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Aviation History
2002
2002 - 0015.PDF
DEFENCE PROCUREMENT PETER LA FRANCHI / CANBERRA & PAUL LEWIS/WASHINGTON DC RAAF eyes JSF for future fighter Latter phases of Australian air force's Air 6000 programme may also include UCAVs, says defence force paper The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) is again seriously consider ing the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) as a potential candidate for its multi-phase Air 6000 future fighter programme. The RAAF is also opening the door to the possibility that the later phases of its requirement could be filled by an unmanned combat air vehicle (UCAV). Australia has decided to split the Air 6000 programme into three phases to take advantage of new technology maturing during the course of the acquisition, and to spread the projected $6 billion cost of replacing the RAAF's Boeing F/A- 18A/Bs and General Dynamics F/RF-lllC/Gs in 2012-20. The focus of Phase IA is on a manned aircraft, with the Dassault Rafale, Eurofighter Typhoon and the Lockheed Martin/Boeing F-22 all viewed as contenders. The RAAF is looking to broaden its options to include the Lockheed Martin F-35. JSF programme office officials confirm that an RAAF team is scheduled to visit the USA late this month to discuss the pro gramme and its technology. This is viewed as a precursor to Australia opening negotiations on joining the newly launched $19 billion system development and demonstration (SDD) phase. Australia is interested in joining SDD as a Level 3 player, which would nominally entail taking a 1-2% stake in the development. According to sources within the Australian aerospace industry, which would stand to benefit from joining JSF, RAAF participa tion would carry a price tag of $ 175 million. In 1997, the RAAF had planned to join the concept demonstration phase of JSF as an observer, but the idea was dropped. According to a recent Australian Defence Force (ADF) presentation at a conference in Washington DC, the follow-on Phases IB and IC "have great potential to include a UCAV". This is being considered as part of an analysis now under way, and which must be completed for force structure recommendations to be made by 2005. The ADF paper says that, while risk has to be reduced, "there is a clear remit for Air 6000 to consider UCAVs". Full interoperability with the Phase IA manned fighter and other assets needs to be factored-in to UCAVs from the beginning, the paper adds. According to funding docu ments for the Air 6000 project, A$3.2 billion ($1.7 billion) is avail able in the current 10-year Australian Defence Capability Plan to support Phase 1A from 2007, with deliveries commencing in 2012. The total value of Phase 1A is forecast at more than A$6 billion, while a second Phase IB purchase, commencing in 2010 with deliver ies from 2015, is placed at between A$4.5 billion and A$6 billion. Air 6000 faces a major funding challenge from the Royal Austra lian Navy's Project Sea 4000 air- warfare destroyer programme, due to receive initial funding in 2005. This, when combined with Air 6000, would account for 50% of Australian forward defence capital equipment spending for a number of years after 2010. HELICOPTERS PAUL LEWIS /WASHINGTON DC Special forces orders may boost Boeing as helicopter work slows and jobs go US and UK special forces are look ing at acquiring additional Boeing CH-47 Chinooks in the wake of the recent conflict in Afghanistan. But new orders will do little to prevent up to a 30% cut in jobs at the man ufacturer's helicopter arm, and the closure of a sizeable part of its facil ity at Ridley Park, Philadelphia. The company has announced plans to shed between 1,000 and 1,500 of the plant's 5,000-strong workforce by mid-2004. This comes in the face of a shrinking Chinook international orderbook, delays to the start of the US Army's CH-47F remanufacturing pro gramme, and recent major setbacks in Bell Boeing V-22 development. Boeing is looking at several opportunities to bolster its flagging CH-47 line, and is understood to be discussing the sale of additional special operations configured Chinook Mk3s to the UK Royal Air Force and potentially attrition More CH-47 sales to the UK RAF is just one option Boeing is studying replacements for US Special Operations Command MH-47s. While no MH-47D/Fs have been reported lost in Afghanistan, at least three machines are so badly damaged from ground fire that they are beyond economical repair. Elsewhere, Boeing is looking at emerging requirements in Brazil and Malaysia, while Turkey is once again considering the CH-47. In the interim there is a diminishing amount of work. The last of 14 Mk2/3s were delivered to the UK at the end of 2001, along with two of the nine CH-47SDs ordered by Taiwan. The company is rebuilding the final six of Egypt's 15 Agusta- built CH-47Cs and another five for Spain, all to the D standard. The US Army has delayed by 15 months to 2002/3 the start of CH-47F low-rate initial remanufac turing, while full rate will not start until 2004/5. At the same time the US Marine Corps has postponed by at least two to three years the start of V-22 full-rate production, leaving Boeing to continue produc ing a minimum sustainable num ber of 11-12 tiltrotors a year. Boeing is reducing its Ridley Park plant from 140Ha (345 acres) to 80Ha as part of a general restructur ing effort. The plant will outsource all fabrication work to focus solely on assembly, integration and test ing. Apache subcontracting for its its Mesa sister plant is being wound down, while the production of 757 airliner leading-edge flaps has been moved elsewhere. www.flightinternational.com FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 1-7 JANUARY 2002 13
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