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Aviation History
1999
1999 - 1324.PDF
HEADLINES Arms makers square up for Polish bidding war ANDREW DOYLE/MUNICH THE POLISH Government has agreed a timetable for the country's planned multi-billion dollar purchase of advanced fighter aircraft and helicopters and is pledging to issue formal tenders during the next few weeks. The move forms part of Poland's long- term effort to upgrade its equip ment to NATO standards. It joined the alliance earlier this year. The proposals call for the acqui sition of 42 fighters and 50 attack helicopters to enter service by 2010, with a possible follow-on 90-100 fighter order beyond that date. Eighteen secondhand fight ers are likely to be taken on interim leases before the first new-build aircraft are delivered. Plans to develop the Huzar bat tlefield helicopter, based on the PZL-Swidnik W-3 Sokol, have been scrapped, and 50 will be mod ified for the support role instead. Bids will be invited to upgrade the Sokols with new rotors, more pow erful engines, extra fuel tanks and additional armaments. Polish prime minister Jerzy Buzek says an attack helicopter tender will be issued by the end of June, and "we expect a decision in October or November". The competition will be contest ed bv the Agusta Mangusta, Bell AH-1W/Z Super Cobra, Boeing AH-64 Apache, Eurocopter Tiger and Denel Rooivalk. The manufacturers will be asked to bid "package solutions" which include guided mis siles and other weapons. The $3 billion fighter ten der, according to Buzek, will be released by early August and a selection made about a year later. The choices are the Lockheed Martin F-16, Boeing F/A-18, British Aerospace/Saab Gripen or the Dassault Mirage 2000. Deliveries are expected to begin in 2006, although an interim batch of leased aircraft could be intro duced as early as 2001. Surplus F-16s and F/A-18s are available from the US Air Force and Navy, Boeing's F/A-18 Hornet, a competitor for Poland's fighter requirement respectively, while BAe's bid could be supported by the provision of ex-Swedish air force Saab Viggens. Buzek says the decision to launch the tender process shows that the Polish Government has, "moved from discussions to con crete actions". The tenders will be f drawn up by a committee t headed by Polish Minister of | Economy Janusz Steinhoff. | Serious question marks S remain over funding, howev- I er, and Poland will expect to spread payments for the equipment over many years. Heavy industrial offset pack ages will also be required. Steinhoff says the fighter and helicopter acquisitions will also be "closely linked" with the privatisation of Polish defence companies. Several of the Western manufacturers preparing bids for the Polish require ments are considering buying intoPZL (a new company set up to take over the ongoing operations of the bankrupt Mielic aircraft factory) and helicopter manufacturer Swidnik. Poland is a critical battleground for Western defence firms as the outcome will heavily influence fellow new NATO members Hungary and the Czech Republic, which are also preparing to re- equip with new fighters. • Smoke study reveals safety advantages of head-up display MARCONI Electronic Sys tems and Embry Riddle University plan to release by 21 May the results of a safety study which shows that head-up-display (HUD) systems can significantly increase safety in the event of smoke and poor visibility on the flight deck. The study, undertaken after the Swissair Boeing MD-11 accident last year, showed that HUD sym- bology remains visible through dense smoke for up to llmin longer than a co-located electronic flight instrument system (EFIS). The EFIS is the source of primary flight data to the crew in most con temporary flightdecks. The test involved setting up a HUD and EFIS in a configuration identical to that of the 737-800 flightdeck. The displays were installed in Embry Riddle's smoke chamber, witft video cameras set at pilot eye level. Smoke was intro- Tests on Marconi's VGS HUD have shown added safety benefits duced until vision was obscured. Marconi, which is developing a commercial HUD dubbed the Visual Guidance System (VGS), believes the potential safety advan tages could be even greater than those suggested by the tests. The EFIS display, for example, did not incorporate the automatic dim ming device which adjusts the brightness of the symbology to suit ambient light levels. The trial EFIS was therefore operating at opti mum brightness for the whole period. The test team admits, how ever, that no smoke was ventilated from the chamber during the eval uation, creating a worst-case sce nario much faster than a real situation. Also explored in the tests is the positioning of the umbilical that transfers critical flight data to the HUD. In current configurations, this routes through the side walls aft of the flightdeck, rather than through the floor from the avionics bay. Marconi says the routing would decrease the vulnerability of the HUD to fire damage in the case of an avionics-bay or nose fire. A second test phase is being dis cussed, which may include Boeing and Honeywell - which is part nered with Marconi on the devel opment of the VGS. This could include tests of the VGS under varying conditions and with addi tional sensors. An integrated HUD with infrared forward-looking windshear detection is thought to be one possibility. • 4 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 19 - 25 May 1999
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