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Aviation History
2002
2002 - 2300.PDF
^- KARNBOROUGH INTERNATIONAL SHOW REPO REGIONAL JETS Boeing to stay loyal to RRJ Sukhoi regional-jet collaboration is still a reality, despite Aeroflot favouring Airbus narrowbodies Boeing is reconfirming its commit ment to the Russian Regional Jet (RRJ) collaboration with a group of Russian manufacturers led by Sukhoi, despite Russian carrier Aeroflot's preference for Airbus to meet its narrowbody fleet renewal requirement. Boeing had earlier said that it would have to reconsider its invest ments in Russia if the Aeroflot deal were to swing in Airbus's favour. Aeroflot is believed to be favour ing the A320 over the 737 and planning the acquisition of 18 air craft, although the Boeing 767 is ahead in the airline's widebody competition Flight International, 23-29 July). Boeing Commercial Airplanes president Alan Mulally assured Sukhoi general director Mikhail Pogosyan at the show that Boeing will continue to participate in the RRJ project. The partners have completed the second phase of the joint feasibility study, estimating the market at 650 units by 2020. Russian and CIS air lines have expressed interest in 150 aircraft for delivery by 2010. Yakovlev has joined Ilyushin and Sukhoi in the project after Russia's Rosaviacosmos state agency asked Russian companies to bid for state funding allocated for "a new genera tion regional jet". Applications for the funds should be submitted by November. The RRJ design and weights will be frozen by the end of the year, with a production factory to be selected in early 2003. Meanwhile, Boeing and Sukhoi have established a joint working group on personnel training in addition to the existing four involving marketing, certification, development/production and after- sales support issues. PW800 could be launched as full-scale project next year ENGINE SELECTION P&WC hopes for 2003 launch Pratt & Whitney Canada's PW800 has been selected as a finalist along with Snecma's SM146 for the Russian Regional Jet (RRJ) project, and could be launched as a full-scale project as early as next year, says president Alain Bellemare. The geared turbofan is also in the running to power China's ARJ21 regional jet. Final engine decisions on both programmes are expected by the end of the year, he adds. The General Electric CF34 and Rolls-Royce BR710 have been excluded from the RRJ engine contest. The PW800 is competing with General Electric's CF34, Rolls-Royce's BR710 and the SM146 for the AVIC1 jet project. P&WC has started running a second PW800 technology demonstrator at its Montreal, Canada site and displayed the first engine at Farnborough. The PW800 was launched at the 2000 show as the Advanced Technology Fan Integration demonstrator, and ran for the first time in March 2001. The engine, which has also completed an acoustic test programme at P&Ws site in Florida, is being developed to plug the thrust gap in P&W's portfolio between the PW300 and PW6000, or specifically the 10,000- 20,000lb (45-89kN) thrust range. IN BRIEF GOOD CALL BAE Systems and Roke Manor Research have teamed to develop a radar using mobile telephone technology. The Cellphone radar (Celldar) will be a multistatic detection and data processing system able to detect moving targets in the air, on land or sea. The two compa nies will share funding to develop the technology. A380 INS Northrop Grumman has been selected by Airbus to provide global navigation air-data inertial reference units. Deliveries of the LTN-101E will begin in 2006 and the contract is potentially worth $400 million. The system inter laces inertial and GPS-satellite navigation measurements to provide position data. AIRBORNE EARLY WARNING Northrop in 728 replacement talks Northrop Grumman has held pre liminary discussions with Airbus and Embraer about using either the Airbus A319 or Embraer 170 as future airborne early warning (AEW) aircraft as alternatives to the 728 in the wake of the demise of Fairchild Dornier. The US company had been in talks with the bankrupt German- US manufacturer about developing an AEW version of the 728. "We're still looking at the ACJ and may take a look at the 170. There are conversations that are going on," says Gary O'Loughlin, Northrop Grumman director inter national business development AEW Systems. Northrop Grumman has identi fied a need for a turbofan-powered alternative to the E-2C turboprop to compete for future AEW business. The company wants to integrate the new Advanced Hawkeye sensor suite onto the platform. This would include the new mechanically and electronically steered antenna and possible provi sion for the follow-on UHF elec tronically scanned array. With the Advanced Hawkeye Radar Modernisation Programme not due to enter full-scale develop ment before the end of the year and no near-term prospects in sight, Northrop Grumman says it would not need a jet-powered plat form before 2005-06. South Korea by then is expected to have restarted its E-X require ment, along with an expected Scandinavian requirement. Advanced Hawkeye deliveries are scheduled to start in 2008, after which the US Navy is looking to double the rate of production of the system from four Hawkeye 2000s a year. "We have the capacity to go to 12 aircraft a year at St Augustine. There is a desire on the part of the navy to increase the number of E-2s on a carrier from four to six to as many eight," says O'Loughlin. The US Navy is looking to broaden the E-2C's traditional mar itime AEW mission to include the atre missile defence and littoral warfare. With delivery in 2006 of the last of 21 Hawkeye 2000s funded under the current multiyear programme, the USN is planning a follow-on purchase of seven to eight aircraft in 2006-07 to keep the line active until the transition to Advanced Hawkeye. SEE DEFENCE P36 16 30 JULY - 5 AUGUST 2002 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL www.flightinternational.com
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