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Aviation History
1995
1995 - 3057.PDF
DEFENCE Four bidders emerge for Singapore tanker PAUL LEWIS/SINGAPORE FOUR COMPETING manu facturers are bidding to supply aerial-refuelling tanker aircraft, to support the Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) fleet of Lockheed Martin F-16 fighters. Airbus Industrie, Boeing, Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI) and McDonnell Douglas (MDC) are understood to have respond- NEWS IN BRIEF • NON-ACTIVE F-15B Pratt & Whitney says that the delayed first flight of a McDonnell Douglas F-15B equipped with the company's axisymmetric thrust-vector ing nozzles is now expected before the end of the year, under the NASA/US Air Force advanced control tech nology for integrated vehi cles programme. P&W also says that its F100-2 2 9 engine and production-configured vectoring nozzle, with fail safe dual-redundant actua tion system, will be installed on the USAF's Lockheed Martin NF-16D variable-sta bility in-flight simulator test aircraft in 1996. • Y-7 FOR CHINESE NAVY Xian Aircraft (XAC) has con verted two Y-7 turboprop transports into aircrew avion ics trainers for China's naval air force. Modifications include the installation of a new radar, displays and recon figured cabin for training. • LORAL FLIR FOR LAMPS Loral will begin providing the Sikorsky Aircraft SH-60B LAMPS anti-submarine and airborne surveillance heli copter with forward-looking infra-red (FLIR) systems under US Navy contracts totalling S3 5 million. ed to a recent Singapore request for tenders for two or three tankers. A decision is expected by the end of the year. The aircraft are required to be fitted with an air-to-air refuelling boom, underwing hose-drum units (HDUs) for probe-and- drogue operations, and to be capable of carrying cargo when not employed as tankers. Whichever aircraft is selected, the conversion is likely to include the involvement of Singapore Technologies Aerospace. The Airbus proposal is based on the multi-role tanker/transport (MRTT) A310. While Singapore Airlines operates a large number of commercial A3lO-200/300s, the MRTT version still requires a launch customer to fund initial development. Boeing's 767-based tanker/ transport multi-mission aircraft is similarly in need of an initial buyer to get the programme off the ground. Japan, with its larger requirement is regarded as a more likely first customer. IAI's Bedek Aviation division, in the meantime, is offering the Boeing 707 as a converted tanker. MDC has proposed a modified DC-10-30 tri-jet, similar to that supplied to the Royal Netherlands Air Force. The KDC-10 conversion includes installing a flying boom, HDUs, side cargo door and reinforced cargo deck. The RSAF will use the tankers primarily to support F-16s de ployed to Australia and the USA for exercises. Singapore's larger fleet of aircraft and shortage of airspace has made foreign train ing an operational necessity. It already operates four Lock heed KC-130As, which are in need of replacement, and a KC- 130H. The converted turboprop transports are capable of support ing the RSAF's probe-equipped Northrop F-5E/Fs and MDC A- 4S Skyhawks only, and not its F- 16s which instead require a refuelling boom. • Pentagon advisory body recommendation could shoot down Hunter Hunter becomes the hunted THE US DEPARTMENT of Defense is deciding whether to follow a Joint Requirements Oversight Council's recommenda tion to terminate the $4 billion Hunter Joint Tactical unmanned air-vehicle (UAV) programme. The view of the influential Pentagon advisory body could be the final nail in the Hunter's cof fin. The programme was already under fire from opponents. The short-range Hunter re mains grounded, pending com pletion of an investigation into three testing mishaps in August. The US Army may be forced to choose between the Hunter, which fulfils the short-range requirement, and the Maneuver (close-range) UAV7, according to Dennis Reimer, the US Army's chief of staff. "Whether we have the ability or the money to afford the short- range and close-range, I don't know. I think that's the real issue," he says. The Hunter is also criticised by US Navy opponents, who favour instead deployment of the Gen eral Atomics Predator UAV on USN warships. The US Army, USN and US Marine Corps are all scheduled to field the Hunter. The current plan calls for purchase of 50 sys tems, including 18 for the USN. Each includes eight air vehicles and related ground equipment. J UK studies GPS jamming TRIALS INVOLVING THE jamming of global-position- ing-system (GPS) satellite-naviga tion signals in the UK are to be carried out from January to April 1996 bv the Defence Research Agency (DRA). The UK military tests involve a Royal Air Force electronic counter-countermeasures device, designed to ensure that RAF strike aircraft can continue to use GPS despite jamming signals. If the equipment does not work, says the DRA, the other task is to determine the RAF's alternative navigation mode whenever GPS jamming takes place. The agency says that its tests will be carried out "in the vicinity of Aberporth [Wales]", and that the interference will be propagat ed using a beamed antenna to minimise the area of GPS signal disruption. It will take place for only about five days during the four-month period for 2h a day. The US Department of Defense (DoD) carried out GPS signal-jamming tests in April, but for the opposite reason (Flight International, 5-11 April). The DoD's purpose was to check that GPS wide-area augmentation sys tems could be disabled locally, to deny a potential enemy access to augmented civil-GPS accuracy "within the theatre of opera tions", whenever GPS jamming takes place. • 16 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 25 - 31 October 1995
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