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Aviation History
2004
2004-09 - 2511.PDF
CONTRACT • Raytheon is to produce more than 550 AIM-9X air-to-air mis siles and almost 170 captive training rounds for the US Air Force and US Navy, plus Denmark, Poland, South Korea and Switzerland under a contract worth $158 million. • Italy's Piaggio Aero Industries is to fabricate bear ing-compartment housings and support structure for Pratt & Whitney's F135 engine for the Joint Strike Fighter. Including an earlier award for production of the low-pressure turbine case, the contracts are potentially worth $150 million. • Lock heed Martin Canada is to equip five Canadian Forces CP-140 Aurora maritime patrol aircraft with L-3 Wescam MX-20 electro- optical/infrared sensors under a C$14.5 million ($12.1 million) deal. Options exist to modify another 10 aircraft. • Lock heed Martin is to provide Block 5.4 Phase 3 upgrade kits for 73 US Air Force C-130J transports under a $17.8 million contract. • Latvia has awarded Saab Bofors Dynamics a contract worth SKr185 million ($27 million) to equip its armed forces with RBS70 air defence missile systems. Deliveries will take place in 2006-7. • Lockheed Martin is to pro duce 288 AGM-158 Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missiles for the US Air Force under a $112.3 million Lot 4 con tract. • General Atomics Aeronautical Systems is to upgrade four MQ-1L Block 1, four MQ-1 L Block 5 and six RQ- 1L Block 5 unmanned air vehicles to the MQ-1 L Block 10+ configuration for the US Air Force under a $14.4 million contract. • Boeing is to provide additional Northrop T-38C avionics upgrade kits under a $66.3 million US Air Force con tract. • Raytheon is to produce eight additional Sharp reconnaissance pods for US Navy Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornets under an $8 million con tract. • Northrop Grumman is to modify an additional 18 Boeing C-17s with the large-air craft infrared countermeasures system under a $12.5 million US Air Force contract. DEFENCE RESEARCH PETER LA FRANCHI / CANBERRA AND STEPHEN TRIMBLE / WASHINGTON DC Future Combat System UAV contest set for start Deferred competition for US Army's Class ll/lll vehicles to begin in January 2005 Deferred design contests to select Class II and Class III unmanned air vehicles for the US Army's Future Combat System (FCS) are to begin in January 2005. FCS lead system integrator Boeing will manage the competitions and decide the two winners, says FCS programme manager Dennis Muilenburg. Boeing is planning a three-phase competition in both classes with initial downselect to take place in mid-2005, while the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has launched a parallel development programme in both categories. Muilenburg says the Boeing-run competitions will avoid duplicating areas covered by DARPA. For example, the Boeing Class II competition will exclude all ducted fan vehicles, which are the premise for the DARPA-led Organic Air Vehicle (OAV) programme. The company will also concentrate on technologies outside sense and avoid systems - another focus of DARPA's OAV effort. Final designs selected through the Boeing and DARPA pro grammes will be considered for the final Class II downselect, Muilen burg says. Requirements include a vehicle-mounted-and-launched drone that can provide non-line-of- sight reconnaissance and target designation for a company-level unit. The Class III UAV would be stationed at the battalion-level and serve as a communications relay and reconnaissance asset and have longer endurance and greater pay- load capacity. Teledyne Brown Engineering is planning to compete the Class III requirement with derivatives of Rheinmetall Defence Electronics' KZO/Taifun UAV system. Teledyne finalised a manufacturing and dis tribution agreement with the German company in late October, with this including rights to mod ify its KZO and Taifun designs to meet US Army requirements. Teledyne is exploring a potential engine replacement for the KZO to meet demands for a heavy fuel- based system and to provide addi tional range and endurance. The KZO is entering operational service with the German army, fol lowing an extended development programme. Teledyne has named the UAV "Prospector" for the Class III competition, with the Taifun armed expendable version of KZO on offer as "Thunder". Beyond the army's Class III requirement, Teledyne Brown says it is exploring potential US Navy and US Coast Guard requirements for fixed-wing tactical UAVs. EVALUATION STEPHEN TRIMBLE / WASHINGTON DC US to expand virtual laser exercises The US Air Force is expanding sim ulated exercises involving fighters equipped with virtual laser weapons to include its bomber and gunship fleets, while the US Navy's tactical fighter community is also showing interest. Two immediate goals are to refine tactics for using air-to-air laser can nons in fighters and air-to-ground defensive laser cannons for bombers, especially the Boeing B-1B Lancer. A nationwide "Advanced Concepts Event" conducted in late October by the Air Force Research Laboratory's Directed Energy Direct orate is now in a two-month evalua tion phase, says Rudy Martinez, director of the high energy laser (HEL) fighter project office. Four networked Lockheed Martin F-16 simulators equipped with the HEL fighter software pro gramme were used in the exercise, along with a Northrop Grumman Defensive laser canons for the Boeing B-1B Lancer are especially desired B-2 simulator, which acted as a sur rogate for the B-1. The HEL fighter is designed with a turreted lOOkW- class laser cannon. Design assump tions include a weight of 544kg (1,2001b) and a 20s laser magazine. Pilots are penalised with a lmin cool-down period each time the magazine is exhausted. Martinez says the Naval Air Systems Command is using the pro gramme to run simulations of Boe ing F/A-18E/F Super Hornets using defensive tactics against small boats. In early 2005, US Special Operations Command plans to adopt the same model to run simulations of advanced tactical lasers and active denial systems for its Lockheed Martin AC-130 gunships, he says. 20 30 NOVEMBER - 6 DECEMBER 2004 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL www.flightinternational.com
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