draw on $400- million worth of funding to start full-scale development. The upgrade will centre around the avionics suite. The five nations have a total F-16 inventory of over 530 aircraft. A share in the MLU development work has been offered to each of the European nations in the original F-16 consortium and their industries have been of fered production of all the com ponents required to retrofit the European aircraft. The MLU is based around a core package. This includes an improved Westinghouse APG- 66 radar, designated the APG- 66(V), a digital terrain-reference Japan has sent unqualified pi lots to train with the US Air Force. The problem has arisen because the Japanese are having to retire their ageing T-33 train ers faster than they can be replaced by the new Japanese- designed T-4s. The Japanese pilots will un dergo two months of technical ide poised navigation system, global positioning system and an im proved data modem for ground- attack use. Individual countries are free to add to this package to meet their own requirements. The Netherlands far shown in terest in purchasing a helmet- mounted display. Full-scale development is ex pected to last about five years, with modification kits sched uled to be delivered in the mid-1990s. As far as Belgium is con cerned, the programme will en able the Belgian Air Force to continue flying the F-16A/B until 2010. This is particularly important because, in the short to medium term, it is unlikely that funds to buy new aircraft will be available. • English instruction before going on to an eight-month course on the T-38, taking them up to wings standard. The overall training programme in the USA is expected to last for several years, until the new flight train ing system and a sufficient number of Kawasaki T-4s are available. D Cruise guidance system comes under review The US Air Force and Navy are to review rapid updating of terrain-contour-matching navigation data for cruise mis siles, following their use in the Gulf War. The missiles navigate by com paring the terrain contours over which they fly with a computer ised database and cross-refer encing with their internal navi gation system. Although accu rate in initial strikes on targets in the highly defended Baghdad area, the missiles' accuracy was later degraded. It is believed that the missiles were "confused" by their ter rain-contour-matching pro grammes being unable to corre late the mainly satellite-derived, pre-war database with the actual scene. The databases could not be updated quickly enough to account for damage caused by previous raids. For instance, buildings which had been de molished in fact were still pre sent in the database. The Allied bombing cam paign was hampered throughout by a paucity of post-strike re connaissance data and bomb- damage assessment. This was caused in part by bad weather, following the initial strikes, and partly by the diversion of rela tively scarce reconnaissance air craft to hunt for mobile Scud launchers. Several airfields had to be targeted a second time because no tally was kept of hardened aircraft shelters hit in the first raids. • CASUALTIES SOVIET UNION A Soviet Air Force Mikoyali MiG-27 Flogger based in Germany crashed near Re- gentin while night flying on 7 May. The aircraft was on the approach at 1,800ft (600m) when the pilot, Capt Golovanov, reported an en gine fire and smoke in the cockpit. Golovanov ejected safely on orders from the control tower. Japan Air SDF pilots will train in USA lers final Pillan trainers "; vS . ' . •' ..... .:.•,• •;••• ' . ' • '• .-- •v: . • ,•;.-,:•- •• . . ,•••.•>-•,••..;•. SS:C5ai:::^-'^^ •••• •.••': . • •••... • ...... • . ••••..••. . . •. . ... ... ... ••'•••'... '••'••...: •.••'•' "... Paraguay's order for 15 Pillans will be the last for piston-powered version FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 15 - 21 May, 1991 9
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