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Aviation History
2003
2003 - 2053.PDF
AFA CONVENTION SENSORS Pod deal to streamline acquisition Additional Northrop Grumman Litening targeting pods are to be purchased by the US Air Force under a contract designed to speed the acquisition of systems for a range of aircraft. Almost 250 Litening pods have already been acquired piecemeal for US Air Force Boeing F-15Es, Air National Guard Lockheed Martin F-16s and US Marine Corps Boeing AV-8Bs. The new indefinite- delivery/indefinite-quantity contract will cover additional sys tems for these aircraft as well as pods for USAF Boeing B-52s and Fairchild A-10s and USMC Boeing F/A-18Ds. The US Air Force is also looking at equipping the Rockwell B-1B with a target ing pod. The Iraq war has resulted in a renewed interest in close air sup port, says Northrop Grumman. During the war, three Litening pods on USMC AV-8Bs were modified with a video datalink to allow forward air controllers to ver ify targets. Additional pods to be acquired for AV-8Bs and F/A-18Ds will have this capability, which the USAF is interested in for its A-10s, the company says. The A-10s, as well as the B-52s, used borrowed pods during the war Northrop Grumman says the US Air Force plans to equip 50 B-52s to carry Litening pods. The B-1 could be equipped if the USA modifies an arms-limitation treaty barring the aircraft from carrying external stores. A proposal has been forwarded to the US Departments of Defense and State on a modification that would allow the B-1 to carry pods and weapons externally, but still prevent the bomber carrying air- launched cruise missiles. • Lockheed Martin says its Sniper XR targeting pod, under development for the US Air Force, is on track to enter qualifi cation testing and evaluation this month following successful operational utility evaluation flights on the F-15E and F-16 Block 30 and 50. UPGRADES GRAHAM WARWICK / WASHINGTON DC C-130 upgrade sidesteps US Air Force funding cuts Cost restructuring comes as Boeing closes in on USN/USMC contracts on 48 aircraft Boeing's avionics modernisation programme (AMP) for US Air Force Lockheed Martin C-130s has been restructured to minimise the imp act of a funding cut that threatened to delay the programme by two years. First flight of an upgraded C-130 has slipped by a year to 2006, while Special Operations Forces (SOF) has pitched in addi tional funding to "re-accelerate" the modernisation of its aircraft. The restructuring comes as Boeing nears its first C-130 AMP orders from outside the USAF. A contract to upgrade 20 US Navy and 28 US Marine Corps aircraft is expected by year-end. Sweden is close to a decision to upgrade eight aircraft, says Stephanie Mossen- gren, AMP business development manager, speaking at the Air Force Association Convention in Wash ington DC last week. Boeing has also submitted an of fer to Saudi Arabia to upgrade 50- 59 C-130s, Israel for 18 and Portu gal for six. The company has made an unsolicited bid to modernise 26 UK Royal Air Force C-130Ks, but "no bid" in New Zealand, she says. The AMP is intended to upgrade around 500 USAF C-130s in 14 families to one core configuration with five variants - four of which are SOF. The first upgraded C-130s are to be redelivered to Air Mobility Command in 2008, followed soon after by the first SOF aircraft. Meanwhile, Boeing and the US Air Force have studied re-engining the Rockwell B-IB to restore the bomber's high-speed, high-altitude performance to stay clear of "dou ble-digit" surface-to-air missiles. The General Electric FlOl-powered B-IB is limited to around Mach 1.2 and 35,000ft (10,700m). Re-engining with the Pratt & Whitney F119 would take the air craft to M2.2 and 60,000ft, while the Joint Strike Fighter's P&W F135 would give the bomber an unre- heated supercruise capability, says Boeing. But the company acknowl edges re-engining is probably too expensive. A new study on re- engining the B-52, meanwhile, is to be completed next month. The AMP is intended to bring C-130 variants into line COMMAND AND CONTROL Suppliers win E-10A study contracts Teams led by Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman have each received contracts to refine requirements for the battle management command and con trol (BMC2) "rear end" of the US Air Force's planned E-10A multi- sensor command and control air craft (MC2A), based on Boeing's 767-400ER. Under the six-month, $4 million pre-system development and dem onstration (SDD) contracts, the teams will demonstrate early proto types of their proposed BMC2 solu tions. At the end of pre-SDD phase, one team will be selected for the $240 million development con tract. Northrop Grumman, teamed with Boeing and Raytheon, is already weapon system integrator on the MC2A, and Boeing has received a contract to build the E-10A testbed aircraft. Under its pre-SDD contract, Nor throp Grumman plans to conduct a series of demonstrations, or "con stellations", in the crew area virtual environment (CAVE) at its Mel bourne, Florida, facility - a 12m (40ft)-long section of E-10 cabin equipped with operator consoles representing those being proposed for the BMC2. A team of engineers is being trained to operate the CAVE as if it were the MC2A, says Mark Lindsley, BMC2 deputy programme manager. Increment 1 of the MC2A will carry the Northrop Grumman/Ray theon multi-platform radar tech nology insertion programme act ive-array radar and will be tasked with airborne ground surveillance and cruise missile defence. The number of operators on board has still to be decided, but will be between 30 and 50 depend ing on the mission mix between time-sensitive targeting, special operations and cruise missile defence. "We need the flexibility to do a wide range of missions," says Lindsley. www.flightinternational.com FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 23-29 SEPTEMBER 2003 19
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