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Aviation History
1998
1998 - 1048.PDF
Testing delay forces Pentagon to shuffle F-22 procurement THE US DEPARTMENT of Defense (DoD) has forced the US Air Force to rejig the Lockheed Martin F-22A Raptor fighter pro gramme in an attempt to accom modate flight test delays. Flight testing scheduled origi nally to begin in May 1997 was delayed until six months September. The DoD is now proposing to use what were origi nally intended to be the first two low rate initial production (LRIP) aircraft as additional flight test air craft to get the programme back on track. The Pentagon move is in response to a March recommenda tion from the General Accounting Office (GAO) that the $62.1 billion Raptor programme be delayed by a year because of the hold-ups in the flight test schedule. Jacques Gansler, the Under Secretary of Defense for Acqui sition and Technology, says that following die GAO recommenda tion would disrupt the programme and add an estimated $4 billion to the final cost. Gansler, however, does want at least 200h of flight testing LRIP is approved. "What we're trying to do is gain higher confidence in die product," he adds. As a result, the two initial LRIP aircraft due for fiscal year 1999 production have been redesignat ed as "production representative test vehicles". The LRIP decision has been delayed by a year, until November 1999, when the Pentagon is scheduled to sign off on the first six production aircraft, which represent the fiscal year 2000 purchase. Funding for engineering and manufacturing development of nine F-22s has been approved. The USAFistobuylO, 16and24F-22s in the three fiscal years 2001-3. The Quadrennial Defense Re view reduction shrank F-22 pro curement from 438 aircraft to 3 39. Lockheed Martin and the USAF harbour ambitions ot moving back towards the original procurement figure, so that the aircraft could also be used as a Boeing F-15E replacement. • Partners re-arrange KTX-II schedule after budget cuts PAUL LEWIS/SINGAPORE SAMSUNG AEROSPAGE and partner Lockheed Martin are examining ways of re-arranging KTX-II development work and funding schedules, in the wake of the South Korean Government's decision to slash die programme's first year budget. The new administration of recently inaugurated President Kim Dae Jung has halved the initial year's allocation for the jet train er/light combat aircraft to 40 bil lion Won ($28 million). The move has been prompted by wider cuts in the defence budget in the face of South Korea's recent economic crisis. Seoul has asked Samsung and Lockheed Martin to adjust their initial payment schedule accord ingly, but at the same time is keen to avoid any slippage in the overall timetable of die programme- Flight testing of the first of four prototypes is due begin in 2000, with initial deliveries to the Republic of Korea Air Force (RoKAF) following in 2005. "We have no firm ideas yet how we will accommodate the short age of funds, and keep the initial operational capability as planned...We're talking about moving some early workload to latter years," says a South Korean programme official. In the meantime, Daewoo Heavy Industries is hoping to secure initial funding in 1999 to develop an armed forward air con trol (FAG) version of its KTX-1 turboprop basic trainer. The RoKAF planning calls for the acquisition of around 20 FAG aircraft in 2003-4, but this will almost certainly be subject to the country's economy being revived. The basic design of the armed KTX-1 drawn up by South Korea's Agency for Defence Development is understood to include provision for the installation of four under- winghardpoints for eidier auxiliary fuel tanks, rockets, bombs or can non pods. The tandem seat cockpit would also need to be fitted with a gunsight and weapons manage ment system. The RoKAF"s outstanding FAG requirement continues to attract the interest of competing foreign manufacturers such as Pilatus, offering the PG-9, and Embraer, widi the EMB-314 Super Tucano. The two aircraft had originally been contenders for a South Korean trainer order for 20 air craft, at a time when the KTX-1 was suffering from early develop ment problems. It was the RoKAF's stipulation that the trainer must be capable of performing the FAG mission that generated considerable controver sy over the potential Pilatus deal. This was because of Swiss laws which prohibit the sale of weapons to areas of tension (Flight International, 20-26 July, 1994). This deal eventually collapsed, but competing suppliers continue to show interest in Soudi Korea in die event of the KTX-1 programme once again faltering. • Romania gets Shadow 600 AAI HAS DELIVERED six Shadow 600 unmanned air vehicles and their associated ground control station to Romania. The $20 million contract was the first to be financed by the US Government's new Defence Export Loan Guarantee pro gramme. AAI has sold Shadow 600 systems to another, undis closed, country, believed to be Taiwan, and hopes to close two more sales by the end of this year. Fortis pushes 11-76 to air force customers UK AIRCRAFT broker Fortis \viation has signed a broad agreement with the Tashkent Air craft Production Factory (TAPO) to market the Ilyushin 11-76 to air force customers worldwide (Flight International, 16-22 July, 1997). Jack Cunningham, managing director of the Stansted, UK-based company, says that die "... relation ship is with the factory", not the Ilyushin design bureau. "We do not think we will accomplish civil sales," he says, although he adds that it has not been ruled out. No sales have been finalised so far but "outline interest" has been shown by Indonesia and India in the 11-76, while Malaysia is inter ested in using the aircraft as a water-bomber. The aircraft will be offered with Progress D-30 engines, but a Perm PS-90 option is a possibility. U 16 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 22 - 28 April 1998
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