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Aviation History
2001
2001 - 0741.PDF
DZsENCE Europe forms ground radar system alliance AGROUP OF five European companies has formed SOSTAR to develop a radar system as a contender for NATO's air- to-ground surveillance (AGS) requirement. AGS will provide the alliance with a radar reconnaissance and surveillance capability similar to the US Air Force's Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (JSTARS). Northrop Grumman, which is also working on a rival AGS programme, proposes an Airbus A3 21-mount ed system based on the JSTARS radar technology insertion pro gramme. SOSTAR will be based at EADS Dornier subsidiary in Friedrichs- hafen, Germany. It will be formed by EADS (28%), France's Thales (28%), Italy's FIAR (28%), Indra of Spain (11%) and Fokker Space (8%) from the Netherlands. Dornier chief executive Stefan Zoller says "Europe has consider able gaps" in long-range recon naissance capabilities and that SOSTAR goes some way to addressing that problem by pooling Europe's technologies. He adds: "Co-operation with the USA is possible and a desirable second step." An active array radar - SOSTAR-X- which combines EADS and Thales technologies, is being developed and will be mounted on a Fokker 100 for trials. The company has €85 million ($79.5 million) for project defini tion, development and building. The trials aircraft will contain three workstations for acquisition, processing and operational control of the system and a datalink to dis tribute information to mobile and fixed ground stations. SOSTAR's first step will be to demonstrate the transmission of real-time ground reconnaissance data from the air craft to ground positions. • Dornier has won a DM35 mil lion ($16.3 million) contract from NATO to develop information technology systems for the alliance's \Air Command and Control System. The equipment will be based on'Dornier's DIPLAS mission system, which is in German air force service. • Predator lives up to name with successful first firing PLANS FOR further tests of armed General Atomics RQ-1 Predators are being developed by the US Air Force following the first firing of a laser guided LockheedMartin AGM-114Hell- fire from the medium-altitude unmanned air vehicle (UAV). Gen John Jumper, head of Air Combat Command, is reviewing the Phase I test results to determine when the more demanding Phase II will begin. A go-ahead is expected soon. The firing test took place on 21 February at the Indian Springs Air Force Auxiliary. Airfield, near Nellis air force base, Nevada. The feasibility demonstration flightwas preceded by two inert Hellfire launches on 16 February and earli er on 21 February. Launched from 2,000ft (610m) altitude, all three weapons hit their intended targets, stationary tanks. The Rredator was fitted with the so-called Kosovo ball turret, that allows the UAVte self-designate laser-guided-1 weapons. Links between die ground and the UAV were line-of-sight, rather than using the Predator's satellite com munications capability. Phase II will test the Predator/ Hellfire combination under more realistic conditions against moving targets and usingnon-line-of-sight firings from Predator's normal 15,000ft operating altitude. Re-engineering work on the mis sile is required before the second set of test flights as it is optimised for use from low flying helicopters rather than Predator's normal operating heights. The recent test was within the Hellfire's typical fir ing envelope, says the USAF. The USAF foresees arming UAVs with miniaturised muni tions, which are in development, to perform limited attacks against time critical, mobile targets. Continued success in demonstrat ing armed Predator could lead to development of an operational requirements document. • Armed Predator has become a reality following missile firings last month AMSTE networking to be tested NORTHROP GRUMMAN is to demonstrate the net working of a Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (JSTARS) and a surrogate Joint Strike Fighter QSF) radar as part of the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's (DARPA's) Affordable Moving Surface Target Engagement (AMSTE) project. Late last year DARPA andjriie US Air Force selected Northrop Grumman and Raytheon for $12 million and $11 million contracts respectively to continue AMSTE development. During the tests, set for later this year, Northrop Grumman will net work its Active Electrically Scanned Array multimode radar, developed for Lockheed Martin's JSF candidate, with a JSTARS to provide precision tracks to a Lockheed Martin-supplied guided weapon aimed at a moving ground target. Alphatech and Orincon - which have previously won con tracts to develop precision fire con trol tracking algorithms - are also on Northrop Grumman's team. Ultimately, AMSTE should allow the networking of multiple sensors and weapons to target high-value, mobile ground assets such as ballistic missile launchers and surface-to-air missile systems. Northrop Grumman discloses that it will build an experimental AMSTE system that will network airborne ground moving target indication sensors to continuously and precisely track moving ground targets, using low-cost precision strike weapons to engage them.Q KT-1 trainer deal is a first for South Korea KOREAN AEROSPACE Industries (KAI) has signed a $60 million contract with Indonesia for seven KT-1 basic trainers. The deal marks the first export of a South Korean devel oped aircraft. The first Pratt & Whitney PT6 powered KT-1 for the South Korean air force was delivered in November last year. The air force has 85 on order and is expected to order 25 further aircraft modified for the forward air controller role. Indonesia is known to require 20 basic trainers to replace elderly Beech T-34C Turbo Mentors, but funding is not available.Talks are on-going with Colombia, Israel, the Philippines and Turkey, says KAI. • FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 6 - 12 March 2001 21
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