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Aviation History
1993
1993 - 1699.PDF
HEADLINES Pilatus faces new trainer veto BY JOHN BAILEY IN SINGAPORE The Swiss parliament has warned Pilatus that it may veto an export licence for the sale of 20 PC-9 trainers to the Republic of Korea, unless the aircraft are modified to prevent the installation of external weapons pods. Although no formal decision has been made, Pilatus has been told that the South Ko rean deal will probably be sub ject to the same conditions as the earlier sale of 60 PC-7s to South Africa. This contract was approved on 2 June, after Pila tus persuaded the Bundesrat (parliament) that hard points on the wings could be modified to prevent weapons carriage. According to Pilatus, the Korean Ministry of National Defence (MND) approved the PC-9 order on 7 May and was to announce the result on 15 June. Concern about political complications has delayed con firmation (Flight International, 23-29 June) and the Swiss press quotes Pilatus managing director Oskar Schwenk as say ing that an order to modify the PC-9 could cut the company's chances of winning the order to "less than 50%". Pilatus insists that the PC-9 is purely a trainer, that the hardpoints are for external fuel tanks and that it has had "no contact with any company ca pable of arming the aircraft". Officials close to the pro gramme in Seoul claim that Belgian manu facturer Fabri- que Nationale (FN) has signed a $4.95 million provi sional contract with the MND to arm the PC-9, if required. Pilatus says that its bid "..does defi nitely not con tain a part for FN", and adds that the Ko rean require ment for oper ational capabil ity (ROC) "...calls for a trainer and not a trainer/light- attack air craft". While this is techni cally correct, - the document stipulates that the aircraft must have "external storage capability", specifying a gunsight, weapons pylons and certain internal wiring. A letter from the MND to the Swiss Ambassador in Seoul in June asks whether "...your government can issue export licence on PC-9 equipped with 6 hard points necessary for the external storement of arms" (sic). The letter, which Pilatus concedes is genuine, also asks "...where Korea is on the list of Export Prohibition Countries, according to Swiss federal reg ulations". These prohibit the < md£m>J^A Comet is on course for oblivion The Westinghouse-Space In-dustries-EER Systems com mercial-experiment transporter programme, the Comet, is in danger of collapsing. The first launch of the micro-gravity experiment satel lite, scheduled for August, has been grounded indefinitely while the consortium wrestles with a 70% cost overrun and NASA's refusal to provide addi tional funding. Attempts are being made to re-design the overweight space craft to meet technical require ments and save costs (Flight International, 10-16 March). The consortium" won an $86 million contract from NASA to build, launch and operate the Comet on three NASA-funded flights and invested its own funds in the hope, that space craft could be commercialised under the name Westar. As yet, commercial sales have not materialised. • Myamnar is already a Pilatus PC-9 customer sale of combat equipment to areas of "war or tension", al though the Bundesrat has not decided if the Korean penin sula falls into this category. Pilatus chairman Ernst Thomke was told on 5 July, however, that any decision to allow the sale would probably be "in line with the Bundesrat's decision concerning the tight ening of export permit proce dures for such aircraft". Pilatus says that it "...refused to compete for the contract as long as the RoKAF [Republic of Korea Air Force] requested arms provisioning", and claims that the RoKAF has now "dropped" this requirement. It also says that a brochure adver tising an armed PC-9 was pro duced without authority by its Korean agent, DK International — and FN — and has since been destroyed. The UK's Short Brothers of fered the RoKAF the Tucano trainer, which can carry up to 1,000kg of external munitions. The Shorts bid was much more expensive than that from Pila tus, but one official says: "Why would Shorts have submitted this proposal, if it was not fully compliant with the ROC?" • UK industry keeps up funding pressure The UK aerospace industry will press ahead with its campaign for a national strat egy on civil-aerospace re search, despite a lukewarm response from the Govern ment over calls made for additional funding. The campaign centres on the National Strategic Tech nology Acquisition Plan (NSTAP), which lays down the blueprint for long-term investment in civil-aerospace technologies. The plan is contained in a confidential report produced for the UK Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) by its aviation committee, an ad visory group drawn from leading companies and re search establishments. Professor John Stollery of the Cranfield Institute, who heads the committee, says that despite an apparently cool initial response from the Government, the NSTAP plan will be pursued "... with great determination". The aim is to update the plan annually, he says, adding that the need for a strategy appears to be gain ing ground within the DTI. Although the report was handed to industry minister Tim Sainsbury in November 1992, its existence only came to light during parliamentary hearings into the state of UK aerospace held over the last two months. When questioned during the hearings, Sainsbury virtu ally ruled out additional fund ing for civil programmes and suggested that the NSTAP proposals would be merged into existing programmes (Flight International, 12-18 May). A DTI committee has since been set up to issue an official response to the NSTAP report. The debate will receive fur ther impetus on 21 July, when the findings of the parliamen tary hearings are scheduled to be released. • 6 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 14 - 20 July, 1993
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