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Aviation History
2000
2000 - 0386.PDF
ASIAN i t> AEROSPACE 2000 AEWonthe attack After solving a sensitive technology transfer issue to clinch Australia's Wedgetail programme, Boeing/Northrop Grumman has Asia in sight GRAHAM WARWICK/WASHINGTON DC ON NORTHROP Grumman's map of prospective customers for airborne warn ing and control (AEW&C) aircraft, only one country is marked as conquered - Australia. Next to fall, the company hopes, will be Turkey. A win there will be followed by an assault on Israel. Italy and Spain are listed as future targets, as are a clutch of Asia-Pacific countries: Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand. Northrop Grumman's interest is in the mar ket for Boeing's 737-based AEW&C aircraft, for which it is developing die radar, continuing a co-operation which began with the Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS), in original 707- and current 767-based forms. "Sourii Korea's AEW requirement is coming back," says Bill Adams, vice-president, airborne surveillance systems. Meanwhile, Singapore, Taiwan and Malaysia "have all started planning" for AEW procurements, he says. Each of the countries marked on Northrop Grumman's map has a requirement for at least tour AEW&C aircraft, die minimum required to provide continuous coverage. Combined with Australia's launch order for seven 737 AEW&Cs - and an unsolicited offer to the US Air Force of eight aircraft to augment its over stretched AWACS fleet - that makes an identi fied market for more than 50 aircraft. Northrop Grumman's market projection would seem optimistic - given that only 70 AWACS have been delivered to just six opera tors over the past 20-plus years - were it not for the fact that Boeing's 73 7 AEW&C dramatical ly reduces the cost of entry into the exclusive club of AEW owners. According to Adams, die 737 AEW&C costs S150-190 million, compared with around S400 million for the 767 AWACS - "and the price will be higher after the production break" which fol lowed delivery of four aircraft to Japan, he says. "The 767 is a superior platform, but at a superi or price not many customers can afford." Key to the 737 AEW&C'saffordability-and capability- - is Northrop Grumman's MESA active-array radar. The antenna can be installed "with very little modification to the platform itself, maintaining the high dash speed and long endurance of die Next Generation 737 air frame. "Windtunnel tests with the Tophat antenna show no difference in performance from the 737NG," Adams says. The 550mm (22in)-thick antenna will be attached to the top of the aft fuselage by 2 2 bolts. Modified skin panels, frames and stringers "are the only new things Boeing will do on the line", he says. This contrasts with the major modifica tions made to the 707 and 767 airframes to support the hea\y AWACS rotodome. The 288 transmit/receive modules for the active-array radarwill be installed inside the air craft, to improve reliability and maintainability in flight. The same modules will power all three elements of the antenna - switching between the two side-facing arrays and the Tophat end- fire arrays that look fore and aft. Identification friend or foe (IFF) will be integrated into the same array and will operate simultaneously with the radar - "a first for us", says Adams. © FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 15 - 21 February 2000
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