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Aviation History
1993
1993 - 1207.PDF
DEFENCE Pentagon rings for Bell NTH restart The US Army has instructed Bell Helicopter Textron to resume work on the new- training-helicopter (NTH) pro gramme. The service had issued a stop-work order after competitor Enstrom Helicopter protested over the award of the 157-aircraft contract to Bell. Bell says that a ruling on the protest by the US General Ac counting Office "...is several months away". Regulations allow the services to re-start disputed programmes if they determine that it is in the Government's best interests to resume work, pending a resolu tion of the protest, Bell says. The company is under con tract to build an initial 102 TH-206s, versions of the com mercial Model 206B-3 Jet- Ranger, which will be known as TH-67 Creek once in serv ice. The size of the NTH pro gramme has prompted Bell to re-assure other commercial and military customers of the con tinued availability of JetRangers and spares. D Lockheed Sanders wins USAF deal The US Air Force has awarded Lockheed Sanders a $23 million contract to build 210 Air Force Mission Support Systems (AFMSS). The defence-electronics firm had already won an $8 million contract for the first two pro duction units and systems sup port. Total contract options, valued at some $200 million for production of 1,190 units for the USAF, are anticipated. The AFMSS is a computer- based mission-planning system, designed to provide advanced automation tools to help air crew pre-mission planning and post-mission debriefing. Flight and route planning, threat pen etration, weapon delivery and target-area tactics and enemy- radar predictions are among its planned capabilities. It will be used for support for all USAF tactical, transport and strategic aircraft crews. • The days of huge Soviet contracts are over for Aero, but L-39s are still being sold Aero close to more trainer deals BY JULIAN MOXON IN PRAGUE Czech Republic aircraft manufacturer Aero Vodo chody says that it is "close" to signing further orders for its L-39 and L-59 jet trainers. The potential contracts come after Aero Vodochody's 1992 success in selling to Egypt a training package based around 48 L-59s. Thailand has also bought 36 L-39s. "It proves that in two years competing among Western jet-trainer pro ducers we've achieved some interesting contracts", says Aero Vodochody sales vice- president Zdenek Prokop. The latest deals are likely to be smaller than the Egyptian or Thai ones. Prokop says that Aero Vodochody, once the ex clusive trainer-supplier to the USSR, "...has had to get used to the fact that the days of such huge contracts are ended". While not disclosing details of forthcoming orders, he indi cates that "...any customer for small quantities of aircraft is now taken seriously". Aero has reduced its produc tion capability by 50% since 1990, along with its workforce. "Strong emphasis is now being placed on development and sales," says Prokop. The Egyptian order, which includes simulators, ejection seats and other Czech-supplied equipment, will be delivered this year, following delivery of the first aircraft in January. The L-59s are equipped with Allied- Signal cockpit displays and a head-up display (HUD), to gether with a mission com puter from US manufacturer Flight Vision. Aircraft for Thai land have HUDs and mission computers from Israel's Elbit. Aero is busy preparing an L-139 for flight demonstration at the Paris air show, the first time that the aircraft will have been seen in public outside the Czech Republic. The L-139, developed origi nally for the US Air Force/Navy joint primary airecrew-training system (JPATS) contest, con tains around 70% Western components, including Garrett TFE731-4 engines. The aircraft is no longer being offered for the JPATS requirement. "We had the disadvantage that the political changes in our country came too late, " says Prokop. • TIALD tested on single-seat Jaguar The UK's Boscombe Down Aircraft and Armament Evaluation Establishment (A&AEE) has fitted a GEC- Marconi thermal-imaging and laser-designating (TIALD) pod to a single-seat Sepecat Jaguar ground-attack aircraft for as sessment of its aerodynamic effects and for aircraft-han dling trials. The trials are not funded formally as part of a UK Minis try of Defence (MoD) Jaguar- update programme, but are being held in parallel to the TIALD tests on a two-seat Jag uar at the Defence Research Agency (DRA) in Famborough. The DRA trials are being held to assess single-seat pilot workload, primarily to see if it is feasible for a solo pilot to use the TIALD safely and effectively — especially at low level — while flying the air craft, navigating and looking for ground and air threats. The two-seat Jaguar is being used for this work so that a safety pilot can monitor the flight while the other pilot is conducting the TIALD trials. In the 1991 Gulf War, Panavia Tornado GR Mkls were equipped with A-model TIALD pods which had only thermal-imaging and laser- desigating modes. The current Tornado fit is called the In terim TIALD Capability with dual-sensor C-model pods, which also have the television- imaging mode. The A&AEE Jaguar is being fitted with a Ferranti wide- angle, 1:1 correlated field-of- view head-up display (HUD), W FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 26 May - 1 June, 1993
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