FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
2003
2003 - 1679.PDF
PARIS SHOW REPORT J DEFENCE Rival camps line up for NATO deal As alliance's ground surveillance competition begins, consortia take radically different positions NATO will formally kick start its Alliance Ground Surveillance (AGS) competition early next month with the Northrop Grum- man-led Transatlantic Industrial Proposed Solution (TIPS) and the rival Raytheon-led Co-operative TransAtlantic AGS Solution (CTAS) offering markedly different ap proaches to meeting the require ment for battlefield surveillance. The two consortia expect to be issued with a request for proposals (RFP) next month for $500,000 study contracts to be completed by late November. The alliance's AGS working group is to select a winner by mid-January and award a two-year $350 million design and development contract before the end of next year. NATO's Prague summit last year set itself the goal of having an initial operational capability by 2010. NATO is looking at two options based around either eight manned aircraft or a mix of four manned and four unmanned air vehicles with in-flight remote control, both linked to a network of 24 control units. Northrop Grumman and partners EADS, Galileo Avionica and Thales are proposing the TIPS A321 MANNED PLATFORM CONFIGURATION Defensive aids suite Radar warning receiver Missile warning Towed decoy Countermeasures dispenser In-flight refueling Enhanced power supply Improved engines/generators Additional centre tanks Data communications Wideband datalink Satellite communications Link 16&11/22 Mission manager High performance server 3 terabyte data storage TCAR radar sensor Active electronic scanned array Airbus A321, which is large enough to support 14 consoles, along with the Northrop Grumman RQ-4B Global Hawk high-altitude, long- endurance UAV. "This gives us the flexibilty for potential growth," says Northrop Grumman pro gramme director Matt Copija. The platforms would be equipped with different-sized versions of the planned Transatlantic Collaborative AGS Radar (TCAR) developed from a combination of the US Multi- Mission briefing conference centre Electronic support measures Two short and two long interferometer arrays Two high and two low band very long arrays Communications intelligence FLIGHT Platform Radar Technology Insertion Programme (MP-RTIP) with the European SOSTAR-X demonstrator. The A321 would be able to accommodate an antenna measuring around 5.5 x 0.61m (18 x 2ft), while NATO would like to put a 2.75m-long array on a UAV, larger than the MP-RTIP planned for the US Air Force's RQ-4A, for improved ground moving target indication. Raytheon and BAE Systems' offer ing is based around the same modi fied Bombardier Global Express business jet airframe as the UK's ASTOR system, but with a 4.6m TCAR array. "This would fit on to the existing platform without play ing with the design, so reducing the risk, while this has never been done on an A321," says Geoff Telford, Raytheon C4ISR business develop ment. Raytheon says it would like the flexibility to offer the RQ-4B or an alternative smaller medium- endurance vehicle. DEFENCE SIGINT Global Hawk set for German civil trials The US Air Force and the German defence ministry have given the green light for trials of a Northrop Grumman RQ-4A Global Hawk equipped with an EADS signals intelligence (SIGINT) payload in German civil airspace in October. In parallel, the defence ministry is to release a draft requirement for an unmanned air vehicle-based replacement for its Dassault Atlantic SIGINT aircraft at the end of this month. The trials programme will com prise six flights, including deploy ment and return to the USA. The EADS SIGINT payload will be fitted to the RQ-4 after it arrives in Germany, and will be removed before it returns. EADS will also retain control of data produced by the SIGINT pay- load during the trials, although USAF personnel will control the Global Hawk during flying opera tions. The UAV will be based in northern Germany during the trials. The release of the draft German requirement will be followed by the issuing of a formal request for proposals by early October this year. The German air force requires the replacement system to have been accepted into service before it withdraws the Atlantics from ser vice in 2008. Meanwhile, Northrop Grumman has released new details of its RQ-4B configuration for the USAF. The air craft will have a wingspan of 40m 180mm (7in) nose stretch 125mm (5in) mid-body stretch Landing gear pod New V-tails with 14% area increase 585mm (23in) stretch, new section pressurised radio frequency intelligence nose mounted antennas Enhanced SAR with two antenna arrays FLIGHT (130.9ft) and a length of 14.5m. The configuration excludes winglets, with studies concluding that their inclusion would complicate aircraft handling characteristics with only minimal gains in performance. The revised configuration will support a gross take-off weight of 14,640kg (32,2501b). The design also includes new landing gear pods, the addition of a second pres surised fuselage bay to enable car riage of more mission payloads, and a fuel measurement system. www.fliqhtinternational.com FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 24-30 JUNE 2003 13
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
