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Aviation History
1993
1993 - 2851.PDF
DEFENCE Germany is paying Portugual for use of an air base with 50 Alpha Jets Portugal benefits in Alpha Jet giveaway BY ANDRZEJ JEZIORSKI IN MUNICH Germany has been forced to scrap 90 Dassault/Dornier Alpha Jets and give away a further 50 after failing to find a buyer for the ageing ground- attack aircraft. They are to be phased out in the restructuring of the country's air force. The Alpha Jets were given to Portugal as payment for the German air force's use of Beja air base, Portugal, as a tactical training centre. Germany's 150- man Beja training detachment, which has been active since 1964, is to be withdrawn by the end of this month. The aircraft are from Ger man bases at Husum, Old enburg and Furstenfeldbruck. Including 18 aircraft already stationed at Beja, they have been handed over to the Portu guese air force. Ninety of the German air force's original 175 Alpha Jets are to be scrapped, after a bid to purchase the aircraft by the French air force fell through. No other potential buyers have been found. The remaining 35 Alpha Jets will continue to be used by 49 Fighter-Bomber wing at Furstenfeldbruck for Panavia Tornado lead-in training until their retirement in 1995. All subsequent lead-in training for Tornado pilots will take place at the US Air Force's Holloman AFB, New Mexico. According to the German air force, the restructuring pro gramme was designed to "...adapt to changes in the European security environ ment" since re-unification, and is to be completed by 1995. The changes implemented include reducing the Soviet- equipped, former East German air force to 60 operational air craft, while all 72 German McDonnell Douglas RF-4E Phantom reconnaissance air craft have been retired and divided among the Greek and Turkish air forces. More aircraft are to be phased out by the turn of the century, leaving a force of about 500 aircraft based on the Eurofighter 2000 and the Tornado. • Dassault redoubles Pakistan effort French aerospace manufac turer Dassault is redoubling its efforts to sell the Mirage 2000 to Pakistan. Its renewed drive comes in the light of the possible lifting of the current US embargo, which would free Lockheed to deliver 60 F-16s originally ordered by the Paki stan air force. Dassault had seized on the F-16 embargo by offering Paki stan the Mirage 2000 in a $1.4 billion package which includes the AS30L laser-guided missile. A decision on the French offer is expected early in 1994. The long-standing negotia tions between France and Paki stan have largely been stalled over finance. Russian manufac turer Sukhoi has also at tempted to sell the Su-27 Flanker to Islamabad. The US sanctions had been imposed in an attempt to halt Pakistan's nuclear-weapon de velopment programme. Around 30 of the 71 F-16s on order have been built by Lockheed and paid for by Pakistan. These aircraft are in storage. Dassault also hopes to sell up to 12 Mirage 2000-5 aircraft to Qatar to replace its Mirage F.1E/B combat aircraft. Qatar is trying to offset the acquisition cost of the Mirage 2000-5 by selling its Mirage F.lEs. Spain is a possible buyer. • French put Spirit into Transall C-160s The French air force is to equip 20 of its Transall C.160 transport aircraft with the Alkan Spirit defensive-aids system (DAS). The Spirit system has two Alkan Type 507 decoy dispens ers scabbed on to each side of the aircraft's fuselage, and a cockpit-control box compatible with night-vision goggles. Each dispenser can house 16 infra- SLIMLINE VYMPEL R-37 The most detailed picture yet to appear of the Vympel R-37 long-range air-to-air missile under development in Russia shows a weapon with similar length to that of the R-33 (AA-9 Amos), but of considerably reduced diameter. The missile, with a range in excess of 100km (55nm), is carried semi-recessed on the four outer-fuselage stations of a Mikoyan MiG-31M prototype and has a body diameter of around 300mm, compared to the AA-9s' 380mm. Unlike the AA-9, for which it is generally viewed as being the replacement, the R-37 has four folding rear fins. On the AA-9, only the upper two rear-control surfaces are articulated to allow for conformal storage. The all-folding-fin configura tion on the R-37 would appear to indicate that it can also be stored internally, on an as-yet unidentified combat aircraft. Vympel has previously designed an R-77 (AA-I2) with a!l-/oldmg rear-control surfaces for internal carriage. sSS. > TBr IT "^"^^^BH^B^* red decoy flares or chaff car tridges. In the C.160 configuration, the Spirit DAS will be inter faced with the Thomson-CSF Sherloc radar-warning receiver and Israeli company Elta's pas sive missile-approach warner. Alkan claims that, in this configuration, the system can be used to discriminate be tween two simultaneous threats and prioritise between them. The French air force may also adapt the Spirit DAS for use on Lockheed C-130Hs. D Chile considers Barak The Chilean army is consid ering acquiring a mobile land-based variant of the Israel Aircraft Industries/Rafael Barak naval point-defence missile sys tem. A co-production agree ment is also on offer as part of the package. Chilean army officials have attended a test launch of a Barak missile in Israel. The Chilean navy has already or dered the Barak system, while the army is looking for a mo bile air-defence system capable of defending army units and. high-value sites from aircraft and missiles. The system on offer to the army includes an Elta search radar and the same fire-control radar as that installed on the ship version. • 16 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 15 - 21 December, 1993
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