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Aviation History
1993
1993 - 1645.PDF
DEFENCE BAe pushes Eurofighter re-jig UK gets new air-defence sensor Infra-red sensor technology specified for the Eurofighter 2000 is being introduced by the British Army for use against enemy aircraft. Over 100 free-standing, man- portable air-defence alerting- device (ADAD) systems, manufactured by Thorn EMI Electronics, have been deliv ered since September 1992, while more than 300 ADADs are destined for delivery to the Royal Artillery over the next two years. Thorn EMI's technology will form the basis of the infra-red search-and-track system, known as the PIRATE (passive infra-red airborne tracking equipment), specified for the Eurofighter 2000. A contract for the work was awarded to the Eurofirst consortium in September 1992. FIAR of Italy is Eurofirst prime contractor and the con sortium also includes Euro- tronica of Spain. The PIRATE will be required to be operable in modes which include air-to-air and air-to- ground surveillance. The sys tem can be used either as a multiple-target detector and tracker, producing a display similar to that of a radar, or as an imagin sensor, producing a monochrome picture, for either a head-up or the multi function head-down display. At a demonstration at the Royal Artillery depot at Larkhill in Wiltshire, ADAD detection ranges were quoted by senior officers as being 9km (5nm) against fixed-wing air craft, about 6km against heli copters and "sufficient" against remotely piloted vehicles. Two Royal Artillery regi ments will also be equipped with self-propelled high-veloc ity-missile vehicles. The com plete system, comprising a vehicle, ADAD sensors and the Shorts Starburst missile, is un dergoing development trials. The vehicle-mounted version should be capable of entering action within 10s of stopping. The ADAD is claimed to be operable, day or night, in all weather conditions. D BY SIMON ELLIOTT Eurofighter partner British Aerospace is pushing to produce 30 two-seat Eu rofighter 2000 combat-capable trainers as the first production batch, using existing develop ment-aircraft jigs and tools, to cut production costs. The jigs are being used at BAe Warton, Lancashire, to build the development aircraft (DA) 4. If the move is success ful, only a small amount of funding will be needed to bring the jigs and tools up to the required standard. Two-seaters not destined for the Royal Air Force would go to their coun try of destination for assembly. Officials say that the first batch to be built was planned to comprise 26 two-seaters and four single-seaters. Eurofighter was make use of the DA jigs and tools for the first batch of single- and two-seaters, but BAe is arguing that it would be more cost-effective to upgrade only one DA assembly line, that for the two-seaters. Then, when the second Eurofighter batch is ordered, additional The Royal Air Force is to re-fit 30 Lockheed C-130 Hercules transports with an integrated navigation system. The UK Ministry of De fence has asked British, French and US companies to submit bids by the end of September to act as prime contractor on the work, which is for about half of the air force's Hercules fleet. money available by then would allow new production-standard jigs and tools to be purchased to build the single-seater. Eurofighter consortium members are re-drawing the legal relationship between in dustry and its customers in the light of the programme changes late in 1992. These alterations switched the European Fighter Aircraft to the revised Eu rofighter 2000. Industry officials are hopeful of having the changes com pleted by the end of the year, to be able to meet the envis aged in-service date of 2000 for UK and Italian aircraft. It is as part of this re-drawing process that the workshare for the pro duction phase is being re evaluated (Flight International, 16-22 June). Officials say that, in 1994/5, Eurofighter is hoping to carry out a limited amount of prepar atory engineering work, on production-aircraft design and logistics support, towards the Eurofighter 2000 production phase in parallel with the de velopment phase. If the programme adheres to In 1990, six RAF Hercules were fitted with an integrated navigation system, consisting of an inertial-navigation unit, a global-positioning system and an air-data computer. The plan now is to install an enhanced version of the inte grated navigation system into 30 aircraft — including the six Hercules transports al ready updated. D current schedules, a memoran dum of understanding between the four member governments, covering the production phase, will be signed in late 1995 or early 1996, which will formal ise the production-phase work- share. The actual production contract will then follow shortly afterwards. D India's Prithvi missile ready India's medium-range surface-to-surface missile, the Prithvi, has been test-fired suc cessfully in its full operational mode. The tactical battlefield missile (TBM) is already re ported to have been deployed on the border with Pakistan. The 11th launch of the 250km (130nm)-range missile on 12 June is said to have accom plished all mission require ments. "The missile launch was the first from a production batch and used land-based mo bile control," says the Indian defence ministry. Reports claim that the Prithvi has been deployed by the Indian army in positions close to the Pakistan border in response to Islamabad's re ported rapid progress in de veloping its HATF range of surface-to-surface missiles. The Prithvi is already in production at Bharat Dynam ics, Hyderabad, which is pro ducing the weapon in partner ship with Hindustan Aeronau tics, Bharat Electronics, Bharat Earth Movers and several ord nance factories. The first test firing of the missile, a modified version of the indigenous Satel lite Launch Vehicle (SLV- 3),took place in 1988. The Prithvi is one of the five missile systems being de veloped by the Indian Defence Research and Development Or ganisation. The other four sys tems are the Agni medium- range ballistic missile technol ogy demonstrator, the Trishul and Akash surface-to-air mis siles and a third-generation anti-tank missile. • Wanted: new Hercules navigation systems RAF steers Hercules re-fit 12 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 30 June - 6 July, 1993
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