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Aviation History
2000
2000 - 1948.PDF
KUROSATORY France sets the ball rolling on two UAV requirements JULIAN MOXON/PARIS THE FRENCH procurement agency (DGA) has released a request for proposals for the first of two unmanned air vehicle (UAV) contracts to meet urgent army and air force requirements arising from last year's Kosovo conflict. The winners of both competi tions will be decided by early 2 001, with service entry planned for late 2002. The speed of the programme means that only off-the-shelf equipment will be considered. Companies likely to bid for the programmes were exhibiting at the Eurosatory land systems exhibition in Paris last week. The first RFP calls for an inter mediate tactical UAV system for the SDTI (systeme de drone tac- tique intermediaire) and is to com plement the Sagem Crecerelle UAV which has been in service with the army for five years. Around 15 UAVs are required. The second, for five vehicles, will provide a medi um-altitude, long-endurance (MALE) capability for the air force. The requirement follows a five- year test programme using an Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI) Hunter UAV to demonstrate all-weather target acquisition and laser desig nation capabilities. Responses to the RFP are expected from Aerospatiale Matra, teamed with its new short-range UAV partner CAC Systemes and IAI; Elbit System's Silver Arrow subsidiary, and Sagem. For the SDTI element, Aero spatiale Matra will offer the CAC Systemes Ranger and for the MALE requirement the Eagle, a derivative of the IAI Heron that is interoperable with the Ranger. Silver Arrow says it will submit proposals for both contracts, although vice-president marketing Moshe Charash adds that the com pany, "has not decided what to offer for the SDTI requirement." It will submit the twin-engined Hermes 1500 for the MALE element. Sagem will offer its Sperwer tac tical UAV for the SDTI pro gramme, 60 of which have been sold to the Netherlands, Sweden and Denmark. For the MALE requirement, it is teamed with US company General Atomics, offer ing the Predator. France plans to satisfy its long- term UAV requirements through theMCMM (mulri-capteur, multi- mission) programme, which aims to develop vehicles with emerging technology in seeker and processor miniaturisation. • Matra BAe unwraps Mistral 2 air-to-air missile MATRA BAe Dynamics has unveiled its Mistral 2 very- short-range air-to-air missile (VSHORAD), a previously classi fied system. The company is also considering a surface-to-air ver sion of the Meteor, which recently won the UK Beyond Visual Range Air-to-Air Missile competition. Mistral 2 entered service earlier this year with all three. French armed forces and some export cus tomers. The weapon has replaced the earlier Mistral on the produc tion lines, says MBD. Many of the internal systems have been updated, says MBD. The infrared seeker remains the same but a new processor and other subsystems have been introduced. Mistral 2 is compatible with the first generation missiles firing posts The weapon is compatible with first generation Mistral launchers - the only external change is the ero- dynamically modified rear wings. These, along with a modified motor, improve manoeuvrability, push speed above the original Mistral's M2.6 and increase the maximum range. MBD says the changes give the fire-and-forget VSHORAD sys tem a better anti-ship missile defence capability, while the extended firing envelope created by the range and speed improve ments mean it is better suited to the helicopter carried air-to-air role. MBD deputy chief executive Alan Garwood says MBD will look at a ground launched version of Meteor - mimicking Raytheon, which has developed fixed base and vehicle-mounted surface-to-air missile systems using the AIM-120 AMRAAM medium-range air-to-^ air missile. Garwood adds that "there is a lot of potential for the air weapon in a number of roles." J Lockheed Martin pushes for MEADS LOCKHEED MARTIN is urging its European MEADS International partners, Alenia Marconi Systems and Daimler- Chrysler Aerospace, to ensure par liamentary approval is given for the Medium Extended Air Defence System (MEADS) before summer recesses in Germany and Italy. A major hurdle was cleared ear lier this month when Germany and the USA resolved a dispute on the sale of Lockheed Martin Patriot Advanced Capability (PAC-3) Flight International, 30 May-5 June) - the MEADS interceptor. Lockheed Martin director inter national programme development Neil Hayward says it is important that Berlin and Rome give approval before the summer break so that a memorandum of understanding for a three-year risk reduction phase can be signed. Hayward warns that despite the modest amounts of money in volved, the resulting delay would make it difficult to keep the devel opment team together. 3 NEWS IN BRIEF • TRIGAT INSURANCE Germany has requested infor mation on air-launched, infrared-guided anti-tank missiles as potential alterna tives to the Euromissile Trigat LR, say industry sources. Germany is understood to have requested data on the Boeing/Lockheed Martin AGM-114 Hellfire and the Rafael NT-D. • LONGBOW STARSTREAK Shorts Missile Systems is inte grating its Starstreak missile with the Boeing AH-64 Apache Longbow, under a US Army contract issued in April, in preparation for side-by side tests against the air-launched version of Raytheon's Stinger. The work includes equipping the missile with a new sabot and rocket motor blast diffus- er to overcome "over-press ure" problems encountered in early trials using an AH-64A. FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 27 June - 3 July 2000 19
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