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Aviation History
1996
1996 - 0016.PDF
dJSFENCE Poland resurrects support for Iryda AFTER STOPPING Polish defence ministry plans to buy about 40 secondhand Dassault/- Dornier Alpha Jets from Germany, die Warsaw Government has redi rected funds for the deal to support the PZL-Mielec Iryda jet trainer programme. According to PZL-Mielec, three new Irydas in die M-93K configu ration are now expected to be ordered, and die 12 aircraft already flying widi die Polish air force pilot-training school at Deblin will be upgraded. The Government has made Pzl42 million ($16.6 million) available for this work. The plan breathes new life into die Iryda programme, which would have been killed by die Alpha Jet purchase, threatening the future of Mielec by taking away 35% of its production work. Polish defence minister Zbigniew Okon- ski told parliament on 1 December that the Iryda was too expensive and did not meet air force needs, but was later overruled by premier Jozef Oleksy. Iryda chief designer Marek Potapowicz says diat Okonski was "badly advised" by die military in his statements. The first five 1-22 Irydas — which were delivered to Deblin with twin lOkN (2,2501b)-thrust PZL-5 turbojets and were later found to be underpowered — are now to be refitted widi 15kN IL K-15s, bringing them up to M- 93K standard. An avionics upgrade — criticised earlier by die Polish defence ministry as too expensive — is also to be carried out. No avionics supplier has formal ly been announced, aldiough Mielec has carried out an extensive evaluation of a package from SAGEM, and says that the military has completed its evaluation of avionics options. Sources close to die manufacturer now say that AlliedSignal, Elbit, Israel Aircraft Industries, Rockwell-Collins and Sextant Avionique have also been pushing dieir own proposals. The avionics and engine upgrades are to be carried out in 1996, says Potapowicz. A furdier aerodynamic upgrade, including die addition of new high-lift devices is now planned for 1997. • BAe drops helicopter bid DOUGLAS BARRIE/LONDON BRITISH AEROSPACE has abandoned its bid for a £300 million ($460 million) UK Min istry of Defence (MoD) contract to establish and support a tri-service helicopter training school. BAe had intended to link with McAlpine in offering the MoD a mix of up to 50 Eurocopter AS 3 50 Ecureuil and AS365 Dauphins to meet the Defence Helicopter Flying Training School (DHFTS) requirement. BAe says: "We could not make a sensible business case for the programme, so we did not put in a final bid." The MoD is pulling together army, navy and air force helicopter flying training at the same time as it puts the package out to "contrac- torisation". The Aerospatiale Gazelle and Wesdand Wessex heli copters are also to be replaced. BAe's bid, based around Eurocopter helicopters, was in part intended to support its failed ten der to meet the army's attack-heli copter programme with the Eurocopter Tiger. The MoD has received bids from Hunting, teamed with Bond, and Shorts to set up and support the DHFTS. Sources suggest that bidders are offering both compli ant and non-compliant bids, with the latter up to 40% cheaper than die former. The compliant bids are likely to be based on a mix of die single- engined Bell 206s and Ecureuils, and twin-engined Bell 412s and Eurocopter EC 13 5s. The MoD requires up to 40 single- and 12 twin-engine helicopters. Non-compliant bids which are considerably less expensive are likely to have also been submitted, say sources. These are thought to based on either the Schweizer 330 or Enstrom TH-28 single-engined turboshaft helicopters. • US Air Force launches T-38 upgrade GRAHAM WARWICK/ATLANTA NINE TEAMS are expected to respond to die US Air Force's 14 December request for proposals to upgrade the Northrop T-38 advanced trainer. The $700 million avionics upgrade programme (AUP) is intended to keep the T-38 in service until 2020. Under the AUP, the T-38 cock pit will be upgraded to be represen tative of front-line USAF fighters, introducing a head-up display as die primary flight reference and adding multi-function head-down displays. The global-positioning system will be introduced, and other changes made to improve reliability, maintainability and availability. A 36-month engineering- and manufacturing-development is expected to be awarded in July, under which two prototype upgraded T-38s will be produced and tested. Production options will cover die upgrade of a further 42 5 T-38s between 1999 and 2004. The winning team will also sup ply aircrew training-devices for die upgraded T-38, and provide con tractor support of the aircraft and devices. The T-38 AUP is of particular significance to companies with designs on the F-5-upgrade mar ket. While McDonnell Douglas has teamed widi Israel Aircraft Industries' Lahav division, which has F-5 upgrade experience, Nor- dirop Grumman has teamed widi EFW, a US subsidiary of Israel's Elbit, which has also upgraded F- 5s. Singapore Aerospace, which has F-5-upgrade experience, plans to bid through its US subsidiary Mobile Aerospace, a commercial- aircraft maintenance centre. The competition has also attracted experienced system inte grators, including Harris and Loral, as well as established up grade contractors, such as Chrysler Technologies, Lockheed Martin, Rockwell and Tracor (which is teamed with Sierra Technologies, the only company which has expe rience of upgrading T-3 8s). • The T-38 is heading for 2020 1 T38 UPGRADE BIDDERS Prime Chrysler Technologies Airborne Systems Harris Lockheed Martin Loral Federal Systems McDonnell Douglas Mobile Aerospace (Singapore Aerospace) Northrop Grumman Rockwell International Tracor Team Honeywell (avionics), Camber (training devices), AAI/ESI (logistic support) FlightSafety (training devices), Dee Howard (installation), Boeing(logistic support) AlliedSignal (avionics) Loral Quintron (training devices), DynCorp (installation) Israel Aircraft Industries ("major subcontractor") AlliedSignal (avionics), Dual (training devices) EFW (avionics) Hughes Training (training devices) Flight Visions (head-up display) UNC LearSiegler Chesapeake Raytheon Aerospace Sierra Technologies (avionics) Northrop Grumman (training devices) 14 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 3 - 9 January 1996
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