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Aviation History
1996
1996 - 1903.PDF
DEFENCE Darkstar UAV software bugs mean 12-month flight hiatus THE LOCKHEED Martin/ Boeing Darkstar long-en durance unmanned air vehicle (UAV) will not be flown before May 1997, to enable the US team to con duct an in-depdi audit of all hard ware and software. Repairs made since the April crash will be verified in an informal critical-design review due to take place in September-October, say project officials. The Pentagon blames the 22 April crash on changes made in flight-control software and take-off technique following the first flight. The Darkstar prototype was extensively damaged after it pitched up, stalled and crashed moments after taking off from a runway at Edwards AFB, California, on its second test flight. Salvageable parts were recovered. The stealm UAVhad undergone a successful 20min initial test flight The Darkstar will not be flying again until next year on 29 March. Changes were made to die flight-control software and the take-off technique between its maiden and second flights. "The mishap is direcdy traceable to deficiencies in die modelling and simulation of the flight vehicle," says the Pentagon. It adds mat the contractor team is conducting analyses and revising simulations to allow it to create more accurate models of expected flight characteristics in all of the UAVs flight regimes.Flight testing will not resume until die problems are rectified. More comprehensive operator training and better abort procedures have also been ordered. A second flying prototype is now undergoing integration and devel opment testing. The project calls for fabrication of two additional air vehicles to be used for flight demonstrations until 1999. • Hughes continues JASSM legal battle HUGHES AIRCRAFT is to appeal against a US Federal District Court decision which allows Lockheed Martin and Mc Donnell Douglas (MDC) to con tinue development of the US Air Force/Navy Joint Air-to-Surface Stand-offMissile (JASSM). The US defence company had won a ten-day temporary restrain ing order from the court after it had lodged an official protest witli die US General Accounting Office (GAO) about the Pentagon's selec tion of Lockheed Martin andMDC to begin JASSM research and development. The Federal Court later dis missed the Hughes motion to con tinue the work stoppage until the GAO ruled on the protest. The decision allowed the winning firms to resume work. The court backed the US Air Force's argument diat a continued halt in work would come at "substantial cost" to the US Government. Hughes is intending to appeal. Hughes has told die GAO diat its bid represents "the best value" for the Pentagon, offering the most favourable average unit-procure ment price and the "most effective" weapon. The company filed the protest after receivingits debriefing on the source decision. At stake are JASSM contracts which are worth as much as $3 bil lion. Lockheed Martin and MDC were selected on 17 June to com pete in the 24-month programme definition and risk-reduction phase of the joint USAF/Navy project. One contractor will then be picked to begin 32 months of engi neering and manufacturing devel opment followed by production of more than 2,400 missiles, starting in 2000, for the USAF and USN. A recendy released GAO report on the JASSM project says that a central issue is use of acquisition reforms and commercial practices to keep costs down. It expresses concern, however, that the pro curement strategy "...will not be sufficient to overcome the techni cal challenges of producing a viable and affordable system in die desired timeframes". The Pentagon's JASSM time table and unit-cost target".. .seem optimistic when compared to die cost experience for other less-capa ble precision-guided munitions". The GAO says diat the end of the Cold War should give the Pentagon more time to minimise these risks before low-rate initial production is initiated. The GAO adds that the JASSM acquisition plan contains schedule and cost risks. "The plan does not appear to allow enough time to develop and test the complex tech nology needed for autonomous guidance and automatic target recognition, and then integrate the missile into the aircraft planned to carry it," the report concludes. The GAO also questions the USN's commitment to the pro gramme. It points out that no USN funding is earmarked for JASSM research and development or, in deed, for procurement. • USA and Japan settle on F-2 workshare THE JAPANESE and US Governments have finally reached an agreement on work- share for production of the new Mitsubishi F-2 A/B support fighter, with officials expected to sign an accord in Tokyo by the end of July. Director of the US Defence Se curity Assistance Agency (DSAA), Lt Gen Thomas Rhame, is sched uled to travel to Tokyo and sign a workshare memorandum of under standing (MoU) with the Japan Defence Agency QDA) on 30 July. According to defence sources, he will probably be accompanied by Diana Blundell, director of the DSAAs plans directorate, who has led die US negotiating side. The deal guarantees die US aerospace industry an overall 40% share of F-2 production (Flight Inter national, 24-30July, P16). An agreement had essentially been reached by 25 July in Wash ington, putting an end to mondis of long-winded and often torturous negotiations. US Embassy officials have spent the intervening week ".. .tidying up the deal," according to a Japanese source. The signing of the workshare MoU clears the way for Con gressional notification and US Department of State review of export licences. US negotiators had been working to conclude die deal before the US Congress' summer recess to avoid any further pro gramme delay. Final approval will allow US manufacturers to conclude pro duction contracts with Mitsubishi and engine manufacturer Ishikawa- jima-Harima Heavy Industries. Major US subcontractors, includ- 'ing Lockheed Martin, are already close to reaching production ag reements with Japan. •> Mitsubishi, in the meantime, has delivered die second XF-2 A proto type to the JDAs Technical Re search, and Development Centre at Gifu for Government test-flying and evaluation. Third and fourth prototypes, which are already flying with Mitsubishi, are due to follow in September and October. • FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 31 July - 6 August 1996 19
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