Air International 2015-06

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INTERNATIONAL

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For the best in modern military and commercial aviation

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JUNE 2015 Vol.88 No.6

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INTERNATIONAL

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AUSTRALIA’S AIR TASK GROUP • CHINOOK MK6 • LATEST GRIPEN

Qatar Airways The Gulf Trendsetter

Variable Cycle Engines Powering Tomorrow’s Fighters

BD7000

Bombardier’s Long-range biz jet

F-15SA

Saudi’s Super Eagle

Anti-Icing Research Germany Takes the Lead

TBM900

A Real Thoroughbred

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LEADING NEWS STORIES

Claim y o or Ethio ur FREE Rafa le p Cockp ian Boeing 7 Cockpit it DVD 77-20 a 2-yea when you ta 0LR ke out r or D subscri irect Debit p ti o n to AIR Inte rnation al. S

04 RAFALES, REAPERS & CARACALS Jan Kraak provides details

18 WAR OVER THE NORTH SEA Kees van der Mark visited

28 UNMANNED AIR REFUELLING Rick

10 GUARDIAN EAGLES OVER EUROPE Kees van der Mark

22 TANKERS TRAINING TOGETHER Kees van der Mark outlines

32 AIR TASK GROUP DEPLOYMENT Nigel Pittaway explains the

of French success with export sales, missile firings and UAV combat operations.

reports on the first deployment to Europe of a US Air National Guard F-15s in support of Operation Atlantic Resolve.

Leeuwarden Air Base for Exercise Frisian Flag 2015.

the second European Air-to-Air Refuelling Training exercise.

24 BATTLES, TRANSFERS 14 GRIPEN WILL NEVER & TROUBLES Robert F Dorr provides the GROW OLD Saab is confident in the future latest stories from around the US Air Force.

potential of its flagship Gripen, as David Oliver discovers.

26 STILL STRONG DESPITE SEQUESTRATION Modernisation of US

Army types remains good business for industry, as Andrew Drwiega found out.

Burgess gives the latest top news stories from the US Navy.

ee pag es 46 for det and 47 ails.

commander’s perspective on the Royal Australian Air Force’s mission in the Middle East.

36 FIGHTERS & TANKERS: THE HOT TOPIC IN ASIA Nigel Pittaway focuses on the top stories from around Asia.

42 AIRBUS SEES EASTERN PROMISE Airbus predicts solid growth

in the Asia-Pacific market, as Nigel Pittaway analyses the figures. FRONT COVER: One of this month’s big features is about Qatar Airways. Steve Flint/AirTeamImages. LEFT INSET: Bombardier Aerospace MIDDLE INSET: Dan Stijovich RIGHT INSET: Jim Lawrence/Daher Airplane Business Unit

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Features

48 THE GULF TRENDSETTER

Andreas Spaeth profiles Qatar Airways and interviews its ebullient Chief Executive Officer, Akbar Al Baker.

THE LID ON PHANTOM SWIFT 54 LIFTING

Andrew Drwiega investigates Boeing’s VTOL X-Plane.

56 

SAUDI’S SUPER EAGLE

62 

BREAKING THE ICE

Mark Broadbent spoke to the

Editor Mark Ayton [email protected] Designer Dave Robinson Production Manager Janet Watkins Ad Production Manager Debi McGowan Group Marketing Manager Martin Steele Marketing Manager Shaun Binnington Commercial Director Ann Saundry

Executive Chairman Richard Cox

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82 A NEW GLOBAL STRATEGY

Dave Unwin flew the powerful new TBM900 turboprop.

Bombardier Aerospace’s Global 7000 and Global 8000 are the longestrange business jets ever designed. Chris Kjelgaard profiles the two jets.

TOMORROW’S US FIGHTER ENGINE 70 TOWARDS

90 CHINOOK MARK SIX

64 

THOROUGHBRED TBM

Chris Kjelgaard explains the variable-cycle engine: a possible power plant for the next-generation of US fighters.

76 

STANDSTILL OR RESPITE?

Is Russia’s fifth-generation PAK FA fighter programme still on track?

Assistant Editor Mark Broadbent [email protected] Managing Director & Publisher Adrian Cox

Piotr Butowski investigates.

The entire contents of AIR International is © copyright, and no part of it may be reproduced in any form or stored on any form of retrieval system without the prior permission of the publisher. All items submitted for publication are subject to our terms and conditions, which are regularly updated without prior notice and are freely available from Key Publishing Ltd or downloadable from www.keypublishing.com

Ian Harding discovers what makes the RAF’s new Chinook HC6 different from earlier variants.

98 AIR PARADE

Piotr Butowski witnessed the Russian military’s annual flypast over Moscow.

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Qatar Airways

Jon Lake presents the most capable version of the F-15 Eagle ever built.

German scientists who are researching new ways of measuring and tackling aircraft icing.

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NEWS REPORT

Rafales, Reapers & Caracals

T

Jan Kraak provides details of French success with export sales, missile firings and UAV combat operations

wo months after the first Dassault Rafale export order to Egypt the French fighter is back in the headlines. For most people the announcement by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on April 10 that India would buy 36 Rafales was a surprise. The Rafale was announced as winner of the Indian Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) competition for 126 fighters in January 2012 but by late 2014 negotiations between the French and Indian partners seemed to have stalled. This was supposedly because of disagreements concerning technology transfers and guarantees the Indian Government demanded from Dassault for the 108 aircraft to be assembled locally by Hindustan Aeronautics. In the days leading up to April 10 it became clear that Modi, who was on an official visit to Paris, would make an announcement regarding Rafale acquisition. The press statement revealed a separate inter-governmental agreement that included 36 Rafales in a flyaway condition to be delivered by Dassault and was nothing to do with the MMRCA-deal. The contract was said to be worth around €4 billion. Some sources have hinted the MMRCA-deal is completely off the table but this is not entirely certain. It seems the Indian Government now prefers to negotiate directly with the French Government but there has been no official statement that potential future orders would involve final assembly in France. It is still possible that, albeit under a different framework, Hindustan Aeronautics will eventually start local assembly of about 100 Rafale aircraft. There was no timeline given for signing either the contract, or for delivering the first aircraft, but the Indian Government has hinted the Rafales cannot be delivered soon enough. French newspapers quoted Dassault Aviation CEO Éric Trappier saying the contract would be signed in “a matter of months”.

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Qatari Rafales Rumours that, after two and a half years of negotiations, Qatar was also close to ordering Rafale fighters were confirmed on April 30. A French Government statement announced François Hollande would fly to Doha on May 3 to sign the contract for the acquisition of 24 jets; 18 Rafale Cs and six Rafale Bs, with an option for 12 additional aircraft. The CEOs of MBDA and Dassault also attended the ceremony as the deal, worth more than €6.3 billion, included an armament package. Qatar is equipping its Rafale fighters with the MBDA Storm Shadow conventionally armed stand-off missile and the Meteor active radar-guided beyond-visual-range air-to-air missile. Besides the industrial contracts, Jean-Yves Le Drian, the French Minister of Defence, also signed an inter-governmental contract between France and Qatar for training 36 pilots, 100 maintainers and other personnel involved in operating Rafale. Once the 36-aircraft deal with India is signed, Dassault will have sold 84 Rafales

in the span of just a few months. This success will undoubtedly put pressure on the manufacturer to quickly increase production capacity from the current rate of 11 aircraft per year. Dassault is currently building Rafales on one of two potential production lines at Bordeaux Mérignac, but it will take some time to start the second line. Because all three countries (Egypt, Qatar and India) are buying off-the-shelf Rafales that are close to the French standard, there is a good chance the Armée de l’Air will receive quite a few jets later than planned. Qatar will receive its first Rafales in 2017 and the Indian Air Force is in a hurry to take delivery of its first planes but Dassault must also deliver jets to Egypt: the first three two-seat examples are expected to be delivered this summer. These were originally destined for the Armée de l’Air. According to the May 4 edition of French newspaper Figaro, Éric Trappier is confident Rafale will gain further export success, possibly this year. It will be interesting to see how Dassault will handle the logistical issues of Rafale’s export success.

Above: The Polish Government has pre-selected the H225M Caracal as its future tactical helicopter. Jan Kraak Opposite: The Dassault Rafale has won three export orders totalling 84 aircraft in a nine-week timeframe. Jan Kraak

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NEWS REPORT

s These developments are good news for the approximately 500 French small and midsized companies involved in Rafale production. Although the late delivery of aircraft to the Armée de l’Air might potentially have operational consequences for its fast-jet force, it also means the Rafale programme will probably have less of a footprint on the French Defence Budget in subsequent years. Dassault is already under contract to deliver another 40 Rafale aircraft to the French Armed Forces. This tranche would bring the total number of aircraft delivered to 185 of 225 planned. If deliveries of French aircraft can be spread over a longer period, the French Ministry of Defence can allocate more money to other armament projects. This might be a welcome turn of events for other elements of the armed forces as France is currently involved in intensive military operations in Jordan, the Central African Republic, and in the Sahel region of Africa. This has, for example, led to a demand for more tactical helicopters. On April 28 François Hollande announced the Defence budget for the remainder of the Defence Programming Act 2014-2019 would be revised. Instead of more budget cuts, the government would invest an additional €3.9 billion.

Meteor Shot A Rafale assigned to the Centre d’ Experiences Aériennes Militaires at BA118 Mont de Marsan, operated from the DGAEV centre at BA120 Cazaux, fired the first MBDA Meteor missile launched by a Rafale against a flying target above the range at Biscarrosse. Although the Meteor missile is already certified, it has to be validated for the Rafale fleet. The missile used on April 28 was an instrumented test article and did not carry a warhead. A test programme will follow in order to see how the missile separates from the aircraft’s different hard points as part of

the development of the Rafale F3R standard. The Meteor will be delivered to the Armée de l’Air and the Aéronavale from 2018 onwards.

Reapers in Combat The only two MQ-9 Reapers currently in service with the Armée de l’Air (assigned to ED 1/33 ‘Belfort’) based at Niamey in Niger, in support of Opération Barkhane, reached 4,000 flying hours in April. France first deployed the two air vehicles to Niger in December 2013 and flew the first mission in January 2014. They play an important role in gathering information and up-to-date intelligence for command, aircrews and ground personnel in the Sahel region. On April 7 one of the air vehicles fed live video footage to the Air Operations Centre of 90 paratroopers from the French Foreign Legion’s 2nd Régiment Étranger de Parachutistes or 2REP dropping into an assault zone from two Armée de l’Air C-130s. In another recent mission an MQ-9 designated a target for a French fighter jet (either a Mirage 2000D or a Rafale) from the component based at N’Djamena in Chad. The target was destroyed by a laser-guided bomb. On April 23 a team from the Direction Générale de l’Armement accepted a third MQ-9 into service which is expected to join the two already based in Niamey in May. All three air vehicles are configured to Block 1 standard and cannot carry armaments. There is talk of France ordering a second batch of three Reapers later this year, followed by two more batches of three in the next five years. Besides the Reaper, ED 1/33 also operates two Harfang drones in Niger which have clocked around 10,000 hours since their arrival in January of 2013.

Polish Caracals Although the orders announced for Rafale made international headlines, they were

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not the only big European export success in the Defence sector. Airbus Helicopters announced on April 21 that the Polish Government had pre-selected the H225M Caracal as its future tactical helicopter. This pre-selection means the Polish Armed Forces and the manufacturer will extensively test the helicopter over the coming months in order to assess if the Caracal meets all the operational requirements before a final agreement is signed. Contrary to the Rafale, the Caracal has had several export orders already (Brazil, Malaysia, Mexico, and Thailand) but the type was not necessarily seen as the automatic winner for the tender. Airbus Helicopters competed against AgustaWestland (offering the AW149) and Sikorsky (proposing the S-70i) and each company already has a subsidiary in Poland. In February Airbus Helicopters opened a research and development centre in Lodz. This followed a previous announcement that Airbus Helicopters and Turbomeca, the producer of the Caracal’s Makila 2A1 turboshaft engines, would open a local assembly line if the Polish Armed Forces selected the H225M. The original tender was for 70 helicopters but according to the official announcement the Polish Government now has an initial order for 50 aircraft, opting to keep its Mi-17s in operational service for longer. No contract value has officially been announced but the Caracal deal is said to be worth around €2.3 billion. The first Polish H225M could be delivered from 2017. Besides tactical helicopters, the Polish Armed Forces are also looking for a Mi-24 Hind replacement and Airbus Helicopters hopes to gain further success with its Tiger attack helicopter. This competition for 30 helicopters will be contested against the Boeing AH-64 Apache and the AgustaWestland AW129 Mangusta.

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Breaking News

T-344 Unveiled As Praetorian Presented

The T-344 is under development to replace the SF260 in the pilot screening role in the Italian Air Force. Riccardo Niccoli

The Italian Air Force’s Reparto Sperimentale di Volo (RSV, Flight Test Wing) at Pratica di Mare is developing a new low-cost training aircraft, the T-344. The type was shown at Cameri Air Base as part of an exhibition of the Italian aerospace industry, timed to coincide with the Italian Air Force hosting the European Air Chief Conference on May 7-8 in Milan.

The T-344 is based on the Caproni Vizzola C22 Ventura, a twinengined two-seat light jet trainer launched in 1980 but never put into series production. The new aircraft, which will have a glass cockpit, composite and carbon fibre materials and two newlydeveloped jet engines, is intended to replace the Italian Air Force’s SF260s in the screening of air

cadets, offering a similar cost per flying hour. The prototype is expected to fly next year. The Cameri exhibition also presented the Italian Air Forces’s first Alenia Aermacchi MC-27J Praetorian, one of three that will be used for special operations and ISTAR. The RSV has recently completed the trials of the Praetorian’s ISR systems, with testing of its ‘roll on-roll off’ cargo

capabilities and weapons options (a 30mm gun or a 20mm Vulcan cannon) to follow. The AgustaWestland HH-101A, produced under an Italian Air Force requirement to operate in the CSAR/special operations roles, was also displayed. The first two helicopters will be delivered to 15° Stormo at Cervia by the end of May. Riccardo Niccoli

Antonov An-178’s Maiden Flight Antonov’s medium-class military transport aircraft, the An-178, made its first flight on May 7. The prototype, UR-EXP (c/n 178/01-01), which flew from the company’s facility at KievGostomel Airport, Ukraine, for an hour, had been rolled out in Kiev at a public ceremony on April 16. Based on the An-158 regional jet, itself a stretched-fuselage variant of the An-148, the An-178 features a large rear loading ramp. The

manufacturer envisages the type will be a suitable replacement for all previous Antonov tactical transport designs in its class: the An-12, An26 and An-32. Unlike its predecessors, the An178 has a pressurised cargo compartment and Antonov says the type should be far more efficient to operate. It has a glass cockpit with digital avionics and will be able to carry up to 99 soldiers, 80 paratroopers or 70 casualties – or 18,000kg (39,680lb) of cargo.

Antonov An-178 prototype UR-EXP rotates from Kiev-Gostomel Airport on its maiden flight. Antonov

Nepal Quake Response Flights Both military and civil aircraft flew aid, search and rescue teams and humanitarian support staff into Tribhuvan International Airport, Kathmandu, following the 7.8 magnitude earthquake that struck Nepal on April 25 and killed more than 8,000 people. US Air Force, RAF, Royal Australian Air Force and Royal Canadian Air Force

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C-17 Globemaster IIIs operated into Tribhuvan. USAF 36th Airlift Squadron C-130 Hercules at Yokota AB, Japan, flew in American military servicemen and the US Marine Corps deployed four MV-22B Ospreys and two UH-1Y Hueys. The RAF sent three Chinooks. On May 12 one of the UH-1Ys, with six Marines and two Nepali soldiers aboard, went missing during an aid

flight following the 7.3 magnitude tremor that hit the already stricken country. A major search effort was launched and the aircraft’s wreckage was found on May 15. Among the civilian aircraft that airlifted supplies and specialist equipment and personnel were Aviacon Zitotrans and Silk Way West Airlines Ilyushin Il-76TDs (RA-76842 and 4K-AZ100

respectively), which flew from the UK on April 30 and May 1 respectively. Aircraft from Air China (A330), El Al (747), IndiGo (A320), Kalitta Air (747), Norwegian Air Shuttle (737) and LOT Polish Airlines (787) were also involved. Airbus contributed with its A350-900 F-WWYB (msn 5) and A320-200 (9N-AKX, msn 6555) during its delivery flight to Nepal Airlines. Mark Broadbent

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Breaking News

Diamond’s Latest Twin Austrian manufacturer Diamond Aircraft has received European Aviation Safety Agency certification for its DA62. The all-composite aircraft, designed for air taxi companies, corporate operators and private pilots, went from idea to certification in threeand-half years. It is powered by two 180hp (134kW) Autro AE330 Jet-A piston engines and offers a 201kts (372km/h) maximum speed and 2,433km (1,314nm) range. It carries five passengers with a 1,999kg (4,407lb) maximum takeoff weight or seven people at 2,300kg (5,070lb). Mark Broadbent The Diamond DA62 won 12 orders in the month after its mid-April launch at AERO Friedrichshafen in Germany. Diamond Aircraft

WestJet’s Tartan 737

Canadian low-cost carrier WestJet has repainted Boeing 737-7CT (C-GQWJ, c/n 35505) with a tartan tailfin to mark the May 29 start of its next transatlantic route – between Glasgow Prestwick and Halifax, Nova Scotia. Andrew H Cline

GOT A NEWS STORY, PHOTO OR FEATURE ? AIR International is keen to hear from readers who have news stories, photos or features of modern civil and military aviation for inclusion in the magazine. Please contact AIR International at the following address [email protected]

KC-30A’s Boom Time

The Royal Australian Air Force KC-30A Multi-Role Tanker Transport undertook its first air refuelling boom contact on May 13. The three-hour sortie from RAAF Base Amberley saw the crew deploy the 17m-long Aerial Refuelling Boom System, which made 14 successful dry contacts with the refuelling receptacle of another KC-30A. Sgt Christopher Dickson/Royal Australian Air Force

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Four Killed in A400M Crash The third Airbus A400M for the Turkish Air Force crashed on its maiden flight from Seville, Spain, on May 9. Four of the six crew members were killed and the two survivors seriously injured. All the flight-test crew were Spanish nationals and employees of the manufacturer. The aircraft, EC-403 (c/n 023), callsign ‘CASA423’, took off from Seville-San Pablo Airport at 1245hrs but only 15 minutes later the crew reported a problem and it came down in an open field about a mile (1.6km) north of the airport and was destroyed by a post-crash fire. Local media said it struck an electricity pylon while attempting an emergency landing. Germany, Malaysia, Turkey and the UK grounded their A400Ms pending the cause of the crash being determined. France said it would continue to fly its six aircraft but limit their use to essential operations only. Spain’s defence minister, Pedro Morenés, announced on May 12 that his department was withdrawing permits for flight testing of production series A400Ms until more was known about the cause of the accident. On the same day, however, Airbus resumed flying with one of the prototypes, which are not affected by the grounding, ferrying an aircraft from Toulouse, France, to Seville. In a bid to maintain confidence in the aircraft, the Executive VicePresident Military Aircraft at Airbus Defence and Space, Fernando Alonso, was on board.

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Military

CH-47F Deliveries Down Under The first two Boeing CH-47F Chinooks for the Australian Army (A15-301 and A15-302) have been delivered. They were commissioned into service at RAAF Base Townsville, Queensland, on May 5. The first of seven purchased to replace six surviving CH-47Ds, they will be operated from Townsville by C Squadron of the army’s 5th Aviation Regiment. All seven will be

delivered by August. Rear Admiral Tony Dalton, Head of the Defence Materiel Organisation’s Helicopters, Tactical Unmanned Aerial Systems and Guided Weapons Division, said: “The outgoing CH-47D Chinooks have proved highly effective in Australian operations and the new CH-47F Chinook will deliver an improved cargo helicopter for Australia’s

Army. Furthermore, the project to deliver the Chinooks remains on time and on budget.” The first CH-47D disposed of, (A15-106), was delivered to the RAAF Museum at Point Cook, Victoria on April 17 and others are expected to be donated to the Museum of Army Aviation at Oakey and the Australian War Memorial in Canberra. Nigel Pittaway

Gripen Contract Brazil has signed an agreement with Saab for a $245 million armaments package. The deal, agreed on April 24, covers unspecified weapons to equip the 36 Saab Gripen NG fighters Brazil ordered last October in a $5.4 billion deal. Saab has noted the weapons contract fulfilment is subject to necessary export-control related authorisations. The company said that all conditions are expected to be met by the second half of this year. David C Isby

Presidential AW139 for Ivory Coast AgustaWestland AW139 I-EASJ (c/n 31608) at Varese-Venegono, Italy on April 13 during a test flight from the company’s nearby factory at Vergiate. The VIPconfigured helicopter carries ‘Republique de Cote d’Ivoire’ titles and is to be delivered as TU-VHY to the Ivory Coast Air Force/Presidential Flight, based at Abidjan Airport. The manufacturer announced on February 17 that four AW139s had been ordered by four unspecified West African Governments, and this helicopter is part of that order. Marco Muntz

South Korea and Peru Plan Joint Jet Trainer

South Korea and Peru are to cooperate in developing a new jet trainer. South Korean President Park Geun-hye announced on April 20 that she had signed an agreement with her Peruvian counterpart, Ollanta Humala, for the project to meet a Peruvian Air Force (FAP) requirement. “The agreement is designed to further expand mutual co-operation in high-tech aviation technology,” she said in a joint news conference during a state visit to Lima. Peru is currently assembling 16 Korean Aerospace Industries (KAI) KT-1P Wong Bee trainers after an initial four had been supplied direct from South Korea. The FAP also has a programme to acquire a light attack aircraft, for which KAI is bidding with the FA-50 Golden Eagle. Nigel Pittaway

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Refurbished Indian Ka-31s One of two refurbished Indian Navy Ka-31s, (IN-)583, is loaded onto Aviacon Zitotrans Ilyushin Il-76TD RA-78765 on April 22 for airfreighting back to India. Six of the Ka-31s supplied to India by the Kumertau Aviation Production Enterprise in 2004 were returned to the company for repairs and the remaining four are expected to be re-delivered shortly. A further three did not require refurbishment. Russian Helicopters

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NEWS REPORT

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peration Atlantic Resolve is, in the words of the US Department of Defense, “a demonstration of continued US commitment to collective security through a series of actions designed to reassure NATO allies and partners of America’s dedication to enduring peace and stability in the region, in light of the Russian intervention in Ukraine”. In support of Atlantic Resolve, the US Air Force (USAF) began six-month rotational deployments of combat aircraft, so-called theatre support packages (TSPs), to Europe earlier this year. The USAF has conducted similar TSP rotations to the Pacific region since 2004. The first TSP in Europe saw 12 A-10C Thunderbolt IIs and 300 airmen from the 355th Fighter Wing based at DavisMonthan Air Force Base, Arizona, arrive at Spangdahlem Air Base in Germany in midFebruary to form the 354th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron (EFS). In late March the A-10s forward deployed to Câmpia Turzii Air Base, Romania, where they will be based for at least 90 days.

Air National Guard Deploys

In the second TSP around 220 airmen, including 18 pilots, and 12 F-15C/D Eagles

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and with the Florida ANG since 2007. Explaining the deployment, he said: “When the request was sent out to the Guard units, timing turned out good for the Florida and Oregon units. We already planned to come to Leeuwarden to participate in exercise Frisian Flag, and the TSP deployment coincided with us coming here. “During our first three months in Europe, Florida is in the lead, while Oregon takes over in the second half. Over 90% of the personnel currently at Leeuwarden are from Florida, the rest come from ANG units in Oregon, California and Massachusetts, augmented by active duty personnel from various bases in Europe. The swap midway enables us to maintain our quick reaction alert commitments in the US. It would not be possible [for] an entire squadron [to go] away for six months.” The 159th EFS’ combined fleet consists of six F-15Cs from the 159th Fighter Ssquadron ‘Jaguars’ and six Eagles from the 123rd Fighter Squadron ‘Redhawks’ based at Portland International Airport, Oregon. The latter include an F-15D two-seater.

Crossing the Atlantic arrived at Leeuwarden Air Base in the Netherlands in late March/early April to form the 159th EFS, in the initial Air National Guard (ANG) deployment for Atlantic Resolve. Lt Col Paul Reedy, commander of the 159th EFS, told AIR International: “During our deployment we operate in a so-called ‘rainbow unit’, comprising aircraft and personnel of flying, maintenance and support units from different Air National Guard and USAFE [United States Air Forces in Europe] units. That is why you see tails from both Florida and Oregon here.” Back home, Lt Col Reedy is the commander of the 159th Fighter Squadron, part of the 125th Fighter Wing at Jacksonville International Airport, Florida. He has flown Eagles for his entire air force career, as an active duty pilot since 1999

The Eagles were originally scheduled to cross the Atlantic as a 12-ship. Due to tanker availability, this was changed to two sixships. Turbulence over the Atlantic forced the departure from Jacksonville to be delayed by 24 hours. The first six aircraft arrived on March 31, a day that saw large parts of Western Europe battered by heavy winds, with the Netherlands experiencing gusts up to 49kts. “We were very lucky that the wind died down for about ten minutes, allowing the jets to land at Leeuwarden before it went back up again,” said Lt Col Reedy. The second group of six aircraft arrived at Leeuwarden on April 1, in slightly better weather. Both groups flew from Jacksonville to Leeuwarden, with five aerial refuellings during the 8.5-hour trip. A KC-135R Stratotanker supplied tanker support during the first hours, handing over to a second KC-135 that trailed the aircraft to Canada. There, a KC10A Extender picked them up to cross the Atlantic. The KC-10 landed at RAF Mildenhall. Personnel, equipment and other cargo was airlifted to Leeuwarden between March 26 and April 3 by ten USAF C-17A Globemaster IIIs.

Training Together The Eagles stayed at Leeuwarden for five weeks before moving to the next location, Graf Ignatievo Air Base in Bulgaria, in early May. “We will probably operate from other locations as well further in time, but which is yet to be decided,” said Lt Col Reedy. Flying from Leeuwarden began on April 3, enabling the pilots to also train with their allies

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n Eagles

NEWS REPORT

over Europe Kees van der Mark reports on the first deployment to Europe of a US Air National Guard expeditionary squadron in support of Operation Atlantic Resolve

Main image: An F-15C of the 159th Fighter Squadron takes off from Leeuwarden. All images Kees van der Mark Opposite top: The 12 Florida and Oregon Air National Guard Eagles currently deployed to Europe includes F-15D 85-0132. Opposite middle: Unlike the other Eagles of Oregon ANG’s 123rd FS, F-15C 84-0031 wears its markings in full colour. The aircraft is seen here deploying its air brake as it lands back at Leeuwarden Air Base. Opposite bottom: Lt Col Paul Reedy, commander of the 159th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron.

outside the two-week Frisian Flag exercise. By the time that exercise kicked off on April 13, the F-15s had flown many missions with Leeuwarden and Volkel-based F-16s of the Royal Netherlands Air Force (RNLAF). On one occasion, German Eurofighters from Taktisches Luftwaffengeschwader 31 ‘Boelcke’ (TLG, Tactical Air Force Wing 31) at Nörvenich joined the fight as adversaries. Lt Col Reedy told AIR International more missions would be conducted after Frisian Flag. “We also plan to fly a mission with Swedish Gripens in preparation for exercise Arctic Challenge in May,” he added. When asked how flying in Europe compared with the US, the commander said: “Some of the procedures and terminology

are different, as is the environment. We fly at other flight levels than at home and have to deal with different airspaces. Over here you can very rapidly enter another country’s airspace, where other rules apply. That part is new to us. Once we start to fight it is all a lot easier, because we already work together with our NATO allies so much, for instance during Red Flag exercises.” The 159th EFS participated daily in Frisian Flag with eight aircraft in the morning wave, and six in the afternoon. “We typically send up two Eagles as part of the Red Air force, and the remainder as Blue Air. On average, we fly about a quarter of our mission as adversaries,” said Lt Col Reedy. The F-15s simulated the use of both AIM-

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9X short-range and AIM-120C medium-range air-to-air missiles. The USAF’s F-15C/D fleet is now having the APG-63(V)1 radar replaced by the APG63(V)3 active electronically scanned array (AESA) version. “Some of our jets have the AESA radar fitted. Its capability definitely gives us an advantage over other participating fighters,” said Lt Col Reedy. “The Eagle also stands out in terms of on-station time and speed. But we share a lot in common with the Eurofighter Typhoon: the ability to get high and fast, things that are very important in air combat. The Eurofighter also has a very advanced avionics suite. “We truly appreciate the support we receive from the base here,” he concluded.

AI.06.15

11

Military

Latin American First for Helibras Helibras has displayed the first helicopter in Latin America equipped with an in-flight refueling system. The aircraft, on show at the LAAD Defence and Security 2015 exhibition in April, was the latest H225M manufactured on the company’s assembly line in Itajubá under the H-XBR programme. Known in Brazilian Air Force service as the H-36, this helicopter has a night-vision-goggles-compatible cockpit, rescue hoist and rappelling equipment. It will be armed with two 7.62mm machine guns, although the Nexter SH 20 pintle-mounted 20mm automatic cannon has been selected for the Brazilian H225Ms. Fifty H225Ms were ordered by the Brazilian Government in 2008, however Helibras President Eduardo Marson admitted at LAAD that delivery schedules were being delayed due to what he called, “the new reality” of the country’s defence budget. Meanwhile, Sagem signed an agreement with Helibras at LAAD for its wholly-owned subsidiary, Optovac, to produce the flight controls on the upgraded Brazilian Panthers and the H225Ms. It will also offer support capabilities. As part of its tour of the country (see H145 Tours Brazil, May, p27), the Airbus Helicopters’ H145 twin-engine medium helicopter spent several days at LAAD in conjunction with Helibras, flying representatives of governmental

Marine Reserve AH-1Ws Three Bell AH-1W Cobra attack helicopters have reinforced Detachment A, HMML-773, the US Marine Corps Reserve unit based at Robins Air Force Base, Georgia. The detachment previously had four AH-1Ws and three new Bell UH-1Y utility helicopters. The additions arrived on April 14, 23 and 27. They all came from Marine Corps Air Station New River, North Carolina, where they are being replaced by new models. New AH-1Zs are scheduled to replace the AH-1Ws in the detachment from 2019. David C Isby

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and military agencies as well as local and overseas civilian and offshore operators. The exhibition was also the venue for the first appearance of a new Policia Federal AgustaWestland AW139, which was delivered from the company’s Philadelphia facility just days earlier. It is the first of two AW139s that will join the Policia Federal’s fleet of two Bell 412s and two Helibras HB550s. David Oliver Right: Latin American first: the H-36 on display at LAAD. David Oliver Below: The first of two AgustaWestland

AW139s for the Brazilian Policia Federal on show at LAAD. David Oliver

Mi-8AMTSh-AVs for Russia Up to 100 Mi-8AMTSh-AV tactical transport helicopters, specially modified for operations in extremely cold conditions, are to be delivered to the Russian Air Force. Additional deliveries could be made to the Federal Security Service (FSS). They will join units intended to be stationed on a permanent basis at bases within the Polar circle, supporting the Russian military and economic expansion into the natural resource-rich Arctic region. The FSS will use them for border patrol operations in the northern regions. The Russian MoD ordered development of the Mi-8AMTShAV in 2014 and the Ulan-Ude

Aviation Plant (U-UAP) is currently building an experimental batch of five helicopters, the first of which is due to begin flight testing in the second half of 2015. The Mi-8AMTSh-AV is designed for operations in temperatures as low as -50˚C by means of an improved heating system and extensive insulation, using materials proven in spaceship manufacture. It will also feature up-rated powerplants and an enhanced navigation system with an inertial gyro reference platform for autonomous operations, without using ground navigation aids and satellite navigation receivers. Alexander Mladenov

Sumatran Base to Gain More F-16s

The Indonesian Air Force (TNIAU) has announced that Roesmin Nurjadin Air Base in Pekanbaru, Riau on the island of Sumatra, will receive additional Lockheed Martin F-16 Fighting Falcons, to bolster defences in the country’s west. The TNI-AU’s Colonel Muhammad Khairil Lubis said on April 9 that five F-16s would arrive in May and a further six before the end of the year. Prior to the additional F-16s, the base was home to five F-16s and 16 BAE Systems Hawks. It is being upgraded to what is termed a ‘Type B’ base, housing two full squadrons. Nigel Pittaway

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NEWS REPORT

‘Gripen will ne

O

Saab is confident in the future potential of its flagship Gripen, as David Oliver discovers

n a recent visit to Linköping, Sweden, the home of the Saab Gripen, AIR International was told that, due to continuous upgrades and enhancements of the current Gripen C/D generation, the “Gripen will never grow old”. The latest improvement on offer to existing and future Gripen C/D customers is the MS20 configuration, which includes a comprehensive upgrade package to match Gripen E/F capability. It will be introduced this year. With production of the first Gripen E for the Swedish Air Force already under way at Linköping, up to 100 of its Gripen C/Ds will be made available for upgrades for future export customers. The MS20 enhancements require little or no modification to the airframe or engine.

Chaff and Flares From a survivability point of view, the upgrade includes a new chaff and flare dispensing system, the RUAG BOP-L, which is operated by a fully integrated chaff/flare dispenser controller in the early warning capability (EWC) suite. This allows for automatic dispensing under the control of the EWC system upon threat identification. Each dispenser is capable of handling mixed payloads – both chaff and flares – while semi-automatic and manual firing capability are supported. The new missile approach warning system is the Selex BriteCloud, an expendable active decoy, with programmable adaptive active jamming and digital radio frequency memory – an electronic method for digitally capturing and retransmitting RF signals. BriteCloud has a MIL-STD-1760 chaff/flare interface’ and internal battery power. Selex ES’s Electronic Warfare Operational Support for BriteCloud will enable customers Top: Swedish Air Force Gripen C/D fleet MS20

capability enhancements will be introduced from 2016. Saab Left: The MS20 programme will include the Meteor beyond-visual-range air-to-air missile already integrated on Gripen. David Oliver Opposite top: No modification to the Gripen C airframe or radome is required for the PS-05/A Mk4 radar. David Oliver Opposite middle: The first Gripen E for the Swedish Air Force is in production at Linköping. Saab Opposite bottom: Flight testing on a Gripen of the new Saab-funded PS-05/A Mk4 radar took place at the end of last year. David Oliver

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to program the decoys so they are optimised to identify and respond to the emitters and threats likely to be encountered during a particular mission and region. The MS20 configured Gripen will also have electronic warfare (EW) independence, a fullcoverage radar warning receiver, improved electronic counter-countermeasures and CBRN (chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear) protection for the aircrew. In addition to the Raytheon AIM-120 AMRAAM (advanced medium-range air-toair missile), the Meteor advanced beyondvisual-range air-to-air missile – produced by MBDA in partnership with Saab Dynamics – is fully integrated on the Gripen. The Meteor’s range and speed gives the pilot ‘time’, increasing survivability. Its allweather advanced active radar seeker is effective in dense EW environments while its ramjet system creates a very large no escape zone and the missile’s advanced proximity fuse maximises lethality. The IRIS-T short-range air-to-air missile, developed by Diehl BGT Defence, is already standard armament for Gripen C/ Ds – and has embedded growth potential as well as proven manoeuvrability, with excellent infrared and digital infrared counter-countermeasures and anti-missile capabilities. New air-to-surface missiles with precision targeting and passive radar modes on offer include the RBS15F ER (extended range), which builds on the proven RBS15F antiship missile. With the range extended to more than 200km (124 miles) for all profiles, the RBS15F ER has an improved target

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NEWS REPORT seeker, target handling capability, defence penetration, engagement planning and an increased launch and flight envelope. It also has an insensitive munition-compliant warhead. Further down the line, but not yet part of the MS20 package, is the Taurus KEPD 350 modular stand-off missile system. Designed for precision strikes against hardened, deeply buried targets and high-value point and area targets, mechanical tests of the weapon have been performed on the Gripen and software integration is pending.

Communications New communications systems to improve interoperability for MS20 include Selex’s newgeneration identification friend or foe, Mode 5 and S interrogators, secure voice, full Link 16 functionality, digital channel associated signalling, transmission of signalling information within the voice channel and air tasking order/air combat order capability for joint forces operations. To enhance the Gripen’s intelligence,

surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance capabilities, Rafael’s RecceLite (a day/night electro-optical reconnaissance pod available for missions 24 hours a day to provide real-time imagery collection and data transfer) is on offer in addition to the Saab Modular Reconnaissance Pod System. Human-machine interface enhancements include a collision avoidance system, reduced vertical separation minimum, image geo-referencing and Saab TERNAV, an algorithm for real-time terrain navigation. In April, Saab announced a comprehensive upgrade of the Gripen C/D’s fire-control radar, the PS-05/A Mk4, to provide a 100% increase in air-to-air and air-to-ground detection range and ability to detect very low-radar cross section targets with a new exciter/receiver and new processor and software. The radar also has additional modes for threat avoidance and navigation aid and includes missile data links for the AMRAAM and the Meteor. Recording for tactical

evaluation and maintenance is available. The PS-05/A Mk4 has dedicated modes for long-range search/low-probabilityof-intercept, all of which are designed to automatically detect and track targets and jammers. It has three levels of air target

never grow old’ tracking, enabling the pilot to prioritise targets for optimum tracking performance. Raid assessment is performed automatically and jet engine modulation/non-co-operative target recognition measurements may be selected for prioritised targets. The radar also offers several air combat modes including helmet search. For air-to-surface operations, the PS-05/A Mk4 has a search mode for ground moving targets and a sea mode for both stationary and moving targets. The track-while-scan function automatically tracks targets or jammers within the search volume. The radar’s ranging mode measures the slant range to the ground and is automatically activated when an unguided air-to-surface weapon is armed. It also provides a wide range of mapping modes, some of which can be used for target tracking, while multi-look processing is used for speckle reduction. The new radar processing unit has commercial off-the-shelf processor boards, with provision for future upgrades and large internal solid-state disks for recording. It has low maintenance costs with mean time between failures of less than 1,000 flight hours. The new radar, flight tested on a Gripen D at the end of last year, requires no modification to the airframe or radome. Compact and lightweight, the PS-05/A Mk4 can be installed on any multi-role combat aircraft, UAV, advanced jet trainer or other airborne platform. With the operational introduction of MS20 to Swedish Air Force Gripen C/Ds in 2016, and with future capabilities predicted for completion by 2025, Saab’s claim that “Gripen transcends the generations” will be a reality.

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AI.06.15

15

Military

AG-600 Amphibian Progressing Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) is making headway with the first prototype AG-600 amphibian. The rear fuselage, manufactured by Shaanxi Aircraft Corporation in Hanzhong, Shaanxi Province was completed on April 27. The 17.5m (57ft 5in)-long component will be shipped to Zhuhai, where it will join other major components on the final assembly line. The forward and centre fuselage sections have already been delivered. Director of general aviation products for AVIC, Leng Yixun, revealed at the completion ceremony that orders have been taken for 17 AG-600s, all for domestic customers and including what he described as “several private general aviation enterprises”. Two variants are planned initially, one for search and rescue and the other for firefighting. In the SAR role, it will be able to carry 50 passengers.

Armed Afghan MD530Fs

Newly delivered Afghan Air Force MD530F 218 (c/n 0218FF, ex N6091X), armed with two podded FN Herstal M3P 0.50 calibre machine guns, performing a demonstration flight for the media on April 9 at a training range outside Kabul. Six of the type, the first armed variants delivered to Afghanistan, were inducted into service on April 11. SSgt Perry Aston/US Air Force

Nigel Pittaway

Tu-160 Production May Resume Russia is to conduct a feasibility study into restarting the Sovietera production line at the Kazan S Gorbunov facility for the Tupolev Tu160 Blackjack heavy bomber. The new aircraft would include upgrades currently being incorporated in ten of the 16 Tu-160s as they are overhauled to Tu-160M standard. Two of the modernised aircraft are to be delivered in 2015 and ten by 2020. While no quantity has been officially announced for the new production run, press reports have suggested 15 is a likely size. David C Isby

Philippine Iroquois Acquisition scrapped The Philippines Government has scrapped a deal to acquire refurbished Bell UH-1D/H Iroquois helicopters from Canada after just seven have been delivered, according to local media sources. The Philippine Air Force was to acquire 21 helicopters from a joint venture between Rice Aircraft Services Inc (RASI) and Eagle Copter of Canada, but the deal has caused controversy in Manila.

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J-11D’s First Flight

The new J-11D prototype on its maiden flight. via Chinese internet

A prototype of the Shenyang J-11D has made its maiden flight. The aircraft, ‘D1101’, took to the air for the first time on April 29. It appears to be based on the earlier J-11B, but has several distinct differences, including a new, canted radome that reportedly houses a new AESA radar. The radar, which has been developed by the 14th Institute, was tested in 2014 on a modified J-11B. In addition, the airframe appears to incorporate more composite material than on previous versions, especially in its wing and tail sections. Some sources also believe it to have a radar absorbent material coating

to reduce the radar cross-section. Other features are a modernised fly-by-wire system, said to be based on that of the new J-16. In addition – even if not clearly visible on the two so far released images – it probably also has an in-flight refuelling probe on the port side of the fuselage, since the typical forward IRST/LR-dome appears to have been slightly offset to the starboard side of the windshield. The latest, slimmer wingtip pylons, similar to ones seen on the J-16, are also incorporated, suggesting the standard use of the latest PL-10 IR-guided SRAAM instead of the PL-8, which required a deeper pylon. Andreas Ruprecht

Japan Coast Guard Selects Falcon 2000 MSA Dassault’s Falcon 2000 Maritime Surveillance Aircraft (MSA) has been selected by the Japan Coast Guard to meet its future operational requirements. The decision was announced by the manufacturer on April 22, but the number of platforms to be acquired has not been disclosed. CEO Èric Trappier commented: “This acquisition comes after an international competition won by Dassault Aviation. It is a new milestone in the long-standing relationship between Dassault Aviation and the Japan Coast Guard.” He continued: “Japan has successfully operated Falcon jets for maritime surveillance and search and rescue around the Japanese archipelago since 1989 and we are extremely honoured that, once again, the Japan Coast Guard has chosen to renew its confidence in our aircraft.” Based on the Falcon 2000 LXS, the 2000 MSA has been developed in conjunction with L-3 Platform Integration and Thales. Nigel Pittaway

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F&E Aerospace F_P.indd 1

06/05/2015 11:07

NEWS REPORT

War over the N

O

ver the years, Frisian Flag has become one of the largest and most important live-flying exercises in Western Europe. This year’s event, from April 13-24, was again based on the proven concept developed in the 1990s, which has been continuously adapted to include the latest developments and lessons learned from recent conflicts. The availability of a large exercise area in Dutch, German and Danish airspace over the North Sea measuring roughly 120 by 180 nautical miles (222 by 333km) and located only a few minutes’ flying from Leeuwarden,

contributes to the exercise’s success. Although smaller in size than the Flag exercises held in North America, Frisian Flag has established itself as an attractive – and considerably less expensive – alternative, especially for European air forces.

Participants Frisian Flag usually attracts a mix of regular participants and newcomers. In the first category this year were German Eurofighters, Finnish F/A-18C Hornets and Polish F-16C/ Ds. First timers included Spanish EF-18M Hornets and Air National Guard F-15C/D Eagles (see table for details). The Air National Guard Eagles’ appearance at Frisian Flag was part of a sixmonth theatre support package deployment to Europe in support of Operation Atlantic

FRISIAN FLAG 2015 PARTICIPANTS FLYING FROM LEEUWARDEN AIR BASE Country

Type

Unit

No. available

No. in missions

Finland

F/A-18C

HävLLv 31

6

4

Germany

EF2000GS

TLG 31

10

6/8

Netherlands

F-16AM

322 TACTES Sqn

8

6

F-16AM

312 and 313 Sqn

6

4

C-130H

336 Sqn

1*

1

Learjet 36A

Skyline Aviation

1**

1

Spain

EF-18M, EF-18BM

Ala 12

5/1

4

Poland

F-16C, F-16D

32.BLT

5/1

4

UK

Falcon 20ECM

Cobham

1***

1

US

F-15C, F-15D

159th EFS

11/1

8/6

** participating April 13-14

*** participating April 15-23

Remarks

* participating April 20-23

FLYING FROM EINDHOVEN AIR BASE

18

Country

Type

Unit

No.

France

C-135FR

GRV 2/91

1

Germany

A310 MRTT

FlBschftBMVg/2.St

1

Italy

KC-767A

14° St/8° Gr

1

Netherlands

KDC-10

334 Sqn

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Resolve (see Guardian Eagles over Europe, p10-11). Frisian Flag is open to both NATO allies and Partnership for Peace (PfP) nations. The number of participating aircraft is dictated by the limited availability of parking spots at Leeuwarden, rather than the willingness of flying units to be involved in the exercise. Unlike recent Frisian Flags, F-16 units from EPAF (European Participating Air Forces) nations Belgium, Denmark and Norway were not present this year – due to operational commitments, including Middle East deployments and participation in Red Flag at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada – while Portugal cancelled its planned attendance. Nevertheless the missions, flown twice daily, still saw up to 40 aircraft taking off from Leeuwarden, sometimes within just half an hour.

Red Air The combat aircraft were either flying in the air-to-air role only (F-15s, Eurofighters and Finnish Hornets) or as multi-role assets. Participants took turns in providing jets for the less popular Red Air missions, which accounted for some 25% of all sorties flown. Airborne electronic warfare was provided by a Skyline Aviation Learjet during the first days and a Cobham Falcon 20 for the rest of the exercise. This year the number of participating tanker aircraft grew to four. They operated out of Eindhoven Air Base and also took part in the European Air-to-Air Refuelling Training (EART) which was held in parallel to Frisian Flag for the second year running.

Other Squadron, Same Exercise April 20-24 only

This year’s Frisian Flag was the first organised by 322 Squadron, taking over the TACTES (Tactical Training, Evaluation

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e North Sea

NEWS REPORT

Kees van der Mark reports from Leeuwarden Air Base on Frisian Flag, the Royal Netherlands Air Force’s annual large-scale exercise

Above: Hercules from Eindhoven-based 336 Squadron came to Leeuwarden in the second week of the exercise, enabling the fighters to train for slowmover escort and protection. All images Kees van der Mark Opposite: The Luftwaffe contributed to the missions with up to eight Eurofighters from Norvenich-based TLG 31. Below left: The number of Dutch F-16s in the exercise was limited to ten this year because another eight jets and their pilots are currently deployed to the Middle East for strikes against Islamic State (IS). Below right: The Polish Air Force took part with five F-16Cs and this F-16D, seen turning in for finals on Leeuwarden’s runway 23.

and Standardisation) role from 323 Squadron which disbanded as an F-16 unit at Leeuwarden on October 31 last year (it was re-established at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, on November 4 as the RNLAF’s first F-35A squadron). Not that the change made much difference: the majority of 323 Squadron’s personnel – and with them, their expertise – and most of its jets were transferred to 322 Squadron. Captain Marco, the Frisian Flag deputy supervisor, told AIR International: “With only three operational F-16 squadrons

C-130H Hercules. Several aspects were usually combined in one mission. “There are differences compared to previous scenarios, if only because we want to keep things interesting for pilots that took part before,” said Capt Marco. Leeuwarden’s base commander, Colonel Gerbe Verhaaf, added: “As you can imagine, we keep a sharp lookout for hotspots in the world where we might get deployed. We tailor the exercise to these conflicts. Plus the jets regularly get new weapons and software updates.

Other non-flying participants in Frisian Flag 2015 included the German Luftwaffe’s Deployable Command and Reporting Centre ‘Red Hawk’ – returning after its 2013 debut – and the Dutch tri-service National Datalink Management Cell. The latter was responsible for controlling and co-ordinating the Link 16 network used by most of the participants. Both units were present at Leeuwarden throughout the exercise. RNLA special forces joint tactical air controllers meanwhile operated in Germany.

left in our country, we work together closely in the F-16 community. The patches we wear are different, but the work is the same.” The daily scenarios differed from previous Frisian Flag exercises because new tactics and procedures keep being implemented, but the set-up was largely similar. Missions were either offensive counter air, including time-sensitive missions, or defensive counter air. They were flown under a high-threat level and included air defence, elimination of static and dynamic targets, protection of high-value air assets like tanker aircraft and sometimes also escort and protection of a slow-moving

Meanwhile new threats emerge around the world. We take all of these into account when writing the scenarios.”

Frisian Flag Future

Realism Adding to the realism of Frisian Flag is the use of ground-based threat systems at various locations in the exercise area, mainly in Germany. They included German Luftwaffe SA-6 Gainful, SA-8 Gecko and Roland surface-to-air missile systems, Royal Netherlands Army (RNLA)-operated NASAMS (Norwegian Advanced Surfaceto-Air Missile System) and inflatable decoy targets combined with ‘Smokey SAMs’.

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Looking ahead, Col Gerbe Verhaaf said: “We’ll keep organising this exercise at Leeuwarden once we fly the F-35, which should be within five years from now, as we’ll still need to practise air operations with our allies. “The stricter security levels that come along with the F-35 will not affect the way we plan, brief, execute and debrief Frisian Flag missions. With both NATO and PfP nations in the exercise, we’re already used to working with different security levels anyway.”

AI.06.15

19

Military

UK Coast Guard AW189s Delayed

One of the three AW189s used by Bristow Helicopters at Norwich Airport, Norfolk, for operational evaluation lands at Brighton, East Sussex, on May 13. The helicopter carried out a demonstration at the Tangent Link Search and Rescue (SAR) Conference there, after undergoing fuel burn tests at Royal Naval Air Station Yeovilton, Somerset. On the previous day it was revealed by the Maritime Coastguard Agency at the conference that deliveries of the first four AW189s are being delayed because of de-icing issues encountered during the SAR certification process. Alan Warnes

Final Phrog Squadron Transitions to Osprey The last active-duty US Marine Corps squadron to fly the Boeing Vertol CH-46E Sea Knight or ‘Phrog’, HMMT-164 at

Camp Pendleton, California has transitioned to the Boeing-Bell MV-22B Osprey. All but two of the squadron’s 15 helicopters

Belarussian Yak-130s

will go into storage at the AMARG facility st Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona. The remaining pair will go to

museums. The last reserve force CH-46E squadron, HMM774, is due to transition later this year. David C Isby

US Marine Corps CH-53Es Deploy to Darwin

All four of the Belarussian Air Force’s Yak-130s at their induction ceremony on April 27 at the 116th Attack Air Base at Lida. Belarus Ministry of Defence

Russian aircraft manufacturer Irkut Corp has delivered four Yakovlev Yak-130 jet trainers ordered by the Belarussian MoD. The first, wearing the serial ‘71’ (c/n 130.11.00.1001), was transported on April 14 in a partially disassembled state by an Il-76MD transport aircraft from Irkutsk to the 116th Attack Air Base at Lida in Belarus. The other three had all been delivered by April 27, when an induction ceremony was held for the type. Aircraft ‘71’ took to the air for the first time on February 27, with ‘72’ following on March 15, ‘73’ on

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March 27 and ‘74’ on April 6. The newly-delivered Yak-130s will be operated in the advanced training role, supplementing and eventually replacing the L-39Cs currently used, which were procured secondhand from Ukraine in 2005-2006. During the Yak-130 acceptance ceremony, Air Force Commanderin-Chief, Maj Gen Oleg Dvigalev, said there are plans to order four more. He also indicated that further Yak-130 orders are likely to be placed after 2020, when the service life of the current L-39C fleet is due to expire. Alexander Mladenov

US Marine Corps CH-53E BuNo 161532 from Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 463 (HMH-463) ‘Pegasus’ being unloaded on April 13 from 60th Air Mobility Wing C-5M Super Galaxy 85-0010 at RAAF Base Darwin, Northern Territory. The helicopter was one of two from HMH-463 picked up by the C-5M in Hawaii and transported to Australia to support the fourth rotation of the Marine Rotational Force – Darwin (MRF-D) over the next six months. They will be based at Darwin for the duration.

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Pratt & Whitney F_P.indd 1

15/05/2015 15:44

Tankers Training Together

NEWS REPORT

Kees van der Mark reports on EART15, the second European Air Refuelling Training exercise, involving tankers from four countries

T

he European Defence Agency (EDA) started developing the European Air Refuelling Training (EART) programme two years ago in co-operation with the seven-nation European Air Transport Command (EATC), headquartered at Eindhoven Air Base, and the Royal Netherlands Air Force (RNLAF). EART is one of the results of the EDA’s acknowledgement of a tanker capability gap and lack of interoperability in Europe. The air campaign over Kosovo in 1999 and Operation Unified Protector (OUP) over Libya in 2011 proved that AAR assets are essential as force multipliers. In 2012, EU ministers of defence agreed that further development of European air-to-air refuelling (AAR) capability should be given priority.

Lessons Learned RNLAF KDC-10 pilot Major Fred Frohlich, project officer for EART15, told AIR International: “During OUP it became clear that tanker crews and planners had to operate in scenarios they are not exposed to during regular peacetime AAR operations.

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There were two lessons learned from it. “The first is that there is a lack of AARfocused exercises where both tanker crews and logistics personnel can familiarise themselves with scenarios, but also – and more importantly – keep proficient in areas other than those practised during daily AAR operations. “Secondly, the need was identified to build up knowledge of the different characteristics of European tanker aircraft in general.” EART was held for the first time last year. It was no coincidence the exercise was run in parallel with the RNLAF’s annual Frisian Flag (see War over the North Sea, p18-19). With dozens of combat aircraft of several types training in a realistic scenario over two weeks, there was ample opportunity to train AAR operators together. Tankers had already supported Frisian Flag in previous years, in particular Dutch KDC-10s, German A310 MRTTs (Multi-Role Tanker Transports) and US Air Forces in Europe KC-135Rs, all flying from their home bases. “We still support Frisian Flag, but now we also have our own training,” said Maj Frohlich. EART includes

planning, briefing, executing and debriefing multi-national tanker training and tanker operations in large-scale combined air operations packages in a realistic scenario; practising tanker cell operations and tankerto-tanker rendezvous procedures; and training both aircrews and logistics personnel in quick turnarounds. During EART, crews have the unique opportunity to gain or regain their qualifications in a short period of time and within a realistic scenario. Maj Frohlich added: “This is the second year we have combined EART with Frisian Flag. But in the future, this exercise could also be held in another country and be linked to another exercise.”

Tanker Ops Last year tankers from three nations operated out of the deployed operating base, Eindhoven, for the first time. The Dutch airfield is home to two McDonnell Douglas KDC-10 tanker/transports of 334 Squadron. This year the RNLAF again made one available for both exercises; the second was busy with other operational commitments, including the support of two major international operations in the Middle East and Africa that Dutch forces are currently involved in.

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s

NEWS REPORT

Three other tankers took part in EART15. The German Luftwaffe sent an Airbus A310-304 MRTT operated by the 2.Lufttransportstaffel (air transport squadron) of the Flugbereitschaft des Bundesministeriums der Verteidigung (FlBschft BMVg, the Special Air Mission Wing) based at Köln-Wahn. As last year, the Italian Air Force joined EART in the second week, sending one of its Pratica di Mare-based Boeing KC767As from the 14° Stormo’s (14th Wing’s) 8° Gruppo (squadron). And taking part for the first time was a French Armée de l’Air Boeing C-135FR from Groupe de Ravitaillement en Vol 2/91 (air refuelling group) ‘Bretagne’, based at BA125 Istres-Le Tubé. Both this particular C-135FR and the KC-767A are fitted with a boom under the rear fuselage as well as two hose-and-drogue pods under the wingtips, enabling them to use either system – some other French tankers only have a single hose-and-drogue basked fitted to the refuelling boom. The KDC-10 is fitted with the boom system while the A310 MRTT has two hose-and-drogue pods but lacks a boom. During EART15, the tankers operated at 15,000-30,000ft (4,572-9,144m) in dedicated AAR tracks at the edges of the Frisian Flag exercise area: SHELL, located west of the Dutch isles, and ESSO, north of the exercise area off the Danish west coast. Additional tanker-to-tanker training, with the KC-767A practising hook ups with either

the KDC-10 or the C-135FR, was carried out in a track over northern Germany. Operating form Eindhoven to support Frisian Flag has its advantages, said Maj Frohlich. “It takes us only 20 minutes to fly to the refuelling tracks, which is nice because we can quickly respond if anything changes in the planning.” While the French tanker flew a single mission per day, the other three took to the air twice daily to support both the morning and afternoon waves in Frisian Flag. “We only have about one-and-a-half hours in between the missions to turn around three aircraft, which is particularly challenging for the ground crews,” noted Maj Frohlich.

Gaining Clearances Clearances are another important issue for European AAR operations. “This is also one of the lessons learned from OUP,” said Captain Eric van Osch, a KDC-10 flight engineer and former boom operator working in the EATC Rules and Regulation Office. “Not all tankers are allowed to refuel other nations’ aircraft; you need to have the proper clearances first. These will only be given after conducting a series of trial flights. Without the clearances you get in situations where there are more tankers in the air than necessary. That’s what happened during OUP.” Although progress is being made in gaining additional clearances, the problem was evident during EART15 as well. The KC-767A, for instance, was only cleared to

refuel the Hornets participating in Frisian Flag, but not the German Eurofighters, Dutch and Polish F-16s or the Air National Guard F-15s. The latter were only allowed to refuel from the C-135FR, the sole tanker certified to refuel all participating combat aircraft in the exercise. French Lieutenant Colonel Franck Bottero, a former commander of GRV 2/91 now working at the EATC, said: “We’ve been involved in many international and national air campaigns and put a lot of effort in getting all the necessary clearances for the C-135.” In coming years, EART aims to further harmonise AAR concepts, academics and specific AAR training in the European context. This includes developing basic and advanced academic courses and holding an air refuelling symposium. Meanwhile, the clearance trials continue to improve interoperability in Europe and beyond during international operations.

Top right: This Luftwaffe A310 MRTT supported Frisian Flag exercises in the past, and flew from Eindhoven as part of EART for the second time. All images author unless stated Top left: Dutch F-16Cs flying beside the KDC-10 in the exercise. The Dutch

tanker was cleared to refuel Dutch and Polish F-16s – but not Air National Guard F-15s which also took part in Frisian Flag. Marco de Groot Above right: Ground crews had limited time to turn around three large tanker aircraft, including refuelling this KDC-10. Main image: The German A310 MRTT at Eindhoven’s Apron West, with the French C-135FR and Italian KC-767A parked behind.

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NEWS COLUMN

Battles, Transfe by Robert F Dorr A battle is under way between the Republican-controlled Congress and the Democratic administration over funding for key weapons including the A-10 Thunderbolt II, or Warthog, attack aircraft. When this issue went to press, the House of Representatives Armed Services Committee acted to protect weapons programmes and authorise extra war funding. The White House was threatening to veto the House committee’s proposed $495.9 billion defence budget and the $89.2 billion overseas contingency operations fund. The legislation would keep the A-10, fund more Army National Guard helicopters and underwrite fighters for the US Navy and US Marine Corps. Lawmakers would give the navy 12 F/A-18E/F Super Hornets it isn’t requesting. This development coincided with news of an impending $3 billion order from Kuwait for Super Hornets. The A-10 may be the most newsworthy item in the disputed US budget plan. Equally important is funding for UH-60M Black Hawk helicopters for the Air National Guard that were not requested by the White House. Neither side is disputing a new order for 22 UH-60Ms that was announced on March 23 using funds that have already been appropriated – but lawmakers want to add eight new-build UH-60Ms plus an unspecified number of older UH-60As to be upgraded to M-model status. The bill would also block an air force plan to retire half its fleet – seven of 15 aircraft – of EC-130H Compass Call derivatives of the venerable Hercules, adding $48 million to keep the unique electronic warfare aircraft. The EC-130H is essentially a flying command centre that jams hostile communications. The retirement scheme was hatched after recent upgrades to the EC-130H, construction

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of a new training centre for the 55th Electronic Control Group at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona, and a long-term evaluation that cleared the ageing airframes of structural reliability concerns.

Lancer Transfer In a move that marks a major change in force structure, the US Air Force is transferring its B-1B Lancer fleet from Air Combat Command to Global Strike Command. The latter was established to oversee what the air force calls its nuclear enterprise – B-2 Spirit and B-52 Stratofortress bombers and intercontinental ballistic missiles, including nuclear munitions. The B-1B is the only one of the three bombers that does not have a nuclear mission. The move is effective from October 1. The United States has 63 B-1Bs, 20 B-2s and 76 B-52Hs. Global Strike Command will also gain the future Long Range Strike Bomber (LRS-B). Under the realignment, the 12th Air Force’s 7th Bomb Wing at Dyess Air Force Base, Texas, and the 28th Bomb Wing at Ellsworth Air Force Base, South Dakota, will continue to operate the B-1B. With Global Strike Command now expanding to 30,000 airmen, its commander’s slot will be elevated from three- to four-star status. General Robin Rand, the incoming commander, already held the higher rank in his former position as head of Air Education and Training Command. Boeing said in a May press release that the marginally supersonic B-1B recently deployed “a record number of precision-guided bombs during

a six-month deployment” in operations against Islamic State (IS). The company said it could not provide a number of bombs or any other details. In a separate release, Boeing said it’s making solid progress on the Integrated Battle Station (IBS) upgrade to the B-1B. “When I first flew the B-1 in 1997, I recall debriefing using a hand-held tape recorder,” a pilot is quoted in the release, “whereas today you go in the cockpit and have multiple screens with digital displays.” The IBS mod will also make it unnecessary for combat systems officers aboard the B-1B to perform some of their targeting duties using laptop computers. US Air Force officers continue to note quiet progress with the Long Range Strike Bomber and say LRS-B is needed even if reliance on nuclear weapons declines. “The ability of the US Air Force is to hold at risk any target in the world in a matter of hours,” Major General Garrett Harencak, assistant chief of staff for nuclear deterrence, told a House panel.

Tanker Trouble The KC-46A Pegasus air refuelling tanker, a variant of the Boeing 767-200 airliner, is behind schedule but will remain on budget thanks to a fixed-price contract. While awaiting a longdelayed first flight, the Pentagon announced candidate bases to host Reserve-led KC-46As. Tinker Air Force Base Oklahoma, Seymour-Johnson Air Force Base, North Carolina, Westover Air Reserve Base, Massachusetts, and Grissom Air Reserve Base, Indiana, were selected for the KC-46As,

which will begin arriving at the first Air Force Reserve-led mobility wing in 2019.

IS On May 11, public affairs experts in the Pentagon touted the fact that the United States and its partner nations had been conducting air strikes on Islamic State, or IS, for nine months. Just weeks earlier, General Lloyd Austin, head of US Central Command, told Congress: “The enemy is now in a ‘defensive crouch’ and is unable to conduct major operations.”

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NEWS COLUMN

fers & Troubles On October 1, 2015 all US Air Force combat-coded B-1B Lancer bombers will be assigned to Global Strike Command, having transferred from Air Combat Command. SSgt Siuta Ikaway/US Air Force

Only six months after Pearl Harbor, the Battle of Midway was a colossal defeat for the enemy, but at the nine-month point against IS — and in spite of Austin’s groundless optimism — the militants were racking up new victories on the ground in Libya, Syria and Iraq. President Barack Obama’s pledge to “degrade and destroy” IS remained unfulfilled. American aircraft from land and sea carried out about 80% of the 2,800 sorties flown as of May 11. This nine-month total is about equivalent to three days of Operation Desert Storm in 1991.

Among warplanes in the fight is the F-22 Raptor, which has functioned as a fighter, a fighter-bomber and an air battle manager. Although the Pentagon no longer advertises the F-22’s air-to-ground capabilities, one of its jobs has been to drop bombs. Air Combat Command boss General Hawk Carlisle told reporters the F-22 “has performed fantastically”. It has demonstrated that it can ‘rerole’ in the middle of a sortie, changing from an escort to using its advanced sensors and avionics to help control other aircraft and change

targets, Carlisle added. But an F-22 pilot is reliant on voice radio: the Raptor lacks data link connectivity with others in the battlespace. The RQ-4B Block 20 Global Hawk is part of the anti-IS operations – a lieutenant colonel in a post on the air force website saying it is “primarily a data and communications bridging node. It can support multiple bridges simultaneously across multiple radio types. We like to call it ‘Wi-Fi in the sky.” Critics, including James Walker of the nonpartisan Ralston Institute, pointed

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out that the strikes appear to have neutralised no significant targets and halted no advances on the ground. “When you drop a satelliteguided munition on a truck, the bomb costs more than the truck,” Walker told AIR International. “If you do that long enough, you lose.” A former US Air Force chief of staff, retired General Michael Moseley, told AIR International the strikes “illustrate the value of the F-22” but “we continue to need greater emphasis on the modernisation and recapitalisation of the Air Force”.

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NEWS REPORT

Still Strong Des Sequestration

The US goo rep

I

t’s difficult to attend any United States military convention, conference or similar event these days without the spectre of sequestration hanging over the proceedings. If its cuts continue beyond 2016, the US Army’s standing force could drop to around 420,000 personnel – the fewest soldiers since before World War Two. While still facing sizeable reductions of its own, the US Army’s aviation branch is by contrast still favoured when it comes to funding priorities – as highlighted at this year’s Army Aviation Association of America (‘Quad-A’ for short) Mission Solutions Summit, held in March at the Gaylord Opry Convention Center in Nashville, Tennessee. During the event, Heidi Shyu, the Acting Assistant Secretary of the Army

(Acquisition, Logistics and Technology), said the research, development and acquisition budget for army aviation in FY16 would be $6 billion. That’s nearly a quarter share of the total of $23.1 billion allocated in the Presidential budget request for the whole of the army. This is in spite of the US Army currently having one of the most modern, wellequipped forces in the world. The cancellation of the first armed scout helicopter proposal in 2004, the BoeingSikorsky RAH-66 Comanche, saw to that. Billions of dollars in funds allocated for the acquisition of the Comanche were, over the next few years, instead ploughed into buying hundreds of new aircraft and modernising hundreds more. Building on this base, the army’s leadership is trying to further modernise its four key helicopters to the latest standards while losing some of its older airframes that have high sustainment costs.

Restructuring

Above: Glass cockpit symbology combined with touchscreen controls feature in the Bell Helicopter

V-280 replica’s futuristic concept cockpit.

Above middle: Any future touchscreen would need to have independently isolated sections to enable it

to continue working in the event of combat damage.

Top: The UH-72A Lakota’s cockpit. Main Image: Airbus Helicopters displayed its UH-72A Lakota during the Quad-A exhibition. All photos Andrew Drwiega

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A programme devised by army aviation’s senior leaders, the Aviation Restructure Initiative (ARI), has been put in place to divest the force of its oldest and costliest aircraft to maintain, such as the Bell Helicopter OH-58D Kiowa Warrior and the TH-67 Creek training aircraft. Brigadier General Frank Muth, director of the army’s Quadrennial Defense Review, said at the end of last year the vision of the ARI plan was to stop “putting billions [of dollars] into Kiowa Warrior with only a marginal improvement”, and instead aim to preserve the newest helicopters and ensure their modernisation. This meant creating an all-Boeing AH-64E Apache force, upgrading Boeing CH47 Chinooks from ’D to ’F models and ensuring all the Sikorsky UH-60s had digital cockpits – either with new-buy UH60Ms or the cheaper option of upgrading part of the older fleet from UH-60Ls to UH-60Vs. Army aviation has now received more than 100 new AH-64Es, some of which have already seen action in Afghanistan. The full total of AH-64Es remains at 690. Now replacing the OH-58D Kiowa Warriors, the Apaches are also being teamed with unmanned systems including the RQ-7 Shadow and MQ-1C Gray Eagle, which involves the formation of specialist manned-unmanned attack

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NEWS REPORT

espite n The modernisation of existing US Army types remains good business for industry, reports Andrew Drwiega

reconnaissance units. According to Boeing, three AH-64Es have now been fitted with equipment to enable manned-unmanned operations. The 3-101st Attack Reconnaissance Battalion at Fort Campbell on the Kentucky/Tennessee border is currently in training with the helicopters. The fifth and sixth ’E model units will be fielded at Fort Hood, Texas. Aside from further modernisation of the CH-47 Chinook and UH-60 fleets to alldigital cockpits, with the TH-67 Creek going out of service the twin-engine, digitallyequipped Airbus Helicopters UH-72A Lakota is seen as the logical replacement as the training aircraft at Fort Rucker in Alabama. During Quad-A, Airbus Group’s UH-72A Lakota programme manager John Burke said 187 UH-72As would be used at Ft Rucker training centre, of which 106 would be new and 81 would be repurposed from the active force. The training aircraft would be modified by the addition of a middle observer seat and skid shoes and have any unnecessary equipment removed. The decision to take the Lakota into the training school, Burke added, meant the total numbers of the type to be delivered had increased from 352 to 427. This would leave only 28 in the regular army.

Future Forces Also on show at Quad-A was Bell Helicopter’s futuristic-looking glass cockpit concept for its V-280 Future Vertical Lift (FVL) tiltrotor. While only intended as a

technology demonstrator (the FVL will not come into service until at least the early 2030s), the cockpit was meant to show what might be possible. It comprised the usual flight symbology of any glass cockpit, but the addition of a touchscreen feature means pilots could pass data screens back and forward between them as required. Such a screen would have to be resistant to combat damage, with sections capable of being independently isolated to enable continued working. Other interactive elements portrayed degraded visual environment symbology as well as live sensor feeds showing video and onboard weapons status (with interactive selection and firing on-screen). Another option would be to have the data presented on the cockpit windshield or into the crew visors, although this might be more of a distraction than a help. The V-280 scale replica on the exhibition floor was also fitted with rails for weapons that could be carried under the wing. I was fleetingly reminded of the basic bomb rack used by the Short Sunderland flying-boat to run out and deploy depth charges; however the potency of the V-280 would be backed by railed Hellfire missiles and gun pods. These could be forward-firing and would not interfere with the large diameter rotor. With newer manufacturing techniques and the use of composites, there is a good deal more flexibility in the V-280 design than when the V-22 was conceived 25 years ago. A Bell spokesman said this

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enabled the company to design the V-280 much more to the army’s specifications and requirements. “We have capitalised on lessons learned from the V-22 and inserted current technologies so that we can decrease manufacturing costs and increase control power. The engines are static – unlike the V-22 where they rotate upwards with the nacelle – which makes maintenance easier: we can change engine and gearbox much more easily now,” the spokesman told AIR International. Meanwhile the cabin is larger than a standard Black Hawk’s, which makes a difference in troop-carrying capacity and for specialist missions such as medevac. Bell Helicopter also brought a V-280 simulator to Quad-A to give army pilots an insight into the capabilities the US Marine Corps and US Air Force already know through their experiences with the MV-22B and CV-22 respectively. The simulator demonstrated the V-280’s low-speed agility, the use of the fly-by-wire controls and more specific aspects such as the flexibility of the translational rate command. Both Bell Helicopter and the SikorskyBoeing partnership, with their SB-1 Defiant compound co-axial helicopter, are racing to prepare their aircraft for the army’s Joint Multi Role Technology Demonstration in 2017. While that event will not be a fly-off for the eventual selection of the FVL platform, first impressions will count.

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NEWS COLUMN

Unmanned Air Refuelli Final Class and the Gro by Rick Burgess The US Navy’s last aviators to earn their wings in the T-34 aircraft flew the type’s final training mission in late April, ending 60 years of service for the type in Naval Air Training Command. US Navy Ensign James Butz and Marine Corps 1stLt William Parker flew the last training mission, a formation flight, on April 28, 2015, landing at Naval Air Station Corpus Christi, Texas, home of the last training squadron to operate the T-34C VT-28 ‘Rangers’. The piston engine T-34B Mentor entered service in 1955 and was replaced by the more advanced turboprop T-34C Turbomentor in 1977 when it began to succeed the T-34B and the T-28 Trojan. Training Squadron 28 will continue its role using the new T-6B Texan II. The US Navy will still use the T-34C for midshipman orientation flights this summer as well as other utility assignments, such as site assessments. A few T-34Cs will remain in service as range spotting aircraft used by strike fighter fleet replacement squadrons.

What Next for the X-47B? Now the X-47B Unmanned Combat Aerial System Demonstrator (UCAS-D) has successfully completed an air refuelling demonstration, the future of the navy’s two X-47B air vehicles is uncertain. The navy may retire the aircraft or store them for future use in some capacity, possibly in the development of the Unmanned Carrier-Launched Air Surveillance and Strike (UCLASS) system programme. On April 22, the second X-47B BuNo 168064/’502’ (c/n AV-2) colloquially referred to as Salty Dog 502, successfully took on 4,000 pounds of jet fuel

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from an Omega Air Boeing 707 tanker in air refuelling trials over Chesapeake Bay. The air refuelling trial concluded the planned test programme for the X-47B, which included five carrier demonstrations. In May 2013 X-47B BuNo 168063/’501’ (c/n AV-1) completed the first carrierbased catapult launch aboard USS George Bush (CVN 77), followed by the first arrested landing in July. Last August, X-47B AV-1 conducted local carrier operations in conjunction with F/A-18 Hornet strike fighters aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71). Capt Beau Duarte, the navy’s Unmanned Carrier Aviation programme manager, speaking to reporters in an April 23 teleconference, said the X-47B, designed and built by Northrop Grumman, has “met its original objectives of the UCAS-D programme, so now we are looking at our options giving the remaining funding available and what we can accomplish with the X-47 demonstrator vehicles. To conduct further operations, particularly with regard to

UCLASS risk reduction, would require some modifications to the vehicle to make it more UCLASS-like in architecture. “We’re looking at potential courses of action that would be cost-effective,” Duarte said. “The more UCLASS-like X-47B gets, the greater the potential implication for the competitive field for UCLASS, given that Northrop Grumman is a competitor. So, whatever we do going forward with the X-47, we would want to ensure a robust and level competitive field, so we would probably have to share some data if we did further operations. We need to balance that with the potential available resources. We’re looking at a wide range of activities, ranging from museums to further operations, either on the ground or in flight.” Duarte said that, as a demonstrator, the X-47B has “a different architecture from UCLASS, a different landing system, a different control station, no mission sensors, and different data links. It was never

intended to directly transition to an operational phase. We are pulling lessons learned in the realm of a digitized carrier environment, a deck-handling solution, precision navigation, and now aerial refuelling. We will pull these concepts and technologies and some methodologies directly into UCLASS.” The navy has not yet finalised the requirements for the UCLASS, which has attracted intense congressional interest in the navy getting the requirements right from the beginning. The Department of Defense is conducting a strategic portfolio review, scheduled for completion this summer, of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance requirements, that will inform the future of the UCLASS programme.

Quarterback Growler The navy’s concept of Advanced Growler – an expansion of capability using an array of

technologies – is working toward an ability to passively identify and develop targetquality tracks. Leading members of the EA-18G industry team talked to reporters about the Advanced Growler at the 2015 Sea-AirSpace Exposition. Speaking on April 13 at the National Harbor, Maryland event were: Dan Gillian, Boeing’s vice president for F/A18 and EA-18G programmes; John Thompson, Northrop

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NEWS COLUMN

elling, T-34 Completes Growler ‘Quarterback’

Above & Opposite: Unmanned Combat Aerial System Demonstrator X-47B BuNo 168064/’502’ completed the first air-refuelling with a manned tanker on April 22. Naval Air Systems Command

Grumman’s director for business development, Advanced Systems Development; and John Ghosh, F/A-18 and EA-18G business development manager for Raytheon Space and Airborne Systems. Gillian described the Advanced Growler as a series of upgrades that include key systems such as the Next Generation Jammer and upgrades to the ALQ-218 receiver, and development of a new ability to move target data on and off the platform, known as Tactical Targeting Network Technology (TTNT). He described the Advanced Growler as the “sensor quarterback for the strike packages going forward”, and “the navy’s plan to take the Growler forward.” Ghosh added the Next Generation Jammer (NGJ), which will undergo a pod flight demonstration test later this year, will be like “going from a rotary phone to an iPhone 15”, when compared with the Growler’s current ALQ-99 jamming pod. The NGJ will feature two pods one with midband and the other with high-

band electronic attack capability (low-band capability is not yet funded). The NGJ is scheduled to reach initial operational capability in 2021. Thompson described a scenario where three EA-18Gs, using the ALQ-218, would be able to passively and precisely target a contact and provide targeting information off board the Growler to a strike package. One lead Growler, operating as master station with two slave Growlers, would be able to formulate the target position and through the TTNT could transmit target-quality positioning data to strike aircraft. The three Growlers would use a time difference of arrival algorithm for the isochrones — lines connecting all points having the same time delay — to calculate precisely the target track. The TTNT is part of the Integrated Capability Package 3 evolutionary upgrade to the Super Hornet and Growler, which concentrates on antisurface capabilities and is evolving with the name Navy Integrated Fire Control-Counter Surface capability. Gillian said the US Navy

would demonstrate key elements of the new capability later this year in a fleet experiment called FLEX 15. Thompson and Gillian said that even before the Advanced Growler concept technologies mature, there is a tremendous level of tactical agility with the EA-18G, the Super Hornet and the E-2D Advanced Hawkeye airborne early warning aircraft. “The future threat is driving us to do this,” said Larry Bert, domestic tactical air business development director for Boeing, noting that advanced emitters are very mobile with a low probability of intercept. Thompson also discussed the concept of using conformal fuel tanks (CFTs), an idea originally developed under the Advanced Super Hornet industry-led initiative, highlighting that CFTs could give an EA-18G Growler more range with less drag, and free-up two weapons pylons currently used for external fuel tanks. 

MH-60 Weapons The navy is conducting capability tests of the MH-

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60R Seahawk maritime strike helicopter to carry and fire the AGM-114L Longbow Hellfire missile. Capt Craig Grubb, the navy’s H-60 programme manager, talked about test developments on April 14 at the Sea-Air-Space Exposition in National Harbor, Maryland. He told reporters that captive-carriage and livefire events for the missile with the MH-60R were ongoing and used tracks generated by the helicopter’s APS-153 radar to target missiles. Last month, the navy declared initial operational capability of the LAU-61G/A Digital Rocket Launcher (DRL), which enables the MH-60R to fire the Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System (APKWS). The DRL is already operational on the MH60S, and cleared to carry either the APKWS or 2.75mm Hydra 70 rockets, but not a mixed load of both types. However, the navy is looking at modifications to enable a DRL to carry mixed loads of the rockets. Work is also under way on the MH-60S Helmet Display and Tracking system to calculate a constantly computed impact point that is shown on a headup display.  As part of the US Navy’s Littoral Combat Ship mine countermeasures mission package, the MH-60S is equipped with the Northrop Grumman AN/AES-1 Airborne Laser Mine Detection System, first deployed last summer, and the Raytheon AN/ASQ-235 Airborne Mine Neutralisation System, which will undergo technical and operational evaluation this summer. In May 2013, the M197 20mm fixed forward firing gun, known as the Threat Response Weapon, was deployed on the MH-60S for the first time giving it the necessary firepower to take-out fast attack craft. The gun is the same type deployed on the US Marine Corps’ AH1W and AH-1Z attack helicopters.

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Centenary Chinook

Chinook HC4 ZA712 after being unveiled in centenary markings at RAF Odiham on May 14. Ian Harding

The Royal Air Force’s No 18 (Bomber) Squadron, based at RAF Odiham in Hampshire, has painted one of its Chinook HC4s, ZA712, in a special scheme to mark the unit’s 100th anniversary. The striking new colours were unveiled on May 14 at Odiham, where a centenary parade was held the following day. The squadron was formed at RAF Northolt on May 1, 1915.

The impressive markings were designed by Flight Lieutenant Andy Donovan who is currently converting to the Chinook HC4. The planning for the new look began six months ago when the aircraft, ZA712, was still serving in Afghanistan. Flt Lt Donovan said: “We wanted to tell a story from 1915 through to 2015. The last time we had applied a scheme like this was 25 years ago for the

Japanese Technology Demonstrator Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) Advanced Technology Demonstrator-X (ATD-X) aircraft is scheduled to make its first flight this summer. It had originally been intended to fly in March 2015 but has been delayed by engine control

software issues. The ATD-X started ground testing in 2014. It is being used to demonstrate technologies intended for the F-3 stealth fighter design that is planned for production in the 2027 timeframe. David C Isby

squadron’s 75th anniversary.” The unit has a long and distinguished history during which it has served in many major global conflicts. These include both World Wars, the Suez crisis, Falklands, Bosnia, Kosovo, Sierra Leone, Iraq and most recently Afghanistan. The scheme itself transitions through the unit’s history from front to back, with markings relating to 1915 at the front and moving

Joint Plan for Heavy-Lift Helicopter Russia and China are to develop an Advanced Heavy Lift (AHL) helicopter. A framework agreement on the joint project was signed on May 8 between Aviation Industries of China and Russian Helicopters.

SH-60B Sundown Ceremony

US Navy SH-60B Seahawk BuNo 161554 seen on May 11 at Naval Air Station North Island, California, painted in a retro colour scheme to mark final retirement of this variant. On the same day the base held a sundown ceremony to mark the end of the type’s 30 years of service. The last active-duty SH-60B detachment, which was from Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron 49 at North Island, returned from a seven-month deployment aboard the guided-missile frigate USS Gary (FFG 51) to the US 4th and 3rd Fleet areas of operation on April 17. The type is being replaced by the MH-60R. Kevin Whitehead

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on to the present day at the rear, including a tribute to the black and red scheme worn by the 75th anniversary Chinook. The forward fuselage carries the squadron motto ‘Animo et Fide’ meaning ‘with courage and faith’. The aircraft’s rear pylon features the red ‘Pegasus’ (from Greek mythology) from the squadron badge, ‘100 YEARS 1915-2015’ titles plus the number 18.

The AHL will have a take-off weight of 38 tons, an internal cargo capacity of 10 tons or a 15 ton underslung load. Russian Helicopters said preliminary technical specifications for the type had been drawn up. Nigel Pittaway

Swiss F-5 Replacement Switzerland is to re-launch its programme to acquire a new fighter aircraft. The decision to begin evaluating possible replacements for its F-5E/F fleet was announced on April 20 by defence minister Ueli Maurer. The move follows the discovery of structural cracks in 16 of its 32 F-5E/ Fs, ten of which will be retired and six overhauled and returned to service. The new evaluation will reportedly include the aircraft selected in the previous 2010-2011 competition, the Saab JAS39 NG Gripen (procurement of which was ultimately rejected by Swiss voters during a referendum), the Rafale and an unspecified US-designed aircraft, likely to be the Boeing F/A18E/F Super Hornet. David C Isby

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ADVERTORIAL

Hydromash new production line

Hydromash ready for ambitious MC21 programme Nizhniy Novgorod-based Hydromash JSC is a globally recognised Russian enterprise, specialising in the design, manufacture and testing of undercarriage, hydraulic actuators and units for all aircraft types. Today, Hydromash is at the forefront of take off/landing gear in Russia, providing 80% of fixed-wing aircraft undercarriages and 100% of undercarriages for helicopters. Furthermore, the company has been incorporated into the worldwide aviation industry through active partnerships with major international manufacturers, being a supplier for Airbus, Embraer and Bombardier aircraft as well as AgustaWestland helicopters. Among the company’s current priorities is the R&D and production of the undercarriage assemblies for the new MC21 passenger aircraft. Hydromash’s participation in this project began in 2009, when its technical and commercial proposal was accepted by the Irkut Corporation. One year on, a memorandum was signed, with a firm contract agreed 12 months later. The contract secured the company’s position as official supplier for the MC21 family for the R&D, production, testing and delivery of the undercarriage and its components. Hydromash was successful in becoming the first programme participant to complete its task, displaying the front undercarriage at the Farnborough International Airshow in 2014. To date, the work has been proceeding strictly to the schedule approved by the Irkut Corporation. The undercarriage assemblies were successfully tested at the full-scale test facilities at the Corporation. The tests included internal pressure destruction, static tests, undercarriage raising and lowering operations and emergency gravity extension. Hydromash is to complete all ground tests by the end of this year in order to obtain a permit for flight and lifecycle tests. To increase Hydromash’s competitiveness in the international and domestic markets, the company takes its certification very seriously. The quality management system has been certified via European DEKRA certification and the National Research and Certification Institute for Armament and Military Equipment to meet the standards of ISO 9001-2008 (GOST ISO 9001-2011), EN 9100-2009 and GOST RV 0015-002-2012. Since the 1990s, Hydromash has been using its own funds to procure modern equipment and specialised instruments to extend its

technological capabilities and production efficiency. Throughout this period the company’s production line has received processing centres and heavy machinery from leading international manufacturers. As recently as 2014, 17 units of new equipment became operational, including multifunctional processing centres from Droop+Rein (Germany), Mazak and DMG-Mori Seiki (Japan) and TOS Varnsdorf (Czech Republic), resulting in some of the most advanced production facilities in Russia. First-rate experience, serious technical potential and the highquality skills of its personnel ensure Hydromash can successfully complete existing tasks, strengthen its position in the national aviation market and further cooperation with leading international manufacturers.

Vladimir Luzyanin, President of Hydromash JSC  

NEWS REPORT

Air T D Main image: A pair of F/A-18A Hornets bank away

from the KC-30A Multi Role Tanker Transport over Iraq. Sgt Pete/Royal Australian Air Force Below left: The E-7A Wedgetail deployed to ATG 630 has provided sterling service, with ninehour missions becoming routine. Sgt Andrew Eddie/Royal Australian Air Force Below right: In April alone the KC-30A deployed

in theatre flew 30 missions and transferred three million pounds (1,360 tonnes) of fuel to Australian and coalition strike aircraft. Flt Lt Harry Hayes/Royal Australian Air Force

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NEWS REPORT

Nigel Pittaway reports on the commander’s perspective of the Royal Australian Air Force’s mission in the Middle East

r Task Group Deployment

I

n September 2014 the Royal Australian Air Force deployed an Air Task Group (ATG 630), comprising six F/A-18F Super Hornets, one E-7A Wedgetail AEW&C aircraft and a single KC-30A tanker, 6,500 nautical miles (12,000km) to the United Arab Emirates. In the March Issue, AIR International reported (see Operation Okra, p94-99) that the task group had begun strikes against Islamic State (IS) fighters in Iraq just a few days after arriving in theatre. Those operations are continuing right up to the current day. RAAF F/A-18A Hornets have replaced the Super Hornets, and the third rotation of personnel has now deployed for Operation Okra. In early April, the first commander of ATG 630, Air Commodore Steve ‘Zed’ Roberton, delivered a presentation to the RAAF Air Power Development Centre in Canberra which detailed how the deployment and initial operations were undertaken. AIRCDRE Roberton is an ex-F/A-18A fighter pilot and has previously held the post of head of the Air Combat Transition Office, charged with introducing the F/A18F into Australian service. Following his replacement as commander of ATG 630 by Air Commodore Glen Braz in early January this year, he took up his current role of Commander RAAF Air Combat Group.

Operation Okra Update Air Task Group 630 departed Australia on September 21 last year; only seven days after the Australian Government announced it would contribute forces to assist the Iraqi Government in its fight against IS insurgents. The six Super Hornets from No.1 Squadron, together with the E-7A from No.2 Squadron, a No.33 Squadron KC-30A and approximately 400 personnel, were initially deployed to Al Minhad Air Base in the UAE

and began operations on October 5. The first kinetic strike occurred three nights later when one Super Hornet released two bombs on an IS target. A move to Al Dhafra Air Base was undertaken on November 14-15 and the first rotation of personnel had occurred by mid-January. Six single-seat F/A-18A Hornets from No.75 Squadron deployed to Al Dhafra in early March to allow the eventual withdrawal of the Super Hornet fleet which, up to that point, had flown in excess of 2,900 hours and more than 400 sorties. After a work-up process, the ‘classic’ F/A18As began operations alongside the newer Super Hornets for a transition period, at the end of which the six Super Hornets arrived home in Australia in the first few days of May. During April the single KC-30A deployed in theatre had flown no fewer than 30 missions and transferred three million pounds (1,360 tonnes) of fuel to Australian and coalition strike aircraft. The Wedgetail also notched up an operational milestone, marking one thousand hours of operations since September last year. The efforts of ATG 630 continue to be supported by RAAF C-130J-30 Hercules from No.37 Squadron, which maintain a Middle East deployment started in 2003, and regular C-17A Globemaster flights from Australia operated by No.36 Squadron.

Deployment AIRCDRE Roberton was informed that he would command the initial ATG deployment shortly before the Australian Government announcement on September 14, 2014. He described the activity required to relocate the force half way around the world, using only Australian Defence Force (ADF) assets. “We went a hell of a long way and we did it well inside the ADF Preparedness Directives,” he said. “We did it in 19 days and we probably could have done it in about

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ten, except for some logistics insertion and basing challenges we faced. “That’s not a bad effort for a small nation like ours, and what’s more we self-deployed having an air package that had a really decent command and control element, the strike element of course, but also the means of the tankers and enablers to get over there.” While AIRCDRE Roberton conceded that the RAAF ATG is a modest contribution to coalition operations in the Middle East, he noted that the organisation had not sent a purely air-focused task group overseas for several decades and considers that, even as recently as ten years ago it could not have been accomplished “From an Australian perspective we have never sent away an air contingent for operations that was better prepared, better trained or better equipped than what we have at the moment,” he continued. “And so in that light it really is quite a watershed for the Royal Australian Air Force.”

Initial Challenges AIRCDRE Roberton outlined the other challenges faced by the RAAF: the long transit times from their base in the UAE to their allocated area of operations; the weather (both from a diversion perspective as well as the certainty of extreme temperatures in the upcoming northern summer); and the very conservative rules of engagement. Commenting on the 1,000 nautical miles (1,850km) transits, AIRCDRE Roberton pointed out that, in the Australian context, it represented the distance between Canberra and Townsville in North Queensland, or Canberra to the Western Australian border. “So for us, that is a long transit. It means quite a few things more than just fatigue, it also means weather and consideration of emergencies and diversions,” he said, noting

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NEWS REPORT that not all diversion airfields are acceptable from either a safety or diplomatic standpoint. “The weather is a big deal. There are long transits and most of the time we’re just thinking where’s my next fuel? Once I’ve got that, am I going to bust the rules? Am I going to make sure I haven’t got a confliction dealing with (Iraqi civil) air traffic control? And obtaining diplomatic clearances also becomes a driver.” The rules of engagement and the length of time it takes to engage a target were also issues that had to be worked though, not just by the Australians but also by coalition partners and the Iraqi Government. “There is a lot of risk here. No single bomb is going to win this conflict, but one badly placed bomb could do irreparable damage to the strategic and operational nature of the coalition,” AIRCDRE Roberton explained. “CO 1 Squadron would tell his folks that the best bomb of their career was probably going to be the one they decided not to drop. The balance between what you’re seeing on the ground and the complexity of the scenario is really difficult. The desire is that net civilian casualties are zero and balancing that proportionality is a very tough problem. But with the crews that we have and the training they received, we were very happy to sort of devolve those decisions to the cockpit wherever possible.”

Strike Operations Describing strike operations during his tenure as Commander ATG 630, AIRCDRE Roberton explained that there were two types of strikes: deliberate (pre-planned) and dynamic. Only 20% of strikes were pre-planned, with the majority occurring in response to the situation on the ground when the Super Hornets were holding in their close air support (CAS) ‘stacks’. “The Super Hornet, to my mind, was probably the best tactical platform in theatre at the job that it was doing and the twoseat concept was absolutely validated,” he asserted. “When we first got there the Brits had just started dropping weapons the week before us and the French had done a couple as well, but actually we were very much at the forefront of the coalition. Having a pilot and WSO that were able to work through the rules of engagement and the targeting directive matrix was really second to none. “The Super Hornet can generate a Cat 1 GPS guided weapon solution just off the

Left: Members of Air Task Group 630 prepare a 500lb GBU-38 JDAM. Sgt Shane Giddall/Royal Australian Air Force Main image: The Hornets, KC-30A and E-7A

represented the first purely air-focused task group sent overseas by the RAAF for several decades. Flt Lt Harry Hayes/Royal

Australian Air Force Bottom left: Air Commodore Steve Roberton

(left) hands over command of the Air Task Group to AIRCDRE Glen Braz. Sgt Andrew

Eddie/Royal Australian Air Force Bottom right: The KC-30A’s availability

underpinned the number of on-station close air support ‘stacks’ provided by the RAAF Hornets. Sqn Ldr Jamie Purdon/Royal Australian Air Force

aircrew’s helmet, so our ability to quickly react and deliver weapons accurately was absolutely borne out.”

AEW&C The Wedgetail deployed on Operation Okra is one of only six in the RAAF inventory, and its performance to date has been remarkable, especially considering it is yet to achieve Final Operational Capability (FOC). During AIRCDRE Roberton’s tenure at least, 50% of all RAAF Wedgetail qualified operators were deployed with the aircraft. “The Wedgetail is highly sought after by the [US-led] command and control system. Its capabilities really are outstanding,” he noted. “The first two hours of a Wedgetail sortie was a transit, getting the systems up and running and testing them, and the crews would tell you that getting in-theatre was very much like a Red Flag tier-one level of intensity, except it wasn’t a 90-minute window, it went for nine hours. “I did a few flights on Wedgetail and I can tell you, there were people who did not get up out of their chair for nine hours. Most stood up once and went for a bathroom break or a drink, but the intensity and the operational effectiveness of this platform once it was up and running was amazing. “Lieutenant General Hesterman [Air Component Commander, US CENTCOM] is trying to support air operations with ageing but still capable E-3 Sentries. Now he said to me, ‘Zed, I’d love to get another Wedgetail in theatre’. I said, ‘I can give you another two but you’ll just be parking them on the ramp because we have nobody else to actually fly and operate them.’ We’ve actually got more aircraft than we have crews at the moment.”

Tanker Support Similarly, the Airbus KC-30A is still maturing in RAAF service and is not yet cleared for boom operations, something that will occur this year. When initially deployed, it was only cleared for probe and drogue refuelling of RAAF Hornets and Super Hornets,

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but AIRCDRE Roberton paid tribute to Australia’s Defence Materiel Organisation System Project Office (DMO SPO) staff who worked to expand the number of operational clearances. “Their people, uniform and civilian, worked night and day over weekends and rapidly worked up clearances for seven other fighter types from five other different nations,” he recalled. “It was really good to see that agility wasn’t just about the operators, it was actually about the organisations able to come together to enact [clearances] very quickly.” During AIRCDRE Roberton’s tenure he noted the KC-30A was offloading around 80,000lb (36.28 tonnes) on each sortie and on at least one occasion, it flew two sorties in one day and offloaded 220,000lb (99.79 tonnes) of fuel.

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NEWS REPORT

“That’s a significant amount, and within the campaign itself, as ever, fuel availability was what was driving the number of onstation CAS stacks and the air assets that were available for all the tasks,” he said. He described one mission, where RAAF Super Hornets were prosecuting a target near Sinjar in northern Iraq, supporting ground forces in danger of being overrun, but were at bingo fuel if a landing at Mosul (not then a safe location) was to be avoided. “Unlike most tanker crews, our crews always listened to the JTAC frequency and they had pre-positioned over the top of the fight [and were] watching the bombs go off,” he recalled. “The strike crew called up on the tanker frequency and said, ‘Mate, I’m really going to need some fuel here. Where are you in your tanker leg?’ And the tanker crew was able to come back and say ‘We’ve got your

back, we’ve listened to what’s going on, we’re right over the top of you and we’ve got fuel.’ So they went in, dropped the bomb, peeled off, went safe, plugged in and were able to get home. “That level of force multiplication doesn’t sound that ‘gee-whizz’ but that actually was the difference between getting bombs away and not. In that case, it was the difference between hitting a very high value target in that Sinjar area and missing it.” In conclusion AIRCDRE Roberton compared operation Okra to Operation Falconer, the deployment of RAAF F/A-18As to Iraq in 2003. “Our three air platforms [Super Hornet, Wedgetail and KC-30A] were the best of type and they didn’t go over with any caveats,” he said. “So, 12 years ago with Falconer, we went across with F/A-18As but there were a

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couple of caveats about how we could use them. That wasn’t the case this time; I would argue they were probably the best of type across the board.”

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NEWS COLUMN

Fighters & T

The Hot Topics by Nigel Pittaway

Almost every country in Asia has a fighter competition or programme under way and in several countries there is currently more than one being played out. The fighter programmes of India and Indonesia hit the headlines in April and May with an announcement of the direct purchase of Dassault Rafales by India and progress towards selection of a new type in Indonesia. India, Singapore and South Korea also have requirements for air refuelling aircraft. Singapore is acquiring six Airbus A330 multi-role tanker transports (MRTT), India has been in negotiations with the European manufacturer for some time, but it was South Korea making news in April, with the official launch of its long-awaited tanker programme.

Rafales for India In a move that surprised many analysts, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced in April that India will directly order 36 Dassault Rafales from the French Government, bypassing the existing negotiations for 126 aircraft (and 63 options) that has become mired in bureaucratic red tape. The announcement was made on April 10, during a state visit to France, and followed talks between Prime Minister Modi and French President François Hollande. India has a requirement for 42 fighter squadrons, which will enable it to counter perceived threats from China

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and Pakistan, but the current establishment is only 34 squadrons. Many of these units today fly the elderly MikoyanGurevich MiG-21 and India has embarked on several programmes to replace these by the early part of the next decade. It is developing the indigenous Tejas light combat aircraft (LCA), upgrading its Mirage 2000 fleet to Mirage 2000I/TI standard and was to acquire 126 Rafales under its medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA) programme. Dassault was announced the winner of the MMRCA competition in January 2012, with an agreement to deliver the first 18 Rafales from France and the balance to be built locally by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL). However, negotiations have been at an impasse for a considerable time as the two parties cannot agree on detail. The direct purchase of 36 aircraft is completely separate to the MMRCA deal and it is not clear how the latter will progress, if at all. The Indian Government has a ‘Make in India’ policy, which has strict requirements for technology transfer and local manufacture, but Indian sources suggest the latest deal was done after Modi used a process whereby equipment can be directly purchased from a foreign government if there is

a strategic requirement. India has previously negotiated the purchase of Lockheed Martin C-130J Hercules and Boeing C-17A Globemaster IIIs for the Indian Air Force and Boeing P-8I Neptunes for the Indian Navy due to what it said were “strategic requirements”. The latest deal is reportedly worth €4 billion and a joint statement by the Indian and French Governments suggested the 36 Rafales will be completed to the same standard agreed to under the MMRCA deal. Dassault said the order is “at conditions that will allow to meet rapidly the security needs of India”. Dassault Chief Executive Officer Éric Trappier said in a statement marking the deal: “Just as we are delivering the first upgraded Mirage 2000, I am delighted by the decision of the Indian authorities which gives a new impetus to our partnership for the next decades and comes within the scope of the strategic relationship gathering France and India.” With the earlier sale of 24 Rafales to Egypt and a similar number for Qatar announced shortly after India’s, Dassault has had a good year, but it remains to be seen how the MMRCA requirement will now play out.

Su-35s for Indonesia? The Indonesian Air Force (TNIAU) is looking to replace its ageing Northrop F-5E Tigers. Competing for the order are the Dassault Rafale, Eurofighter Typhoon, Lockheed Martin F-16 Fighting Falcon, Saab JAS 39 Gripen and Sukhoi Su-35. Both Dassault and

Airbus Defence and Space has indicated its intent to bid the A330 MRTT for South Korea’s US$1.25 billion aerial refuelling tanker programme, announced in April. Airbus Defence and Space

Eurofighter have been heavily marketing their products recently. Two French Air Force Rafales visited Indonesia after appearing in Malaysia’s Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace Exhibition in March and Eurofighter displayed their full-scale Typhoon mock-up at Bandung in April. Bandung is home to PT Dirgantara Indonesia (PTDI), which could potentially produce Typhoons for the TNI-AU should the type be selected. “We recognise that Indonesia has important decisions to make, and those decisions will leave a lasting legacy,” said Joe Parker, Eurofighter export

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& Tankers

NEWS COLUMN

cs in Asia

director, during the visit of the Typhoon Full Scale Exhibition Demonstrator in mid-April. “What we bring to Indonesia is not just reliable protection for the nation, but the opportunity to build and maintain a genuine indigenous capability on the back of a proven partnership and all that goes with it.” However, the Russian news agency Interfax has quoted United Aircraft Corporation President Yuri Slusar as saying that negotiations have already begun with the Indonesian Government for the acquisition of the Sukhoi Su-35S. “[Our] Indonesian partners show interest in purchasing the jet,” Slusar said in late April.

“The negotiations are at the initial stage.” The TNI-AU already operates Su-27SK and Su-30MK2 fighters and senior Indonesian military officers, including the chief of the air force, have publicly expressed interest in acquiring the Su-35. In February, Indonesia’s ANTARA news agency quoted TNI-AU chief, Air Chief Marshal Agus Supriatna, as saying the Su-35S met the TNI-AU’s requirements for a fighter considered to be ‘fourthgeneration plus’. He said: “We hope the government fulfils our wish to purchase Sukhoi Su-35s. All can place orders, but we,

as the operators, want jets over generation four to be ordered.”

Seoul Opens Tanker Bidding The South Korean Government announced on April 14 that it is inviting bids for its US$1.25 billion air refuelling tanker programme. Four aircraft are being sought to meet the Republic of Korea Air Force (RoKAF) requirement and three companies are likely to respond. Airbus Defence and Space had already indicated its intent to bid the A330 MRTT and Boeing (with the KC-46A Pegasus) and Israel Aircraft Industries (767-300

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multi-mission tanker transport, MMTT) are also expected to participate. A spokesperson for South Korea’s Defense Acquisition Procurement Agency (DAPA) said bids were due to close by the end of April with the preferred supplier to be announced in June. In March DAPA announced that, due to a delay in the tender process, the in-service date for the successful type would be put back until 2018, a year later than forecast. However, it said all four aircraft would still be delivered by the end of 2019 as planned, pointing to an increased delivery schedule.

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Commercial

‘Green Spirit’ of Aer Lingus

Aer Lingus has repainted A320-200 EI-DEO (msn 2486) after news that the carrier will be the official airline of the Irish rugby union team. The aircraft, named ‘Green Spirit’, was previously leased to Virgin Atlantic for its Little Red operation. Aer Lingus will paint another of its A320s in the scheme in September. The airline will fly Irish rugby union players, management and support staff around Europe as they compete in the RBS 6 Nations Championship and other high-profile international tournaments. Michael Kelly

GKN’s Additive Research GKN Aerospace is leading a threeyear, £3.1 million collaborative research programme to develop titanium powder specifically formulated for additive manufacturing. The TiPOW (Titanium Powder for net-shape component manufacture) project will develop powder with the characteristics specifically suited to the process, which involves ‘sintering’ layers of powder together to produce components. TiPOW will also research techniques and equipment to produce the powder consistently, in quantity and at a lower price than today’s material. GKN said the powders used in additive manufacturing today weren’t specifically developed for the process and so aren’t optimised for it. Its aerospace business and powder metallurgy division is involved in TiPOW, along with Phoenix Scientific Industries and Metalysis and the University of Leeds. Mark Broadbent

LEAP-1B Flight Tests Begin

CFM International has started flight testing the Boeing 737 MAX’s LEAP-1B engine. The powerplant was flown aboard GE Aviation’s 747 flying testbed from the GE Aviation Flight Test Operations facility in Victorville, California, on April 29 during a five-hour, 30-minute flight. Testing will evaluate gauge engine operability, stall margin, performance, emissions and acoustics, and validate technologies such as the woven carbon fibre composite fan, ceramic matrix composite shrouds in the highpressure turbine and titanium aluminide blades in the lowpressure turbine. The target is to certify the LEAP-1B next year. Mark Broadbent

ChineseRussian Civil Helicopters Russian state corporation Rostec has announced that Russia and China will jointly develop helicopters for the civil market. This will include a joint venture between Russian Helicopters and China’s AVIC and Avicopter for an Advanced Heavy Lifter (AHL) helicopter. Rostec said that Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, Vice Premier of the State Council of China Wang Yang and representatives met for discussions in Hangzou, which included civil aviation and aircraft construction. Alexander Mikheev, CEO of Russian Helicopters said: “China is very well aware of our helicopters here. We know that China is considering plans to expand the presence of Russianmade helicopters in the country’s helicopter fleet.” Nigel Pittaway

Next-Gen Avanti Delivered

The first production Piaggio Aerospace P180 Avanti EVO, the third generation of the distinctive twin-turboprop, has been handed over to an undisclosed Greek customer. Launched last May, the EVO received European Aviation Safety Agency certification in December. It features winglets, redesigned nacelles, a reshaped front wing, five-blade Hartzell scimitar propellers and several avionics improvements. Mark Broadbent

Superjets for China A Chinese lessor plans to buy 100 Sukhoi SSJ-100 Superjets over the next three years as part of a framework agreement between the Sukhoi Civil Aircraft Company, the Russia-China Investment Fund, the Xi’an New Area Administrative Committee and New Century International Leasing. The new lessor will be headquartered in the Sino-Russia High-Tech Innovation Park in Xi’an. Yuri Sluysar, President of the United Aircraft Corporation, SCAC’s parent company, said the agreement “will allow the SSJ100 to capture a prominent share of the fast growing air transportation markets of China and South-East Asia”. An SSJ-100 maintenance and training centre together with interior outfitting and aircraft painting facilities will also be built in Xi’an. Mark Broadbent

NASA X-56A ‘Buckeye’ Flies Researchers at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base, California, have started flight-testing the X-56A Multi-Utility Technology Testbed remotely piloted air system, as part of the agency’s Advanced Air Transport Technology project to inform future aircraft designs. The X-56A, nicknamed ‘Buckeye’, is researching how flexible aircraft structures perform and aeroservoelasticity, the interaction of an aircraft’s automatic flight controls with the response of non-rigid structures to aerodynamic forces.

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The X-56A ‘Buckeye’ takes off on its maiden flight from Edwards Air Force Base, California. Ken Ulbrich/NASA

‘Buckeye’ was built by Lockheed Martin’s Advanced Development Projects division in Palmdale, California, under a US Air Force

Research Laboratory Powered by twin 85lb JetCat P-400 micro jet it is the second X-56.

contract. (0.37kN) engines, The first

(nicknamed ‘Fido’), flown in June 2013, explored technologies for active flutter suppression and gustload alleviation. Mark Broadbent

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Commercial

Voyager Starts Thomas Cook Flights

Thomas Cook Airlines is leasing A330-243 G-VYGK on an ACMI basis to conduct charter flights from UK airports. AirTanker

AirTanker Airbus A330-243 Voyager (G-VYGK, msn 1498, ZZ340) started flying with Thomas Cook Airlines on May 1. The aircraft’s initial flights were from Manchester to Cancun, Mexico,

and Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. AirTanker has leased the A330 to Thomas Cook on an aircraft, crew, maintenance and insurance (ACMI) basis. The aircraft’s delivery followed the

removal of its military modifications by AirTanker at its RAF Brize Norton base. G-VYGK is the 11th of AirTanker’s 14 A330 MRTTs under the RAF’s Future Strategic Tanker Aircraft

programme. A ‘core’ fleet of eight Voyagers is operated for the RAF, with the other five forming a socalled ‘surge’ fleet that AirTanker can lease to third parties when not required by the RAF. Mark Broadbent

Beyond Line-of-Sight UAV Trials The US Federal Aviation Administration has allowed three companies to operate UAVs for urban and ‘extended’ beyond lineof-sight operations, where aircraft fly outside the pilot’s direct vision. The UAS manufacturer PrecisionHawk will explore how

extended line-of-sight operations might allow greater UAV usage for crop monitoring. Freight operator BNSF Railroad will explore the command-and-control challenges of using beyond line-of-sight UAVs to inspect rail system infrastructure in rural areas. And broadcaster

CNN will look at how unmanned systems could be safely used for newsgathering in populated areas. FAA Administrator Michael Huerta announced the initiatives during the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International’s Unmanned Systems conference

in Atlanta in early May. He said the research, “will help us anticipate and address the needs of the evolving UAS industry”, and generate information about beyond line-of-sight operations that will inform the FAA’s decisions about civil UAS use. Mark Broadbent

Zero-G in the A310 Novespace has put former Luftwaffe Airbus A310-304 10+21 (msn 498), now registered F-WNOV, into service. The aircraft, based at BordeauxMérignac, is being used by the French space agency CNES, the European Space Agency and the DLR (German Aerospace Center) for zero-g scientific and space training flights. F-WNOV has replaced Airbus A300B2 F-BUAD (msn 3), which was used by Novespace in those roles from 1997 until its retirement last October. The A300 completed over 5,200 flights and 13,180

zero-g parabolas during its time with the company. The A310, built in 1989, served the Luftwaffe in the VIP transport role between 1993 and 2011, taking German Chancellors and government ministers on journeys and state visits worldwide. Acquired by Novespace for €2.5 million last June, the aircraft was converted from VIP to research configuration by Lufthansa Technik at Hamburg. F-WNOV flew 50 zero-g parabolas during crew training flights from April 27, before conducting its first research mission on May 5. Mark Broadbent

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Novespace’s Airbus A310-304 F-WNOV (msn 498) photographed in the descent phase of a parabola during one of its initial zero-g flights. Novespace

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Commercial

A Bug’s Life for ecoDemonstrator 757

Boeing 757 N757ET on finals to Boeing Field, Seattle, at the end of one of the test flights into active flow control technologies. John Parker/Boeing via NASA

Boeing’s 757 ecoDemonstrator N757ET (c/n 24627) conducted 15 research flights from Shreveport Regional Airport, Louisiana, between April 27 and May 15 assessing five different ‘bug phobic’ coatings. These, developed by engineers at

NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, were applied to two of the leading edge slats on the right wing. Engineers will compare insect accumulation rates from untreated and coated surfaces to assess each coating’s performance

Comair Challenges SAA Guarantees Comair, which runs Kulula and the British Airways franchise in South Africa, lodged an application with the Pretoria High Court in early May against the state guarantees given to South African Airways (SAA). It claims they are unconstitutional and unfair to the domestic airline industry. Erik Venter, Comair’s Chief Executive Officer, told reporters outside the court: “If SAA is going to get funding, that should be done through the correct parliamentary channels where representatives of the taxpayers get to comment on it.” SAA has for years struggled to balance its books, and in February was given R6.5 billion in state loan guarantees to ensure it remained a going concern. It has received over R30 billion in government guarantees and loans since 1999,

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with R14.5 billion of that since 2007. Nico Bezuidenhout, who became SAA’s Acting CEO late last year after previous CEO Monwabisi Kalawe’s suspension, is attempting to cut losses at SAA by removing unprofitable routes to Beijing and Mumbai (which lost a combined R600 million a year), renegotiating supplier contracts and amending three A340 leases. Yearly earnings have improved by R1.25 billion. SAA recently concluded a 90Day Action Plan and is getting its Long-Term Turnaround Strategy back on track. The carrier has had nine turnaround strategies in 15 years. In May, Kalawe resigned after reaching an out of court settlement in exchange for disciplinary action against him being dropped. Guy Martin

in minimising the number of bugs on the slats, and their effectiveness in reducing drag by smoothing airflow over the wings. N757ET has also conducted six flights over the Strait of Juan de Fuca, on the US-Canadian border, to

test active flow control technologies. This involved tiny actuators blowing air in a sweeping motion over the tail to optimise airflow. All the tests were part of this year’s ecoDemonstrator (see Go with the Flow, May, p6). Mark Broadbent

Airbus’ Electric Dreams

The first E-Fan (F-WILE) is the basis for the E-Fan 2.0, which will be assembled in southwest France. Nigel Watson

Airbus will build its E-Fan 2.0 electric aircraft in Pau, southwest France, with the first examples rolling out in either late 2017 or early 2018. The plant is part of Airbus’ E-Aircraft project, which will develop the two-seat E-Fan

2.0 for pilot training and then an E-Fan 4.0 four-seater. The work is all part of the company’s plans to industrialise electric aircraft and work towards developing an ‘E-Thrust’ hybrid electric-powered 90-seat airliner. Mark Broadbent

Tigerair Philippines to Cebgo

Cebu Pacific has renamed its Tigerair Philippines low-cost carrier subsidiary Cebgo. Cebu Pacific said the new identity was to more closely identify the carrier’s relationship with its parent company. The airline’s

A320s will be repainted in the new livery, which includes the yellow and green of its parent company. Cebu bought Tigerair Philippines from its previous owner in March 2014. Mark Broadbent

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15/05/2015 15:29

NEWS REPORT

Airbus predicts solid growth in the Asia-Pacific market, as Nigel Pittaway explains

Airbus predicts solid growth in the Asia-Pacific market, as Nigel Pittaway explains

T

Airbus Sees E

en years to the day since the A380 took to the skies for the first time, Airbus Director of Marketing and Analysis Andrew Gordon visited Sydney on April 27 to release the company’s Global Market Forecast (GMF) for the Asia-Pacific region. The GMF is Airbus’ vision of the future market to 2033 and, if its figures are correct,

the region is set to play a significantly increased role in passenger and freight traffic, as well as new route and market development. Included in Gordon’s analysis is the increasing demand for larger derivatives of existing aircraft, as route and airport constraints begin to limit growth. This is good news for the very large aircraft (VLA) sector, which is today dominated by the Airbus A380 and Boeing 747, but which has struggled to find new orders in recent times.

Growth Factors

Gordon noted that the current global expansion is 5.4% (measured in available seat kilometres, or ASKs), which is actually slightly higher than the predicted 4.7%. “The Asia-Pacific region is one of the key growth markets at 6.9% and the emerging markets like China, South American countries and some of the African countries are growing at 9.3%,” he said. “So a lot of the growth in the industry is driven by the Asia-Pacific region, obviously Australia and the rest of the Pacific.” One of the key demographics for predicting future passenger figures is the increasing number of middle class people. In the Asia-Pacific region Airbus forecasts this will rise four-fold, from 967 million today to 3.6 billion by the end of the forecast period. Top: Virgin Australia A330-243 VH-KFE rotating from Sydney, one of Australia’s top five airports (the others being Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide) by passenger numbers. Airbus expects to see these airports’ traffic double to 180 million in 20 years. Edwin Chai/AirTeamImages Opposite top: Airbus believes capacity constraints and the growth of what it calls aviation ‘megacities’ will fuel demand for more very large aircraft of the A380’s class. Weimeng/ AirTeamImages Opposite bottom: Thirty-six percent of all global

traffic will be flown in the Asia-Pacific region by 2033, predicts Airbus. BaoLao/AirTeamImages Left: Low-cost carriers, such as AirAsia, account for 20% of the traffic in Asia-Pacific, as measured by available seat kilometres. Europix/ AirTeamImages

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NEWS REPORT In Australia alone it predicts that inbound tourism will increase from around 6.2 million today to around 9.9 million by 2033, with around a quarter of that growth (23.7%) coming just from China.

Pressure on Existing Routes Airbus predicts that across the globe only around 20% of growth is forecast to come from new routes, which will place existing airports and airways under further pressure in the years ahead. This, it says, will drive the need for larger aircraft. With regard to long-haul routes, Airbus tracks 42 ‘megacities’ (those with more than ten thousand daily long-haul passengers) and Gordon said that no fewer than 36 of these already have some form of schedule constraint. The number of megacities is forecast to more than double to 91 by 2033. “There are ways to deal with the problem, you can build new airports, terminals or runways,” he said. “But the simplest way is to add aircraft capacity.”

Asia-Pacific Development According to Gordon’s figures, about 20% of the current traffic in Asia-Pacific (measured by ASKs) is provided by low-cost carriers (LCCs). “We think there are great opportunities for LCCs in the region and we expect to see that

coming into the region over that [forecast] period, that’s freighters and passenger aircraft,” he said. “About 70% will be singleaisle aircraft.” This is set against a global demand forecast for 22,071 single-aisle and 9,287 twin-aisle aircraft. For the Australia-Pacific region specifically, Airbus forecasts a 4.5% rise in international origin and destination (O&D) traffic over the next 20 years. “In terms of the demand for aircraft to service the Australia-Pacific market, not to be confused with airlines in the region, there are about 720 aircraft…and by the time we get to 2033 that will have increased about 1.7 times to 1,200 aircraft,” Gordon said. “In terms of the widebody and VLA portions, they are expected to grow 2.2 times.” Australia’s top five airports (Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide) are expected to see passenger numbers double to 180 million in 20 years. “It’s a very interesting market and I think there’s a lot of opportunity. The fact that Australia is positioned between the traditional European markets and Asia will provide lots of opportunity,” Gordon concluded. “There is an exciting period of time coming up. It’s really going to be an interesting 20 years.”

s Eastern Promise to stimulate growth as it happens,” he said. Across the spectrum, the Airbus figures also show that the long-haul sector of the market in the region is growing much faster than the short haul. By 2033, Gordon predicts that 36% of all global traffic (measured in revenue passenger kilometres, or RPKs) will be flown in the region, representing a 5.7% growth over today’s figures. “Asia Pacific is going to be a key market for new aircraft, there will be 12,400 aircraft

The Future of the A380 Although Andrew Gordon was at pains to point out that the GMF is not a product forecast, he confirmed that Airbus will continue to market (and develop) the A380 into the future. “We see a trend to larger aeroplanes, bigger variants of existing aircraft, and airlines will be looking to generate more revenue from the back of the aircraft,” he said. “All the reasons for having a very large

Please send all news correspondence [email protected]

aircraft, like the A380, are getting stronger.” Gordon also pointed to comments made by John Leahy, Airbus’ Chief Operating Officer – Customers, in publicity surrounding the 10th anniversary of the A380’s first flight. Leahy’s views reveal the manufacturer’s prediction for sales into markets where the A380 hasn’t yet penetrated, such as the United States. Leahy said: “I think it’s just a matter of time in the US market. The 747 hasn’t played very well in the US market, but as the US airlines move more into Asia – more into those big hubs that we see around the world – they’ll need the A380, and then of course the passengers will demand the A380. “Traffic is doubling every 15 years [and] it will, if anything, accelerate. Parts of Asia are doubling every ten years. People say, ‘well there are areas of the world, like Africa, where you will never use an A380’, but I beg to differ. There are A380s flying to South Africa as I speak. The A380 will be flying on every continent with virtually every international major airline. It’s just a matter of time. “We constantly talk to our customers and there have been rumours out in the field about whether we are going to look at new engines on the airplane, new aerodynamic improvements on the aircraft,” Leahy said. “These are evolutionary changes, they’re part of the system of keeping an aircraft alive for 40 or 50 years and this programme will be around for 40 or 50 years from now, there’s no doubt in my mind about that.”

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Commercial

Flyafrica Launches Namibian Unit

PC-24 Airborne

The Namibian division of Flyafrica was due to have started operations in midMay after receiving its Foreign Air Operator Permit from the Namibian Directorate of Civil Aviation late in April. Its original launch date was February but the carrier did not have all its licensing documentation at that time. Namibia Flyafrica is a joint venture between Nomad Aviation (Bay Air Aviation) of Namibia and Mauritius-based Flyafrica. It will operate daily flights between Windhoek and Johannesburg using Namibian registered Boeing 737-500s. HB-VXA (c/n P01) over the Alps during its maiden flight from Buochs. The PC-24 is Pilatus’ first business jet and its first all-new aircraft since the PC-21 flew 13 years ago. Pilatus Aircraft

Pilatus flew its first PC-24 HBVXA (c/n P01) on May 11 from Buochs Airport, outside Stans in Switzerland. The debut flight of the Swiss company’s first business jet saw HB-VXA depart Buochs, watched by 1,800 company personnel. It took off in just under 600m (1,968ft) and climbed to 10,000ft (3,048m) in around three minutes. Its pilots flew a

route across central Switzerland, accompanied by a PC-21 chase aircraft, before landing back at Buochs 55 minutes later to cheers from the employees. Test pilot Paul Mulcahy said: “Everything looks great so far. Beautiful handling – the PC-24 flies just as expected.” Twelve flight test engineers at Buochs monitored flight data received from

the aircraft in real time. HB-VXA is one of three PC-24s that will undertake a 2,300 flying hours test and certification programme over the next two years. Pilatus said that less than half of those hours will be flown in Switzerland, though it didn’t specify other locations. Certification and initial deliveries of the first series production PC-24s are planned from 2017. Mark Broadbent

Airlander Type Certification Process Hybrid Air Vehicles (HAV), the Oxfordshire-based company that is developing the Airlander 10 hybrid airship project, has started working towards the type certification process for the aircraft with the European Aviation Safety Agency. It has agreed to buy helium gas from BOC Aviation for the Airlander, which is planned to conduct its first test flights next year. HAV will build and house the Airlander

A330neo Sharklets

Korean Air Aerospace has been awarded a contract as the sole provider of ‘Sharklets’ for the Airbus A330neo. Production will start at its Pusan facility in 2016. These carbon fibre devices, designed to optimise airflow and help save fuel, will give the A330neo’s wingtips an A350-style curved profile. Korean Air has been producing Sharklets for the A320, cargo doors on the A350 and Blended Winglets for the Boeing 737 MAX. David C Isby

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through the Crowdcube website to support the Airlander’s return to flight programme, making it the largest ever crowdfunding campaign for the manufacturing and engineering sectors in the UK. HAV is developing the Airlander for communications, search and rescue, maritime patrol and cargo transport roles in remote regions and austere environments. Mark Broadbent

in the Grade 2-listed Cardington airship hangars in Bedfordshire. The type will be based on the hybrid airship developed by Northrop Grumman in response to the nowcancelled US Army Long Endurance Multi-intelligence Vehicle programme (in which HAV was a partner of the American company). In May, HAV achieved its target figure of securing £2 million from investors

Guy Martin

Malaysian Studies Fleet Overhaul Malaysian Airlines is reportedly seeking to dispose its long-haul widebody jets in a major fleet restructure. Industry analysts Leeham cited unnamed sources saying the carrier was offering for sale or lease its six A380s, two Boeing 747-400s, four 777200ERs and four A330-200Fs. The airline did not confirm or deny the report. However, a loss of 576 million ringgit (£170 million) in the third quarter of 2014, the latest date for which figures are available, prompted the airline to announce a restructuring involving job cuts and a focus on what it called “a more regionallyfocused network”. Mark Broadbent

COMMERCIAL ORDERS Airbus Customer Avianca Avolon BOC Aviation Middle East Airlines Philippine Airlines Unidentified Boeing Customer Air Austral Air Tahiti Nui FedEx Swiss International Air Lines Unidentified Unidentified United Airlines Bombardier Customer Air Côte d’Ivoire

Aircraft A320neo A320ceo A320ceo A330-200 A321ceo A318CJ

Number 100 (firms February 5 MoU) 4 2 1 12 1

Date May 5 Announced May Announced May Announced May Announced April Announced May

Aircraft 787-9 787-9 767F 777-300ER 737 777 777-300ER

Number 2 2 1 3 (discloses previously unidentified order) 9 3 10 (converted from 787 orders)

Date May 5 April 30 April 17 May 4 April 28 April 28 April 23

Aircraft Dash 8 Q400

Number 2 (firms options signed November 17, 2013)

Date April 14

Key: LoI – Letter of Intent; MoU – Memorandum of Understanding. Compiled by Mark Broadbent

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7

NEWS BY NUMBERS

KENYA AIRWAYS DREAMLINERS Kenya Airways received its seventh Boeing 787 Dreamliner on May 2 after it flew from South Charleston in the USA to Kenya. The carrier has nine of the type on order; the remaining two will arrive in June and July. The final trio are being leased through Irish lessor AWAS Aviation Trading. Kenya Airways CEO Titus Naikuni said: “Given our current financing, we must be prudent in finding innovative financing solutions while keeping with our growth ambition.” The airline reported losses of 12.5 billion shillings ($134 million) for the first half of the 2014-2015 financial year, which ended last November. It has cut capacity to 64% from 69% and

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reduced its fleet from 45 to 35, with the cuts including four Boeing 777200s and a 767. Guy Martin

H125S FOR HERITAGE AVIATION India’s Heritage Aviation took delivery of two Airbus Helicopters H125s (previously known as the AS350 Écureuil) in a ceremony in Marignane on April 15. The helicopters will be used for charter and utility operations at pilgrimage sites in India. Heritage Aviation CEO Rohit Mathur said: “Based on the feedback of our pilots and customers the H125 has been one of the most popular aircraft, especially for visits to temples on high ground.” Nigel Pittaway

Commercial

Swiss First CS100 Operator Swiss International Air Lines will be the initial Bombardier CS100 operator, confirming months of rumours. The carrier, which ordered 30 examples of the CS100 in 2008, will start using the type in the first half of next year. The CS100 is scheduled to make its public debut at June’s Paris Airshow when one of the flight test vehicles flies to Le Bourget from Bombardier’s Mirabel, Quebec facility. From Paris, that aircraft will go to Zurich for demonstration flights for Swiss employees and stakeholders. Mark Broadbent

American’s Dreamliner Debut

Boeing 787-8 N803AL (c/n 40621), on finals to Everett, Washington, is one of the next Dreamliners to be delivered to American Airlines. Joe Walker

American Airlines is scheduled to start flying the Boeing 787-8 internationally from June 2 on its daily Dallas/Fort Worth-Beijing route, and then on its Dallas-

Buenos Aires frequency two days later. The Dreamliner will be added to the Chicago O’Hare-Tokyo Narita rotation on August 18. AA started revenue services with the 787 on

the Dallas-Chicago route on May 7, by which time it had taken delivery of four 787-8s. The airline is due to receive 13 Dreamliners by the end of the year. Mark Broadbent

Eastern Air Lines Receives AOC

Eastern Air Lines has received an Air Carrier Operating Certificate from the US Federal Aviation Administration, authorising it to conduct passenger charters. Eastern received its certificate during a short ceremony at its headquarters in Building 5A at Miami International Airport, where the original Eastern Air Lines was based between 1965 and the end of its operations in 1991. Ed Wegel, the founder and Chief Executive Officer of the new Eastern Air Lines, said: “We are honoured and humbled to have been selected to bring the Eastern Air Lines name and legacy back to the skies.” As part of the work to obtain clearance from the FAA, Eastern undertook route proving flights from Miami to Dallas, San Antonio, San Juan, Santo Domingo, Columbus and Colorado Springs. The carrier said it will announce its initial charter flights shortly. Its first aircraft, ex-Kenya Airways Boeing 737-800 N276EA (c/n 35070), has been named Spirit of Eddie Rickenbacker, in honour of the World War One fighter ace who was the long-time chairman of the original company. The new Eastern aims to operate up to seven leased 737-800s by the end of this year; it has signed commitments for up to 20 737 MAX 8s and up to 20 Mitsubishi Regional Jets. Mark Broadbent

Haribo 737 at Eindhoven TUI’s Boeing 737-800 D-ATUJ (c/n 39923) has received a distinctive livery promoting Haribo Tropifrutti sweets. The aircraft is pictured at Eindhoven shortly after it was painted in the scheme. Rainer Bexter

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AI.06.15

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The Gulf

Trends Andreas Spaeth profiles Qatar Airways and interviews its ebullient Chief Executive Officer, Akbar Al Baker

A

The second A380 to be delivered to Qatar Airways, A7-APB (msn 143), is seen here on climbout from Heathrow. Steve Flint/AirTeamImages

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kbar Al Baker, who took the helm of Qatar Airways in early 1997 without any previous experience of running an airline, has been the unrelenting power behind an aviation success story. This man, who today bears the title His Excellency, is feared by the biggest aircraft manufacturers for his sudden moves and changes of course. “My strategy changes every morning that I wake up, because there is always something new,” the airline’s Chief Executive Officer told AIR International. That’s something Airbus experienced twice last year when it was supposed to hand over

new aircraft types to Qatar Airways. Because of delays to the super jumbo, the first A380 for Qatar (initially due to be delivered in 2007 under the terms of the airline’s 2003 order) was finally ready for handover in May 2014. Or so Airbus thought. Al Baker, renowned for his attention to the tiniest details in the airline’s operations and the quality of its products, found a fault in the upper-deck aft galley floor and cancelled the handover. Airbus had to put in hundreds of manhours to rectify the problem, partly removing the cabins and galleys of several A380s fitted out to Qatar’s standards. “The delay was caused by Qatar’s strict quality demands, most other airlines would have taken the aircraft as it was,” explained

QATAR AIRWAYS COMMERCIAL

dsetter Al Baker at the time. And then, towards the end of 2014, Airbus was proud to hand over the first A350-900 to Qatar Airways (the launch customer) on time, as originally promised, in mid-December. It was a matter of great prestige for Airbus that it had been able to stick to its timeline. The ceremony was planned, guests invited and lavish catering ordered – only for Al Baker to announce just a few days beforehand, via a Facebook posting by Qatar Airways, that the event was postponed. Everything went into crisis mode in Toulouse. Only a huge effort on all sides made the delivery possible by pushing it back to December 22, inconveniently close to Christmas, but still within the promised timeline of the fourth quarter. This time, Al Baker remained tight-lipped

about the cause of the delay, mentioning only a “supplier-furnished equipment issue” in the cabin. For the airline, at least, it was apparently worth the hassle. The CEO acknowledged recently how satisfied he was with the new twin-jet: “The A350 exceeded our expectations, its dispatch reliability is above our average.”

Growing Force Qatar Airways has faced and resolved several challenges since October 2013 – all-important leaps forward and signs of its coming of age. The airline was only established in 1993. It hit the one million-passenger mark in a year for the first time just six years later. By 2012 it had carried 12 million, still far behind Emirates, which started operations in 1985.

Today, Qatar carries more than 20 million customers a year. Unlike Emirates, Qatar had always hinted at wanting to join an alliance, which Al Baker sees as a valuable business tool. It was the first of the big three Gulf airlines (the third is Etihad Airways) to join one of the major alliances when it became a member of oneworld in October 2013. Qatar brought more than 20 new destinations and five countries to the alliance’s route network (Qatar currently flies to 146 destinations). As a carrier without a sizeable home market – Qatar is a tiny peninsula protruding into the Persian Gulf from the desert, and only about 300,000 of the country’s 2.1 million inhabitants are Qataris (the rest are mainly migrant workers and expatriates) –

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COMMERCIAL QATAR AIRWAYS the airline is dependent on a good network feeding passengers into its hub. And establishing an airport capable of being an efficient home base was one of the major challenges for the carrier.

Hamad Hub The ceremony that marked Qatar Airways joining oneworld took place inside the terminal of the newly built Hamad International Airport. The $16 billion project itself was subject to numerous delays over many years. Originally its opening was set for 2009, then for the end of 2012, then April 2013, but those targets were missed due to issues with suppliers, the customer’s exacting demands on the finished product’s quality, and changing rules from authorities. But on May 27, 2014, the airport finally opened. Sixty percent of Hamad International was built on reclaimed land in the Persian Gulf, with the airport covering 22 square kilometres (8.4 square miles). Capacity is currently 30 million passengers; by comparison, 23.2 million passed through the old airport nearby in 2013. Unlike many other airport mega-projects, the opening and start of operations at Hamad International went smoothly. In 1

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June the next phase, a 600,000m2 (6,458 sq ft) terminal, will be opened, including a people-mover. “We are very satisfied with the performance of Hamad International Airport so far,” said Al Baker. It was a long wait for the airline: its ultra-lavish Business Class lounge opened months after the airport received its first passengers and the First Class lounge only in April. “Our minimum connecting time is the shortest in the world with just 30 minutes, beating Munich,” boasted Al Baker, ever ready to claim superlatives for his carrier. Meanwhile, the tender is out for building the next, final phase of the airport’s terminal, which will be designed by prominent British architect Sir Norman Foster. Works are set to begin in late 2016, and it should be ready by 2019 or 2020 with a total capacity of 50 million passengers annually. “This will be a huge push ahead for the growth of Qatar Airways, and it prepares us for the football world [Cup Finals] championship in 2022,” said Al Baker. “We are ready for 2022 and have a Plan B, in case the airport is saturated by then – we will simply build a second terminal.”

QATAR AIRWAYS COMMERCIAL

1 The stairs in the A380 up to First Class. Andreas Spaeth 2 Business Class aboard the A350-900 has a 1-2-1- layout. Andreas Spaeth 3 The on-board bar and lounge in the Qatar A380s. BaoLao/AirTeamImages 4 Qatar Airways flies double-daily A350 services to Frankfurt, and in May started flying the type to Singapore. Steve Flint/AirTeamImages

Enter the A380

Andreas Spaeth

The ultimate capacity of the current airport land would be 75-80 million passengers a year.

deck, Qatar Airways accommodates up to 517 passengers on its A380s, a far cry from the 407 of Korean Air and more than the 494 on Etihad’s aircraft. In this respect Qatar has optimised its A380 for revenue.

4

So with the airport open, it was finally time A350’s Debut for the delivery of Qatar’s first A380. With Qatar being the 12th airline to take “The airport is designed for it, we have delivery of an A380, this wasn’t a headlinecurrently five stands for the A380,” said Al grabbing event in itself. But that wasn’t the Baker. Qatar has ordered ten A380s with case with the first-ever delivery of an A350three more options. “If the aircraft fulfils the 900 in December. promises given to us, we definitely have an After extreme delays in the initial A380 appetite for more,” he hinted. deliveries and then teething problems forcing By May, four A380s were in the fleet. alterations to that type’s wing manufacturing AIR International joined the delivery flight methods, Airbus desperately wanted to do of the first A380 from the Airbus factory better on the A350, its last brand-new aircraft in Hamburg-Finkenwerder to Doha last for at least the next decade. September. Compared with Etihad’s The first A350 was delivered to Doha stunning A380 product, including The on December 23, 2014. AIR International Residence three-room VIP suite for two joined a demonstration flight over the passengers, Qatar’s offering in the A380 Pyrenees the day before. cabin is far more subdued. Even in Economy Class, there are “We apologise that we have no Residence, 10.6in (269mm) screens and the newest no suites, no butlers,” Al Baker said. “But interactive we have class, Thales Avant nobody does it in-flight with as much entertainment class and in the “We apologise that we have no Residence, system at way we do.” no suites, no butlers. But we have class, nobody does it with every seat. Al Baker does But unlike the not subscribe as much class and in the way we do” double-deck to the need of Akbar Al Baker, Qatar Airways’ Chief Executive Officer A380 with its a three-class premium-class product – Qatar bar, or the 787 doesn’t have the with its electronically dimmed windows, the premium economy class cabins offered by newest Boeing 787, A380 and A350 aircraft A350 – though extremely comfortable and many other carriers. are among the best any airline currently offers, state-of-the-art – has a limited ‘wow’ factor “We offer First Class only in the A380s the only real ‘wow’ factor is delivered on for the average passenger. because of the high demand out of Doha, board the A380, with a spacious lounge for On January 15, 2015 the A350 was otherwise there is only about 40% occupancy premium passengers featuring a curved bar deployed on its inaugural commercial flight of First Class on average in the industry, and counter and comfortable sofa seating at the to Frankfurt. half of all First passengers are Frequent Flyer windows, right behind the First Class cabin. “We deliberately chose Frankfurt to put mileage upgrades,” he explained. The Business Class cabin is behind the a bit of salt in the wounds of Lufthansa,” Currently, Qatar flies the A380 to London lounge. With its 1-2-1 layout on each row and Al Baker admitted with a grin. Lufthansa Heathrow twice daily and on one frequency 48 seats, visually it appears like a long, narrow was an early partner of Qatar in the late each to Paris Charles de Gaulle and Bangkok. economy class, as there is no divider installed. 1990s, before the Germans terminated a While the Business-Class cabins of Qatar’s With 461 seats in Economy on the main

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COMMERCIAL QATAR AIRWAYS

QATAR AIRWAYS FACTS AND FIGURES IATA code: QR ICAO code: QTR Ownership: Government of Qatar (100%) Operations started: 1994, restarted 1997 Employees: 21,000 Passengers carried: 2014 – over 20 million, 2013 – 19.4 million, 2012 – 17.5 million, 2011 – 15.4 million Fleet: 2 Airbus A319LRs, 31 A320s, 8 A321s, 16 A330-200s, 13 A330-300s, 4 A340-600s, 3 A350-900s, 4 A380s, 9 Boeing 777-200LRs, 28 777-300ERs, 21 Boeing 787-8s Firm orders: 8 A320s, 36 A320neos, 14 A321neos, 40 A350-900s, 37 A350-1000s, 6 A380s, 5 777-300ERs, 50 777-9Xs, 12 777-8s. Hubs: Hamad International Airport, Doha Route network: 146 destinations on five continents including London Heathrow, Manchester and Edinburgh in the UK

1

code-sharing agreement. Lufthansa also abandoned a possible affiliation of Qatar into the Star Alliance. “[For] too long Lufthansa had no competition,” asserted Al Baker. “We are operating at half the cost per available seat kilometre, and this issue won’t go away for Lufthansa, even if all Gulf carriers would stop [flying] to Europe. And we won’t go away.”

The second A350, delivered in March, was also deployed on the double-daily Frankfurt frequency. This has freed up the 787 that flew there prior to a new route from Doha to Durban. Singapore became the second destination for Qatar’s A350 on May 11, where the last of the three daily frequencies from Doha is now flown with the new aircraft. By the end of the year Qatar plans to operate

nine A350s. It has ordered 80 A350s in all. Addison Schonland of aviation consultancy AirInsight, commented: “With the A350, Qatar has the tool to accomplish its task of moving market share away from the competition; its lower costs and range make it potentially a cash-generating machine. Qatar can’t outdo Emirates in size, so it seems to want to do so via passenger 2

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QATAR AIRWAYS COMMERCIAL

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1 Qatar Airways’ pair of Airbus A319s have an all-Business Class seat configuration called Business One and are exclusively used on the Doha-Heathrow route. Steve Flint/AirTeamImages 2 Qatar had 21 Boeing 787-8s in service at the time of publication in May, with A7-BCK (c/n 38339) seen here departing Brussels. Rudi Boigelot/AirTeamImages 3 Qatar Airways now flies double-daily A380 services to Paris Charles de Gaulle, where the airline’s fourth A380 (A7APD) is pictured. Anthony Guerra/AirTeamImages 4 Two of Qatar’s current fleet of four A380s – the airline has six more on order. Andreas Spaeth

experience. This is a logical move. Without the fleet of A380s that Emirates has, Qatar can’t compete on volume. It does so on its strengths, which are cabin and service.” Al Baker explained the airline’s approach in this way: “We are more oriented towards quality because we are new in the business. We have a lot to catch up on, so the legacy carriers should not worry about us the way they are. We are growing and there will be a time when our growth will be the same as theirs. Our network will mature and we will grow at 3-4% a year, as compared with 30% now.”

Geography

Qantas, but Al Baker predicts the airline’s passenger throughput will double again in the next five years. That is easy to believe, watching all the new destinations that will add to the 146 that were in the network in early 2015. Flights to Amsterdam, Durban and Zanzibar will start later this year alongside three more cities in Pakistan. While that is fewer new destinations than added in the past three years, when there were 12 new points served each year, future growth will continue.

A mere glance at the aircraft on order might make competitors shiver – over 200 aircraft worth $70 billion stand in Airbus’ and Boeing’s order books. Qatar already operates 152 jets. The new aircraft include up to 100 Boeing 777Xs and 80 A320neos; the latter are due to be delivered from the latter part of this year. Doubtless Al Baker’s reputation for insisting on the highest standards will fly before him as the launch party for the carrier’s next new aircraft is planned.

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Al Baker went on to highlight the geographical advantage that all Gulf carriers have that helps to develop their striking business model. “We are in a position where we can connect more than half of the world’s population within a five-hour radius of Qatar. There will be more flights, and more frequencies to the same destinations,” he announced in a statement that will appear ominous to many established carriers. Qatar ranks 19th in terms of passenger traffic handled, behind KLM and ahead of

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TECHNOLOGY PHANTOM SWIFT

While the secret world of research and development is often hard to penetrate, there is a more open programme, X-Plane, to create a next-generation vertical take-off and landing aircraft. Andrew Drwiega investigates

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bolted and alarmed. Such is the case with Boeing’s Phantom Swift, a prototype next-generation vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) platform. Phantom Swift is Boeing’s development solution to a challenge set in 2013 by the US Government’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). DARPA has some muscle behind it; this financial year it was allocated a budget of $2.9 billion to be spread over 250 programmes and between six technology offices. The total programme budget for Phantom Swift has been estimated at $130 million with $47 million allocated for Phase 1.

X-Plane Competition The DARPA competition is known as the X-Plane (Experimental Plane) and its ambition is to expand VTOL operational capability and performance beyond the accepted 150-170kts (277-314km/h) for today’s rotorcraft, while retaining a useful payload. The DARPA briefing notes suggest that it should have developed from “an innovative cross-pollination” of ideas from both the fixed-wing and rotary worlds. It has set the challenging goal for sustained flight speed at 300-400kts (555-

740km/h). Added to this will be an improvement 1 in hover efficiency from 60% to at least 75%; an improved lift-to-drag ratio of at least ten from today’s five or six; and the need to carry at least 40% of the expected gross weight of 10,000-12,000lb (4,535-5,443kg). Stu Voboril, Director of Special Pursuits, Phantom Works, outlined to AIR International what is required: “The team is working Phase I of the programme, leading up to a preliminary design review and proposal submittal for Phases 2 and 3, which will include the detail design, fabrication assembly, and a ground/ flight test demonstration.” Programme manager Brian Ritter, who usually works at Boeing’s Mesa facility just outside Phoenix, Arizona, set the scene: “DARPA came looking for a configuration of something that can hover more efficiently, fly faster and have a lift-to-drag ratio of double what the typical rotorcraft has – and with a 40% useful load. Most of those have not even done that individually, never mind together.” The task was taken on by Boeing’s engineers who decided to source solutions from the wider so-called ‘Boeing nation’ of employees. Ritter said Boeing had been creating ‘think tank’ types of environments at each of its centres to provide outlets for its

Jorgen Syversen/AirTeamImages

hen Boeing’s advanced prototyping division, Phantom Works, is involved in a project then it is going to be something out of the ordinary and surrounded by secrecy. Research undertaken by Phantom Works, and its counterparts such as Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works, are frequently classified as ‘black projects’ that are denied by government and the military. They are where new ideas and ‘blue sky’ thinking are given freedom and, more importantly, development budgets. They are where new military aircraft and other nextgeneration technologies are first shaped. Some of their work is focused on prototyping, where concepts are literally made to fly and often segue into other developments. For example, advances made during the prototyping of Boeing’s Bird of Prey (named after the fictitious Klingon spacecraft in Star Trek) fed technologies and materials into several projects, including the now very public X-45 unmanned combat air vehicle. But there are some projects that are more open – or, let’s just say that the door to them is slightly ajar rather than being firmly closed,

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PHANTOM SWIFT TECHNOLOGY employees’ creative thinking. “One such idea was from an engineer in Seattle,” explains Ritter. “He envisaged [an air vehicle with] a pair of co-axial fans in the centre and a couple of fans that tilted in the wings. It was cool enough that we decided to play around with it. The rotorcraft guys made some estimates and we all began to think, ‘this really will work.’ We built our proposal around that.” The first flight was conducted on what Ritter calls a ‘broomstick’ model, but then other colleagues suggested they could make the airframe and so it progressed quickly into something more substantial. “So we took the co-axial fans and split them into a pair of ducted fans,” Ritter said. “We put airfoils on the wings and ended up with the configuration that we have today – a pair of body lift fans and a pair of wing tip thrusters.” Scott Bouwer, one of Phantom Swift’s design engineers stated that the main practical work centred on a three-day design period with another ten days to source the parts then a further 13 days to build it, at a very basic level. His colleague Perry Ziegenbein, chief engineer, said: “A flying model is worth a million words… what’s new here is the combination of body fans and tilt wing fans that gives incredible control and now addresses issues faced by early ducted fan designs.” This is what is now recognised in Boeing as rapid prototyping. The subscaled model, estimated to be around 17% of the final size of the Phantom Swift when completed, was transformed from a concept to the first flying prototype in under a month. Ritter explained: “What we are designing

now is a technology demonstrator where we have to demonstrate a lift-to-drag ratio of ten or better; most helicopters today are the five-to-six range. We also need it to carry a useful load of 40% of the platform, or better.” According to Ritter, the final flying aircraft will weigh around 12,000lb (5,443kg) and will be 44ft (13m) long with a wingspan of 50ft (15m): “The challenge is that they want us to fly this in under four-and-a-half years, which is why it’s at Phantom Works. 2 “Today it has the potential to be manned Ritter concluded: “We see a whole family of or unmanned,” he added, although aircraft coming out of this.” He added Boeing currently it and its three competitive had also “looked at the possibility of larger offerings are all unmanned. “Ducted versions that could carry guys and gear.” fan technology is now something that However, sequestration has ensured that Boeing is investing in and we are bringing there is no limitless pile of cash that would some new materials and approaches to allow the teams to widely experiment as they something that has to be efficient in both might have done in decades past. “There the hover and high speed flight. Those are are a lot of trades going on to gain cost two extremes that we have to figure out savings,” admitted Ritter. “So sometimes how to bring together.” there are trade-offs to achieve the right Ritter detailed some of the engineering capability at the right price.” that has already gone into the Phantom Swift. Once the centreline fans had X-Plane Schedule completed the job of lifting the vehicle, they Joining Boeing in the X-Plane competition would be shut off and enclosed in the body are rivals Aurora Flight Sciences, Karem of the airframe to streamline it allowing the Aircraft and Sikorsky. By widening the first rotating wing-tip thruster fans to take the phase, DARPA was hoping to maximise aircraft up to the high cruising speed. the number of approaches that different The fans would be variable pitch and organisations would take in addressing the power for the Phantom Swift would problem, explained Dr Ashish Bagai, DARPA potentially be delivered by a GE Aviation CT7 programme manager. “The proposals we’ve engine rated at 2,600shp/1,900kW. chosen aim to create new technologies and “It will have an all mechanical drive. We incorporate existing ones that VTOL designs would consider an electric design in the so far have not succeeded in developing. future,” Ritter said. The design of the We’re eager to see if the performers can Phantom Swift would also allow it to be integrate their ideas into designs that could capable of rolling take-offs and landings. potentially achieve the performance goals we’ve set.” 1 A concept view of the Phantom The DARPA VTOL X-Plane programme will Swift. DARPA 2 The Phantom Swift small-scale prototype at Boeing St be conducted over three phases. Initiated in Louis on March 14, 2014. This is one October 2013, it is set to run over 52 months of four competing designs to have to early 2018. First flight should occur in late been accepted as part of DARPA’s 2017 after 42 months. Vertical Takeoff and Landing (VTOL) Phase 1 was planned to last around 22 X-Plane programme. Boeing months, with DARPA helping to fund the 3 According to Boeing, the final four competitive designs. However, there flying aircraft will weigh around will only be one platform that goes through 12,000lb and will be 44ft long with to Phase 2 and Phase 3 where contracts for a wingspan of 50ft. Boeing full-size fabrication and flight demonstration will be awarded. The project seems to parallel another major science and technology programme being run by the US Department of Defense (DoD), the Joint Multi-Role Technology Demonstrator (JMR TD), which will eventually lead to a Future Vertical Lift (FVL) (medium) helicopter. But Voboril confirms that Phantom Swift is not in competition and is not working to any specific mission. FVL (medium) will produce a rotorcraft capable of speeds around 250kts (463km/h) and will be produced in attack and utility versions to directly replace Boeing’s Apaches and Sikorsky’s Black Hawks 3 during the mid to late 2030s and beyond.

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MILITARY F-15SA EAGLE

Saudi’sSup A

Jon Lake profiles the most capable version of the F-15 Eagle ever built IR International has learned that deliveries of Boeing F-15SA Eagles to the Royal Saudi Air Force are now impending. This follows the reported solution of unspecified problems with the type’s allnew digital fly-by-wire (FBW) flight control system. Production of F-15SAs (SA denotes Saudi Advanced) to meet the RSAF’s order has continued even while the flight test programme has been ongoing, and a large number of aircraft have been completed and test-flown before being placed in temporary storage. These are now waiting for the flight test programme to conclude that will allow the definitive FCS software to be uploaded. Deliveries will then begin. The 23rd and 25th F-15SAs (serial numbers 12-1023 and

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12-1025) have already been seen flying from St Louis-Lambert Field, Missouri, home of Boeing’s F-15 and F/A-18 production facility. This indicates that as many as 22 aircraft may be awaiting the final FCS software release. “The flight test programme is now proceeding at breakneck speed, and deliveries are awaiting the imminent conclusion of that,” a Boeing spokesman told AIR International at the recent IDEX show in Abu Dhabi. The first three F-15SA aircraft (c/n SA-1, SA-2 and SA-3) are fully instrumented, and have been used for flight test and development since February 2013, initially at Lambert Field, and then Palmdale, California. The F-15SA is the most advanced version of the Boeing F-15 Eagle (including the Strike Eagle variants) ever built, and is designed to provide improved performance and increased survivability at a lower life-cycle cost than existing variants of the Eagle.

New and Upgraded Boeing is under contract to deliver 84 new F-15SA aircraft to Saudi Arabia and the Kingdom’s surviving F-15S Strike Eagles will be refurbished and upgraded to the same configuration, using US-supplied conversion kits. When the original agreement was signed there were 70 F-15S variants in the Saudi fleet. Attrition has reduced the total to 68, the first two will be upgraded at Boeing’s St Louis facility under the first phase of the upgrade programme, which is due to be completed by the end of December 2015. The second phase, involving the other 66 aircraft, is expected to start in 2016 performed by the Alsalam Aircraft Company in Riyadh. The company, originally established as part of a Boeing offset arrangement, received a $33.1 million firm-fixed-price contract to set up the required facility; develop manufacturing plans and schedules; and prepare automated

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uperEagle F-15SA 12-1001 (c/n SA-1) is fitted with a large pitot tube, and is used for testing of the flight control systems. The aircraft is marked with the legend F-15SA FC System Test. All images Dan Stijovich unless stated

performance reporting tools. Ultimately the RSAF will have a fleet of 152 F-15SAs: the upgrade will form the centrepiece of its F-15 Fleet Modernization Programme, and will potentially be the most valuable US Foreign Military Sale to date. Saudi Arabia has ambitious plans to upgrade and modernise its armed forces. According to the Washington Post’s David Ignatius, the Saudis will “roughly double [the size of] their armed forces over the next ten years,” with a planned expansion of its air force with about 400 to 500 new aircraft.

Super Eagle Systems The F-15SA builds on the enhanced F-15K and F-15SG variants produced for Korea and Singapore respectively, adding further systems and capabilities. Its avionics and systems are largely the same as those adopted for Boeing’s stealthy F-15SE Silent Eagle project. Consequently, the Saudi Advanced Eagle is in many ways more

capable and more sophisticated than any US Air Force variant, although the USAF F-15E Radar Modernisation Programme includes the new Raytheon AN/APG-82(V)1 active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar. The APG-83(V)1 is a more capable version of the company’s AN/APG-63(V)3 and the most advanced radar available for export variants like the Saudi F-15SA and the Singaporean F-15SG. Other systems integrated on the new Saudi aircraft are a BAE Systems digital electronic warfare suite (also used by the F-15SG), forward and aft cockpits equipped for the Joint Helmet Mounted Cueing System, the AN/AAQ-33 Sniper targeting pods, the LANTIRN Tiger Eyes navigation pod, and the Lockheed Martin AN/AAS-42 infrared search and track system – the latter carried in the forward part of the pylon used to fit the Sniper pod. Weapons include AIM-9X Sidewinder and AIM-120C-7 AMRAAM air-to-air missiles,

and a range of ‘dumb’ and precision-guided air-to-ground munitions. The latter include AGM-88B HARM (high-speed anti-radiation missiles), AGM-84 Block II Harpoon, AGM-84H SLAM-ER (stand-off land attack missile – extended range) air-to-surface missiles, and the AGM-154C JSOW (joint stand-off weapon). None of the weapons listed breach Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) regulations that prohibit export of any cruise missile capable of carrying a 500kg (1,100lb) payload for more than 300km (162nm). Because of the MTCR regulations, the AGM-158 JASSM (joint air-to-surface stand-off missile) will not be supplied. Air-to-surface munitions will include the Boeing 250lb (114kg) GBU-39/B SDB I (small-diameter bomb) and the new 500lb (227kg) Paveway IV dual-mode precisionguided munition. Smaller, lighter weapons such as the GBU-39 and Paveway IV, have become the mainstay of coalition

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MILITARY F-15SA EAGLE who have flown the F-15SA, it is a better aircraft to fly than previous F-15 variants.

Why the Super Eagle? Saudi Arabia has always sought to diversify the sources of its military equipment, and it was expected that the Kingdom would augment its August 2006 purchase of 72 Eurofighter Typhoons with another fighter type. Despite reports of Saudi interest in the Dassault Rafale it was always likely that they would turn to the United States to complement the Typhoon. The Kingdom’s interest in an advanced version of the F-15 (a type already in service with the RSAF which operates the F-15C, F-15D and F-15S variants) was brought about because the American fifth-generation F-22 Raptor was not available for export and F-35A Lightning II remains ‘off limits’. The 1 latter is also hindered by programme delays air operations, because they reduce the 2 possibility of collateral damage. But like many Arab air arms, the RSAF continues to place a premium on weapons with really large warheads suitable for striking armoured and hardened targets. The F-15SA will use three different types of 2,000lb (907kg) precision-guided munitions: the dual-mode precision-guided munition, the GBU-24 Paveway III laserguided bomb and the GBU-31(V)3/B JDAM (joint direct attack munition). A number of less discriminating weapons are also being supplied, including 500lb and 2,000lb unguided Mk82 and Mk84 bombs and the 1,000lb (454kg) CBU-105 Wind Corrected Munitions Dispenser: a guided CBU (cluster bomb unit). The Saudi F-15SA contract also includes ten UTC Aerospace Systems DB-110 reconnaissance pods, giving the RSAF a high-definition EO LOROP capability with resolution on a par with traditional wet film, and the immediacy of a real-time downlinked digital system. Compared with other Eagle variants, the F-15SA has two additional outboard under-wing weapon stations (defined as stations 1 and 9) to permit carriage of a higher payload. Technically, stations 1 and 9 are not new, all F-15s having the hardware provisions for using pylons on stations 1 and 9 in the same positions. They were originally designed to accommodate pods for the TEWS (tactical electronic warfare suite) on the original F-15A, before the equipment they were intended for was abandoned. During wind tunnel testing, it became clear to McDonnell-Douglas engineers that the use of stations 1 and 9 was having a longitudinally destabilizing effect to the extent that the original flight control system couldn’t cope. The F-15SA’s new digital FBW flight control system is designed to allow use of stations 1 and 9 and provide significant reduction in maintenance compared with the original electro-mechanical control system. It also allows greater flexibility for tailoring control laws for specific flight conditions, loadings and tasks. The system was developed using experience from the F/A-18 Hornet and F-15 control systems, and those used in Boeing’s unsuccessful X-32 Joint Strike Fighter contender. According to pilots

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1 F-15SA 12-1002 during its maiden flight from St LouisLambert Field on February 20, 2013. Boeing 2 Aero L-39ZA Albatros NX109ZA operated by Air USA of Henderson, Nevada flies chase with F-15SA 12-1002 on final approach to Palmdale, California. via Jon Lake 3 F-15SA 12-1002 (c/n SA-2) is used for flutter and aerodynamic testing at Palmdale Airport, California. The aircraft is marked with the legend F-15SA Fly-By-Wire just forward of the cockpit canopy.

F-15SA EAGLE MILITARY which may deem it unavailable in time to meet Saudi timescales. The 84-aircraft order saved the F-15 production line from closure following the completion of orders for South Korea and Singapore. Initially the US offered a modestly improved configuration referred to as the F-15S+ with F110 engines, Sniper targeting pods, Link 16, and the AN/APG-63(V)1 radar: the type fitted to the South Korean F-15K Slam Eagle. The APG-63(V)1 features a full, digital back end, married to a mechanically-scanned array. This promised to give a significantly improved performance over the baseline APG-70 radar and allowed for adding an AESA antenna array at a later date. However, the F-15S+ proposal proved too modest for Saudi Arabia. It is believed that Boeing hoped to sell the stealth-modified F-15SE Silent Eagle to the Kingdom, but 3 this did not happen. Whether this was due to growing US sensitivity over the export of advanced and sensitive technologies or objections by the Israeli lobby, is not known. The original Saudi F-15S, 72 of which were built between 1996 and 1998, was supplied without conformal fuel tanks and radar with a detuned Doppler beam-sharpening capability. This gives an effective reduction in resolution (to about one third of that enjoyed by US Air Force F-15Es) and range: downgrades incorporated to appease Israeli sensitivities. With other manufacturers willing to supply more advanced fighters, and with US budgetary pressures forcing a reduction in its own permanent military presence in the Middle East, giving regional allies the ‘tools to do the job’ gained greater importance. Unsurprisingly Saudi Arabia was unwilling to let Israel dictate what equipment it could and could not receive. It was quickly realised that only an AESA-equipped F-15SA would meet Saudi requirements. Such an aircraft also promised the RSAF a far higher level of interoperability with US and allied air forces, providing capabilities that were better tailored to dealing with small, dispersed target sets exemplified by the dispersed elements of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). They were also suitable for the kind of asymmetric warfare required for combating rebels – Houthi and Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) – and insurgents on the Yemeni border. The F-15SA eventually offered to Saudi Arabia was thus the most advanced export version of the aircraft to date, and one that was more advanced than America’s own F-15E in a number of key respects. The $29.4 billion F-15SA package was approved by Congress in 2010 and the agreement was signed by President Obama in 2011.

Programme of Work The formal order for 84 new F-15SAs was placed in March 2012, while a contract for the conversion of the remaining 68 F-15S aircraft to the same configuration was placed on June 26, 2012. The first three F-15SAs are orange-wired and equipped with flight test instrumentation.

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MILITARY F-15SA EAGLE

All three are being used as prototypes, conducting developmental test flying to prove the new flight control system and to re-certify the F-15SA throughout the Eagle’s entire flight envelope – a major task that was expected to take at least 18 months. The first aircraft was rolled out at St Louis on April 30, 2013, in the presence of Lt Gen Mohammed Bin Abdullah Al-Ayesh, the commander of the Royal Saudi Air Force, together with senior Boeing and US Air Force leaders. F-15SA 12-1002 (c/n SA-2) made its maiden flight at St Louis on February 20, 2013 in the hands of Boeing test pilot Joe Felock, and Weapon System Operator Mark Snider. Aircraft 12-1001 (c/n SA-1) followed on March 2, and 12-2003 (c/n SA-3) completed the trio of prototypes on March 3. The first flights for each of the prototypes

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started an 18-month flight-test campaign that was expected to end in the summer of 2014. The three F-15SAs were each allocated individual flight test tasks: SA-1 for weapons testing, SA-2 for flutter and aerodynamics, and SA-3 for electronic attack and electronic sensor testing. The first two aircraft subsequently received highly visible orange markings in a very similar design to those applied to the very first US F-15A prototypes in the early 1970s: the third aircraft retains RSAF camouflage. Other than a brief announcement about the first flight and the roll-out (the latter happening three weeks after the first flight), Boeing has always declined to make any comment on the F-15SA programme, but there have been reports of unspecified problems. After the first week of April 2013, all flight

testing was put on hold due to engineering issues with the digital FBW system. A standdown was always planned for further control law development, system ground tests and simulations, but some sources suggest that it occurred earlier, and went on for longer than expected. In addition to that, expanding the F-15SA’s envelope with the new FCS was slower than anticipated. Flight testing resumed in October, prior to the transfer of flight test activities to Air Force Plant 42 at Palmdale on November 1, 2013. The move was always planned, since higher risk activities, including flutter, weapon separation, and high-alpha flying with different stores configurations is best conducted in the Edwards Air Force Base range. Saudi’s F-15SA is a United States FMS programme, but in effect is managed by the

F-15SA EAGLE MILITARY

This shot of F-15SA 12-1002 (c/n SA-2) landing at Palmdale, California, shows the aft-facing sensors fitted to the ends of the extended pylons form from each vertical stabiliser root.

Air Force Life Cycle Management Center at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio: the US Air Force’s decision authority for F-15SA. Boeing is a sub-contractor.

Mohawarean Aviation Services

It was initially thought that a Royal Saudi Air Force training squadron, equipped with up to 18 F-15SA aircraft and personnel, would be based with the 366th Fighter Wing at Mountain Home Air Force Base in Idaho. The Saudi squadron would have remained at Mountain Home for at least five years operating alongside 42 US Air Force F-15E Strike Eagles and 14 Republic of Singapore Air Force F-15SGs. This would have increased the number of sorties flown in the Mountain Home Range Complex (MHRC) and associated airspace by 32%.

Saudia Arabia was to have paid for the construction, refurbishment and modification of facilities, and provide equipment for the squadron to fly and maintain the aircraft. The Mountain Home option was not taken. Instead F-15SA training will be conducted at King Khalid Air Base near Khamis Mushayt, after an initial cadre of aircrew is trained in the United States. Mohawarean Aviation Services Company Ltd (MAS) was selected by Boeing as its subcontractor to provide ‘differences training’ for the RSAF pilots, WSOs and maintainers moving from other variants of the Eagle, and for an initial cadre of US Air Force aircrew who will support the F-15SA programme. The plan was to train up to six USAF and six RSAF crews in September-October 2014, prior to the planned commencement

of aircraft deliveries in January 2015. Up to four additional instructor crews were then to have been trained between January and March 2015. Mohawarean Aviation Services has employed 14 instructor aircrew and 18 academic and simulator instructors to begin the training. That task has almost certainly slipped because of delays to the flight-test programme, since initial training was to have used early production F-15SAs, which are not currently flying. Saudi’s first F-15SA unit is likely to be 17 Squadron: a former F-5E Tiger unit that was once expected to be the third Typhoon unit. Beyond that, existing F-15S squadrons will re-equip with new and upgraded F-15SAs and some former F-5E squadron number plates may also be used.

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German scientists are researching new ways of measuring and tackling aircraft icing. Mark Broadbent reports

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irlines and aircraft manufacturers have long been aware of the issues icing can cause, and improving the understanding of a specific icing phenomenon called supercooled large droplets (SLD) is one of the research projects currently under way at the Deutsches Zentrum für Luftund Raumfahrt (DLR, German Aerospace Center). Per Ohme, from the DLR’s Institute of Flight Systems Flight Dynamics and Simulation in Braunschweig, east of Hanover, explained to AIR International: “SLD icing is where supercooled water droplets, with diameters greater than 50 microns [0.05mm], can be found under certain atmospheric conditions. Due to different physical effects, for example splashing, ice can accumulate at other positions of the [aircraft] profile than under ‘normal’ icing conditions.”

Jorgen Syversen/AirTeamImages

Falling Snowflakes

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Ohme explained how SLD icing is created: “Snowflakes from a high-altitude layer of cold air fall through a layer of warm air, where they melt, and are then supercooled in a lower cold air zone If an aircraft encounters SLDs, the droplets dissolve or break up, then accumulate and freeze [on the aircraft].” Although SLDs can be thawed where the de-icing boots are installed, ice can still form behind those systems. “This disrupts the

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sensitive aerodynamics: SLD icing drastically degrades the aerodynamic properties of the aircraft,” Ohme observed. “If the wings and tail section ice up, lift and stall characteristics are significantly changed.”

Improving Information Ohme said there’s a comparative lack of calculation and prediction methods, test facilities and, ultimately, flight data” about SLD. He and his colleagues intend to rectify that situation by providing detailed information about the phenomenon that will help inform aircraft manufacturers and regulators on developing ways of countering it.

Embraer Research One of the DLR’s investigations into SLD is a research project being conducted in partnership with the Brazilian manufacturer Embraer. This initiative has three steps, the first of which is to develop initial models for different aircraft icing conditions that can be trialled in the DLR’s full motion flight simulator, AVES (Air Vehicle Simulator). The second is to investigate the impact of SLD on aircraft manoeuvrability, and the third is to develop what the DLR calls Online System Identification (Sys-ID) sensors that measure droplets’ influence on aerodynamic performance in real time during a flight.

Artificial Ice Shapes

Ohme explained: “Because no SLD flight data is available yet, the model development in the

DLR ANTI-ICING RESEARCH TECHNOLOGY

1 The DLR is researching how to use the energy from the vibrations in the aircraft’s wing to break up ice. DLR 2 Project SuLaDi is examining new de-icing methods for the wings’ leading edges.

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Roman Becker/AirTeamImages

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first step is based on computational fluid dynamics [CFD] calculations and wind tunnel experiments.” These models, tested in the AVES simulator, will establish the baseline for the second step of the programme – test flights. The information will be used to create special artificial ice shapes (made from plastic) designed to replicate particular icing conditions. Those shapes will be installed onto a Phenom 300 business jet for test flights from Gavião Peixoto, Embraer’s private flight testing airfield outside São Paulo, this August. Last December the Phenom flew in non-icing conditions. The data generated during that flight established a baseline for the aircraft’s dynamics. So when it is flown later this summer with the artificial ice shapes, the DLR’s researchers will be able to measure the influence of what they term ‘SLD contamination’ on the aircraft’s controllability and handling. That data will be used to validate and update the first SLD icing model developed in the AMES simulator which Ohme said will, in turn, “help to clarify future aircraft certification procedures concerning SLD icing”.

Sensors The third aspect of the DLR-Embraer partnership is the development of the Sys-ID sensors,

which will be used primarily to record aerodynamic parameters during the test flight. “They may be used in normal flight operation to detect sensor degradation/malfunction or loss of aerodynamic efficiency due to icing or, in a military application, structural damage,” Ohme said. What are the DLR’s expectations about the upcoming flight testing? “We expect a different influence on the aerodynamics with SLD shapes compared with ‘normal’ icing conditions,” he replied. “These flight tests give us the unique opportunity to prepare Embraer for future aircraft icing certifications and obtain a database for different future research activities.”

Project SuLaDi In parallel with the Embraer project, the DLR has another SLD research initiative called Project SuLaDi (Supercooled Large Droplet Investigation). This covers four areas. The first is researching what Ohme terms “reliable aerodynamic prediction methods” to determine how an aircraft’s profile can influence icing through wind tunnel experiments and CFD calculations into different wing profiles. Improving ways of detecting ice is the second research area, and involves the further analysis of those Sys-ID sensors to ensure they are reliable enough to generate information in real time. The third aspect is the development of new air traffic

control procedures that will help operators plan flight trajectories to avoid airspace with increased risk of icing.

Leading Edges Perhaps most intriguingly, the fourth area of Project SuLaDi is researching into new deicing methods in the wings’ leading edges, where the de-icing boots are located. These systems typically use compressed hot air from the engines. But engineer Christian Mendig from the DLR’s Institute of Composite Structures and Adaptive Systems said this method “simply consumes too much power”, which impacts on performance. So DLR engineers are looking at more energy-efficient processes. They are researching how to use the energy in the vibrations in the aircraft’s wing to break up the ice rather than melt it. Mendig added that DLR engineers are also investigating ways in which to build a more detailed picture of icing. “Where exactly on the aircraft is coarse or compact ice and in what strength? We want our ice detection to find out,” he said. “Then the ice can be selectively melted or detached in the affected area, without wasting energy.” By combining the different aspects of Project SuLaDi with the research from the Embraer partnership, the DLR is aiming to deepen understanding of aircraft icing – and come up with new ways of combating it.

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The TBM 900 brings high performance to the GA market. Dave Unwin flew the powerful French turboprop

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s the TBM 900 taxies regally across the tarmac at Sebring Airport in Florida, it looks every inch a thoroughbred. From the tip of the spinner to the top of the fin it is a very elegant design. I’d greatly enjoyed flying my first TBM (a -700C2) 12 years ago and then an 850 five years later, and I was very much looking forward to renewing my acquaintance with this powerful French turboprop. TBMs are interesting machines – despite the pressurised cabin, turboprop engine and stunning performance, they are certified for single pilot operation and are very much aimed at the owner-pilot. The 900 stalls at around 65kts (120km/h) and the Vref

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(landing reference speed) is about 85kts (157km/h), only 15kts (27km/h) quicker than the approach speed for a fully loaded Cessna 182. The 900 looks quite different to the earlier TBMs. It features large (610mm/24in) sweptup winglets and an unusual looking fiveblade prop, which seems to be set closer to the air intake than on previous machines. The intake is also a different shape; the exhausts appear altered and the small bump on the cowling that previously covered the prop governor is also absent. Photographer Jim Lawrence and I meet Michel Adam de Villiers, Vice-President of Sales for Daher Airplane Business Unit, and Wayman Luy, Socata North America’s Chief Pilot. After an agreeable breakfast, Wayman briefs me on the 900. He confirms my initial impressions; this is a very different aircraft to earlier TBMs, even though the Pratt &

Whitney PT6A-66D under the curvaceous cowling is essentially the same as that fitted to the 700 and 850. The engine is actually capable of producing up to 1,825shp (1,500kW) at sea level, although it is flat rated to a maximum of 850shp (634kW). There are two reasons for flat rating. Firstly, any air-breathing engine produces the most power at sea level on a cold day, because the air it needs to ‘breathe’ is at its most dense. As the aircraft climbs the air density reduces and the power produced diminishes. However, if the engine is only producing around 50% of its potential output at sea level, then it is possible to maintain the same power output all the way up to cruise altitude. The other main advantage is that the engine is always running well below its maximum, which obviously greatly increases its life. And as the PT6A-66D fitted to the TBM 900 never

TBM 900 COMMERCIAL

TBM

All photos Jim Lawrence/Daher Airplane Business Unit

Thoroughbred

runs at even 50% of its full potential, I’d be very surprised if one ever failed to make its time before overhaul.

Computational Fluid Dynamics

Wayman explains that several years ago Socata comprehensively examined the aircraft’s aerodynamics. By creating a numerical model and using computational fluid dynamics (CFD), it was possible to study localised airflow in tremendous detail. This revealed the positions of the prop, cowling, exhausts, air intake and plenum were all far from optimum. The prop disc was too far forward of the air intake, which also wasn’t the ideal shape and size. The net result was that turbulent airflow was creating unnecessary drag, and the engine wasn’t ‘breathing’ satisfactorily due to the uneven airflow entering the

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COMMERCIAL TBM 900

induction plenum. Furthermore, the exhaust pipes generated turbulent flow in the exhaust stream because they were not the most advantageous shape. All of these issues were addressed, and along with adding new inboard main undercarriage doors and installing a new five-blade prop, the changes greatly enhanced performance. Maximum cruise speed has been raised from the 850’s 320kts (592km/h) to 330kts (611km/h), even though the power-to-weight ratio is the same. The new prop means that at only 76.4 decibels at take-off the 900 is even quieter than the 850, which was pretty quiet in the first place.

Walk Around Access to the engine is good, as the new carbon fibre cowling has large ‘gull wing’ doors on either side that open wide and are held in place by sturdy support struts. The firewall is formed from a single sheet 1

1 There is an electronic standby AI above the pilot’s primary flight display. 2 The five-blade prop is new and the engine intake has been redesigned from previous TBMs. When viewed from the front the spinner is angled down and to the right.

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of titanium, while the governor has been replaced by an electrical system with mechanical stops and the starter/generator increased from a 200-amp unit to 300 amps. There is now no speed restriction on the use of the inertial separator. The robust undercarriage features mainwheels with a relatively wide track that retract inwards while the nosewheel retracts backwards. Twin doors cover the entire nosewheel assembly when retracted, but the doors on the main undercarriage only cover half of each wheel, which are fitted with huge hydraulic disc brakes. Taxi and landing lights consist of blocks of LEDs mounted in the wingtips. The wings have a fair amount of dihedral, flush-riveted skins, big winglets, fences at approximately mid-span, huge Fowler flaps (that extend over about 70% of the wing’s trailing edge), small Frise ailerons and upper-surface slotted spoilers (aka spoilerons), which are connected to

the ailerons. The very large flaps keep the stalling speed down; the inevitable side effect is the ailerons are somewhat short, with a consequent degradation of control around the lateral axis. The spoilerons provide an elegant solution. There is a bulbous radar pod mounted on the port wing, but apart from that it’s astonishing just how smooth the wing and fuselage are. As Wayman and I walk towards the tail I notice several small yellow arrows along the fuselage. He explains that as TBMs are built to extremely high tolerances, the arrows are used in conjunction with lasers to ensure the fuselage is aligned correctly in the jig during construction. The 900 has the same pair of ventral strakes directly beneath the swept-back fin as on earlier TBMs, although it seems to me that the dorsal fillet immediately in front of it is larger. The rudder and elevators are both mass and aerodynamically balanced, with the elevators actuated by dual pushrods while the rudder is cable operated. Anti-ice protection is provided by pneumatic boots on the leading edges of the wings, tailplane and fin, while the prop blades, pitot tubes, stall warner and windshields are heated electrically. The engine intake lip is heated by bleed air and features an inertial separator. Viewed from the front, the spinner is noticeably angled downwards and to the right. As with all the TBMs I’ve tested, the build quality is exceptional, but as well as being well made, it is also very thoughtfully designed. For example, the tow bar is carried in its own specially moulded box, which slides into a dedicated stowage area; there is a mirror built into the emergency locator transmitter bay and another (along with a light) in the nosewheel well to check the fuel filter. The next big change Wayman points out is the dedicated pilot door. Previously an option on the 700 and 850, it is standard on the 900 and confers several significant advantages. Having their own door enables a pilot to ensure the big main door is secure and, if being used as a small freighter, lets operators fill the cabin to capacity without having to leave space for the aisle. Most small freighters run out of space before they exceed their maximum all-up weight (MAUW). The

TBM 900 COMMERCIAL the eye away from the PFD. Flap and trim positions are shown on the MFD, but the undercarriage uses lights co-located with the lever, which I prefer. The lever illuminates when the wheels are in transit. As on nearly all turbine-powered aircraft, the switches for most of the electrical systems – such as the lights, starter and generator – are in a neat overhead panel. Both the fuel flow and quantity are displayed in US gallons (in most turbine-powered aircraft fuel is measured by weight, not volume). Socata designed the system in this way because many potential TBM 900 purchasers would be transitioning up from a complex pistonpowered aircraft, which indicate fuel quantity and flow by volume. Another unusual feature among the seven switches fitted to the yoke, is that one trims the elevator and rudder. As the powerful engine turns a big five-bladed propeller and operates over a very wide (approx 260kts/481km/h IAS) speed range, rudder trim is important and the TBM series remain the only aircraft in my logbook fitted with a yoke-mounted rudder trim. Initially, I find this switch a bit of a stretch, as in my opinion a good ‘rule of thumb’ (see what I did there) for the trim button is that it should be almost where your thumb rests naturally. However, I soon adjust to it. Taxiing is very straightforward. The nosewheel steers through the rudder pedal and is nice and precise, while the hydraulic brakes are powerful and progressive. Another neat feature is that the fuel tank selector automatically switches between the wing-mounted tanks to prevent a lateral imbalance. Every five minutes when on the ground, and ten in flight, it changes tanks. Should the fuel situation have deteriorated to the point that both tanks are showing Low Fuel warnings on the MFD, the fuel selector automatically switches from tank to tank every 75 seconds to ensure every last drop of Jet A-1 is used. The two wing tanks have a combined total of 1,140 litres (250 imp gallons) and only 44 litres (9.6 imp gallons) is unusable.

Flight 2 At the run-up point I set the trims and flaps

test aircraft was configured in a very luxurious club class, but it can be easily reconfigured.

Controls and Instruments With the sumptuous seat and rudder pedals set, I begin to acquaint myself with the layout of the controls and instruments. Compared with earlier TBMs I’d flown, the cockpit is very different. It is completely glass, with a 15in (381mm) multi-function display (MFD) in the centre and two large primary flight displays (PFDs) either side. Sensibly sited directly above each PFD are an electronic standby airspeed indicator that includes airspeed and altitude, plus orange Master Caution and red Master Warning annunciator lights. Above the MFD is the autopilot control panel; controls for the environmental control system and an alphanumeric keypad for the fully integrated Garmin G1000 are underneath. The centre console carries the elevator trim wheel and a rocker switch for aileron trim, a

flap switch and fuel selector, the red Manual Override control and the all-new single power lever. This controls the engine, propeller and fuel through a quadrant that resembles a lower case ‘h’. To start the engine, you simply click the Start switch in the overhead panel to On and at 13% Ng (gas generator speed) move the power lever forward to Lo-Idle. Once the engine has lit and the interstage turbine temperature is stable, the lever can go further forward to Hi-Idle. Then you raise the leather-covered ‘crown’ on top of the lever and slide it across to the left. This unfeathers the prop (automatically governed at 2,000rpm) and by moving the lever fore-and-aft you have forward thrust, ‘Beta’ (this flattens the prop pitch, which produces less thrust for taxi) and then reverse. It’s a brilliant idea; it’s impossible to grab the wrong lever when there’s only one lever to grab! Running through the post-start electronic checklist I find myself wondering whether the MFD is actually too big as it almost draws

and conclude the pre-take-off checks. The yoke-mounted rudder trim is indicative of how important it is that the rudder is correctly trimmed, so I take care to make certain the rudder trim indicator is pointing to ‘T/O’. Unlike the 850 (which had the power artificially constrained to 700shp/522kW until the flaps were up), the various aerodynamic tweaks and a new torque limiter mean you have full power from the start. Out on the runway I line up with the centreline, stand on the brakes and slowly increase the power to 40% torque, then release the brakes and push the power right up, without exceeding 100%. The big turboprop bounds forward and surges down the runway. The speed tape comes alive almost immediately and, in less time than it took to type this sentence, we race past the 85kts rotation speed and I ease the yoke back. Despite all the power there’s absolutely no trouble tracking the centreline, which speaks volumes for the efficient rudder trim. Everything happens so quickly that I honestly

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COMMERCIAL TBM 900

TBM 900 SPECIFICATIONS Manufacturer: Daher Airplane Business Unit, Tarbes, France Price (with standard Equipment): $3,599,024 or $3,798,414 (Special ‘Elite’ Package) Wingspan: 12.83m (42ft) Length: 10.73m (35.2ft) Height: 4.35m (14.2ft) Wing area: 18.3m2 (1,96 sq ft) Empty weight: 2,099kg (4,627lb) Maximum all-up weight: 3,370kg (7,429lb) Useful load: 1,271kg (2,802lb) Power loading: 5.29kg/kW (11.6lb/kW) Wing loading: 183.27kg/m2 Fuel capacity: 1,140 litres (250 imp gallons) VMO (maximum operating speed): 270kts (500km/h) Cruise speed: 330kts (611km/h) Stall speed: 65kts (120km/h) Climb rate: 2,050ft/min (624m/min) Take off to 15m (49ft): 726m (2,381ft) Land over 15m: 741m (2,431ft) Engine: Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-66D turboprop, flat-rated at 850shp (634kW) Propeller: Hartzell composite five-blade, constant-speed, reversible, fully feathering

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don’t know how much runway we used, but at our relatively light weight I doubt it was more than 500m (1,640ft). The extra power available for take-off has made a great aircraft even better, while the winglets and strakes all combine to ensure plenty of controllability at high power and slow speeds. The biggest disappointment (and just as it was with the Piper M500, see AIR International May 2015) is there’s no full authority digital engine control (FADEC). This criticism is aimed at Pratt & Whitney, not Daher, but in an aircraft as sophisticated as this you really shouldn’t have to manually set the power. There should just be detents in the power lever quadrant for take-off and climb. When taking off in a strong crosswind, for 2

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example, you shouldn’t have to monitor the torque, just concentrate on keeping straight. The same can be said when departing singlepilot into heavy instrument meteorological conditions and a busy traffic environment. As we rocket skywards at 125kts (231km/h) and over 2,000ft/min (609.6m/min), I handfly up to 20,000ft (6,096m) before engaging the autopilot. Once level at FL280, Wayman demonstrates just how versatile this machine is. Want to save time? Push the power up and the true airspeed (TAS) is an incredible 330kts, while the fuel burn is still pretty reasonable at around 245 litres/hr. Want to save fuel? Pull the power back and the fuel flow drops to 148 litres/hr, while the TAS is still 252kts (466km/h). The ‘range ring’ on the G1000 expands

exponentially when you slow down, but possibly the most impressive aspect of the TBM 900 is just how many of the airports in range are available to us. The pilot operating handbook claims that less than 750m (2,460ft) is required for both take-off and landing at MAUW, and that includes clearing a 50ft (15m) obstacle! There are very few public airports in the US that are less than 1,000m (3,280ft), and it is this flexibility where the 900 really scores over light jets – which don’t have anywhere near the range of the 900, nor can they use short runways. The original plan was to fly down to the Florida Keys, but even at FL280 we’re still firmly in the clag and the forecast hasn’t improved, so we decide to head back to Sebring. As we’ve now got a decent tailwind we’re really covering the ground and I initiate a gentle descent. Our groundspeed is now nudging 360kts (666km/h), or 6 miles a minute. We could be flying six people in clubclass comfort at Mach 0.5 while burning less than 250 litres/hr – quite remarkable. However, what I find even more outstanding is just how tractable the 900 is. Most turbine-powered aircraft are restricted by a maximum operating speed (VMO), which is an indicated airspeed value that varies with altitude. However, the TBM is so strong that its VMO is fixed at 270kts (500km/h), irrespective of altitude. The red line on the speed tape can be viewed as being more like a never exceed airspeed (VNE) than a VMO, a big plus when you have to descend quickly. And should a rapid descent be required then pulling the power lever right back with the prop automatically governed at 2,000rpm makes the prop blades automatically go to ‘fine pitch’ to maintain turbine rpm. The prop disc then becomes a giant airbrake, allowing for impressive rates of descent.

Handling As we descend through 12,000ft (3,657m) we pop out into clear air between two layers of cloud, so Wayman cancels our instrument flight rules (IFR) flight plan, leaving me free to manoeuvre. I begin to experiment with the general handling, and am immediately impressed by how responsive the 900 is. The ailerons and their interconnected spoilers are smooth and effective, and although all the primary controls are purely mechanical (a combination of bell cranks, cables and pushrods) they are pleasantly light, with low breakout forces and very little ‘stiction’ in the control circuit. The elevator is slightly on the heavy side, but we have a fairly forward centre of gravity (and you don’t really want light pitch forces when you’re clipping along at 330kts). I seem to have to use the rudder trim less than on earlier TBMs. As expected, any variation of either airspeed or power (and all that torque, precession and P-factor created by the powerful engine and big prop produce considerable yawing moments), requires rudder trim to keep both the pedal forces neutral and the slip ball centred, but the 900 seems better damped in yaw. This is probably down to the big winglets, redesigned fin and a more efficient yaw damper. Little rudder is required in the turn, despite the wings having a relatively high aspect ratio. This is because the ailerons/

TBM 900 COMMERCIAL 1 The cabin door is large enough to enable even quite large freight to be loaded. 2 To keep the stalling speed down very large Fowler flaps are fitted, so upper-surface slotted spoilerons augment the ailerons for control around the lateral axis. 3 The large winglets, a new addition for this aircraft, distinguish the TBM 900 from its predecessors.

spoilerons and rudder are interconnected. All three primary controls are nicely balanced, well weighted and agreeably harmonised. Visibility is excellent. The pilots’ seats are situated just in front of the leading edge, which combined with the large windscreen confers a fine field of view. An examination of the stick-free stability reveals the longitudinal and directional stability to be positive and neutral laterally. The slow-speed handling is exemplary, as full lateral control is available post-stall because of the spoilerons. Back at Sebring I turn downwind for runway 19 with the power at 55% and trimmed for 120kts (222km/h), then abeam the numbers set the flaps to ‘TO’, lower the undercarriage and turn base. On finals, its flaps to LDG (landing),

ease the power lever back to 25% torque and trim for 90kts (166km/h). The engine’s response to adjustments of the power lever seem much more linear than on some other PT6-powered machines that I have flown, while the extension of full flap pitches the nose down very nicely, for an excellent view of the runway. Wayman recommends an initial approach speed of 90kts with an 85kts Vref, and on very short final, to simultaneously ease the power back while trimming nose-up. As he predicted, it practically lands itself, although if you decide to go around you’d want to get some nose-down trim in quickly. Get the nosewheel on the ground, pull the power into reverse and the deceleration is as impressive as the acceleration.

The 900 is an amazing aircraft; quite possibly one of the most impressive I’ve ever flown. After all, how many aircraft of its class can clear a 50ft obstacle using only 750m, fly over 1,700nm (3,148km) in less than seven hours, land over a 50ft obstacle and stop on a 750m runway, with 45 minutes of fuel left in the tank? And it’s the outstanding tractability that is most impressive. When you’re flying a jet, an abundance of airspeed or altitude can quickly become an embarrassment, but with the TBM you just pull the power back – that big prop disc is a very effective airbrake. However, for me the most remarkable thing about it is that it really is within the capability of many GA pilots. The take-off and landing speeds are not excessively high and the systems are so beautifully designed that single-pilot instrumented flight rules isn’t as challenging as it can be. However, all of this comes at a price and one that contains a lot of zeroes! But for those who can afford it, the TBM 900 might just be the ultimate private aeroplane. 3

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Towards Tomorrow’s United States

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resident Barack Obama’s inclusion of a funding allocation for a fouryear Adaptive Engine Transition Programme (AETP) in his Fiscal 2016 annual budget request to the US Congress has focused attention on the research efforts that both GE Aviation and Pratt & Whitney are conducting for the Air Force Research

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Laboratory (AFRL) on variable-cycle turbofan engines for next-generation fighters. Should Congress approve President Obama’s request, the four-year Adaptive Engine Technology Development (AETD) research projects on which the two USbased manufacturers have been working since 2012 (and which are due to end with demonstrations of their designs before the end of 2016) would undergo a quick transition into a full development effort. Other than vetoing outright President

Obama’s AETP budget request, it’s possible that Congress might choose only one of the two AETD designs under development to move towards volume production. That would depend on the Pentagon’s view on which of the two manufacturers’ designs holds most promise in terms of performance, reliability and cost. Congress could also choose to allow development of both AETD designs to proceed through the engineering, manufacturing and development phases of

NEXT-GENERATION US FIGHTER ENGINES TECHNOLOGY

It appears increasingly certain the US Air Force and US Navy will want a variable-cycle engine for their next-generation fighters after the F-35. Pratt & Whitney is one of two leaders in US adaptive-cycle research. Chris Kjelgaard reports

sixth-generation aircraft beyond the F-35 meeting, respectively, the US Air Force’s Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) and the US Navy’s FA-XX project requirements.

Decision Time Nears Jimmy Kenyon, Pratt & Whitney’s Director of Advanced Programmes and Technologies told AIR International: “Unlike any other time in history, when F135 SDD [system development and demonstration] ends at the end of 2016, there will be no [new]

US fighter engine in development.” He said “the increased urgency of [the] NGAD [requirement] creates an opportunity” for Congress to act swiftly to ensure the US leads future fighter-engine design by approving the transition of today’s AETD projects into AETP efforts, leading to full production of sixth-generation adaptivecycle engines. Kenyon declared that AETD/AETP is “integral” to that future-fighter engine effort: “If you take and mature it, it is timed pretty

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Richard VanderMeulen

the AETP into full production. This would happen if Congress felt sales competition between the two manufacturers represented the best way to keep overall enginepurchasing costs down and offer flexibility in propulsion choices for future US fighters. A potential AETP development effort for either P&W’s or GE’s AETD designs, or both, would be aimed particularly at developing and creating the conditions for volume production of adaptive-cycle engines. These would be designed specifically to power the

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well for when NGAD [development] would start in earnest. The other part of it is that [the adaptive-cycle engine] is a fundamental new technology and is a game-changer. I can inform and be informed by those requirements, so I can develop the right technology for the right application for the right time.” He added: “It is sort of linked to the Aerospace Innovation Initiative”. This was announced by US Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics Frank Kendall on January 28. It is a funding strategy designed to protect the US industrial base from losing its global lead in military aerospace design and technology as a result of sequestration cuts. The initiative, which would initially be led by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency but would also involve the air force and navy, would concentrate on developing prototypes for the next generation of US fighter aircraft – manned, unmanned or both.

Beyond the F-35 Within this supporting funding structure, any manufacturers selected to develop adaptive-cycle designs into one or more

production-capable engines would be “taking technology and being influenced by those next-generation-of-aircraft needs”, said Kenyon. At present, P&W and GE Aviation “can only really use the F-35 as an example” of a current-production, advanced fighter to inform their future fighter-engine designs. This is why, in the absence of an airframespecific requirement from the AFRL other than that the manufacturers’ AETD designs should provide 10% higher maximum thrust than the F135 but be 25% more fuel-efficient, both companies chose to base their AETD designs on the existing F-35 installation. The F-35’s existing F135 powerplant is the world’s most powerful fighter engine, but its installation within the F-35 is a particularly complex tight squeeze due to the designedby-committee constraints and requirements the F-35 airframe has had to satisfy. Any adaptive-cycle engine that can fit into exactly the same dimensions as the F135 (or the F136, GE’s alternative F-35 engine, which Congress killed off despite that engine’s promise) will require exquisite skill in its design, major technological advances to provide its performance improvements, and

superb engineering to pack its complexity into the F-35 airframe. Contrastingly, “having an aircraft optimised [for a future engine developed in parallel with the airframe] would be sort of a holy grail,” remarked Mark Buongiorno, Pratt & Whitney’s Vice President of the F135 Engine Program: there wouldn’t be anything like as many adaptive-cycle engine design constraints for a new airframe as there would be for one designed for the F-35.

The Need for Adaptive-Cycle Engines

But why are the USAF and US Navy so excited about adaptive-cycle engines? They see these propulsion systems as the only way technologically can develop turbofan engines that can meet the thrust, cooling, fuel-efficiency and electrical powergeneration requirements – one megawatt or more, for directed-energy weapons and electronic countermeasure needs – that the sixth generation of USAF and US Navy fighters will demand. Military operators would use the 25% fuelefficiency improvement and 10% additional thrust (compared with the F135) the AFRL is demanding from the manufacturers’ AETD 2 designs in various different ways. Although much of a typical mission consists of target-area ingress and egress in cruise configuration, in the target area itself the pilot may require high power from the aircraft. Here, the 10% thrust improvement would help ensure rapid acceleration and improved manoeuvring capability. In a sixth-generation aircraft the 25% fuel-efficiency improvement would probably translate into a 30%-35% increase in range over today’s fighters – a performance enhancement that could transform an air force’s basing and force-allocation decisions. Meanwhile, for flight- and combat-training missions, pilots could upload far less fuel and still spend the same amount of time in the air.

Providing the Benefits Instead of relying on the two streams of air – core air and bypass air – that currentgeneration military and civil turbofans use, tomorrow’s fighter engines will also use a third stream of air passing outside the engine

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1

NEXT-GENERATION US FIGHTER ENGINES TECHNOLOGY core and the main bypass duct to perform a variety of functions. To perform these functions, the third air stream will be capable of being modulated. This modulation will be controlled by variable-geometry features within the fan section and the extra, annular duct through which the third stream will flow. The additional functions and variable-geometry features will flexibly modify the way the engine’s fan section operates, creating what effectively will be a variety of different turbofan engine designs in one package. The third stream will provide a way to offer a smooth transition from a low-pressure-fan, high-bypass turbofan at one end of the fuelefficiency/power curve to a high-pressurefan, low-bypass turbofan at the other. At the high-pressure-fan end of the curve, the adaptive-cycle engine will act like a pure turbojet – pushing almost all the air entering the engine inlet through into the core, to be combusted and exhausted, providing high power for take-off and acceleration. At the low-pressure-fan end of the curve, the third stream will turn the adaptive-cycle engine into a high-bypass turbofan offering high fuel efficiency. This will provide the future 3 fighter with increased range and longer loiter time and will reduce its overall fuel burn. The third, adaptive stream of air will also Transitions through intermediate stages increase greatly the extent of cooling the of fan pressure and bypass ratio will offer a engine can offer the airframe, to make sure range of operating states, any one of which the aircraft’s performance isn’t constrained in will be automatically selected during a given any area of its flight envelope by the airframe phase of flight or manoeuvre to provide the retaining too much heat. engine with an optimal ratio of core air to When this article was written in midbypass air. April, the F-35 was known still to have an During supercruise, the duct carrying airframe heat-retention issue that prevented the third stream would be able to swallow it from operating at sustained high subsonic and feed through the adaptive-cycle engine speeds (within 20% of Mach 1) at low much or all of the inlet air that the core and altitudes. While potentially solvable, this bypass streams of today’s two-stream fighter isn’t a problem that F-35 pilots or operators turbofans can’t accept. In supercruise today of future NGAD fighters would want to have this air gets pushed back out of the engine during a mission. inlet, essentially being dumped overboard. Additionally, the third stream will provide This dumping creates a phenomenon known a way to increase the electrical power as spillage drag, which complicates and requirement available from the engine when hampers a fighter’s ability to supercruise such an increase is needed. easily and fuel-efficiently. Kenyon also noted that, “it would be 1 Based on the AFRL’s requirements P&W’s AETD design should provide 10% higher maximum thrust than the F135 but be 25% more fuel efficient. Lockheed Martin 2 P&W’s AETD design would be aimed at an adaptive-cycle engine for the US Navy’s sixth-generation F/A-XX. Boeing 3 Block 1 F135 improvements could be available for new-production examples and for retrofit into existing ones from as early as 2018. 4 P&W is working with the US Navy on the Fuel Burn Reduction programme, which has married the HPT technologies from the XTE68-LF1 with a series of improvements to the F135’s six-stage, all-blisk compressor. 4

very good for the efficiency of the engine if you could manage adaptively the very high transient temperatures behind the augmentor”. Yet another benefit is that the third stream will cool the hottest parts of the two-dimensional, non-axisymmetrical exhaust nozzles that future US fighters will use to mask their exhaust heat to improve their stealth qualities and missile-defence capabilities.

P&W’s AETD Project At the time of writing, Pratt & Whitney was about to enter a two-to-three week preliminary design review (PDR) of its design with AFRL engineers and scientists, a passing grade from which was necessary for the company to be able to proceed with its planned additional AETD developments and demonstrations. (GE Aviation completed its PDR in the first half of March, the AFRL approving of GE’s AETD design work to date and allowing the manufacturer to proceed to its planned series of rig tests and demonstrations.) While P&W doesn’t intend to perform a compressor rig test of its AETD design, the company did have a “very successful first test of a three-stream, full-scale design in late 2013”, according to Kenyon, primarily to verify P&W’s tooling and design capabilities for the subsequent AETD research effort. Assuming a successful completion of its PDR process, P&W will then manufacture hardware for the two big AETD tests it plans to conduct before the programme ends in the latter half of 2016. First will be a test of a full-scale “very high-efficiency core” that P&W has designed specifically for the AETD project. P&W’s testing will culminate next year with a demonstration of a full-scale, three-stream fan module “in a real-engine environment”, according to Kenyon. P&W has ensured this demonstration will be authentic by purchasing internally one of its own F135 engines. The company will fit its three-stage, full-scale AETD fan on to the front of the core of this engine,

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1 The F135 Block 1 upgrades rely partly on development work carried out by P&W in autumn 2013 for US Navy’s XTE68-LF1 project to demonstrate higher operating temperatures in the F135’s turbine. 1

which will retain the augmentor and exhaust nozzle. (GE’s AETD strategy is different: it is conducting a rig test of a full-scale compressor but plans to test only a subscale version of its AETD fan design, before doing a full core test.)

Potential Future Developments

Although the AETD project seeks flexible variation of the fan pressure and bypass ratio of a turbofan fighter engine in order to alter its fuel efficiency, thrust, cooling and electrical power-generation capabilities, Kenyon sees no reason why future fighter engines shouldn’t be made adaptive in other ways as well. “There are ways of looking at taking the core and making it adaptive, as well as the fan,” he said. “It’s really pretty neat, when you look at it in that context. It’s all about air management, and where do I want to put that air in the [compression-combustionexhaust] cycle. “Beyond AETD, can [adaptive design] change? Yes, if there’s more funding. AETD opened up the [adaptive] world…[there could also be] an adaptive core, somewhere in five-ish years. If I know I have a propulsion system that needs to do a lot of stuff of a transient nature, that’s a big deal. Adaptive capability] changes the performance of the core in a number of different ways.” Here Kenyon is talking about the US Navy’s Variable Cycle Advanced Technology (VCAT) programme, in which P&W has been engaged as an industry partner since 2012. This nine-phase programme, still in an early stage of development, aims to create a suite of technologies which, Kenyon said, would be different from but in many ways complementary to the adaptive-fan technologies developed for AETD. Few

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details are available about VCAT, but it is concentrating on developing adaptive-cycle features for a future fighter-engine core. Asked if marrying VCAT technologies with those from the AETD programme would produce fuel-burn and thrust-increase benefits beyond those produced by an adaptive-fan engine alone, Kenyon said an engine design incorporating AETD and VCAT adaptive features would offer “substantially greater” benefits.

A Two-Pronged Approach Kenyon and Buongiorno are sure the adaptivecycle approach is the right one for the next generation of US fighter aircraft potentially entering production in the latter half of the 2020s or beyond. But they are by no means as sure it is necessary to re-engine the F-35 with a fully adaptive-cycle engine by the mid-2020s – a step for which some military strategists have argued, given the F-35’s known heat-

retention problem and likely future increases in operators’ power-generation requirements. As the manufacturer of the F135, P&W has a vested interest in ensuring that its engine continues to be the sole-choice powerplant for the F-35 throughout the aircraft’s production life. Nevertheless, Kenyon and Buongiorno said many of the benefits an adaptive-cycle engine could provide for the F-35 could instead be provided by a lower-risk, two-stage F135 development strategy that P&W is calling its F135 Block Upgrade Plan. Under this new strategy, which the company revealed on April 2, P&W would create a development plan for the F135 – much as it did for its enormously successful F100 engine, which has been in service for 40 years this year but will remain in production at least until late 2016. Today’s F100s are vastly different from early F100s in terms of their time-on-wing durability, their operational reliability and the maximum thrust they offer; P&W thinks F135 2

NEXT-GENERATION US FIGHTER ENGINES TECHNOLOGY development will proceed similarly. Kenyon believes there are many parallels between the F100 and the F135 programmes: just like the F100, thousands of F135s will be built and it will see service for decades with a wide variety of air arms throughout the world. Now the end of the F135 SDD initial-capability phase is in sight, it behoves P&W to address a long-term development plan for the F135.

The F135 Block Upgrade Plan

However, Kenyon said there is an “exciting opportunity we’ve identified, which is unique to Pratt & Whitney’s position, to take some of the key technologies of the three-stream AETD architecture into the F135 to get lots of benefits”. This opportunity could rely on a potential evolution of the company’s engine-control software for its AETD demonstrator. Kenyon said: “For example, if you can modulate the [existing] bleed air using the three-stream control laws, rather than using an actual third stream of air,” this could produce substantial benefits from an enhanced capability to use cooling air flexibly at different places in the engine’s hot section. “The trade is really around the re-use of current learning,” he said. In addition to incorporating a series of AETDderived hardware and software upgrades, as well as other cooling and design technologies, Lockheed Martin

Under the F135 Block Upgrade Plan, a series of initial ‘Block 1’ improvements might potentially be available for new-production examples and for retrofit into existing ones from as early as 2018. Then a second series of AETD project-derived, more substantial ‘Block 2’ improvements could be put “into production in the very early 2020s”, depending on “funding and the requirement pool”, according to Kenyon. Although Kenyon points out this plan is “not part of the F135 programme proper”, he said “it is an opportunity looking ahead to demonstrate fuel-burn cost savings” to F-35 operators – and particularly to the US Navy, with which P&W is working to try to get the Block 1 F135 upgrades into production within the next few years. The Block 1 upgrades rely partly on development work that P&W carried out for a demonstration in autumn 2013 for the navy’s XTE68-LF1 project. This focused on demonstrating a capability for higher operating temperatures in the F135’s turbine and introduced a variety of new technologies into the engine’s high-pressure turbine (HPT) module. These improvements, which Kenyon described as “advanced cooling technologies”, included new casting technologies for metalalloy parts; new, highly temperature-resistant HPT materials; new thermal barrier coatings for HPT blades and vanes; more temperatureresistant oils for lubricating and cooling; and a new main shaft bearing. He said P&W’s XTE68-LF1 demonstration in autumn 2013 was “tremendously successful” – so successful that it recorded “the hottest-ever temperature in a production engine”. P&W has parlayed this successful demonstration into another F135 development initiative on which it is working with the US Navy, called the Fuel Burn Reduction (FBR) programme. FBR has married the HPT technologies from the XTE68-LF1 demonstration with a series of improvements to the F135’s six-stage, all-blisk compressor to produce an engine offering a fuel-burn reduction of “about 5% – and we’ve identified another couple of opportunities to give [another] 1%-2% of fuel-burn improvement”, said Kenyon. However, saying the XTE68-LF1 and FBR technologies would just reduce fuel burn only in production F135s would be inaccurate: the technologies would also offer other improvements. “The JPO (F-35 Joint Programme Office) and navy are both focused on [engine] life-cycle cost and they need to have the technology working reliably,” said Kenyon. An important feature of the XTE68-LF1 and FBR advanced cooling technologies is that “you need less air to do the cooling [in the HPT] and you can use it more to do other things, with the cooling capability already in the engine. We’re using low-lying fruit to get better thermal management,” he said.

“Right now I’m going to insert this nice cooling technology into my turbine because it helps with [life-cycle] cost [by making the engine more durable], but I could use it to generate more thrust” – perhaps up to 10% more, making the F135 capable of meeting any foreseeable F-35 thrust-growth requirement. There is no doubt about this. During its original ground-testing effort for the F135, P&W ran an unimproved engine at thrust levels of up to 51,000lb in uninstalled configuration (ie without any accessory gearboxes or drives drawing power from the engine). This suggested that, even on an installed basis, the F135 had several thousand pounds of additional thrust available if necessary, if run at high temperatures. Kenyon pointed out that, although the F-35 airframe has had heat-retention issues, “right now, there are no thermal restrictions with

2 Some of the advanced technologies P&W has developed for the compressor and turbine in its high-pressure AETD core could potentially be introduced the F135 for production from the early 2020s.

the engine”. In-service F135s are operating within the specifications required by the JPO and presumably could be operated at a higher maximum temperature as long as the F-35 airframe could withstand and dump the additional heat burden.

F135 Block Upgrade Programme: Block 2

Pratt & Whitney’s proposed Block 2 upgrades for the F135 would be more complex than those in Block 1. The manufacturer can see a potential path by which it could introduce into the F135 engine, for production from the early 2020s, some of the advanced technologies it has developed for the compressor and turbine in its high-pressure AETD core. The F135 has the same dimensions as the AETD demonstrator upon which P&W is now working. But while that is a three-stream engine, at this juncture P&W does not view redesigning the F135 into a three-stream, adaptive-cycle engine – which may be theoretically possible.

a future Block 2 upgrade of the F135 might also incorporate the improvements already provided under Block 1. P&W isn’t sure yet of the scale of the fuel-burn reduction and thrust increase a Block 2 upgrade would offer, but they would certainly be more substantial than those provided in Block 1. It’s possible Block 2 modifications could produce benefits even greater than the AFRL’s AETD project targets of a 25% fuel-burn improvement and 10% thrust increase over today’s F135 engine. The future of adaptive-cycle engines for US fighters, and even the future development of the existing F135, relies greatly upon Congress approving President Obama’s AETP budget request. If approval comes at all, it will likely come this year. Pratt & Whitney is now beginning to flesh out a two-pronged strategy to try to retain its dominant position in currentgeneration US fighters and win a prominent position on US next-generation fighters. It will hope Congressional approval for AETP is prompt and generous – and that the AFRL likes P&W’s AETD design.

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During more than five years of trials, the T-50 prototypes have made about 600 flights, a sixth of those necessary for testing the fighter. All images Piotr Butowski

Is Russia’s fifth-generation PAK FA fighter programme still on track? Piotr Butowski investigates

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ittle new has been heard about the Sukhoi T-50 PAK FA for many months – and most of what has is rather pessimistic. After more than five years of trials, the T-50 prototypes have made about 600 flights, only a sixth of the amount necessary to complete testing of the fighter. The newest, fifth, example (T-50-5) first flew on October 27, 2013. It was damaged by an engine fire while on the runway at Zhukovsky on June 10 last year. In March 2015, Russian deputy defence minister Yuri Borisov questioned the usefulness of pushing ahead with the PAK FA (Perspektivnyi Aviatsionnyi Kompleks Frontovoi Aviatsii or Future Air Complex for Tactical Aviation) programme and announced more orders for simpler Su30SM and Su-35 fighters. And in India, more doubts have emerged about the joint Fifth-Generation Fighter Aircraft (FGFA) programme – which is based on the PAK FA.

Aircraft Numbers During his inspection tour of arms industry plants in the Far East of Russia on March 23, Borisov visited the Komsomolsk-on-Amur factory, which has produced the flight-test T-50s – as well as building Su-27SM3, Su30M2 and Su-35S fighters for the Russian Air Force (RuAF).

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He said the RuAF might buy fewer T-50s by 2020 than planned in the National Armament Programme, which initially, reportedly, called for the purchase of 60. A day after his visit, the Kommersant daily newspaper, quoting a source in the Russian Ministry of Defence, said the air force would equip only one frontline squadron with 12 T-50s by that date (although by then there would be 52 deliveries, with eight each in 2016, 2017 and 2018 and 14 each in 2019 and 2020). In a Ministry of Defence press release about Borisov’s visit to Komsomolsk-onAmur, these figures are absent. But there is a telling phrase: “Within the confines of correction [read: cuts] of the National Armament Programme the Ministry of Defence of Russia reserves the right to determine the number of the fifth-generation fighters purchased.” And then: “Especially in assessments of military pilots, the Su-35 fighters of the so-called ‘4+ generation’ demonstrate good characteristics. It will be more convenient to have the reserve in the form of the PAK FA… having [first] squeezed the entire potential of 4+ fighters,” said Borisov in the statement. According to the press release, in 2015 the Komsomolsk-on-Amur plant “should deliver...five Su-30M2 fighters, 14 Su-35 multi-role fighters and four T-50 fifthgeneration fighters for flight tests”. Nothing is said about the RuAF’s Su-30SM fighters, because they are produced by the

‘rival’ plant in Irkutsk. The Russian Ministry of Defence has ordered 72 Su-30SM fighters and by the end of 2014 had received 37; the plan for 2015 is to deliver 27 more.

Delayed Programme Borisov’s words about the “reserve in the form of PAK FA” mean the Russians will continue the research and development part of the PAK FA programme, but the series production of the aircraft (apart from a small initial batch) will be postponed. Completing at least a small batch of aircraft and delivering them to the combat evaluation centre in Lipetsk is necessary to report to the President of Russia and to demonstrate to the public that launching PAK FA series production by December 31 2016 can be accomplished – in Russia everything has a propaganda aspect. But Borisov’s words are the official confirmation of what, to foreign observers, had been obvious for a long time: the PAK FA’s delivery to frontline units will not be accomplished within the original scheduled time. The delay has been caused by a mix of technical and financial problems. Despite the country’s developing economic crisis, funding for the PAK FA has been untouched so far. The Russians have cut expenditure on new military projects that exist only in paper form – equipment actually undergoing trials, like the PAK FA, is being funded as before.

SUKHOI T-50 PAK FA MILITARY

Standstill or Respite?

MILITARY SUKHOI T-50 PAK FA

Doubts from India

The unexpected volte-face in the Indian Medium Multi-role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) programme with the purchase of 36 (plus 18 optional) Dassault Rafale fighters has added an extra layer of doubt to the PAK FA project. The joint Russian-Indian Prospective Multi-role Fighter (PMF) programme – commonly called Fifth-Generation Fighter Aircraft (FGFA) in India – has been the leading example of co-operation between the two nations for many years. It was first discussed in June 2001 and, during the visit of the then Indian defence minister, George Fernandez, to Moscow in January 2003, the two countries signed a letter of intent to jointly develop the new fighter. India’s commitment was reinforced by the subsequent defence minister, Pranab Mukherjee, who in November 2005 said: “Our air forces and industry want participation in all stages of development of the new-generation fighter, starting from concept definition, through design and tests, all the way to series production.” In October 2007 there was an InterGovernmental Agreement on the project, followed by a General Contract in December 2008 and finally, in December 2010, a contract for Preliminary Design of the PMF, or Type 79L, to be jointly developed by Sukhoi and HAL of India, using the T-50 as the basis for the aircraft. At this stage, Russian companies prepared draft designs of the N079 radar (a Russian-Indian equivalent of Russia’s N036 radar), the RSUO-79L stores management system, UV-79L flare launchers, and other systems. The Indian design group worked in Russia from January until October 2012. The Preliminary Design, to which each party contributed $295 million, was accepted in June 2013. The Russians then expected a signing of the contract for the next stage of research and development work to cover the construction and evaluation of prototypes (the total cost of which was estimated to amount to be $6 to 8 billion). A statement from the United Aircraft Corporation, Sukhoi’s parent company, said the Russian and Indian governments had generally agreed on the work share of each party, adding: “The countries’ governments have approved the PMF/FGFA specifications, defined their contributions and singled out the systems and subsystems to be developed by India.” The negotiations, however, suddenly ceased. India is now approaching the FGFA programme with much more reserve. According to the country’s Business Standard, Indian Air Force officials said “the FGFA’s engine was unreliable, its radar inadequate, its stealth features badly engineered and India’s work share too low – and the fighter’s price would be exorbitant by the time it enters service”. Any announcement by the Russian Ministry of Defence postponing the purchase of the PAK FA may further increase discontent in India – and any exit by India from the PMF programme would deprive the Russians of a partner co-funding the T-50 and a customer for 144 fighters.

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Test Flying

1 1 A model of the Prospective Multi-role Fighter, or Type 79L, to be developed jointly by Russia and India. 2 The PAK FA 101KS-N navigation and targeting pod has been under test since 2011. 3 The purpose of one of the 101KS Atoll electrooptical sensors, the 101KS-O, is unclear. It is presented by the Russians as an infrared jammer for self-defence, but is probably an infrared searchand-track sight. 4 The N036-01-1 forwardlooking X-band electronic-scanning antenna comprises 1,552 transceiver modules and is tilted about 15 degrees up. 2

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The Komsomolsk-on-Amur factory has produced five T-50s for test flying, the first of which (T-50-1) took its maiden flight on January 29, 2010; it exceeded the speed of sound on March 9 the following year. Test aircraft T-50-3 switched on its radar in the air on July 24, 2012 and nine days later T-50-2 made the first ‘dry’ aerial refuelling contact, with an Il-78 Midas tanker. T-50-2 was deployed to the Russian Ministry of Defence flight test centre at Akhtubinsk on February 21, 2014. But three months later it quietly returned to Zhukovsky. The scope of the trials in Akhtubinsk is unknown, but they did not include weapons tests; no T-50 has so far used its weapons. The prototypes have suffered technical problems, including structural cracks, during their testing. T-50-1 was in overhaul between August 2011 and September 2012 after sustaining structural damage during a display at the MAKS 2011 exhibition. Various strengthening overlays later appeared on all the T-50s. There have also been engine problems. On August 21, 2011, T-50-2 encountered a compressor stall in the starboard engine during the take-off roll; flames several metres long came out of the exhaust nozzle and the pilot aborted the take-off. Then, on June 10 last year, just after T-50-5 landed at Zhukovsky, the jet suffered what Sukhoi described as a “local fire” over the right air intake. Serious damage was caused; the aircraft is under repair by staff from the Komsomolsk factory and is expected to fly again this summer. During a test flight at 14,000ft (4,500m) on April 10 this year, the canopy glazing on a T-50 cracked, pilot Sergey Bogdan landing safely. Contrary to some reports it was not a rehearsal for the Victory Day parade flypast over Moscow, because the T-50’s participation in the event was not planned. It’s not known what will happen with the last (sixth) prototype of the first batch, T-50-6. The pause after the fifth aircraft was completed indicates its construction has been suspended. That could be because its parts are being used in the repair of the damaged fifth aircraft. Alternatively, it would make no sense to build it to the initial design, only for significant changes to the airframe to be made later due to systems or equipment upgrades.

Second Batch And it does appear there will be changes in the second batch of six test aircraft, T-50-7 through to T-50-12, for which the Komsomolsk-on-Amur plant started producing parts in 2013. Airframe building jigs have been modified, signifying that significant structural improvements will be introduced. Unconfirmed reports suggest a reshaped tail and outer wing panels. The first of the second batch aircraft is expected to fly this autumn. In February UAC announced that three more flying prototypes would join the test programme (note that, a month later, Borisov spoke about four). One airframe built in

SUKHOI T-50 PAK FA MILITARY

T-50 PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATIONS Dimensions: length 19.7m (64.6ft), wingspan 14.0m (45.9ft), height 4.6m (15.1ft) Weights: nominal take-off 25,000kg (55,116lb), maximum take-off 35,000kg (77,162lb) Engines: Two izdeliye 30s each rated at 32,000lb (142kN) Performance: maximum Mach 2.0, cruise Mach 1.3, supersonic range 1,500km (809nm), subsonic range 3,500km (1,890nm)

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1 T-50-2 has no radar and features a long pitot tube at the nose tip. Along with T-50-1, it is used for performance and handling tests. 2 The fourth prototype, T-50-4, carrying dummy versions of air-to-ground Kh-31s and air-to-air R-77s – the Sukhoi T-50 has yet to fire missiles. The basic ordnance load is carried in two large weapon bays in tandem inside the fuselage while close-air combat missiles fit in two small underwing fairings close to the engines’ inlets.

accordance with an altered design and intended for static fatigue tests was brought to Moscow last December.

Squirrel and Himalaya Sensor fusion is a standard requirement for a fifth-generation fighter, and all the T-50’s sensors are coupled and controlled by a central computing system. They include an Sh121 radio-electronic suite and a 101KS electro-optical suite as well as navigation, communication and data presentation systems. The Sh121 comprises the Tikhomirov NIIP institute’s active electronically scanned array N036 Byelka (Squirrel) radar and the L402 Gimalai (Himalaya) electronic countermeasures suite made by the KNIRTI institute. The complete N036 radar has five active electronically-scanned arrays – the forward X-band (centimetre wave) N036-01-1 array being an oval about 900mm (35in) long and 700mm (27in) wide with 1,552 transceiver modules, two smaller, side-looking X-band

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N036B-1-01 arrays with 358 modules each and two L-band (decametre) N036L-1-01 arrays mounted in the wing leading edges. The L-band radar in air-to-air mode is the T-50’s main means of dealing with stealth targets that may be detected (but not targeted) by radio waves longer than the X-band for which the radar-cross section’s reduction is optimised. The N036Sh Pokosnik (Reaper) identification friend or foe subsystem is built into the radar. The whole N036 radar is controlled by the N036UVS computing system comprising Solo-21 computers. As of February, Tikhomirov NIIP had produced seven N036 radars in reduced configuration with single front antennas only; two are in bench tests and five are fitted to the prototypes, starting from T-50-3. The second test batch aircraft are to be completed with radars with three X-band arrays (NIIP says four X-band side arrays are ready). L-band arrays in the wing leading edges will be installed later.

The KNIRTI/Zhukov L402 Gimalai electronic countermeasures suite has its own arrays (for example, in a large ‘sting’ between the engine exhaust nozzles), but in the range of the same frequencies as used by the radar it utilises the N036 arrays. First made in 2014, the L402 is controlled by a Solo21.402 computer.

Atoll What changes will there be from the first batch of T-50s to the latest prototypes and early production aircraft? Will the second stage izdeliye (product) 30 engine have a flat nozzle? And what will be the ultimate configuration of the most mysterious system on the PAK FA, the 101KS Atoll electrooptical suite? The mystery stems from the fact that the selection and location of the Atoll’s sensors varies between the T-50 prototypes – and that the purpose of one of the sensors is unclear. The suite, made by UOMZ of Yekaterinburg, couples targeting and warning sensors. A large forward-looking 101KS-V 2 (Vozdukh, or air) infrared search-and-track sight, typical of Russian fighters, is located ahead of the pilot’s cockpit. Another sensor, the 101KS-O, is presented by the Russian’s as an infrared jammer for self-defence. The letter ‘O’ stands for Oborana, or defence. But in this author’s opinion, the 101KS-O is another infrared/ laser sight and the letter ‘O’ stands for Obzor, or coverage. On the first prototypes one 101KS-O sensor was mounted on the fuselage spine aft of the cockpit. The newest prototype, T-50-5, has two: the second of these, designated 101KS-O/N, is mounted under the nose; together they cover the airspace around the aircraft. Finally, there are four ultraviolet missileapproach warning sensors. Two of them – side-looking single-window 101KS-U/01 units – are mounted on the fuselage sides just aft of the cockpit. The two others, designated 101KS-U/02s, have two windows: one looking forward and another to the rear. On T-50-3 and T-50-4, one 101KS-U/02 is mounted on the upper surface of the ‘sting’

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SUKHOI T-50 PAK FA MILITARY protruding between the engines and the other under the forward fuselage. There is no 101KS-U/02 warning sensor on T-50-5. For use against ground targets, the 101KS-N navigation/targeting pod – created with the Lockheed Martin Sniper XR in mind – is being prepared.

Improved Engines The postponement of full-scale production of the T-50 might also mean the RuAF is not satisfied with the current specification of the aircraft. A radical change will be the new izdeliye 30 engines – while improvements in equipment and armament may be implemented gradually, independently from the powerplants. Readiness of the izdeliye 3 30-powered version for production is planned for 2020, but this deadline will likely not be met. the first of two experimental ‘hot sections’ The T-50s flying now are powered by of the engine was promised for the end two Saturn AL-41F1 (izdeliye 117) thrustof December last year, but there is no vectoring turbofan engines, rated at 142kN information as to whether the target was met. (32,000lb) each. This unit is a thorough The first test izdeliye 30 engine is planned to

izdeliye 30 engine will be “17 to 18% more effective than the 117 engine” – although it’s not known what “more effective” actually means. Meanwhile, according to NPO Saturn’s CEO, Ilya Fedorov, the new engines

3 T-50-5 is under repair after sustaining serious damage in a fire on June 10, 2014. 4 T-50-3 carrying dummy R-77 and R-73 missiles. This aircraft, as well as T-50-4 and T-50-5, is equipped with N036 AESA radar in basic configuration with single forward antenna only. 4

upgrade of the AL-31F from the Su-27/ Su-30, with a larger diameter fan, new highand low-pressure turbines, an upgraded combustion chamber and a full authority digital engine control (FADEC) system. United Engine Corporation CEO Vladislav Masalov said in December last year that 23 engines had been made, and their tests are to be accomplished by the end of 2016. No problems are expected as the 117 is similar to the fully approved 117S turbofan of the Su-35, except the FADEC, he added. The full-scale development of the izdeliye 30 engine started in 2011. Assembly of

be assembled in 2016, with its first flight the following year. The izdeliye 30 is a clean-sheet design supposed to have higher thrust of 157167kN (35,300-37,500lb), lighter weight, fewer elements and lower operating costs. It will also incorporate stealth features. The engine’s ‘cold’ section will have a three-stage compressor (instead of four in the current 117) and a single-stage turbine; the ‘hot’ section (engine core) will comprise a five-stage compressor (instead of a ninestage) and a single-stage turbine. Masalov claimed in December that the

will mean “the aircraft’s characteristics will improve greatly, especially the speed and acceleration”. So what’s the answer to the question posed in this article’s title? Despite the lack of news, it seems the current stoppage of the PAK FA is a brief respite before an upgrade rather than a complete halt. Although series production has been postponed, the research and development part of the programme is likely to be protected against financial cuts for as long as possible. The PAK FA is too important for the Russian Air Force to be cancelled.

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A New Global S Bombardier Aerospace’s Global 7000 and Global 8000 are respectively the largest and longest-range business jets ever designed, excluding converted airliners. Chris Kjelgaard reports

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n 2010, with 15 years’ experience of selling long-range, large business jets under its belt, Bombardier Aerospace could see its customers wanted something even more capable and even bigger than the Global 5000 and Global 6000 the company was already manufacturing. Rival Gulfstream Aerospace was about to raise the ante for the business

aviation industry by preparing to certificate and deliver the first G650. When it entered service in December 2012, the G650 was the largest and longest-range purposebuilt business jet ever manufactured – not counting VIP or business jet conversions of aircraft designed originally as medium-range or long-haul airliners. As of late April, the Gulfstream G650ER held the record for being the longest-range

and largest purpose-built business jet. The G650ER, certificated in October last year, has a maximum take-off weight of 103,600lb (46,992kg), 4,000lb (1,814kg) greater than the G650. The increase is to accommodate nearly two tonnes of additional fuel in the G650ER’s wings and means it can fly 7,500nm (13,890km) with a typical load of eight passengers, at a long-range cruising speed of Mach 0.85 (562mph).

al Strategy

ts Bombardier expects to do something soon about that record. Its new Global 7000 will offer a highly respectable 7,300nm (13,520km) range with ten – rather than the industry-standard eight – passengers on board at a long-range cruising speed of Mach 0.85 when it enters service late in 2016 or in 2017. The type will also usurp the G650ER’s record as the biggest purpose-built business jet in the

skies. With an overall length of 111ft 2in (33.83m) and a wingspan of 104ft (31.7m), the Global 7000 easily exceeds the 99ft 9in (30.41m) overall length and the 99ft 7in (30.36m) wingspan of the Gulfstream G650/G650ER. Soon after, probably in 2017, the Global 8000 – the Global 7000’s slightly shorter sibling – will enter service, offering the ability to fly 7,900nm (14,630km) with eight

passengers on board, at a long-range cruise speed of Mach 0.85. If the Global 8000 meets its specification, it will become (by a margin of 400nm over the Gulfstream G650ER) the world’s longest-range purpose-built business jet. With an overall length of 102ft 2in (31.2m) and the same 104ft wingspan as the Global 7000, the Global 8000 will also be larger dimensionally than the G650 models.

All images Bombardier Aerospace unless stated

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A Strategy 20 Years in the Making

[Global family] platform, so we have lots of experience in what operators want.” Global-family customers’ message to Bombardier was clear. “Customers said they needed a new platform – offering more range, more speed, more space and more amenities,” said Noël. “Some customers were even willing to trade space for range, but others wanted more of both. So in 2010 we revealed our intention to build a new platform.” This quickly became two separate aircraft – the Global 7000 and Global 8000. Like the Gulfstream G650 and G650ER, both new Bombardier business jets are designed to cruise comfortably at Mach 0.9 if extra speed is required, for the sacrifice of some range.

Bombardier’s development of the Global 7000 and Global 8000 buttresses a product strategy for the market in large, long-range business jets that has been nearly 20 years in the making. Matthieu Noël, Bombardier Aerospace’s manager of product planning and strategy for Global business aircraft, said the company’s strategy for the high-end business jet market began when it delivered its first Global Express in 1996. That aircraft, designed to cruise economically at Mach 0.85, became a hit. The company’s continuous improvement programme for the 1

model saw the Global Express become the Global XRS a few years later and then evolve to become the Global 6000, capable of flying 6,000nm (11,112km) with eight passengers at Mach 0.85. In the same period, around the turn of the century, Bombardier saw a market niche for another potential Global model with a cabin similar in size to the Global 6000, but with its range reduced to 5,200nm (9,630km) with eight passengers on board and cruising at Mach 0.85. That aircraft was produced as the Global 5000. Globalisation of business and industry accelerated after the world financial crisis in 2008/2009 and, Noël said, “at the turn of the decade, we saw a demand for more and more range and a need for more speed and more amenities – and also that the [customer] desire for long distances was only going to increase.” Today, he said, “we have more than 600 aircraft flying of that

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Bigger Than the G650 Some other apples-to-apples comparisons between the Global 7000 and 8000 and the Gulfstream G650 models are problematic, because it is difficult to find a rigorous definition from Gulfstream Aerospace as to what its ‘cabin length’ measurement means. Bombardier defines Global 7000 and 8000 cabin length as the distance from the cockpit divider to the back of the most aft cabin, not including the pressurised maindeck baggage space (behind the most aft cabin). Bombardier has designed the two jets so passengers can freely obtain access to their hold baggage in this rear-fuselage compartment during flight, minimising passengers’ need to worry about which items they need in their ‘carry-on’ baggage. According to Gulfstream Aerospace, the cabin length of the G650 and G650ER is 53ft 7in (16.33m). The Global 8000’s official cabin length is a full 8ft short of this, at 45ft 7in (13.89m), but the Global 7000’s is 54ft 7in (16.64m) and thus slightly longer than the G650. Despite this seemingly slight difference, Noël said Bombardier views the Global 7000 as “the first true four-zone aircraft in business aviation”. Behind a sizeable area immediately aft of the cockpit, which contains the galley, a large crew rest area and a forward bathroom (to be used by both passengers and crew), each zone is a different, equally sized “living space” for passengers. Noël said having a crew rest area is “very important” because, on the very long nonstop sectors which the Global 7000 and 8000 will fly, one or more relief pilots will be needed and long-haul business jet flights usually have at least one flight attendant. He also noted the galley in the Global 7000 and 8000 would be 20% larger than that in the Global 5000 and 6000 – an important upgrade, because on very long sectors more food and beverages will need to be served. According to Noël, Bombardier offers all Global-family customers an almost limitless capability to customise the cabins of their aircraft. “The cabin is one of the big reasons the Global 5000 and 6000 have had the success they’ve enjoyed,” he said. “They have a very wide cabin with very low noise levels. One thing that is very, very important [for the new 7000 and 8000] is the ability to provide different configurations and amenities.”

Cabin Living Spaces In a typical Global 7000 passenger-cabin configuration, the first “living space” behind the crew area and galley could well contain

four chairs round two tables, one on either side of the aisle, for working or relaxation. Behind that area would be a second living space containing a dining table with four chairs grouped round it on one side of the aisle and two reclining chairs on the other. Bombardier’s attention to interior detail in the Global 7000 and 8000 has extended to the passenger seats. The company has designed and patented a new generation of seats and divans which Noël said are more comfortable than any available elsewhere in the business-jet market. Its new seat is designed so the location of the pivot point for reclining is different to that in previous seats. Now, he said, “when you recline, the entire seat follows you and it provides a comfortable cradling effect.” In a typical Global 7000 cabin configuration, behind the seating and dining areas would be a third living space, which Noël said could be used flexibly for conferencing, entertainment or as an office. (The Global 8000 will not have this space.) When used to hold a meeting, teleconferencing with people on the ground – or perhaps even on other aircraft – would easily be possible by means of the highspeed broadband connectivity with which each Global 7000 and 8000 will be equipped. The teleconference video stream would be fed to one or more large TV monitors located in the flexible-use space – and elsewhere in the aircraft too, if required. “We have a very large area of possibilities for TV monitors, including really large screens, which have been extremely well received,” said Noël. “We make the largest in the industry – up to 40 inches in diagonal length.” In typical configurations, the fourth and aft-most living space on the Global 7000 (the third in the Global 8000), would be a stateroom with a large bed, a chair and table and perhaps also a shower module. Behind this space would be a bathroom and the main-deck baggage space, which offers 195ft3 (5.52m3) for hold-baggage items. Noël said customers asked Bombardier to design a larger exterior baggage-access door for the Global 7000 and 8000 than the door in the Global 5000 and 6000, to allow quicker and easier baggage-loading. The manufacturer has complied with their wishes.

A Sense of Flying Some aircraft designers believe many passengers, whether flying in an airliner or a business jet, want to experience intensely the feeling of flying high above the ground and the clouds. A sense of the geography over which passengers are travelling can provide a source of wonder, entertainment and education, such designers reckon. They are now looking at ways in which more space in the aircraft cabin could be used to intensify passengers’ sense of flying – say, by projecting high-definition images of the sky around the aircraft and the cloudscapes and landscapes below on to HD screens or wall surfaces. Noël said the Global 7000 and 8000 will provide customers with ample opportunity in their aircraft cabins to induce a sense of space, of natural light and of flying. For one thing, “we offer a great system of HD cameras [attached to the exterior of the

BOMBARDIER GLOBAL 7000/8000 COMMERCIAL

1 The Global 7000 and 8000 will have fly-by-wire controls and side-stick controllers. 2 By mid-April the Passport had accumulated about 1,400 hours and 1,700 cycles of ground testing. 2

aircraft], which customers can display on any screen in the aircraft. Our operators and customers love that.” For another, not counting the huge sculpted cut-out in the cabin-interior wall beside each window, each passenger window in both of the two jets is 80% larger than those in the Global 5000 and 6000, according to Noël. If Bombardier’s current computer graphic images of the Global 7000 and 8000 provide any guide, each Global 7000 and 8000 window looks to be about as large as each window in the Gulfstream G650, although the window shape will be markedly different. Additionally, Bombardier has mapped all the likely combinations and locations of seats in the cabins of the two aircraft and has positioned a window wherever a seat would be located. “We’ve really designed the aircraft from the inside out – we’re focused on making the best cabins,” said Noël. Computer graphic images of the Global 7000 and 8000 show the 7000 having up to 16 windows on its starboard side and 14 on its port side, while the 8000 will have up to 13 starboard windows and 11 port windows. The Gulfstream G650 has eight windows on each side, though all are large.

Reducing Fatigue Bombardier thinks the cabin interior dimensions and environment within the Global 7000 and 8000 will prove popular with customers. Each of the two jets has a cabin width of 8ft 2in (2.49m) at the cabin’s centreline and a width of 6ft 11in (2.11m) at its floor line. Height is 6ft 3in (1.91m), comfortable for most people. These measurements don’t quite match those of the rival Gulfstream G650: its cabin centreline

GE AVIATION’S PASSPORT TO GLOBAL MOBILITY GE Aviation’s new Passport engine, specifically developed for the business jet market, will power the Bombardier Global 7000 and 8000. Whether or not GE Aviation deliberately named the engine ‘Passport’ to imply the design would represent a guarantee of reliable worldwide mobility, this implication is inherent in its design characteristics. Known by GE Aviation today as the Passport – formerly the company sometimes referred to it as the Passport 20 – the Global 7000 and 8000 are the only applications to date for which it has been selected. GE Aviation is talking with other manufacturers about the engine potentially powering other aircraft. One possible application is particularly interesting: should the US Air Force decide to proceed with re-engining its remaining Boeing B-52s, an exercise for which GE’s CF34 family has previously been mooted, the Passport – essentially GE’s successor to the CF34 – could present a new-generation option offering lower fuel-burn and much improved A fan blade-out test and a block endurance test, maintainability. involving 150 hours of constant running at triple-red-line Shawn Warren, director of GE thrust, temperature and pressure measurements, are two Aviation’s engine programmes for upcoming certification tests for the Passport. Bombardier, said GE decided from the outset to design the Passport for business jet use. “It isn’t necessarily designed for high cyclic content – most of the focus is on designing it for business-jet applications,” he said. The Passport is intended for rapid acceleration, climbing quickly to cruise altitudes above those at which commercial jets fly and for long-distance cruising, but also, said Warren, so that operators “hardly ever need to go in there” to remove and/or repair faulty parts in the engine.

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COMMERCIAL BOMBARDIER GLOBAL 7000/8000

width is 8ft 6in (2.59m) and its cabin height is 6ft 5in (1.95m). Noël thinks two other cabin features of the Global 7000 and 8000 will also be popular. One is the low equivalent altitude that cabin pressurisation will offer. He said the Global XRS “reduced the cabin altitude to best-inclass and the Global 5000 and 6000 have pioneered” even lower cabin altitudes. “For instance, at 45,000ft the equivalent cabin altitude is 4,500ft, much lower than on a typical commercial flight. That’s very important in diminishing fatigue on very long flights and it will be maintained on the Global 7000 and 8000.” At 51,000ft, the two jets’ maximum cruise ceiling, cabin air pressure will be equivalent to a 5,700ft altitude. Whether Bombardier has addressed the related issue of cabin humidity as assiduously as it did the issue of air pressure remains to be seen. A reasonable level of humidity in the cabin air is regarded as an important factor in reducing tiredness in passengers on long flights and keeping them feeling relatively fresh. In modern airliners such as the Boeing 787 and Airbus A350 XWB, with fuselages made of non-corroding composite materials, cabin air can be kept at normal levels of humidity that passengers would feel in their homes or outdoors on pleasant days. However, in

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most aircraft with metal fuselages (except, potentially, the Boeing 777X family, for which Boeing claims it has developed a new system allowing higher cabin humidity levels), air needs to be kept extremely dry in order to prevent widespread corrosion. The Global 7000 and 8000 are metallic in construction, with the exception of canted winglets, belly fairing skins, and elevator and rudder skins, which are made of carbon-fibre composites. The two jets’ wings, fuselages and vertical and horizontal stabilisers are metallic and the centrefuselage skin panels are aluminium-lithium. Titanium is used in APU exhaust panels as well as parts of the landing gear and horizontal stabilisers. Despite their fuselages being mainly metallic, “the cabin environment of the Global 5000/ Global 6000 is recognised as class-leading,” Noël said. “Likewise, Bombardier is ensuring that the cabin environment of the Global 7000/ Global 8000 will meet or exceed all customer expectations. We are currently evaluating the need for humidification solutions with our customers.” Where the two aircraft are most likely to provide a significant benefit to passengers is in producing really low levels of interior noise to help reduce fatigue. Bombardier is powering the Global 7000 and 8000 with GE

Aviation’s new Passport engine, which, as a brand-new engine based on the same eCore technology as CFM International’s new LEAP powerplant for commercial jets, is expected to be very quiet in operation. It should also offer much less cabin vibration than any other engine now in its class, because its fan is made entirely in one piece, unlike the 24-bladed Rolls-Royce BR725 which powers the Gulfstream G650.The Passport will also offer the best specific fuel consumption and lowest levels of emissions in its engine class, according to Noël.

The Flight Deck The flight deck of the Global 7000 and 8000 is significantly different to the Global 5000 and 6000, though all four models share Bombardier’s Global Vision Flight Deck layout. This is based on Rockwell Collins’ highly successful Pro Line Fusion avionics boxes and displays. However, the Global 7000 and 8000 will have fly-by-wire controls in place of the Global 5000’s and 6000’s hydraulic linkages. They will also have side-stick controllers rather than the control columns used in the Global 5000 and 6000, offering pilots more leg and body space. Each Global Vision Flight Deck has four main active-matrix LCD displays. The displays’ screen dimensions are the largest

BOMBARDIER GLOBAL 7000/8000 COMMERCIAL

Wing and Landing Gear The Global 7000 and 8000 have a larger wing and beefier landing gear than their siblings. The latter is to cope with extra weight: the 7000 has a planned maximum take-off weight of 106,250lb (48,194kg). The Global 7000/8000 wing, Bombardier’s ‘Next-Generation Transonic Wing’, is about 20% greater in area than the Global 5000/6000 wing and has about a 1º greater sweep angle, as well as a thinner aerofoil, to optimise it for the Mach 0.9 cruise speeds at which the new aircraft will often be travelling. The new wings have near-supercritical design but will offer high lift at low speeds (like the Global 5000/6000 wing), because of an advanced high-lift system with leadingedge slats and double-slotted trailing-edge flaps. These features are designed to allow the Global 7000 and 8000 to take off from and land on fairly short runways, at low takeoff and landing speeds. “We are very confident the numbers will be low and will meet customers’ expectations,” said Noël. “Short take-off and landing capabilities are very critical – this has been the intention since design started.” The objective is to “provide the same level of flexibility” in operation as the Global 5000 and 6000. For instance, “the Global 5000 and 6000

the higher-thrust CFM International LEAP commercial-engine family GE is developing with Snecma. The Passport’s core (its high-pressure compressor, combustor and high-pressure turbine) is based on the same ‘eCore’ which GE developed for the LEAP family and is “almost a scaled version”, said Warren. Both engines extensively use 3-D aerodynamic fan and compressor blades, while “the cores are very, very similar, so we can leverage our learnings between the two programmes. From an efficiency standpoint, they are very much on a par.”

One-Piece Fan At the front of the engine, the Passport includes a first for GE: its (and the industry’s) first one-piece fan for a civilaviation engine. Enclosed within a composite fan casing, the Passport’s 52in (1.32m) fan, which is also the largestdiameter integrated ‘blisk’ (bladed disk) GE has ever installed in an engine, has 18 three-dimensional titanium-alloy blades – all created in one piece along with the fan hub. This design confers several advantages. Because the fan is a one-piece blisk, it weighs less than would a comparable conventional fan hub with slots into which individual fan blades are dovetailed. In such

1

1 Mounted on GE Aviation’s flying test-bed, Boeing 747-121 N747GE (c/n 19651), the Passport received 100 hours of flight-testing in 20 flights. GE Aviation 2 A superb digitallyenhanced depiction of The Global showing the streamline profile.

in the industry, according to Noël. Among the many capabilities offered are a synthetic vision system (SVS) generated by a terrain database and an enhanced vision system (EVS) powered by infrared sensors. The former system will assist Global 7000/8000 pilots with situational awareness, while the latter will allow them to see the ground and runway as if it were a clear day, even when flying in low cloud and/or darkness. Uniquely, according to Noël, in the Global Vision Flight Deck both the SVS and EVS can be shown not only on the primary flight displays, but also projected on to the pilots’ head-up displays. This helps increase their situational awareness when looking forward outside the aircraft. He also highlighted the flight deck’s multi-scanning weather radar, which scans multiple altitudes and aggregates the returns. The radar’s capabilities also include wind-shear detection. Additionally, said Noël, the Global Vision Flight Deck “does all the performance-based navigation (PBN) functions and then some. You’d be hard-pressed to find a better flight deck than the Global system.” Its PBN capabilities include Wide Area Augmentation System; LPV approach; and RNAV, En-route RNP and RNP AR approaches. Graphical flight planning and digital controller pilot data link are also installed.

2

are the largest and most capable business aircraft operating in and out of London City Airport today. LCY [operating capability] is indeed a target for the Global 7000 and 8000.”

Ease of Maintenance Paul Perozek, GE Aviation’s programme lead on the Passport for Bombardier products, said GE designed the engine to be highly reliable and easy to maintain because the business jet operators that will buy Passportpowered aircraft will be very widely spread internationally. Many won’t be located near, and won’t fly regularly to, any airports with a GE engine service centre. Weighing about 4,000lb (1,678kg) including nacelle, the Passport-and-nacelle propulsion system is 9ft (2.74m) long. In terms of engine architecture, the 16,500lbthrust-class (73.4kN) Passport is similar to

an arrangement, both the fittings and the hub require heavy reinforcement. Seamless integration of the blisk’s fan blades with the hub allows a smaller hub diameter, producing a greater annular area within the overall fan diameter through which air can flow, to increase the engine’s maximum airflow. The seamless blade-hub integration also prevents any air leaking between the blades and the hub, ensuring all inlet air is pushed through the fan. The Passport has a bypass ratio of approximately 5.6 to 1. GE is confident that, when the Passport is certified in the second half of this year, it “will have a margin to the current [ICAO] noise margin requirement, and the blisk certainly helps with that – there are not nearly the vibrations” that previously designed bizjet engines produce, said Perozek. “That’s why it’s such a good application for business jets.”

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COMMERCIAL BOMBARDIER GLOBAL 7000/8000

GLOBAL 7000 AND 8000 SPECIFICATIONS GLOBAL 7000

GLOBAL 8000 GENERAL Capacity

Passengers: 17 (standard configuration)

13 (standard configuration)

Engines GE Passport

GE Passport

Thrust: 16,500lb (73kN)

Thrust: 16,500lb (73kN)

Flat rated to ISA + 20°C

Flat rated to ISA + 20°C

Avionics and Cabin Communication (All are common to both the Global 7000 and Global 8000) Bombardier Vision Flight Deck Four Large Active Matrix Liquid Crystal Display Screens Head-Up Display System, Enhanced Vision System and Synthetic Vision System Graphical Flight Planning 1

Weather Radar with enhanced functionality including wind-shear detection

• Wide Area Augmentation System • LPV Approach • RNAV, En-route RNP & RNP AR Approaches

Performance Based Navigation:

Controller Pilot Data Link Communication Onboard Maintenance System Datalink, High-Speed SATCOM PERFORMANCE TARGETS Range 7,900nm (14,631km) At M 0.85 cruise: 7,300nm (13,520km) (Theoretical range with NBAA IFR Reserves, ISA, 10 pax/4 crew (Global 7000); or 8 pax/4 crew (Global 8000). Actual range will be affected by speed, weather, selected options and other factors.) Speed (Mach/KTAS/km/h) High-speed cruise: 0.90/516/955

0.90/516/955

Typical cruise speed: 0.85/487/902

0.85/487/902

Airfield Performance 2 3

Take-off distance (SL, ISA, MTOW): 5,950ft (1,814m) 5,800ft (1,768m) Landing distance (SL, ISA, MLW): 2,810ft (856m) 2,810ft (856m) Operating Altitude Maximum operating altitude: 51,000ft (15,545m) 51,000ft (15,545m) Initial cruise altitude at MTOW: 43,000ft (13,106m) 43,000ft (13,106m) APPROXIMATE DIMENSIONS Exterior Length: 111ft 2in (33.9m)

102ft 2in (31.2m)

Wingspan: 104ft 0in (31.7m)

104ft 0in (31.7m)

Height: 27ft 0in (8.2m)

27ft 1in (8.3m) Interior

Cabin length: 54ft 7in (16.64m) 45ft 7in (13.89m) (From cockpit divider to the most aft cabin, not including baggage compartment)

1 A stateroom with a large bed, a chair and table forms the fourth and aft-most living space on the Global 7000 (the third in the Global 8000). 2 There will be a low equivalent altitude in the Global 7000 and 8000 cabins to help minimise passenger fatigue. 3 The Global 8000’s cabin length is 45ft 7in and the Global 7000’s is 54ft 7in. 4 The galley in the Global 7000 and 8000 is 20% larger than that in the Global 5000 and 6000.

Cabin width centreline: 8ft 2in (2.49m)

8ft 2in (2.49m)

Cabin width floor line: 6ft 11in (2.11m)

6ft 11in (2.11m)

Cabin height (maximum): 6ft 3in (1.91m)

6ft 3in (1.91m)

WEIGHTS (Estimated Design Figures) Standard basic operating weight: 56,800lb (25,764kg) Maximum ramp weight: 106,500lb (48,308kg) Maximum take-off weight: 106,250lb (48,194kg) Maximum landing weight: 85,800lb (38,918kg) Maximum zero fuel weight: 62,500lb (28,350kg) Maximum fuel weight: 47,450lb (21,523kg) Maximum payload: 5,700lb (2,585kg) Payload with maximum fuel: 2,250lb (1,021kg) Source: Bombardier Aerospace

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BOMBARDIER GLOBAL 7000/8000 COMMERCIAL

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The one-piece fan also offers durability and makes maintenance easier. Conventional slotted hub-and-blade arrangements often create wear as fan blade dovetails rub within their slots but, with a one-piece fan, “you get rid of that”, said Perozek. Additionally, the fan is always balanced as one piece instead of having to balance it repeatedly with combinations of individual blades. Warren said the entire Passport design aims for ease of maintenance. “The engine is modular by design, so you can do a lot on wing, and we are developing tooling so that if there is a blisk problem, such as a bird strike, you can take the blisk off while the engine is still installed. The [mainly compositematerial] nacelle is integrated and it has a clamshell design with lots of ports and doors for ease of maintenance,” he said. GE hopes fan removal won’t often be required. “It’s a wide-chord blisk with very thick and very long blades, so it is designed to be very tough,” because many operators will be based in remote locations, said Perozek.

Core and Nacelle Like the LEAP engine, behind its fan the Passport has a three-stage low-pressure compressor and then a ten-stage highpressure compressor (HPC), which pressurises the air entering it by a multiple of 23 in preparation for combustion in the engine’s single-stage annular combustor. Five of the rotating HPC stages are blisks. Behind the combustor are a two-stage high-pressure turbine (also found in the LEAP engine) and a four-stage lowpressure turbine. The Passport is the first civil-aviation

engine in which GE Aviation has made use of ceramic matrix composite (CMC) materials. Lightweight, temperature-resistant oxideoxide CMCs (which are made of aluminium oxide fibres within an aluminium oxide matrix) form the centre body of the engine, and are used within the exhaust mixer and the engine’s core cowl. After assembling Passport engines on its line in Strother, Kansas, GE Aviation will deliver completed engines to Bombardier as integrated propulsion systems: they will be delivered already installed within their nacelles (which are largely made of carbonfibre composite material). All Bombardier will have to do is to take each engine off its shipping stand and put it on a hoist for immediate installation on a Global 7000 or Global 8000. Nexcelle, a joint venture between GE Aviation’s Middle River Aircraft Systems subsidiary and Safran’s Aircelle nacellemanufacturing company, will make all Passport nacelles. GE Aviation has worked extensively with Nexcelle to ensure the engine and the nacelle are highly integrated, and Nexcelle has worked hard with Bombardier to ensure the nacelle and the Global 7000 and 8000 airframes are closely integrated.

Ground and Flight-testing The hardware for all Passport engines will be identical. Any differing thrust requirements will be handled by data plugs within each engine control unit, providing different specifications where needed for each engine’s full authority digital engine control software. The Global 7000 and 8000 call for each engine to deliver 16,500lb (73.4kN) of

maximum take-off thrust, but Warren said GE had “run it upwards of 18,000lb in test – that’s probably the ballpark of where the engine’s capability is.” GE might decide to go for its original Passport type certification at a thrust rating of more than 16,500lb, “if it makes sense to do it right now.” GE Aviation began initial design work on the Passport in late 2010 and in June 2013 the first engine began ground-testing. The company has used ten Passport engines in ground and flight-testing. By mid-April the Passport had accumulated about 1,400 hours and 1,700 cycles of ground testing. During a three-month programme from last December to March on GE’s Boeing 747 flying test-bed, a wing-mounted Passport received 100 hours of flight-testing in 20 flights. The engine has successfully passed hailstorm testing, medium-sized bird ingestion, vibration endurance, ice and high-altitude testing. The altitude test took place at the USAF’s Arnold Engineering Development Complex in Tennessee. As of late April, the Passport had yet to undergo two major certification tests: its fan blade-out test and a block endurance test involving 150 hours of constant running at triplered-line thrust, temperature and pressure measurements. “Throughout the programme, the engine has matched or exceeded our pre-test predictions on performance,” said Warren. So far, the Passport is “outperforming” GE’s early estimates that it would be at least 8% more fuel-efficient – and would produce much lower levels of emissions – than any other engine in its class. Its main currentgeneration competitor is the RollsRoyce BR725.

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MILITARY RAF CHINOOK HC6

One of eight ‘fat-tank’ HC3s undertakes a dust landing on the Salisbury Plain Training Area. D-AFCS de-risks environmental operations issues such as this. The HC3’s planned Julius AFCS upgrade has been held back to complete both the Julius and D-AFCS cockpit enhancements in one hit. All images Ian Harding

Chinook Mark Six

The RAF is introducing a new version of the Chinook, the HC6. Ian Harding discovers what makes it different from earlier variants

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ust six months after the first of 14 new RAF Boeing Chinook HC6 helicopters was officially unveiled at RAF Odiham, Hampshire, on June 16 last year, the variant successfully achieved its Initial Operational Capability (IOC) – defined as three aircraft ready for use – as planned during January. The £1 billion investment in the HC6 is

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one of two ongoing Chinook enhancement programmes whose scale and depth is unprecedented in recent times. Group Captain Richard Maddison, the Chinook Force CO and RAF Odiham station commander, told AIR International when we visited Odiham to take a closer look: “Alongside the HC6 introduction, which is going brilliantly, we’re in the process of converting all legacy aircraft to the [Project] Julius cockpit and training aircrew on two different types of aircraft and cockpit.

“Both are going well. HC6 flight training is already well advanced with the aircraft targeting Full Operational Capability [FOC] release during early 2017.” As we discovered, it is impossible to view the HC6 introduction in isolation due to the integrated nature of both upgrade programmes.

Chinook Development Flight Central to these programmes is the Chinook Development Flight (CDF). Reporting

RAF CHINOOK HC6 MILITARY

directly to the Chinook Force commander, the CDF was initially introduced to support the HC3 service introduction and training the trainers (qualified helicopter instructors, or QHIs), before ‘cascading’ that training across the Wing. It was envisaged this role would cease after the HC3 service entry, but the scope of Project Julius (which will see 46 Chinook HC2/HC2A/HC3s receive a glass cockpit with the existing Automatic Flight Control System, or AFCS, creating the HC4/HC4A/

HC5) and the HC6’s acquisition meant the CDF was retained. Although the HC5 is now due to receive the upgraded digital AFCS, similar to the HC6, as part of its Julius upgrade. The Support Helicopter Force (SHF) Rotary Wing Operational Evaluation and Training Unit (RWOETU) would typically have overseen the operational evaluation of new equipment and delivered the specific training. However, working with frontline commands and the various associated project teams (PTs), the

CDF’s support was extended to maintain the coherence and delivery of the enhancement programmes. That the HC6 is operational within three years of its delivery is testament to the CDF’s success. Squadron Leader Adam Shave has commanded the CDF since November 2013. A very experienced SHF pilot, he began his operational flight career on the Wessex in 2001 and transitioned to the Chinook in 2002 before becoming the requirements manager for the HC6 in the Chinook Project Team (CPT).

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MILITARY RAF CHINOOK HC6 Working closely with Joint Helicopter Command (JHC) and the Defence Equipment and Support arm of the Ministry of Defence (MoD), his dedicated team – comprising two pilots, an engineering officer and two aircraft crewman – is charged with: - Delivering flight training resulting from the development of the Chinook and its modification programmes; - Providing input to associated PTs and industry partners (Boeing, QinetiQ, Vector Aerospace etc) to support the growth and development of the Chinook’s capability; - Developing and co-ordinating all aspects of the Chinook Project’s Defence Lines of Development, including HC4/HC4A/HC5 and HC6 Release To Service (RTS). The CDF also contributes to human machine interface (HMI) working groups; equipment operational evaluation (assisting the RWOETU); air and ground school 1 Group Captain Richard Maddison OBE, RAF Odiham’s station commander and UK Chinook Force CO, said the HC6’s introduction is going extremely well. 2 The rear crewman’s role is vital and their confidence in performing confined area landings has been boosted because the helicopter can now be moved in 1 foot 1 increments, keeping the swing very low.

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training syllabus supervision and production; validating new aircraft standard operating procedures (SOP); operational flight training for QHIs; ground mission and software system release (SR) support/training; and aircraft acceptance. The CDF’s extensive scope will likely continue for the foreseeable future as new upgrades and equipment are introduced in the form of HC4/HC5 Digital Automatic Flight Control System (D-AFCS), next-generation radios, navigational equipment, tactical avoidance systems and ground training equipment.

Forward Fleet The legacy fleet currently comprises eight HC3s and 38 HC4s. “We have no more HC2s left at Odiham,” Gp Capt Maddison confirmed. “The last aircraft recently entered the Julius enhancement programme and the only legacy cockpit aircraft left now are the HC3s. “We ceased training people on the legacy aircraft in December 2014. If you’re new aircrew, or returning to the Chinook, you’ll only train on the Julius cockpit. We now have only 13 crews to retrain on the new cockpit and we’re going to do most of that 2

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4 3 As well as an additional seat, the new rear crewman station has the same tablet-based pre-flight mission planning system as the cockpit. 4 Chinook HC6 ZK552 above the Hampshire countryside near its Odiham base, following its public introduction on June 16 last year. 5 The Chinook has room for up to 55 troops. 6 The Selex Titan 385 ES-HD FLIR Multi-Sensor Turret, mounted on the aircraft closest to the camera, combines high-performance UK mission-specific sensors such as D-NVG into a single line replaceable unit.

in the US later this year, because when you train on the Julius cockpit you also require a new dust qualification for the low-visibility environment. Combining this training will place us in a very good position by summer 2015 with a very coherent force.” After the Julius cockpit programme, HC4s and HC3s will receive D-AFCS. The contract to upgrade the legacy fleet with this system was signed last December, and the aircraft are now in conversion. Gp Capt Maddison said the Julius HC3 AFCS upgrade has been held back to complete both the Julius and D-AFCS cockpit enhancements in one hit. “This avoids the HC3/HC5s having to go back into the enhancement programme again, which is more efficient; we’re expecting HC5s to eventually leave their supplementary modification programme with D-AFCS,” he said. “By summer 2015, our hope is we’ll have everyone trained; our only aircraft at Odiham will be Julius aircraft with the HC3s in their programme. From then on, our aircraft numbers will grow continually as more HC6s are delivered and HC4s leave their modification programme.” AIR International understands the RTS for modified legacy aircraft is 2017 – and that fully upgraded HC4s may eventually be referred to as HC6As to reflect the fact they will feel like HC6s when flown. 6

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HC6 Deliveries Sqn Ldr Shave confirmed that six HC6s had been delivered by March. Three are currently being modified by Boeing at Odiham to bring them to final UK standard. Further deliveries are scheduled for June and July, with the order set for completion during the fourth quarter. HC6s are delivered from Boeing’s production line in Philadelphia as CH-47Fs with specific UK systems, such as the

forward-looking infrared (FLIR) sensors, rotor-brake and Julius cockpit, already installed. Further UK-specific enhancements are added once they arrive in Britain. The D-AFCS delivered from Boeing is SR 5.3 standard. With UK-specific enhancements added, from October 2014, the Julius cockpit is now at SR 6.4 Ready for Training (RFT) with a new cockpit collective grip modification. “It’s been a deliberate policy to provide us with aircraft which we can then train crews [and] engineers on immediately rather than waiting for all enhancements to be completed,” Sqn Ldr Shave explained. “Our aim has been to get a cadre of people familiar with, and gaining experience in, D-AFCS before it arrives here in numbers and they have to fly it. “Boeing then completes our final modifications under our guidance here at Odiham. We then flight-test the aircraft which helps when problems are identified;

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MILITARY RAF CHINOOK HC6

Confined Area Landings

CHINOOK HC6 KEY FEATURES

D-AFCS also aids manoeuvres such as Confined Area Landings (CALs) and Under-Slung Loads, as Sqn Ldr Shave explained: “Hovering at 90ft with barely any references and ‘fine tuning’ a load onto a load pallet or into a CAL is tough. This is made much easier now and we have no worries undertaking what we call ‘shepherds’ crooks’, which is self-hooking – dropping a load into a field, repositioning and then manoeuvring the aircraft a few feet above the ground over the load, enabling the crewman to self-hook to the loads. “Crewmen now have confidence they can manoeuvre the aircraft by telling us just to beep and we’ll move the aircraft in onefoot increments, which keeps the ‘swing’ very low. When they want it on the ground, ‘bang’, it’s on the ground! In a HC4 it would be a much higher workload and difficult to achieve the same accuracy.” D-AFCS should also make over-water transits at night, with no reference points, less demanding and safer. Unlike the US Army’s CH-47F the HC6 does not have a fully-coupled flight director. The benefit of this system is it reduces workload in the transit and instrument flying, while aircrew can program a profile to arrive at a particular grid reference. Sqn Ldr Shave noted this may not always be the safest thing to do operationally; plus the system only automatically takes the aircraft to a specific height and not all the way to ground level. That responsibility remains with the flight crew. While this would be a ‘nice

The upgraded Honeywell Aerospace T55-L-714A engine is common across the Chinook fleet. In addition to the HC6’s improved performance and handling, Vmax for the aircraft is 160 knots and aircrew say it is as “smooth as you like”.

Thales Top Deck digital cockpit with multi•function • Instrument landing system displays (MFDs) integrated with a new BAE Systems D-AFCS Titan 385 ES-HD FLIR Turret and UK •mission-specific equipment such as digital night-vision goggles (D-NVG) • COBRA fire suppression system Stronger monolithic airframe with more •machined • New rear crewman station containing parts and 50% fewer riveted panels the same pre-flight mission planning system

• Satellite Global Positioning System

(tablet-based) as in the cockpit

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we simply push them back. There have been some serviceability issues, but that was more us getting used to the D-AFCS rather than the aircraft being unreliable. When you have a problem with a new aircraft, you take a step back and figure out what’s really going on. The HC6 enhancement programme should be complete by around July 2016.”

Flight Handling Aircrew confirm the HC6’s D-AFCS provides improved handling, hover precision and stability, which all enhances platform and crew safety. “The HC4 and HC6 cockpits are broadly similar so any HMI issues are equally applicable to both variants,” Sqn Ldr Shave said. “D-AFCS was born out of the need to de-risk the environmental issues associated with desert landings, which it’s very good at because of the closely co-ordinated systems provided by the two-system EGIs [embedded global positioning/inertial navigation system]. These are extremely accurate at detecting any aircraft drift both laterally and vertically.” The D-AFCS aids successful dust landings enormously. “The set-up is made so much simpler because you can control your height within one foot [305mm] and any sort of drift and ground speed to within one knot,” Sqn Ldr Shave explained. “The instrumentation we have now includes a velocity vector and an acceleration cue, which makes it quite easy to do manually, but we don’t need to because the system will do it. Aircrew will obviously still monitor the system to ensure it isn’t doing something it shouldn’t and cross-reference this

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with their own visual references. “D-AFCS also enables you to control your deceleration or speed at the same rate as your velocity, which can then be decreased at a rate of one knot per second. Equally, you can control height within one-foot increments by individual clicks [on the collective] or you can descend at a constant rate of up 200ft per minute by using a height beep [on the collective] as well. “The old collective contained engine controls, but these have now been moved on to cockpit panels. We can now very accurately control our rate of closure and rate of descent with no grey area at all. The Chinook undercarriage is stressed to 330ft per minute at the max weight of 24.5 tonnes [54,000lb], so anything lighter than that and you’re getting even better stress levels.” Sqn Ldr Shave noted that, historically, most rotary accidents during dust landings have resulted from a poor initial set-up leading to a high rate of descent. That should not happen now, although the D-AFCS is not completely infallible because there is no system available yet that provides a clear view below the aircraft through the dust. ‘Eyeball Mk1’ remains the best available and so the rear crewman role is critical. Should the flight crew lose all reference points, the rear crewman is required to call for an overshoot. However, the D-AFCS means the aircraft should now get to the landing position predictably almost every time. This will reduce the likelihood of aircraft damage – enhancing serviceability and improving aircrew and passenger safety.

RAF CHINOOK HC6 MILITARY to have’ system, ultimately the decision was made to tailor the HC6’s D-AFCS and profiles with a more flexible system in keeping with the Chinook Force’s multi-role requirements.

Monolithic Airframe While the HC6 has the same engines as earlier variants, Sqn Ldr Shave confirmed its monolithic airframe resonates differently, which changes the flight profile. “At low speed and in the hover, the aircraft feels like it vibrates more, especially in the rear cabin. In forward flight, the faster you go the smoother it gets. The older HC4 certainly rattles when you get near 140 knots. In the HC6 I’ve been at 155 knots and have had to slow down because I’m close to Vmax of 160 knots – and the aircraft is as smooth as you like, which has to be down to the airframe.” When all the current fleet enhancement programmes have been completed, the only material differences will be the HC6’s airframe construction and the extended range ‘fat tanks’ on the HC5. They will have common engines (Honeywell Aerospace T55-L-714As), cockpit, HMI, DAS, communications and armament (M134 minigun and M60D machine gun).

Training To qualify aircrew on the D-AFCS and achieve IOC, crew training has focused on more experienced aircrews. “The guys I’m converting at the moment are either already very experienced or are at the higher end ability-wise,” Sqn Ldr Shave said. “My

training is two days of ground school, two simulator sessions, two day sorties and one night. I can therefore typically complete four pilots/four crewmen in two weeks and then they’re off flying the HC6. “All their qualifications and competencies for the HC4 cross over because all the cockpit displays, bar a couple of differences including D-AFCS, are identical; they haven’t got to relearn all the switches and dials. Eventually we may need to tailor the present course, adding additional sorties when ab-initio conversion commences, but that remains 18 months away.” For now, ab-initio pilots will train on the HC4 first. Although a D-AFCS-equipped HC6 is easier to fly, Sqn Ldr Shave explained some aircrew will need to be dual-qualified for the transition programme to work. A view therefore has to be taken whether flight crew with no experience to fall back on can fly a D-AFCS aircraft and then move back to one without when required. Again, some extra sorties may be needed to ensure flight safety is not compromised. So far eight crews from Odiham have completed their HC6 D-AFCS conversion, bar their environmental training which includes hot/high training and a desert qualification. Along with the CDF and HC6 aircraft, they went to Naval Air Facility El Centro in California in April to complete this training and to develop specific SOPs. Other squadron personnel, including the Operational Conversion Flight (OCF-18 Squadron), will operate for an extended 1 Hovering at 90ft with any barely any references to put down a load – or undertake a confined area landing – is made easier by the HC6’s D-AFCS. 2 CDF team members, left to right: Flt Lt Christian Hilliker, Master Aircrew Paul Holmes and Sqn Ldr Adam Shave.

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period there through the summer. Gp Capt Maddison explained: “We’ll probably have seven aircraft there because we’ll take the HC6 and also validate its procedures for dust landings using the D-AFCS in parallel. We’ll also take HC4s so we can train our current crews and get them dust-qualified – plus those crews who haven’t converted to the HC4. Basically we’re trying to capture everything in one hit during a large exercise.” Once completed, the CDF will turn its attention to the transition process from the HC3 to the HC5 and HC4 to HC6A. That includes delivering the training packages that identify the software differences between the Julius AFCS and D-AFCS aircraft. Sqn Ldr Shave added: “From a handling perspective, even though the HC5 is ‘fat tanked’, the beauty with D-AFCS is that all the moving parts are the same; the system software is configurable independently of the fat tanks so the handling and control laws are only slightly modified for the HC5. In all other respects the Chinook should handle pretty much the same regardless of mark, so from the dual qualification point of view it’s relatively straightforward.” The CDF plans to use some HC6s to train a cadre of pilots ahead of the HC5’s arrival to ensure it can be flown from day one and maintain a seamless transition. The HC6 is critical to this process as it enables the HC5 modification to proceed without impacting on daily operational flight commitments.

Ground Simulators The Chinook Force currently has no D-AFCSequipped ground simulator, but it’s work in progress and is due to be operational in the UK by March 2017, removing the need for

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MILITARY RAF CHINOOK HC6 aircrew to train at Boeing’s facilities. “It’s imperative we can demonstrate the operations necessary to deal with an engine failure in a D-AFCS aircraft, for example,” Sqn Ldr Shave said. “If this occurs with an ‘altitude hold’ engaged, the system will lower the lever for you to contain the rotor speed. So the pilot’s first indication of an engine failure might be the lever lowering. This might normally be because the aircraft is heavy in a hot and high environment but the worst thing the pilot can then do is pull the

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lever as a knee-jerk action as this will decay rotor speed even more. Philadelphia is pretty well the only place we can demonstrate it.” The D-AFCS simulator at Odiham will be common to the HC5 and post-D-AFCS HC4. Owing to aircraft numbers and space restrictions, nearby RAF Benson in Oxfordshire (which will be home to the OCF from this autumn) will continue to house the other Chinook simulators which will, in turn, be upgraded. To assist in this process and reduce the time crews spend in the US on ground

training, a computer-based HC6 simulator with touchscreen units and a D-AFCS collective is located within the CDF’s facilities.

Full Operational Capability FOC is notionally set for January 2017. The only other outstanding ‘environmental’ mission to be validated for the upgraded Chinook fleet is its maritime interface. QinetiQ and Boeing will complete initial Ship Operating Limit trials to achieve a limited RTS by July. The HC5 will complete a major maritime trial early next year

RAF CHINOOK HC6 MILITARY which, due to system commonality, will then be ‘read’ across to both the HC4 and HC6. The aim is receive full maritime clearance during mid-2016. “The flight test and evaluation period will be intense but once completed with, specifically, clearance for the HC6, we’ll then use the CDF and others here to train the seed corn of instructors, which will allow a broader part of the force to be trained,” Gp Capt Maddison said. “At the moment there’s probably more instructional flying than we would normally

expect in a routine sense at this stage but that will continue through the HC4s as aircrew train on D-AFCS. Then it might stabilise a little bit until the next programme.” The HC6 represents the pinnacle of the RAF’s heavy lift capability and is the most advanced Chinook helicopter it has operated. D-AFCS improves aircrew confidence: they can operate safely in a dust cloud or snow and undertake more precise manoeuvres efficiently and safely. It therefore represents a force multiplier as operational serviceability

rates increase, leading perhaps to fewer aircraft being deployed. Having proved itself time and again on global operations, the Chinook Force is displaying the same positive, no-nonsense and pragmatic approach to ensuring IOC and FOC are met. The ultimate aim is for the new HC6 and upgraded legacy aircraft to maintain their vital role within the UK’s upgraded Joint Helicopter Force, whatever the next Strategic Defence and Security Review, set for later this year, brings.

RAF Odiham confirmed that the final legacy Chinook HC2 recently entered the Project Julius AFCS enhancement programme. The only legacy cockpit aircraft remaining are the HC3s.

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MILITARY MAY DAY PARADE

AirParade Piotr Butowski witnessed the Russian military’s annual flypast over Moscow

T

he victory parades held each May 9 in Moscow’s Red Square have got bigger every year since the end of the Cold War. This year’s involved more than 16,000 soldiers, 194 vehicles and 143 aircraft and helicopters. The flypast was opened by the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Air Force, Colonel General Viktor Bondarev, flying a Tu-160 strategic bomber at 300 knots (555km/h) and 1,150ft (350m). Arriving below it at 500ft (150m) and travelling at 100 knots (200km/h) was a Mi-26 heavy helicopter and four Mi-8MTV5s. They were followed by a formation of Ansat-U training helicopters (never shown over Moscow before), then Ka-52, Mi-28N and Mi-35M (also

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a debut) attack helicopters. Next came An-124 and Il-76 transport aircraft, plus all three of Russia’s long-range bombers: Tu-22M3, Tu-95MS and Tu-160. This year’s parade comprised many groups of aircraft flying with Il-78 tankers, which simulated the refuelling of Tu-95MS and Tu-160 strategic bombers, MiG-31 interceptors and Su-24M and Su-34 tactical bombers. Then came eight-ship formations of Su24Ms, Su-34s and MiG-31s, and five ships of MiG-29s and Su-25s. These were followed by two mixed formations, one featuring four Su-30SMs and four Su-35S fighters. The latter, recently introduced to the inventory, had never previously been shown over Moscow. The second mixed group of four Su-34s, four Su27s and two MiG-29s, came from the Lipetsk military crew conversion and evaluation centre and was led (in a Su-34) by its commander,

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1 The Su-35S was recently introduced to the Russian Air Force inventory and never previously been shown over Moscow. Here four fly in formation alongside four Su-30SMs. All images Piotr Butowski 2 A Tu-95MS and an Il-78 simulated an aerial refuelling, passing by at 300 knots and 1,000ft.

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Major General Alexander Kharchevsky. They were followed by a square formation of five Su-27s and four MiG-29s of the Russkiye Vityazi and Strizhi aerobatic teams respectively. The MiG-29s fired flares over Red Square. Next were 15 MiG-29 and Su-25 aircraft flying in a figure ‘70’ to mark the 70th anniversary of victory in Europe, and then six Yak-130 jet trainers from the new aerobatic team Krylia Tavridy (Wings of Tauris – the name given to Crimea by the ancient Greeks) at Borisoglebsk. The parade was closed by six Su-25 attack aircraft, led by Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Kotov, trailing smoke in the colours of the Russian flag. The flypast lasted eight minutes and 40 seconds, much shorter than previous years. The compressed time was achieved by changing the approach path. Aircraft previously formed a single column 80-100km (49-62 miles) from Moscow, but this year they approached in two columns merging into one over the city, 15km (9 miles) away from the centre. For safety reasons the aircraft flew at various altitudes, from 820ft (250m) to 1,868ft (600m), reducing the distance between the groups. Participating aircraft were drawn from the following operational bases: Chkalovskiy (MiG29s and Su-25s for the figure ‘70’), Engels (Tu-95MS and Tu-160), Khotilovo (MiG-31), Klin (Yak-130), Kubinka (Strizhi, Russkiye Vityazi, the Su-25s and all the helicopters), Lipetsk (MiG-29, Su-27, Su-30, Su-34, Su-35), Ryazan (Il-78, MiG-29SMT), Savasleyka (Su-24M), Shaykovka (Tu-22M3) and Tver (An-124 and Il-76).

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Airbus F_P.indd 1

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