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Aviation History
1996
1996 - 0530.PDF
BAe may offer CF34 as alternative to BR710 BRITISH AEROSPACE is con sidering an alternative power- plant to the BMW Rolls-Royce BR710 on its bid for the Royal Air Force's replacement maritime- patrol aircraft four months before a final decision is due to be made by the UK Ministry of Defence. The company may offer the General Electric CF34-8C turbo- fan to power the upgraded Nimrod it is offering. It had been thought that BAe would exclusively offer the Anglo-German powerplant (Flight International, 29 November - 5 December, 1995). BAe says that it is "considering options", adding: "We have had some discussions with GE, but it is premature to say we're going with anything". The company confirms that its initial bid is based on re- engineing with BR710s, however. BAe declines to discuss why it was examining an alternative pow erplant, although sources close to the programme suggest that the CF34 might require less structural modification to the wing box. The CF34-8C is being devel oped to power the Bombardier Canadair CRJ-X regional jet. Q Airbus military set-up hit by French decision DOUGLAS BARRIE/LONDON AIRBUS INDUSTRIE has shelved plans to unveil the Airbus Military Company (AMC) in the wake of the French Gov ernment's decision not to fund development of the collaborative European Future Large Aircraft (FLA) project. Airbus had been intending to formally set up its military-air craft arm in the second quarter of 1996, principally to manage the development and production of the FLA. Sources now say that "...there is no point in unveiling AMC until we know how the French will go". Airbus was unable to comment on the posi tion of the AMC. The UK Government, which was on the brink of formally rejoining the programme follow ing its decision to buy the European aircraft as well Lockheed Martin C-130Js in 1995, has reacted with concern to the French decision. "We're look ing for clarification. We will need to consider our position," says the Ministry of Defence. Senior UK and French defence officials met on 1 March to discuss several pro grammes, including the FLA. The French defence minister Charles Millon has told senior French industry chiefs that he wants the FLA industrial and national partners to renegotiate the programme. France, Germany and Italy are the lead nations in a pan-European project to build the turboprop transport. Exactly what Millon wants to "renegotiate" remains unclear. One senior FLA official admits: "We're not quite sure what he's getting at." If, as seems certain, Millon wants to see costs cut, this will present Airbus with a problem. "We thought we'd got the figures about right," says the official. FLA project sources optimisti cally claim that if the French posi tion can be resolved satisfactorily within the next three months then the pre-development timetable can still be met. The chaos in the FLA camp is also likely to encourage Lockheed Martin to rekindle attempts to turn the FLA project into a C-141 Starlifter replacement. US sources suggest that Lockheed Martin will be looking to revisit Airbus in Toulouse. Senior Lockheed Martin officials visited Toulouse in late 1995 to dis cuss a collaborative programme to develop a C-141 replacement. The turboprop FLA is a direct competi tor to the C-130J. • See New Analysis, P22. UK Ministry of Defence clips Pegasus wings GEC-MARCONI'S PEGA SUS bid for the Royal Air Force's conventional stand-off missile (CASOM) requirement has become the first casualty in the competition, having been effectively eliminated by the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD). Although the company has received no formal notification from the MoD, senior-level unoffi cial channels appear to have been used to inform GEC of its position. Sources also indicate that GEC may have been encouraged to get more involved with other bidders. GEC declines to comment on its position in the competition. The Pegasus is an extended- range variant of the GEC family of precision-guided munitions (PGM) for the United Arab Emirates (UAE), known as the Hakim. The PGM-1 is laser-guid ed, PGM-2 is television-guided, while PGM-3 is understood to be infra-red guided. More than 500 of the first two variants have already been produced, while more than 700 of the third have been built. The PGM-4, or Centaur, is GEC's bid for the UAE's equiva lent of the CASOM requirement and is broadly similar to the Pegasus. Losing in the UK will be a blow to GEC in the UAE, where it is competing with Matra, offer ing a derivative of the Apache. GEC is already involved as a systems supplier in several of the other bids, including the McDonnell Douglas Grand Slam, and probably the BAe/Matra Storm Shadow. Israel's Rafael, bidding with the Popeye Turbo, lacks a UK prime contractor and has previously approached GEC to discuss a potential link-up in a bid for the CASOM. GEC could also approach MDC, or Hughes. Hughes is teamed with Smiths Industries and Lucas in offering the AirHawk, but it has not ruled out adding additional team members. Other bidders are Texas Instruments (teamed with Shorts), offering a powered variant of the Joint Stand-off Weapon, while Bofors/Daimler-Benz Aerospace is offering the Taurus system. • v^^^l fjP LII^^RJ K> " '^J* wmr~ *M MDC test-flies CASOM kit MCDONNELL DOUGLAS (MDC> HAS TEST-flown in the UK its advanced tar get recognition (ATR) system — a key part of its Grand Slam bid for the Royal Air Force's conventional stand-off missile programme. Development of the ATR has been under way since 1987. The system, test-flown on a Beech King Air, is also being offered as part of MDC's US Joint- Air-to-Surface Strike Missile offering. 14 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 6 - 12 March 1996
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