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Aviation History
1994
1994 - 1027.PDF
DEFENCE LOCKHEED SELECTS UK SUPPORT AGAIN Lockheed has picked another UK company for its C-130J UK Industry Support Group. Newton Abbott-based Aircraft Materials will develop the cargo-handling and aerial-delivery systems for the transport aircraft. The aircraft's Allison AE 2100D3 turboprop engine is now undegoing evaluation on a leased Royal Air Force C-130 under the auspices of the single-engine dem onstrator programme being carried out by the UK's Marshall Aero space. The C-130 is the RAF's eferred option to replace half of Germany freezes Turkish Phantoms Sixteen ex-German air force McDonnell Douglas RF-4E Phantoms earmarked for Tur key are languishing at Deutsche Aerospace's (DASA's) Manching site, near Munich, following the German ban on military sales to the country. The aircraft were due for delivery this month, having been inspected and serviced by DASA. Suspicions that Turkey was using German-supplied war material against its Kur dish minority led Germany's foreign minister, Klaus Kinkel, to halt indefinitely the supply of military equipment. Bonn has put Phantom deliv eries on ice before, for the same reason. In 1992, Turkish military action against the Kurds led to weapons de liveries being halted. The con troversy led to the downfall of the then defence minister, Ger hard Stoltenberg. Kinkel's announcement, which has also frozen the deliv ery of vehicles and equipment forming part of a package of ten CL-89 reconnaissance drones, was made on 7 April. According to the Bonn defence ministry, deliveries have stopped until Germany estab lishes whether Turkey is using German equipment in attacks against the Kurdistan Workers' Party, violating the contract between the two countries. The Turkish Government had agreed with Bonn that surplus military equipment from Germany would be used only in NATO operations. Turkish foreign minister Hikmet Cetin has denied viola tions. He criticises Kinkel's de cision as an "indirect encour agement of terrorism". He explains to Kinkel that BRT-60 armoured personnel carriers in use in military ac tions in south-east Anatolia were obtained from Russia, and were not part of the excess stock of the former East Ger man National People's Army. This stock was handed over to Turkey after the Vienna Con vention limited conventional forces in Europe. The defence ministry says that Germany has delivered 30 Phantoms, which would have been scrapped, to the Turkish air force. Over 400 armoured vehicles and other weaponry has also been handed over. The delivery of vehicles and support equipment for the CL- 89 drones was to have begun on 15 April. • C-130J considered in USAF airlift facelift BY DOUGLAS BARRIE AND GUY NORR1S IN LOS ANGELES The US Air force is consider ing purchasing 165 Lock heed C-130J Hercules trans ports as part of a re-vamped airlift force. The re-vamp also covers the potential purchase of either new-build Boeing 747-400s, or the Lockheed C- 5D Galaxy, for strategic airlift. Lockheed and the USAF are in discussions over the configuration of the C-130J, including the fuselage length. Of the five J prototypes to be built in 1995, four will have a "stretched" fuselage compared to the USAF's present fleet. The stretch is based on the Royal Air Force's C-130K Mk.3 ex tended fuselage, but the USAF has yet to decide whether it wants a lengthened fuselage for its J fleet. Some concern has been ex pressed by the air force over the potential for "tail scrape" on rotation with the extended fuselage, according to Lock heed officials. Al Hansen, Lockheed's vice- president for airlift program mes, says: "We're having an active dialogue with the USAF on the C-130J. We're holding a configuration conference. A re quirements document has been approved by the Air Combat Command." The company is in discussions with the Depart ment of Defense (DoD) about possible funding for a purchase of two J-model Hercules from its 1994 budget allocation for H models. Alongside the proposed C- 130J purchase, Lockheed is of fering the air force a new-build variant of its C-5 Galaxy, the C-5D, as an alternative to buy ing further McDonnell Douglas C-17 Globemaster Ills, or re worked Lockheed C-141B Star- lifters. This upgrade would have the aircraft fitted with a glass cockpit, derived from the C-130J, and new engines. Lockheed has received propos als from Pratt &r Whitney, of fering the PW2043, General Electric, with an upgraded GE TF39, and Rolls-Royce, offering the RB.211-535. A minimum order of 38 C-5Ds is required to re-open the production line. The C-5D will also have a re-configured rear bay, allow ing for "dual" cargo drops. Air drops have previously required two passes to air drop into designated zones. Boeing is offering the 747- 400F and is proposing that the USAF radically shake up the defence department's strategic- airlift-force modernisation plan. The company wants the general airlift programme, based on commercial-derivative aircraft, to be "disengaged" from the core airlift element based around the C-17. It also wants procurement of a com mercial-derivative aircraft to begin immediately. Boeing, like Lockheed, is of fering various packages to the DoD, ranging from 31 747- 400Fs and 80 C-17s, up to 61 747-400Fs and only the 40 C-17s now on order. Boeing claims that, over 25 years, a force of 747-400Fs would be up to three times more cost- effective than the equivalent force of new C-5s. The company argues that up to 80% by weight of cargo carried during Desert Shield could have been carried by 747s. • NEWS IN BRIEF SINGAPORE CH-47Ds Singapore has purchased six new Boeing CH-47D Chinook heavy-lift helicopters, which are scheduled for delivery in 1996 and 1997. The aircraft will be used for search-and- rescue operations for the na tion's Civil Aviation Author ity, as well as providing support training for the Re public of Singapore Air Force. The sale is the first recorded for the CH-47D this year. FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 20 - 26 April, 1994 13
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