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Aviation History
1997
1997 - 2462.PDF
AFA REPORT NEWS IN BRIEF • RAYTHEON ON GUNSHIPS Raytheon TI Systems has re ceived a $27 million US Air Force contract for 16 AAQ- 26 forward-looking infra-red sensors to upgrade nine Lockheed Martin AG-130U and seven AC-130H special- operations gunships. • ALLIANT TAKES FUZE LEAD Alliant Techsystems is to ac quire part of Motorola's mili tary-fuze business for $12 million in a move likely to allay US Department of Defense fears over the decision by Motorola, its biggest fuze supplier, to leave the business. • m SUPPLIES CV-22EW ITT Avionics has received a $25 million contract to sup ply the ALQ-211 integrated radio-frequency counter- measures system for die US Air Force's CV-22 special- operations version of the Bell Boeing Osprey tilt-rotor. • F110 F-15 EVALUATION The second General Electric F110-129-powered Boeing F-15E has entered flight tests at the US Air Force Oper ational Test and Evaluation Squadron based at Nellis AFB, Nevada. The full pro gramme is due to run for 12 months and will involve more than 1,000 engine flight hours on two F- 15Es. The first aircraft has accumulated more than 90 sorties and over 140 flight hours since it began tests in April. Bidders prepare for C-5 upgrade GRAHAM WARWICK AND RAMON LOPEZ/ WASHINGTON DC APROGRAMME TO up grade the avionics in over 120 US Air Force Lockheed C-5 trans ports is due to get under way in mid-November with release of a draft request for proposals (REP), according to officials at the 1997 Air Force Association annual con vention in Washington from 15-18 September. A formal RFP is ex pected early in 1998, leading" to contract award in September 1998. Competition is expected for the $600 million programme from Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Raytheon E-Systems. The latter is upgrading the avionics in USAF Lockheed Martin C-130 and C-14I transports. Rockwell - Collins, which is upgrading the avionics in USAF Boeing KC-135 tankers, says that it has yet to decide whether to team, or to bid as a prime contractor. Lockheed Martin has been try ing to interest the Air Force in a more-ambitious C-5 modernisa tion, which include a new cockpit re-engineing and system improve ments. Raytheon E-Systems' bid will be based on its C-141 upgrade, which includes a digital autopilot and Hat-panel displays. The C-5 looks likely to be the first aircraft equipped to operate within the satellite-based future air-navigation system under the Air Force's Global Air Traffic Management (GATM) initiative. Delays in defining and funding the GATM programme have slowed C-5 upgrade plans, bidders say. • Airborne laser scores in risk-reduction testing BOEING HAS completed a key risk-reduction task in its continuing development of an air borne laser anti-ballistic-missile weapon for the US Air Force. The airborne laser (ABL) prime contractor recently demonstrated that the most critical component, the single oxygen generator (SOG), can meet its ABL mission require ment. The SOG produces oxygen "fuel" for the TRW-designcd chemical oxygen-iodine laser. The early, non-iasing. tests were performed using a section of the ABL flight-weighted laser module (FLM), a building-block for the Mils high-energy laser. Boeing says that the tests vali date the SOG's design and perfor mance and reduce the risk associated with FLM testing, set for Aprii 1998. Successful demon stration of me FLM is one of sever al 'exit criteria'' required for the programme to proceed. The Boeing/TRW/Lockheed This artists impression is one step closer to reality following recent tests Martin team received a five-year, $1.1 billion, programme-develop ment and risk-reduction contract in November 1996. This covered die development, manufacture and flight test of an ABL prototype air craft, to be designated the YAL-1 A, using a Boeing 747-400F airframe. The USAF envisions a fleet of seven ABL aircraft, designed to shoot down short- and medium- range ballistic missiles during their boost phases. The industry team stands to earn as much as S6 billion if the project goes ahead. It is reported that a draft US General Accounting Office study concludes that the USAF has yet to quantify the atmospheric turbu lence that the weapon must over come to destroy enemy missiles at long ranges. A key challenge is to overcome the atmosphere's tenden cy to dissipate die laser beam. Q Combatants line up for special-operations C130 support work AT LEAST FIVE US defence companies are competing for the right to provide the US Ait- Force with long-term contractor support for five special-operations variants of the Lockheed Martin C-130 Hercules. The Integrated Weapon S j Support Programme (IWSSP), worth SI billion, is intended to cover single-source maintenance and upgrade work over a ten-year period for the USAF's 87 special- operations C-130s. The five bidders are understood to include Ball Aerospace, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and Raytheon E-Sys tems. The list would shrink, how ever, if Lockheed Martin's acquisition of Northrop Grum man gets the required US anti trust approval. The MC- i 30H, MC-130E and AC-130H are Lockheed Martin variants, while the AC-130U Spectre gunship is a Boeing devel opment through its acquisition of Rockwell International's defence units. The MC-130P, however, was modified by Smiths Industries. The initial contract will cover support of all five C-130 variants for a decade, and for completion of AC-130U development work. At the end of the ten-year period, only the MC-130H and the AC-130U will remain in service. Continued work on diose aircraft will be pro vided through contract options. The USAF is expected to release the draft request for proposals (RFP) on 30 September, with he final RFP due out on 5 January, 1998. Last bids are expected from the contractors in April, and the USAF will select the IVVSSP win ner in August 1998. • 22 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 24 - 30 September 1997
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