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Aviation History
2001
2001 - 0166.PDF
DZrZflfJZ CONTRACTS ++ France's arms procurement agency, the DGA, has provided an additional Frl billion ($145 million) to Thales (formerly Thomson-CSF) for the continued development of the Martha system, which pro vides a mobile, tactical command and control architecture for the French army's very-short range, short range and medium range air- to-surface missile systems. ++ Northrop Grumman s Electronic Sensors and Systems sector has received a $30 million US Air Force contract for 17 ALQ-135 Band 1.5 electronic countermea- sures systems for Boeing F-15E fighters. This follows the success ful completion of the system's ini tial operational test and evaluation ++ Israel's Tadiran Spectralink has won a $51 million contract to upgrade PRC-112 pilot personal locators, and to supply new sys tems to the US Army. Tadiran will upgrade 8,250 in-service rescue radios and supply 1,650 new sys tems. The upgraded units will be dubbed PRC-112S. ++ General Dynamics has won a $167 million order to supply Hydra 70 rockets, motors and warheads to the US Air Force, Navy and Army. Deliver-ies will be between May 2002 and July 2003. ++ Canada's Spar Aerospace has received a Canadian Department of National Defence contract worth C$16 million ($10.7 million) to equip 32 Lockheed Martin CC-130 Hercules transports with airborne collision avoidance systems and radar altimeters. ++ The Royal Netherlands Air Force has awarded Cubic Defence Syst ems a $10 million contract for its Autonomous Air Combat Manoeuv ring Instrumentation technology. Israel's MUM will supply 24 EHUD training pods as part of the deal. Also working with Cubic are Stork Aerospace, Fokker Space and the Netherlands National Aero space Laboratory. Meanwhile, Cubic and Ssangyong Inform ation and Communication are in final contract negotiations with the South Korean defence ministry for a tactical engagement simula tion training system. Israeli air force to upgrade tanker and SIGINT capability ARIEEGOZI/TELAVIV ISRAEL HAS issued a request for information for up to nine air craft to be converted into signals intelligence (SIGINT) and in flight refuelling tankers. Air force sources say die Israeli air force plans to modify four Gulf- stream V business jets or Boeing 737s as SIGINT platforms and between two and four Boeing 767s as tankers. Israel operates elderly Boeing 707s in both roles. Funding for the SIGINT sys tem has been approved, although die budget for die tankers requires clearance. The SIGINT platform is likely to be chosen later this year. Gulfstream teamed widi Israel's Elta last year in anticipation of an air force requirement to replace its 707 intelligence platforms. The move is part of a systematic replacement of support aircraft. Last year it selected die Raytheon Beech King Air B200 to replace Douglas C-47s used for electronic warfare missions and Israel Aircraft Industries 1124 Westwind/Sea Scan modified business jets used for maritime surveillance on behalf of die Israeli navy. Meanwhile, die air force is developing a proposal to apply the US Air Force's Lockheed Martin C-130X Hercules Avionics Modernisation Programme (AMP) to its C-13 OHs. It will then replace elderly C-130Es with C-130Js. Israel operates 12 C-13 OHs and 10 C-130Es, the latter handed over secondhand in 1973. Israel Aircraft Industries (LAI) maintains the Hercules, but the C-130Esare becoming increasing ly expensive to keep going. Once the USAF has selected a C-130X AMP winner- expected at die end of diis month - the Israeli air force will apply for US Foreign Military Sales funding for its own upgrade. BAE Systems, Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Raytheon led teams are competing for the US C-l30X AMP - the USAF could modernise up to 519 aircraft. • Israel is firming up plans for its C-130fleet and is seeking replacements for its 707 tankers and SIGINT aircraft Boeing gets $6bn more for missile defence work THE US Department of Defense has awarded Boeing a deal worth up to an extra $6 bil lion to continue development of the National Missile Defense (NMD) system. The contract, covering R&D until September 2007, exercises options under a $2.2 billion con tract awarded to Boeing in 1998. The new deal restricts immediate funding to the amount earmarked for NMD for fiscal year 2001. Subsequent planned spending will be reviewed by the incoming Bush Administration. The award follows outgoing US President Clinton's September decision to defer the NMD deployment decision to President elect George Bush, who has expressed support for the project. The initial contract runs out in April. The latest award is designed to keep the NMD R&D on track, eliminating the potential for inter ruption of planned test activities. It has a potential value of $ 13 billion, if all future options are exercised. The last two NMD tests, in January and July last year, were unsuccessful, and the next test of the $40 billion "hit-to-kill" anti- ballistic weapon system, which was set to take place this month, has slipped several months. The back- to-back test failures and the lack of a presidential go-ahead effectively delays by at least two years the 2 00 5 date for fielding NMD. The system would consist of a network of radars, battle manage ment command, control and communications assets, and 100 ground-based interceptors, each carrying a single Raytheon exo- atmospheric kill vehicle. Clinton called die project "promising" but said there is insufficient technical and operational effectiveness data to make a fielding decision. Q FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 16 - 22 January 2001
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