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Aviation History
1999
1999 - 2128.PDF
US Navy to upgrade Tomahawk stocks PAUL LEWIS/WASHINGTON DC THE US Navy is resisting moves to re-open production of the Raytheon AGM-109 Tomahawk cruise missile . Instead it will top up its inventory by con verting 200stored Tomahawk anti- ship missiles and upgrading another 424 Block II Tomahawk land attack missiles (TLAMs). Moves are afoot within the US Congress to restart production of Block III TLAMs to replace more than 200 missiles expended during the recent Kosovo conflict. The UK Royal Navy has also announced plans to order IS more submarine-launched Tomahawks and take options on another IS to maintain its stock of 65 missiles, the last of which will be delivered shortly. "Its not economically feasible to restartproduction," says Raytheon Tomahawk programme manager GeorgeMavko. "TheUSNavyhas shut down building Block Ills and is proceeding with the Block IV Tactical Tomahawk. "Replenishment for the RN will have to come out of existing USN Block III stocks or as 30 additional manufactured missiles." In the interim, the USN has awarded Raytheon a $414 million contract to convert 200 of its 500 deactivated AGM-109B TASMs at a projected cost of $1.3 million a missile. Each will be rebuilt to a Block IIIC TLAM configuration with a 450kg (1,0001b) warhead, global positioning system (GPS), terrain contour matching naviga tion and digital scene matching area correlation system (DSMAC) terminal guidance. "Everything forward of the wing has to be replaced," says Mavko. i In addition, 100 of the navy's remaining 700 Block lis will be remanufactured to Block IIICs. The addition of GPS and the lighter warhead will extend the missile's range to over 1,850km (l.OOOnm), while the DSMAC, with improved processor and algo rithms, ensures more accurate tar geting. Another 324 of the earlier TLAMs will be modified to a Block HID standard with the new BLU- 97 submunition payload replacing a unitary warhead, each for between $375,000 and $400,000. The first remanufactured TLAM is scheduled for delivery 14-18 months after contract signa ture. All 624 missiles will be com pleted by mid-2002. This could be extended, with discussions under way of more funding in fiscal year 2000 for additional remanufactur- ing. "This will dovetail nicely with the start of Tactical Tomahawk deliveries," says Mavko. Raytheon has entered into a fixed-price contract to deliver 1,350 Block FVs at a unit price of $569,000 compared to the $1.5 million the company claims a new production Block III would cost. Initial low-rate production will start in 2 001 with the missile sched uled to enter service from 2003. • Kaman wins USMC remote helicopter work THE US MARINE Corps has awarded Kaman Aerospace a $4.2 million contract to modify and demonstrate a remotely piloted version of the K-MAX helicopter to further validate its Broad Area Unmanned Responsive Resupply Operations (BURRO) concept. Flight testing of the unmanned helicopter is to begin around August next year at the USMC's Twentynine Palms base in California, and will last two weeks. The helicopter will be required to lift four 227kg (5001b) underslung loads and perform autonomous drop-offs at different dispersed waypoints using the global posi tioning system as a reference. Kaman will fit the cockpit of its K-MAX prototype with a remote ly piloted control system similar to that developed for the Bell QH-1 unmanned helicopter. A manned K-MAX has complet ed the USMC Urban Warrior exercise during which it performed BURRO resupply missions. The intermediary-rotor helicopter also lifted the Marine Corps' prototype 2,700kg Dragon Fire autonomous mortar system. It was equipped with the Dragon Drone laser/video designator to provide targeting information. K-MAX loses the pilot for USMC resupply but not for USN vertrep (above) The Marine Warfighting Laboratory wants to use the K-MAX as a BURRO proof-of- concept demonstrator before embarking on possible full-scale development of an unmanned air vehicle. The intent is to operate from high-speed ships and move supplies ashore to support small marine deployments. Meanwhile, Kaman is under stood to be one of three companies to bid for the US Navy's first long- term vertical replenishment (vertrep) contract. Kaman has pro posed a pair of commercially oper ated K-MAX machines, while Evergreen is offering two Bell 214STs and AgRotors two Eurocopter Super Pumas. The contract, due to be awarded in September, will extend for three years beginning from early 2000, with a two-year option. It calls for each helicopter to operate 2 Oh a month and lift a minimum of 2,5 00kg underslung loads between Military Sealift Command ships and warships operating in the Mediterranean. A second contract is expected to follow to support the US Navy's Pacific fleet. • NEWS IN BRIEF • STARSTREAK TRACKER Shorts Missile Systems is to integrate British Aerospace Systems and Equipment's Automatic Target Tracker with a second-generation forward looking infrared sen sor as it pushes for export sales of its vehicle-mounted Starstreak very-short-range air defence system. Starstreak is in service with British Army air defence units mounted on Alvis Stormer tracked ar moured vehicles. The missile fires three darts at Mac3 -plus and up to 5km (3.1 miles). • STANDARD TEST A Raytheon Standard Missile-2 BlocklV intercept ed a supersonic BQM-3 7 tar get drone at the White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico, on 1 July, marking the first successful intercept by a pro duction version of the Block TV, designed to protect war ships against aircraft and anti-ship cruise missiles. Raytheon says the first pro duction qualification round flight validated the integrity of the production missile. FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 21 - 27 July 1999
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