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Aviation History
2003
2003 - 1204.PDF
aintenance USA Making do with upgrades PAUL SEIDERMAN / SAN FRANCIS The US forces are continuing a long- term policy of upgrading and refurbishing ageing transports to extend their lives by 35-40 years. But for large fleets of transport aircraft, life extension is no longer confined to modifications that assure continued structural integrity. Civil communica tion, navigation and surveillance/air traffic management modernisation is mandating new avionics packages, referred to as global air traffic man agement (GATM). Coupled with this is increasing pressure to enhance mis sion readiness and performance at lower life cycle costs. "Because of the lack of procure ment in the 1990s, we need to maximise the resources of an ageing fleet and find ways to assess system problems through better onboard diagnostics and improved training," says Bob Ernst, US Navy ageing air craft integrated product team leader. "At the same time, we have groups working on open architecture solu tions for the integration of new technologies." For older transports, this has meant procurement of new avionics which leverage the civil technologies. Says Dan Reida, Universal Avionics Systems' director airline/mili tary marketing: "The military realises that if they operate in commercial air space and there is a problem, they will need to have compliant equipment or face greater scrutiny. They are show ing more interest in complying with the evolving civil airspace requirements." Key Universal equipment for mili tary transport upgrades is the UNS-1F flight management system (FMS), a digital system that can interface with older, analogue equipment. It is in use on military variants of business jets and airliners, as well as the Lockheed Martin C-130 Hercules and P-3 Orion. Reida says Universal's terrain avoid ance warning system (TAWS) and multifunction display have also found significant usage. "The trend is definitely toward [the use] of commercial off-the-shelf prod ucts that could be reconfigured for the military, both as replacements and add ons," says Reida. "And because most military transports will be used for many years, there is an increased inter est in upgrading the classic aircraft with commercial, state-of-the-art products." Joe Longworth, director of com- CO mercial to government sales at Honeywell Aerospace Electronics, agrees: "This is particularly true for military derivatives of commercial transports, such as the [Boeing] KC- 135 and [McDonnell Douglas] KC-10 tankers, and the [Boeing] T-43 naviga tor trainer. These are ageing airframes that are candidates for commercial aircraft avionics systems which meet the new civil [air traffic management] mandates." Longworth and Reida say military sales now make up a signifi cant volume of their companies' sales. Honeywell is supplying a new KC-10 cockpit based on its Versatile Integrated Avionics package. The KC-10's analogue cockpit is replaced by a digital system that includes a derivative of the company's commer cial Pegasus FMS with software reconfigured for the in-flight refuelling mission. Also introduced are four liq uid-crystal displays based on Honeywell's commercial system. The package also has an enhanced ground proximity warning system, (EGPWS), traffic collision avoidance system and a communications datalink - all derived from commercial products. "New digital systems will give the aircraft increased reliability and maintainability, and will meet GATM requirements," says Longworth. Systems reliability can increase 30-fold, he adds. Reliability and affordability are the incentives behind military avionics upgrades for transports, says Richard Eisenhart, Rockwell Collins' director of engineering government systems. "The military is extending the life of nearly every aircraft it has in service today, and has shifted its concern away from the acquisition costs of new avionics toward life cycle costs," says Eisenhart. He adds that the Rockwell Collins-supplied Flight? avionics suite for the KC-135 tanker GATM upgrade is based on the company's civil ProLine 21 technology. The USN is extending the service life of 36 Grumman C-2 Greyhound carrier onboard delivery aircraft to keep them operational until 2015-20. In con junction with this, the aircraft will be fitted with new avionics. Scott Goldberg, C-2 Level One inte grated product team leader at North Island Naval Air Depot, San Diego, says the aircraft will receive two Rockwell Collins R210 dual-mode Buying its In France, two defence ministry organisa- own spares tions are charged with maintaining military would ease aircraft - SIMMAD (Structure Integree de complica- Maintenance des Materiels Aeronautiques) tions for is responsible for management, while SMA DARAin (Service de Maintenance Aeronautique) maintaining performs the work. the UK's SIMMAD head Gen Michel Asencio says Tornado the organisation was formed in December fleet 2000 to "optimise the availability of aircraft at lowest cost" by creating an organisation which has cut costs and the duplication that occurred when each armed force was res ponsible for maintaining its own fleet. It is only since 1 January this year that SIMMAD has had full responsibility for all 2,000-odd French fixed-wing and rotor aircraft. "It is more important to have aircraft when and where you need them rather than aiming simply for a percentage objec tive of availability," says Asencio. But a French parliamentary report released in Oct ober last year shows availability has imp roved under SIMMAD's management. For 38 20-26 MAY 2003 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL www.flightinternational.com
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