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Aviation History
2000
2000 - 0018.PDF
&£lrMf]&£ $4.6 billion USAF engine support deal for GE and P&W GENERAL ELECTRIC and Pratt & Whitney have won engine improvement contracts from die US Air Force worth more than $4.6 billion over the next 15 years. The US Defense Department describes the unusual arrangement as an "indefinite-deliver '/ indefinite-quantity contract", and says it reflects increasing USAF awareness that more resources are required to sustain its ageing inventory. The Component Improvement Programme covers long-lead funding for the continu ation of spare parts supply as well as improvements to various compo nents, systems and subsystems. The GE contract, which runs from January 2000 to December 2014, covers support of the Fl 10 for the Lockheed Martin F-16 as well as the TF39 on the Lockheed C-5 Galaxy. Other long-lead sup port engines include the TF34 on theFairchildA-10,theF101onthe Rockwell B-1B, and the Fl 18 on the Northrop Grumman B-2A Spirit. The F108 (military designation for the CFM International CFM56-2) engine for the large Boeing KC-13 5 tanker fleet is also included, as is the J85 which pow ers the Northrop T-38 trainer. GE, which is due to receive the first $85 million of its $1.98 billion slice of the deal in 2000, says theJ85 work is not related to the compres sor upgrade project being pursued as an off-the-shelf commercial procurement programme Flight International, 27 October-2 No vember). P& Ws $2.68 billion deal covers an equally varied set of engines including the F100 engine on the Boeing F-15 as well as the F-16, and the Fl 19 on the Lock heed Martin/Boeing F-22 Raptor. Older engines covered by the deal include diousands of TF33s pow ering Boeing B-52s, E-3 Sentrys and some KC-135s, as well as Lockheed C-141 Starlifters. Also included is support of the remain ing J57 engines in the inventory used to power some McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantoms. Q Uruguay goes on look-out for secondhand fighters URUGUAY IS seeking sec ond-hand fighter aircraft in an effort to broaden the opera tional capabilities of its small air force, which until now has largely been confined to the role of light attack and transportation. A senior Uruguayan air force official says: "We don't currently have fighters and this is an issue that the air staff is studying." The study supports an air force funding request as part of the next five-year budget that extends to 2005. Once this has been approved, the air force will seek formal proposals. Untgiiay is seeking something more potent than the Pucara USA offers AMRAAM to Taiwanese air force TAIWAN HAS won tentative agreement from the USA to sell Raytheon ALM-120 AMRAAM medium-range air-to- air missiles to arm the Republic of China Air Force (RoCAF). According to the air force's Weaponry Acquisition Office, the USA has agreed to integrate ALM-120 software into Taiwan's Lockheed Martin F-16A/B fleet. This grants Taiwan "an admission ticket to enter the realm of the sophisticated missile system", says Shen Yuan-tai, deputy chief execu tive of the Weaponry Acquisition Office. He says the RoCAF expects to install die software "in the not-too- distant future" as a step toward adding the AIM-120 to its arsenal. To date, the RoCAF has fielded two active, medium range air-to- air missiles - the Matra BAe Dynamics Mica and the indige nous Chung Shan Institute Sky Sword II - but neither has been integrated onto the RoCAF's 145 Block 2 OF-16s. The US clearance has come amid reports tliat Russia is plan ning to sell modified Vvmpel R- 77/RUU-AE (AA-12 Adder) missiles to mainland China widiin a year. No contract has been signed on this deal, which is understood to be part of China's procurement programme for Sukhoi Su-30MKK fighters. Until now, the USA has with held AMRAAM exports to Taiwan to avoid antagonising Beijing, which considers Taiwan a renegade province. • The number and type of aircraft being sought has yet to be deter mined, but given the country's lim ited financial resources, it will almost certainly be a small quantity. Industry sources suggest the proposals are likely to be based around surplus Northrop F-5s or McDonnell Douglas A-4 Skyhawks. Uruguay has traditionally received US military aid and observers suggest it might seek sur plus US Air Force and Navy equip ment. The Uruguayan air force says it would prefer a "govern ment-to-government-type deal" rather than buying aircraft from the private market. It fields two front-line squadrons equipped with five FMA IA-58 Pucara supplied from Argentina and 11 ex-USAF Cessna A-37B Dragonflys. • NEWS IN BRIEF • MONITOR OFFSET Sikorsky has teamed with Canadian Aerospace Group International to offer Portugal co-production of die Monitor jet trainer as part of a bid to sell 12 S-92 maritime patrol helicopters to the Portuguese air force. The Monitor - based on the Bede BD-10 kitplane - forms part of a proposed industrial offset package. • EHUD SUCCESS Israel's BVR Systems has won a $43 million contract to supply its EHUD rangeless air combat manoeuvring instrumentation system to the South Korean air force. The deal includes pods and ground debriefing systems. EHUD is based around a dif ferential global positioning system to give accurate aircraft positioning data. 16 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 22 December 1999 - 3 January 2000
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