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Aviation History
2002
2002 - 0067.PDF
TILTROTORS PAUL LEWIS / WASHINGTON DC US DoD gives pro\ go-head for Ospne Resumption of Bell Boeing V-22 testing subjected to tough t The V-22 has won flight test approval but will not return to the air until April DEFENCE provisional Osprey flights two-year objectives The US Department of Defense has allowed Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey test flights to resume, but is setting strict criteria which must be met over the next two years before a decision on full-rate production. Meanwhile, low rate initial produc tion (LRIP) has beea further reduced to nine MV-22s for the US Marine Corps, with no US Air Force CV-22s due to budget constraints. Despite a series of reports that could find no fault with tiltrotor technology, DoD undersecretary for acquisition Pete Aldridge still has "some doubts". He says: "The only way to prove the case one way or the other is to put the aircraft PRECISION MUNITIONS back into flight test. But this new flight test, which will start in April 2002, will be more comprehensive than that previously planned." The effort will encompass fur ther vortex-ring studies - the phe nomena was blamed for the fatal July 2000 MV-22 crash - and ship board compatibility, including flow conditions with one proprotor over the deck and the other over the sea. Other test parameters include low-speed combat manoeuvring, ground environment effects and formation flying. Aldridge, in response to ques tions about his known scepticism about the V-22, replies: "My concerns were on the aerodynamic qualities of this aircraft, which has the unusual characteristics that the props are out on a 20ft [6m] lever arm, and the uncertainties of the lift of those things caused con trol problems with the helicopter. Plus, the fact that that the props are relatively small diameter, so you're putting enormous loads on each." The recently established US Navy and Industry Joint Prog ramme Office had already laid out a three-phase iterative plan for design modifications to address more immediate safety issues in returning the V-22 to the air by April after more than a year's grounding (Flight International, 6-12 November 2001). Aldridge has given the plan his blessing, but not committed to full production. Meanwhile, the DoD will fund LRIP purchases - but this year below what Bell Boeing regards as the sustainable annual rate of 12. The USAF has dropped plans to buy two CV-22s this year and will not fund any more until flight testing has progressed. Any LRIP MV-22s built for the USMC will not be fully completed until design changes are developed. asset-available status with the USAF by 2003, with the missile ear marked for the Boeing B-52H, the Lockheed Martin F-16C/D and the Northrop Grumman B-2. This will be followed by the Rockwell B-l, which will carry up to 24 missiles on its internal rotary launchers, compared to the B-2's 16. Talks are also under way on changes to the weapons bay of the Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter to accommodate JASSM. Next year Lockheed Martin will start integrating the missile with ARMED CH-53 The Israeli air force has begun operations with armed Sikorsky CH-53s. The heavylift helicopter has been equipped with laser-guided MBT Nimrod missiles, which provide a stand off ground-attack capability. The CH-53 can carry up to eight of the missiles, believed to have a 20km (11nm) range. The weapon was designed as a land forces anti-tank weapon. MIG-29 UPGRADE The Peruvian air force is to issue a request for proposals for the overhaul of 16 RSK MiG-29 Fulcrums. The prime candidates are EADS and RSK, with Belarus's Beltechexport also expected to tender. The work, to include system upgrades and airframe and engine overhauls, is overdue with 10 of the air frames time-expired. Belarus supplied 17 MiG-29s in 1996. These were subsequently upgraded to MiG-29SMT stan dard. Three others, acquired from Russia, are MiG-29SEs. SPARTAN CLEARED The Alenia/Lockheed Martin C-27J Spartan tactical transport has been awarded military type certification by the the DGAA, the Italian defence ministry's certification organisation. Authorisation follows an 800h flight-test programme using three prototypes. The Italian air force is expected to sign the first C-27J contract - for 12 aircraft - by the end of this month. the Boeing F/A-18E/F for the US Navy, which is hoping to field its first AGM-158S in 2006. Limited naval work has been completed including flight-deck and environ mental-compatibility and electro magnetic interference testing. Meantime, the company hopes to start work on integrating the JASSM on to Australia's F/A-18s and General Dynamics F-llls. JASSM has been selected by Aus tralia as its stand-off weapon, and Lockheed Martin hopes to have a contract in place this year. JASSM may receive exte Lockheed Martin is hoping to develop an extended range (ER) AGM-158 JASSM stand-off missile as early as next year, following US Department of Defense approval for low rate initial production (LRIP) of the standard JASSM low observable cruise missile. The US Air Force wants funding in fiscal year 2003 for its Extended Range Cruise Missile requirement, which aims to field a weapon in 2010. Lockheed Martin is promot ing JASSM ER as an alternative to a lightweight version of the Block IIIA AGM-86 conventional air- launched cruise missile likely to be developed by Boeing. Larry Lawson, Lockheed Martin vice president strike weapons, says JASSM ER would have at least twice the 215nm- (400km) plus range of the AGM-158 - an increase achieved partly by using a more fuel-efficient 7001b-thrust (3.1kN) turbofan (possibly the Block III Tomahawk's Williams F107 engine), rather than the Teledyne J402-100 turbojet. JASSM is scheduled to attain extended range upgrade www.fliqhtinternational.com FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 8-14 JANUARY 2002 13
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