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Aviation History
1995
1995 - 1652.PDF
XOMUAf AlJOJJiArf Transatlantic tussle will be putting on a show of strength LONDON lebut or tl I . ' • aircraft at Le Bourget still hangs in the alance. The decision is going all the way 'i ro the wire. Whether it makes it or not, much of the talk n the chalets will be of the Eurofighter. Even I the aircraft were not to appear, the focus of concern for those involved is in other areas. Progress on the programme, or in some areas the lack of it, along with renewed German bickering about the aircraft, will undoubtedly be more than touched upon. If a debut for the Eurofighter is not to be, then Sukhoi may come to the rescue by bring ing along the latest derivative of its Su-27 Flanker. Russian sources claim that the Su- 3 2 FN in the list of aircraft on display is really an Su-34 prototype of the Russian air force's next-generation strike aircraft to replace the Su-24 Fencer. It is a question of wait and see. In May, Germany was on die brink of signing the long-awaited fourth memorandum of understanding (xMoU), which covers die re-ori entation of the programme; a re-orientation made necessary in 1992 when Germany threat ened to withdraw from me project. Only days before German and UK minis ters were due to meet to sign the MoU, • pathy toward the Eurofi is well-established. It once criticised the project as being no more combat-capable than the pre sent generation of fighter aircraft, and suggest ed buying more Mikoyan MiG-29 Fulcrums. Where the BRH carried out its combat model ling, an unusual practice for a group of financial auditors, has yet to be revealed. Although the German defence ministry dis missed the BRH costs of DM170 million ($120 million) per aircraft as fantasy, the figures will have resonated in the public consciousness. The BRH's report will also have resonated strongly among Europe's other combat manufacturers. Paris will be Lockheed Martin's debut at a European show. In the combat-aircraft sector this corporation effortlessly dwarfs its European competitors. It also offers economies of scale in terms which may even impress the BRH. US INDUSTRY GEARS UP With half of Europe engaged in politically motivated squabbles about the imagined cost of the Eurofighter 2000, US industry' is girding its loins, ready to compete in a lean and brutally competitive marketplace. The Lockheed Martin and the McDonnell Douglas board rooms must be encouraged by the bickering military aerospace to perch uncomfortable of the field. This becomes doubly ironic when British Aerospace, supported by an economy which is often dubbed the "sick man of Europe", stands in the vanguard of those pushing ahead on a restructured European industn' sector. The best of the current crop of combat air craft will be on show at Le Bourget, with the exception of the Lockheed F-22 and, possibly, the I'.urofighter. Definitely at the show are the Dassault Rafale, the Saab Gripen, the Mikoyan MiG-29 Fulcrum, the Sukhoi Su-35 Flanker derivative, the McDonnell Douglas F-15E and F-18 and the Lockheed F-16. The manufactur ers' minds are, however, starting to focus sharply on follow-on programmes. Likely to be gracing stands in both model form and artists impressions is the US Joint Advanced Strike Technology (TAST) pro gramme. Both conventional and advanced short take-off and landing (ASTOVL) variants of the multi-role balanced stealth strike fighter are expected to enter service around the end of the first decade of the next century. The JAST project, which provides the sole FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 7 - 13 June 1995 69
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