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Aviation History
2004
2004-09 - 1187.PDF
DEFENCE • Boeing is to equip the UK Royal Air Force's four C-17 strategic transports for installa tion of Northrop Grumman's large-aircraft infrared counter- measures system. Worth $12.6 million, the work will be com pleted in January. • Lockheed Martin is to produce a TPS- 59(V)3 ballistic-missile defence radar system for Bahrain under a $43.6 million contract. The radar will complement Bahrain's Raytheon Hawk surface-to-air missile battery. • BAE Systems will develop a digital flight-control computer to replace analogue automatic flight controls on 300 US Army Boeing CH-47D Chinooks being modernised to CH-47F standard. Flight tests are planned for next year, with production installations begin ning in 2006. • CAEisto support its Medallion-S visual systems on Eurofighter Typhoon simulators at training bases in Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK under a five-year, C$30 million ($22.6 million) contract from Eurofighter Simulation Systems. • Denmark has signed an agreement to buy Raytheon's AIM-9X Sidewinder short-range air-to-air missile under a foreign military sales agreement with the US Navy. The weapon will arm the Danish air force's Lockheed Martin F-16 fighters from 2006. • Tadiran Spectralink has won a $6 million contract to equip the US Marine Corps' Rafael/Northrop Grumman Litening targeting pods with an advanced datalink to provide ground control. • Zephyr International is to sup ply 89 AxelCut emergency cable cutters for rescue hoists on the Canadian Forces' fleet of AgustaWestlandCH-149 Cormorant, Bell CH-146 Griffon and Sikorsky CH-124 Sea King helicopters. • Northrop Grumman is to supply common cockpit displays and LN-100G GPS/inertial navigation systems for US Navy MH-60R/S heli copters under a five-year contract from Lockheed Martin worth more than $100 million. • Kellogg Brown & Root is to build an aircraft parking ramp at Iraq's Balad air base by December 2004 under a $62 mil lion US Army contract. SHORTLIST BRENDAN SOBIE / SINGAPORE Boeing and Sikorsky to miss out in South Korea contest AgustaWestland, Bell and Eurocopter to vie for partnership role in KMH programme South Korea plans to eliminate Boeing and Sikorsky from a five- way contest to select a foreign part ner for the indigenous Korean Multi-role Helicopter (KMH) pro gramme. Industry sources say solu tions offered by the US companies will be rejected when a shortlist is formally issued in mid-July. AgustaWestland, Bell Helicopter and Eurocopter are believed to have been chosen. A special evaluation committee completed two weeks of sequestered meetings at the begin ning of this month, and its short list requires defence ministry approval before it can be briefed to the manufacturers. Industry sources say the pro posed shortlist knocks out Boeing and Sikorsky on the grounds that their proposals do not meet the requirement. Neither company offered a firm fixed price, as required, or a new enough design. Sources say the companies deter mined it was not commercially viable to offer an aircraft that met all the requirements and the poten tial benefits of the programme did not outweigh the risks. The companies would have had to invest heavily to meet the requirement, because their current product line is much larger than the roughly 6,800kg (15,0001b) Sikorsky offered UH-60 Black Hawk derivatives for the KMH requirement KMH. Boeing proposed an AH-64D Apache derivative and used its pro posal to try to educate Seoul on the complexities involved with devel oping a new attack helicopter. Sikorsky offered UH-60 Black Hawk derivatives. The AgustaWestland-backed Bell/Agusta AB139, Bell UH-1Y/AH- 1Z and the Eurocopter Tiger are closer in size to the South Korean requirement and can be more eas ily modified in time to meet KMH's 2010 entry into service. Negotiations with each shortlisted company should begin by next month and conclude by year-end. Boeing still aims to sell the Apache separately and believes South Korea's large attack heli copter requirement will become more pressing as the US Arm) withdraws two of its three Apache brigades now based in the country Sikorsky plans to focus on compet ing for some of the more than 2( KMH components to be acquired separately, with bids from foreign partners due at the end of July. • South Korea has requested pric ing information on a second bate: of Boeing F-15K multirole fighters. Seoul already has 40 aircraft or order, with deliveries to start in late 2005, but has a long-standing requirement for 120 new fighters. Sources say while South Korea has begun evaluating a follow-on order for 40 additional aircraft, budget constraints are likely tc prevent any purchase in the short to medium term. SURVIVABILITY Australia plans to protect Orions The Royal Australian Air Force is planning to acquire a limited number of self-protection jamming pods for its Lockheed Martin AP-3C Orion maritime patrol aircraft to improve survivability during over land operations. The proposed A$20 million ($14.3 million) acqui sition is scheduled for 2005-6. Other enhancements will include improvements to the air craft's electronic support measures system to provide additional signal processing capability, and an air crew life-support equipment upgrade. The service is also planning to acquire a limited number of air combat manoeuvring instrumenta tion (ACMI) pods for its Boeing AF-18A/B Hornet fighters. The pro ject follows the formal reschedul ing last February of funding for the development of a fully instru mented ACMI range at Delamare in the Northern Territory. The air force also indicates it wil proceed with a plan to arm it: General Dynamics F-lll strike fighters with MBDA's ASRAAM short-range air-to-air missile, which will enter full operational service on its Hornet fleet next month. Funding of up to A$20 million is proposed for release in the 2005-6 budget, with the F-l 1 Is to be capa ble of operating with the missile foi the final three to four years of theii planned service lives. 24 13-19 JULY 2004 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL www.flightinternational.conj
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