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Aviation History
1993
1993 - 0068.PDF
DEFENCE Northrop awards Hornet development contacts Northrop has awarded five contracts totalling more than $64 million to other US aerospace companies to help de velop the E/F Hornet version of the McDonnell Douglas (MDC) MDC decides to hold on to share of Tomahawk M cDonnell Douglas Aero space (MDC) and Hughes Missile Systems will continue to share production of the US Navy Tomahawk BGM-109 sea- launched cruise missile, with MDC getting 60% of the total. The $201.6 million contract for fiscal year (FY) 1993 covers production of 120 missiles and the re-manufacture of 120 more to Block III upgrade standard. This incorporates global posi tioning system-aided navigation and time-of-arrival control, greater guidance-system comput ing power, and propulsion and warhead improvements. McDonnell Douglas is also building 65% (114 missiles) of the FY92 Tomahawk purchase and 60%, or 240, of the FY91 missile purchase. • GE wins Grumman IRST contract General Electric's Aerospace Electronic Systems division has won a contract to install 42 infra-red search-and-track (IRST) systems on the Grumman F-14D. The $73.5 million Naval Air Systems Command contract calls for work to be completed by August 1996. The IRST will be twin-podded with the existing television opti cal unit mounted in an under- nose pod. The Northrop-built television camera set is designed to search automatically for tar gets and, after acquisition, lock onto the target and project a magnified image to the crew for positive identification. D F-18 for the United States Navy and Marine Corps. Northrop, which is principal subcontractor to MDC on the F-18E/F, has awarded a contract to Dallas, Texas-based EDS to produce the three-dimensional design and manufacturing soft ware for the aircraft. Connecticut-based Hamilton Standard has won the contract to provide an air-conditioning system for both the cockpit and equipment. Vickers of Jackson, Missouri, was awarded the con tract to produce the main hy draulic pumps. Other companies lined up for work on the E/F include Arrow head Products of Los Alamitos, California, which won the con tract to produce the aircraft's bleed air ducts, which are used to provide air for the environ mental-control system. Lucas Western, which in 1994 is to join the aerospace exodus from California and move to Park City, Utah, will provide the airframe-mounted accessory drive units. These convert power from the aircraft's General Elec tric engines to operate the elec trical and hydraulic systems. Northrop's final assembly line at El Segundo in Los Angeles is the last fighter-production line still operating in California. The company, which makes the cen tre and aft fuselage, twin vertical tails and associated sub-systems, has delivered 1,150 F-18 ship- sets to the McDonnell Douglas final assembly line at St.Louis.D The RAF is still miffing about over its new transport-helicopter choice RAF widens search for new helicopters BY MIKE GAINES The Royal Air Force has again widened its plans for new transport helicopters to replace the Westland Wessex and Aero spatiale Puma fleets and supple ment its Boeing CH-47 Chinook heavy-lift force. The service says that it will consider the pan-European NH90 and other helicopters, in cluding Russian aircraft, "...if they fit the timeframe, which is currently being worked out". The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) says that "...we are not ruling anything out". The move is the latest in a decade-long saga, which has in volved the MoD in numerous studies and changes of mind over how to meet future heli copter-transport requirements. Much of the debate has cen tred on the suitability and cost Dassault delivers upgraded Crusaders The first two Vought F8E Crusader fighters upgraded by Dassault Aviation have been returned to the French navy's fleet air arm. A further 15 aircraft are being renovated under a Fr600 million ($108 million) con tract awarded to Dassault and the naval workshops near Tou lon in southern France. The upgrade includes im provements to navigational equipment and the fitting of a missile-alert system. The Cru saders, which are nearly 30 years old, are being returned to the navy at the rate of one every six weeks. The aircraft will remain in service until the arrival of the nuclear-powered aircraft car rier the Charles de Gaulle and the Rafale Avion de Combat Marine in 1998 (Flight Interna tional, 9-15 December 1992). • of the utility version of the Westland/Agusta EH 101. The other possibilities were the West- tland-built version of the Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk and buying more Chinooks. Two new Staff Requirements (Air) were drawn up by the MoD in 1992 (Flight International, 3-9 June, 1992): the SRA432 for a light-support helicopter (LSH), to replace the 70 Wessex and 40 Pumas now in service, and the SRA.434 for a medium-support helicopter (MSH), to supple ment the 36 Chinooks now being upgraded to CH-47D stan dard by Boeing Helicopter. The Netherlands is embroiled in a similar search for a trans port helicopter and says that it is watching the UK programme "with interest", although no for mal proposal to merge the two programmes has been mooted. Arguments over the RAF's support-helicopter requirement have been dogged by opposing schools of thought: one side prefers the high capacity af forded by a large helicopter such as the Chinook, while the other wants larger numbers of smaller helicopters to provide greater tactical flexibility. The MoD has carried out in vestment appraisals for both the Staff Requirements, to determine the size and total number of LSHs and MSHs needed so that funding for each can be as signed. This will be followed by an issue of requests for propos als to the industry. D 14 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 20 - 26 January, 1993
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