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Aviation History
2003
2003 - 1674.PDF
HEADLINES DEFENCE PAUL LEWIS / PARIS Northrop to emulate Skunk Works Central location uniting four existing sites will allow company to rapidly prototype manned and unmanned air vehicles Northrop Grumman is planning to establish an equivalent of the Lockheed Martin Skunk Works to give it the ability to rapidly proto type air vehicles at a yet-to-be- decided centralised location. The company's current "rapid response development capability" (RRDC) reaches across Northrop Grumman Integrated Systems' four facilities at Bethpage, El Segundo, Melbourne and Rancho Bernardo. "We're in the process of looking at several options for a central RRDC and it could be one of these four sites," says Bob Mitchell, Northrop Grumman vice- president advanced development systems. Northrop Grumman Advanced Systems' 500-strong workforce is distributed across the four sites, and each tends to have a particular focus, such as sensor avionics in Melbourne and the recently flown Pegasus unmanned air vehicle demonstrator at El Segundo. The proposed dedicated RRDC, a deci sion on which is imminent, would be primarily focused at aircraft pro grammes. Northrop Grumman declines to reveal whether it has any advanced concept develop ment programmes in hand for the new centre. Unlike Lockheed Martin's Palmdale-based Skunk Works, the Northrop Grumman centre is not intended to be a production site. The company has not given the centre a name, but the "Scorpion Works" is one industry suggestion. Boeing has its own virtual advanced development organisa tion distributed throughout the company, known as the Phantom Works. Northrop Grumman's newly developed cyber warfare integration network (CWIN) pro vides the capability to link its main facilities in California, Florida and New York. CWIN was recently used to virtu ally demonstrate Northrop Grumman's advanced information architecture. This is intended to allow long-endurance UAVs to store onboard intelligence data, which is then available to other airborne assets or even soldiers on the ground. An end of year demonstra tion is planned using a Northrop Grumman RQ-4A Global Hawk UAV and E-8C JSTARS airborne ground surveillance system. DEFENCE MBDA unveils wingless Meteor MBDA has unveiled a new wing less configuration for the Meteor beyond visual range air-to-air missile with windtunnel testing to begin in the third quarter this year. The new arrangement draws heavily on wingless body-lift lessons derived from the design of the MBDA ASRAAM missile, and introduces skid-to-turn engagement in the terminal phases of flight. Additional modifications include a smaller tail fin cluster and a lengthening of the intake duct leading edges to improve airflow for the ramjet engines. The missile will continue to use bank-to-turn profiles for mid- course flight. MBDA says that the changes are intended to give the missile "the smoothest body we can". Further minor design changes may emerge after windtunnel tests, but MBDA says "we have got the shape. It is not going to change a great deal." Construction of a full-scale test- article for the tunnel programme is under way. The revised config uration was approved by the six-nation Meteor consortium during preliminary design reviews earlier this year. AIR TRANSPORT Mexican wave Mexicans is finalising a deal with GE Capital Aviation Services to acquire Airbus A318s. Airbus says it is poised to announce a new cus tomer for its smallest model, but declines to identify the operator. Mexicana already operates 36 A319/A320s and is expected to confirm its deal for CFM56-pow- ered A318s next month. BUSINESS VLADIMIR KARNOZOV / PARIS EADS and MBDA form Russian link EADS and weapons maker MBDA are to work with Russia's Sukhoi and arms export agency Rosoboron- export on the potential develop ment of future defence systems including unmanned combat air vehicles under the terms of a co operation agreement signed at the Paris air show last week. The proto col could also open the door for MBDA missiles to equip Sukhoi fighter aircraft. The agreement calls for the cre ation of a joint working group to study a range of existing and newly proposed Russian-European activi ties on fourth and fifth generation aircraft. Sukhoi general director Mikhail Pogosyan says the protocol "gives ground" for shaping future programmes and determining the role of their participants. Sukhoi is seeking broader co operation with its western European counterparts to boost the export po tential of its planned LFI fifth-gener ation fighter. "We have established close co-operation with French companies on fourth- and fifth-gen eration aircraft, which we want to extend to the next-generation prod ucts," says Pogosyan. Although details have not been revealed, the Russian side says programmes are under discussion. European participation in Russia's fifth-generation project could help Sukhoi preserve its standing in the international fighter market after the US-led Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter becomes available for export. Pogosyan says the Russian manufacturer holds 18-20% of the tactical fighter market and hopes to increase fighter production by 15- 20% over the next 20 years. A key requirement is retaining competi tiveness against US-sourced avionics. The general director of avionics integrator Tekhnocomplex, Givi Dzhandzhgava, says the company has reached agreement with Thales and Sagem on joint development of future navigation and display systems for use on fifth-generation fighters, as well as using French sensors in new electro-optical sys tems, helmet-mounted sights and night-vision goggles. "Setting up the working com mission will help boost this work," he says. Russian radar houses NOP and Phazotron-NIIR are known to be working with French and Italian companies on active electronically scanned array technology. 8 24-30 JUNE 2003 FLIGHT INT ERNATIONAL www.flightinternational.com
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