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Aviation History
1997
1997 - 0496.PDF
D=r£MCm Netherlands defence ministry advises Slovenia on choice of fighter aircraft DOUGLAS BARRIE/LONDON ANDRZEJ JEZIORSKI/MUNICH THE ROYAL Netherlands Air Force is conducting force structure and procurement studies for Slovenia as part of the ex- Yugoslavian republic's attempts to establish an independent air force. Slovenia began talks with the Netherlands Government in the third quarter of 1996 for assistance in establishing its air force, viewing the Netherlands as an "honest bro ker", say industry sources. Dutch defence minister J J Voorhoeve met his Slovenian counterpart Jello Kacin in Sep tember 1996, with the meeting resulting in the Dutch air force deploying several Lockheed Mar tin F-16s to Ljubljana in Slovenia during November 1996. Slovenia had initially considered acquiring ten Israel Aircraft Indus tries Kfir fighters. Its preference now appears to be for the F-16, although the Saab JAS39 Gripen and Dassault Mirage 2000 will also be considered. The Dutch air force has put for ward several options for the Slovenians, built around the acqui sition of up to two squadrons of combat aircraft. The air force stud ied new-build and refurbished F-16s, as well as making recom mendations about pilot training. The air force has some F-16s in storage and has considered selling diem. In a letter to the Dutch par liamentary defence committee, however, Voorhoeve discounts the possibility that these might be sold to Slovenia. Another option would be to initially lease around a dozen F-16A/Bs from Lockheed Martin. The two countries are working on a co-operation deal, with Slo venia offering the Dutch training opportunities in mountainous ter rain for its Air Mobile Brigade. • F-22 makes progress towards first flight PREPARATIONS FOR THE 29 May first flight of the Lock heed Martin/Boeing F-22 have moved ahead with deliver)' of the initial avionics software. Endur ance testing of the Pratt & Whit ney Fl 19 engine, required for initial flight release, has also been completed successfully. Fort Worth, Texas-based Lock heed Martin Tactical Aircraft Sys tems electronically delivered the first complete operational flight- programme (OFP) to Lockheed Martin Aeronautical Systems in Marietta, Georgia, where die first F-22 is in final assembly. The OFP consists of 275,000 lines of soft ware controlling the subsystems required for first flight. P&W, meanwhile, has complet ed an accelerated mission test (AMT) on the Fl 19, as well as alti tude and operability testing. The AMT simulated more than 300 US Air Force combat missions and included over 13h of afterburner operation and more than 12,000 thrust-vectoring transients. Alti tude testing measured perfor mance and operability at 15 dif ferent flight conditions. Q RAAF limbers up for air-to-air missile tender THE ROYAL AUSTRALIAN Air Force (RAAF) is expected to issue a request for tender (RFT) by mid-year for a short-range air- to-air missile (AAM) for its McDonnell Douglas F-18A/Bs. After months of delay, manufac turers are now confident that an RFr will be forthcoming within the next four months for a "within- visual-range" missile Sidewinder replacement, as part of the RAAF s project AIR 5400. It is expected that this will be fol lowed by a similar invitation to ten der for a longer-range active- guided AAM replacement for the Raytheon ALV1-7 Sparrow. Con tenders for die shorter-range-mis sile requirement are Rafael, of fering the Python-4 and Matra British Aerospace Dynamics, of fering its Advanced Short-Range Air-to-Air Missile (ASRAAM). Hughes is also expected to offer its recently selected US Air Force/Navy ALM-9X, although there are doubts over whether this will be available to meet the AIR 5400 timetable. The Python-4 has already been test fired from an RAAF F-18, while ASRAAM fit-and-carriage trials on the aircraft have been completed. A final selection is pen cilled in for the end of year, or early 1998, with a contract being award ed shortly afterwards. The RAAF aims to take delivery of the first missile by 2000. While no statement of requirements has yet officially been released, the RAAF is believed to be looking for a missile with an imaging infra-red seeker head, an off-boresight capa bility of 90°, or greater, and com patibility with a pilot helmet- mounted cueing system. • General Electric-led JSF team pushes ahead GENERAL ELECTRIC has received $96 million from die US Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) pro gramme office to earn' out further development of the core of its YE120-FX advanced fighter pow- erplant, as part of theJSF Alternate Engine Programme. GE, which is teamed with Rolls- Royce and the UK company's Allison Engine subsidiary, says that the initial four-year study is expect ed to be followed by a turbofan- development programme, starting in 2001. A lull-scale engineering and manufacturing development contract could follow in 2004, the company adds. The YF120 was chosen in mid- 1996 as an alternative to the Pratt & Whitney Fl 19, which has been selected by Boeing and Lockheed Martin for their competing JSF designs, after the US Congress directed that a second powerplant should be developed to minimise die risk of engine problems putting the 3,000-aircraft programme in jeopardy. The YF120 was originally devel oped and flight-tested in the early 1990s under the US Air Force's Advanced Tactical Fighter engine competition. The -FX derivative will use Allison's "hot section" technology and an R-R-developed advanced fan, and it will also have GE's low- observable inlet/exhaust system J 22 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 26 February - 4 March 1997
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