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Aviation History
1998
1998 - 1378.PDF
DEFCNC* Global Hawk flies second mission THE GLOBAL HAWK reconnaissance unmanned air vehicle has flown for a second time at Edwards AFB, California, per forming what the company de scribes as a "text book" mission lasting 2h24min. The aircraft reached 41,000ft (12,500m) during the sortie, which also included the successful hand- off of command and control via satellite from Edwards to San Diego and back again. "This clear ly demonstrated the worldwide connectivity of the system. The fact the hand-over was made via satellite means this could have been controlled from anywhere," says Teledyne Ryan, prime contractor for the Global Hawk. The UHF satellite communica tions link between the aircraft and the ground was transferred for 16min from the launch and recov ery element at Edwards to the mis sion control element at the company's San Diego plant. The company says problems which caused the curtailment of the first flight on 2 8 February have now been fixed. These included mis aligned rigging of the undercar riage, which prevented it from locking in the up position, and lower than anticipated tempera tures in one of the pressurised com partments which normally will house the vehicle's heat-generating avionics. The third flight is tentatively due around the end of this month and will be aimed at further expan sion of the flight envelope to 50,000ft and an endurance of 4h. The ultimate goal will be reached with flights of between 32h and 40h and heights of 65,000ft. The Global Hawk demonstrat ed "excellent flight characteristics, precise guidance, and accurate alti tude and velocity control" during the autonomous flight, adds Teledyne Ryan. Meanwhile, engine test runs on the second Allison AE3007-pow- ered Global Hawk have begun in San Diego. This aircraft is due to perform the bulk of the payload testing and sensors ".. .will soon be integrated into the airframe" before flight testing. J US Navy nears decision on tactical UAV requirement RAMON LOPEZ/YUMA THE US NAVY will decide in June or early July whether to persevere with the Alliant Tech- systems Outrider unmanned air vehicle (UAV) or switch to a vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) craft for its tactical UAV requirement. The USN's plans to buy the fixed wing Outrider UAV, along with the US Army, have been in doubt since last May, when tech nical problems hit Outrider flight testing. The USN's interest in VTOL vehicles to replace the AAI Pioneer UAV has been rekindled by new Congressional funds. A demonstration involving the Bell Helicopter Eagle Eye, Bom bardier CL-327 Guardian and SAIC Vigilante, intended to con clude on 11 June, is designed to evaluate the current maturity of VTOL UAV technologies. The trials are concentrating on perfor mance and aim to evaluate risks associated with a possible VTOL UAV development programme to satisfy USN fleet requirements. Capt Lyn Whitmer, programme manager for Navy UAVs, says senior USN officials will consider test data gleaned from the VTOL UAV demonstration and the ongo ing Outrider military user assess ment in determining whether or not the US Navy should withdraw from the Outrider UAV project. Project officials say the flight tests indicate that a maritime VTOL UAV is ready for deploy ment, and they are prepared to ini tiate a procurement programme. He says USN fleet commanders continue to unanimously back fielding of a VTOL UAV because they "...no longer want to see UAVs hurling into nets". Chief of Naval Operations Adm Jay Johnson says: "Whether Outrider is successful or not, we believe it is important to determine if there are valid fleet requirements for a VTOL UAV which may well provide important capabilities that fixed wing UAVs can't provide." • THAAD missile test proves another dud with missed interception THE $8 BILLION Lockheed Martin Theater High-Al titude Area Defense (THAAD) missile flopped again on 12 May, when it failed to intercept a target ballistic missile for the fifth time. Achieving a successful intercept was considered vital to the project as the US Department of Defense seeks $822 million for fiscal year 1999 to continue development of the hit-to-kill weapon designed to defend ground troops against short-range ballistic missile attacks. Before the latest failure, the House National Security Committee endorsed the budget request, but the Senate Armed Services Committee cut it by S70 million. Preliminary data show that the THAAD missile went out of con trol shortly after launch from the White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico. The missile hit the range about 3km (2 miles) north of the launch site. Analysis of the flight data is under way to determine the cause of the malfunction. The latest unsuccessful flight was pushed into this year because of additional technical problems. Before the latest failure, the THAAD programme was expect ed to move from the demonstra tion/validation phase to an engineering and manufacturing development programme in early 1999. EMD was supposed to begin two years ago. THAAD's initial deployment has been put back to 2006, at the earliest. Two independent review teams last year concluded that the hit-to- kill interceptor's design was sound, despite earlier test failures. • 20 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 20 - 26 May 1998
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