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Aviation History
1998
1998 - 2464.PDF
DMFWNCE FAA certification holds up C-130J THE ROYAL Australian Air Force (RAAF)will have to carry out significant post-delivery test and certification work because of delays in the Lockheed Martin C-130J programme. The delays have resulted in a fourfold increase in US Federal Aviation Administration certi fication test requirements, delay ing the introduction of the Royal Australian Air Force's (RAAF) C- 13 OJ to mid-1999, about two years beyond the original projected in- service date, says strategic airlift capability project manager Wg Cdr Chris Gash. The A$l .2 billion ($677 million) fixed price contract with Lockheed Martin includes 12 C-130Js to replace the RAAF's C-130E fleet, and includes the purchase of train ing systems and logistic support. It is not known if compensation payments are being paid by Lockheed Martin as a result of the delays, although similar delays to UK Royal Air Force C-130J deliv eries are expected to result in a large compensation payment. The first C-130J was delivered to the RAF late last month. The UK air craft was not required to be com mercially certificated, but it was also two years late. Although it was not contemplat ed when the contract was signed, four RAAF designated aircraft and 19 personnel including a test pilot and a flight test engineer are now participating in the Lockheed Martin test programme. The RAAF plans an in-house post- delivery test programme which will expand the certification basis incrementally, to allow the aircraft to carry out missions now per formed by C-13 OEs. "C-130J development was a commercial venture funded by Lockheed Martin. The fact has significant implications for us as lead customer in a range of areas including certification. At contract signature we placed great reliance on FAA certification, but for a num ber of reasons we have had to assume a greater than expected certification burden," Gash says. The size of die military certification task is much expanded. J Cash crisis threatens F-16 radar RAMON LOPEZ/BALTIMORE NORTHROP Grumman's APG-68(V)X radar upgrade for US Air Force Lockheed Martin F-16s is under direat from lack of funding, despite having won endorsement from the USAF's F- 16 programme office and the Air Combat Command. An air force study concludes that an $80 million investment in devel opment and integration costs for the APG-68(V)X would save more dian $1 billion over die life of die F-16, according to Robert DuBeau, Northrop Grumman's vice-president for avionics sys tems. The company is developing the upgraded APG-68(V)X radar for use by the USAF and export F-16 customers. The new radar features exciter and receiver upgrades and a com mercial processor offering improved performance and relia bility. It also provides a synthetic aperture ground imaging capabili ty for F-16A/B/C/Ds. DuBeau says a flightworthy sys tem could be available in 20 months' time. Aircraft installation and flight testing could be com pleted seven to 10 months later. Lockheed Martin says a differ ent system, the APG-68 Agile Beam Radar (ABR), will be used on 80 "Block 60" F-16s that the United Arab Emirates is purchas ing for $7 billion. A contract is expected to be signed later diis year widi aircraft deliveries expected to begin in 2002. The APG-68ABR is also being offered to Norway, which is con sidering a purchase of 40 F-16s or Eurofighter Typhoons. Greece may buy up to 60 APG-68(V)X- equippedF-16s. In Israel, an enhanced F-16 widi the improved APG-68(V)X faces competition from the Boeing F-15E. Israel may buy as many as 60 aircraft. A bid involving Israel's competing Elta EL/M2032 radar was blocked by the US Government. J Eurofighter brews up Typhoon for export market EUROFIGHTER EXPECTS to complete negotiations widi the UK Ministry of Defence over a support contract for the EF2 000 in the next few weeks, says managing director Brian Phillipson. Failure to conclude die deal has delayed die signing of a contract for die first production batch of 148 aircraft destined for the Eurofighter partner nations Germany, Italy, Spain and die UK The European consortium has chosen Typhoon as the name for die export version of die EF2000. The company has a target of 400 export sales worth $70 billion and could sell up to 800 between 2005 and 2025, said Filippo Bagnato, Eurofighter's chairman, at die naming ceremony for Typhoon at Farnborough in the UK on 2 September. • Eurofighter has released die first artist's impression of the aircraft equipped widi conformal long- range fuel tanks. The modification Eurofighter unveiled Typhoon and also showed how an EF2000 with conformal tanks could look is planned for future Typhoon export variants optimised for the long-range strike role, accord ing to Eurofighter. This drawing is "representative, but not a pre cise" indication of a conformal tank installation on die aircraft, says die company. The tanks are similar to those planned for the Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 60 recendy sold to die United Arab Emirates. • Rafael and Lockheed Martin share Popeye contracts RAFAEL AND LockheedMar-tin have secured contracts from the Australian, Israeli and US air forces to supply improved Popeye AGM-142 air-to-ground missiles. The diree contracts are worm $136 million in total, aldiough diey could reach $220 million if options are firmed up on further missiles. Some of the missiles for the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) will be armed widi blast fragmenta tion warheads, while die remainder will have penetration warheads. The RAAF has selected an advanced variant of the Popeye. Under a product enhancement pro gramme known as PEP-3, it will be fitted widi an 8-12 micron diermal imaging seeker diat has selectable wide and narrow field of view (FoV) modes. The wide FoV is used to acquire the target and die narrow FoV for die terminal phase. South Korea has also selected die Popeye, but a contract has yet to be signed. Q 28 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 9 - 15 September 1998
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