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JULY 2015 Vol.89 No.1

America’s Superfighter

O n

INTERNATIONAL

Ca A na ir da

F-22 RAPTOR...AMERICA’S AMERICA’S SUPERFIGHTER

MiG-31Foxhound Russia’s Mach 2.3 Fighter

An-178

Antonov’s Latest Airlifter

WTI

Raising the Marine Corps Bar

PC-12NG

Powerful and Practical

Dubai Airshow F_P.indd 1

11/06/2015 09:26

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LEADING NEWS COLUMNS

News

06 THE LATEST ANTONOV

04 

BREAKING NEWS

Singapore’s anniversary A380s, B-52Hs and B-2s in the UK, Airbus Helicopters’ H160 maiden flight and MRJ taxi tests.

10 GENERAL NEWS

Thales selected for Royal Navy Merlin Crowsnest, Indonesia considering US-2, and An-132 plans.

Piotr Butowski visited Kiev to witness the early tests of the Antonov An-178, Ukraine’s new transport aircraft.

12 TALIOS PODS, TIGRES, HERCULES AND REAPERS

Jan Kraak provides details of the top stories from around France.

16 LONG-RANGE STRIKE BOMBER AND AN AIR-TO-AIR ENCOUNTER

Robert F Dorr provides the latest stories from around the US Air Force.

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

18 MV-22 CHANGING THE MARINE CORPS

ee pag es 26 for det and 27 ails.

Rick Burgess gives the latest top news stories from the US Navy and US Marine Corps.

20 ROMEO & JULIET, THE MOOSE & THE TIGER Nigel Pittaway focuses on the top stories from Australia.

FRONT COVER: One of this month’s big features is about the MiG-31 Foxhound. Andrey Zinchuk. LEFT INSET: Piotr Butowski MIDDLE INSET: Steven Valinski RIGHT INSET: Pilatus

90 Features FOXHOUND’S NEW TRICKS 28 THE

Alexander Mladenov assesses the capabilities and deployment of the Russian Air Force’s upgraded MiG-31s Foxhounds.

38 

ANTI-UAV DEFENCE SYSTEM

Andrew Drwiega reports on an easily deployable solution to counter small UAVs.

64 A CLASS OF ITS OWN

TOMORROW’S US FIGHTER ENGINE 84 TOWARDS

70 A SUPERSONIC FUTURE

90 AIR CANADA ON THE CLIMB

Dave Unwin flies the powerful and practical Pilatus PC-12NG – a sterling performer. NASA experts think airliners will be able to fly supersonically and be environmentally friendly within 20 years as Chris Kjelgaard finds out.

Chris Kjelgaard details GE Aviation’s work on adaptive-cycle engines.

Andreas Spaeth reports from Toronto on Air Canada’s bright future thanks to new aircraft, a deal with its pilots and a strengthened hub.

RAPTOR – AMERICA’S SUPERFIGHTER 39 F-22 80 HEADING BACK TO BLACK 94 RAISING THE BAR

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

A three-point plan to regain profitability has been revealed by German carrier airberlin. Dominik Sipinski reports from Berlin.

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

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3

Breaking News

Singapor e’s Anniversary A380s

Singapore Airlines has unveiled a special livery featuring a flag design to mark 50 years since Singapore gained independence. Two Airbus A380s will carry the scheme until the end of the year; the first to be repainted 9V-SKI (msn 43) is seen at Hong Kong on June 6. The decal used for the design, which is 10m (32ft)tall and 47m (154ft) long, took five days to print and then a further eight to apply. Thomas.K/AirTeamImages

T-6Ds Join US Army Beechcraft Defense announced on the opening day of the Paris Air Show that it had delivered four T-6Ds to the United States Army. The aircraft, part of the Joint Primary Aircraft Training Systems (JPATS) programme, will be operated by the US Army Aviation Technical

JF-17 Export Order

Test Center at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama, where they will replace the T-34C Turbo Mentor. The T-6D is a hybrid of the T-6B and T-6C trainers. It features new standard avionics, with integrated mission computers, up-front control panels, multi-function displays and

a heads-up display. The US Army T-6Ds have hardpoints enabling them to carry up to six wingmounted pylons and two external fuel tanks. To date, Beechcraft has delivered more than 850 T-6 trainers, which have amassed more than 2.5 million flight hours.

Chinook and Apache Purchases Cleared Indian defence minister Manohar Parrikar has approved the purchase of 22 Boeing AH-64D Apache Longbow and 15 Boeing CH-47F Chinook helicopters. Both proposals are now with the Indian Finance Ministry for final approval, local media reported. Options for 11 more Apaches and four additional Chinooks are included in the $3.1 billion deal. Nigel Pittaway

VAQ-139 Homecoming

Pakistan Air Force (PAF) officials confirmed at the Paris Air Show that the Chengdu/PAC JF-17 Thunder has secured its first export order. Although PAF personnel declined to name the customer, they did say it was an Asian country. The number of aircraft is unconfirmed, but deliveries are due to begin in 2017. Fifty-four JF-17s have so far been delivered to the PAF, which brought three examples to Paris, one of which participated in the flying display.

GOT A NEWS STORY, PHOTO OR FEATURE ?

The EA-18Gs of VAQ-139 ‘Cougars’ – one of which is pictured at its NAS Whidbey Island base on June 3 – flew 1,200 sorties and 267 combat missions during their ten-month deployment on the USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70). Joe Kunzler

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]

On June 3 Electronic Attack Squadron 139 (VAQ-139) ‘Cougars’ brought its EA-18G Growlers and personnel home to NAS Whidbey Island, Washington, after almost ten months of deployment to the Pacific Ocean and Persian Gulf. The unit’s EA-18Gs provided electronic warfare support to the USS Carl Vinson’s Carrier Air Wing

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17 (CVW-17) strike operations in Iraq and Syria against Islamic State (IS). During the deployment CVW-17 flew 12,300 sorties during the ten-month deployment, including 2,382 combat missions and dropped more than a half million pounds of ordnance. Of those, VAQ-139 carried out 1,200 sorties and 267 combat missions. AIR International asked Cdr Lewis

Callaway, VAQ-139’s commanding officer, about the unit’s contribution to the fight against IS: “We denied their command and control networks, we kept them at arm’s reach. We protected our coalition brethren, kept them from getting shot down, and enabled a lot of targeting with the weapon systems we have on the Growler.” Joe Kunzler

Please send all news correspondence [email protected]

Breaking News

B-52s and B-2s in BALTOPS US Air Force Global Strike Command bombers deployed to RAF Fairford in June to participate in the Baltic Operations (BALTOPS) and Saber Strike exercises. Three B-52H Stratofortresses from the 5th Bomb Wing at Minot Air Force Base, North Dakota, and two Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri-based B-2s forward deployed to the Gloucestershire base. The B-2s operated Global Power missions from Whiteman to Fairford on June 7-8 as part of the exercises before returning home; the first aircraft flew back on June 7 and the other on June 9. BALTOPS is designed to improve maritime security in the Baltic Sea through increased interoperability among allies. This was illustrated during the exercise, on June 11, when one of the B-52Hs flew in formation with four Swedish Air Force Gripens over the Baltic Sea. Saber Strike is a longstanding annual US Army Europe-led co-

Boeing Sells C-17s to Qatar Boeing has sold four of the remaining five ‘white-tail’ C-17A Globemaster IIIs to the Qatar Emiri Air Force. The agreement was announced on the opening day of the Paris Air Show. Before the show, Boeing officials had expressed confidence that it would be able to sell the five aircraft that were built before production ceased. Sales agreements are expected to be finalised before the year end.

B-52H Stratofortress 60-0018/‘MT’ from the 23rd Expeditionary Bomb Squadron ‘Bomber Barons’ at Minot, flying with four Swedish Air Force JAS39C Gripens (39210/‘210’, 39218/‘218’, 39287/‘287’ and 39294/‘294’) from F17 Wing at Ronneby-Kallinge. US Navy

operative training exercise that likewise aims to improve co-

H160 Airborne The Airbus Helicopters H160 prototype, F-WWOG (c/n PT1), took to the air on June 12 for its maiden flight from the company’s facility at Marseille-Marignane Airport, France. A full-scale mock-up of the type was displayed at the Paris Air Show the following week. Meanwhile, on the first day of the Paris event, the company announced an order for 28 H175s from the Milestone Aviation Group, the largest single commitment to date for the new helicopter.

operation between participating nations and train participants

command

and

control.

Ian Harding

MRJ Taxi Tests Begin

Mitsubishi Aircraft Corporation and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries started lowspeed taxiing trials with the first Mitsubishi Regional Jet flight test aircraft at Nagoya Airport, Japan, on June 8. The MRJ is scheduled for its first flight in the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi Aircraft

CSeries Performance

Bombardier CS100 C-GWXZ (c/n 5005), wearing the livery of launch operator, Swiss International Air Lines, was scheduled to go the carrier’s Zurich base after the Paris Air Show for customer demonstrations. Bombardier Aerospace

Please send all news correspondence [email protected]

on

Bombardier released some updated performance figures for its CSeries on the eve of the Paris Air Show. It said flight tests are showing the aircraft “is delivering more than a 20%” reduction in fuel burn on currentproduction narrowbodies, and a “greater than 10%” improvement on re-engined types. The original target was a 15% reduction. Bombardier also announced the CSeries’ range will be 350nm (648km) more than first targeted, at 3,300 nautical miles (6,112km). At Paris, Bombardier presented the first CS300 flight test vehicle (C-FFDK, c/n 5001) and the fifth CS100 (C-GWXZ, c/n 5005), the latter painted in the colours of type’s launch operator, Swiss International Air Lines. Mark Broadbent

AI.07.15

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NEWS REPORT

A

fter its May 7 maiden flight, the first prototype of the new An-178 transport aircraft completed 12 test sorties before flying to the Paris Air Show at Le Bourget. There, the An-178 was on static display – it is too early in the testing schedule for it to perform displays. In Kiev, apart from two commercial service airports at Borispol and Zhulyany, there are two airfields that belong to Antonov. Svyatoshin, where the company has its production plant, is in the city. The runway is only 1,800m-long (5,900ft) and test flying is not conducted there. On its first flight, the An-178 took off from Svyatoshin and landed at Antonov’s second airfield at Hostomel, 20km (12 miles) away, Antonov’s test facility that has a 3,700m-long (12,100ft) runway. On May 19, when I visited, the An-178 was making its fourth test flight. The aircraft was still unpainted, showing

natural metal and composite material colours. All test flights last several hours (the longest to date, on May 13, was 5hrs 20mins) and the aircraft performs several tasks. The operation of main systems, stability and controllability as well as basic performance are currently being tested. Flying the An-178 does not differ much from flying the An-158, according to the test pilots; despite the An-178’s heavier weight the aircraft retains most of the features of its predecessor. The pilot of the An-178’s maiden flight was Andrii Spasibo; subsequent flights were made by Sergii Troshyn and Dmytro Antonov.

The Family The An-178 belongs to a family of aircraft that started with the An-148 regional airliner, the first prototype of which flew on December 17, 2004 and has been in service since June 2009. Several versions of that aircraft are currently produced at plants in Kiev, Ukraine and Voronezh, Russia. There is the basic 85-seat An-148-100 (and its A, V and E sub-

variants; the latter has two derivatives, the An-148-100EA executive transport and the An-148-100EM medical evacuation aircraft). The 89-seat An-148-200A is now under construction in Kiev. The An-148 was, in turn, the basis for the An-158, which carries up to 99 passengers, and the An-148-300 (or An-168), an extended range platform for executive transport and special duty missions.. None of these aircraft have had a major market impact. Over the past decade, only 35 of all versions have been built – and just ten at the Kiev plant. During my visit, three An-148s (including the first An-148-200) and four An-158s were under construction, watched by a delegation from the Cuban airline Cubana de Aviación, the An-158’s largest commercial operator (flying six). The only hope for the An-148 is Russian Government orders, but those would come only for the aircraft produced at Voronezh. The Russian Air Force ordered 15 An-148100E aircraft with deliveries during 20132017; six have been handed over.

The Latest

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Please send all news correspondence [email protected]

NEWS REPORT

Commonality The An-178 is the largest member of the family. It retains 50-60% of the components of the airframe and equipment of its predecessor An-158. There are common outer wing panels, empennage, nose fuselage section, cockpit and front landing gear, as well as most systems and equipment. The widened fuselage (3.85m/12.6ft in diameter as opposed to its predecessor’s 3.35m/11ft) with a rear loading ramp, a 1.98m (6.5ft) broader wing centre section and landing gear with tandem wheels are entirely new. The prototype is currently powered by two standard D436-148 turbofan engines (the same as the An-148/An-158) but in August Motor Sich is to deliver two new D436148FMs. These feature a larger fan diameter and greater take-off thrust of 16,976lb (75.5kN) versus 15,058lb (67kN). Dmytro Kiva, the President and Designer General of Antonov, has estimated the cost for the design and prototype of the An-178 modestly, at about $150 million. Antonov proved with the An-148 that it is able to

design, build and test a new aircraft without external financing. The development of the An-178 from scratch, rather than as another derivative of an existing family, would probably have cost twice as much and taken twice as long. Active design of the An-178 began in 2009, when the aircraft was known as the An158T. Precise requirements for the aircraft, now designated An-178, were defined on August 17, 2011 and on December 28, 2011 the programme of work, including the construction of two prototypes (one for flight and one for fatigue tests), was accepted. So far only the fuselage of the second prototype exists and is being tested now).

Market Position The An-178 aims at the market segment currently occupied by old Soviet-era An-12 turboprop transport aircraft (maximum load 20,000kg or 44,000lb) and the Transall C-160 (16,000kg/35,300lb). There is no modern option in this niche. Current production transport aircraft are either smaller (for example, the Alenia

C-27J Spartan with an 11,500kg/25,400lb load and the Airbus C295, which offers 9,250kg/20,400lb), or larger (eg Lockheed Martin C-130J, with 19,000-20,000kg/42,00044,000lb, and Embraer KC-390 with 23,600kg/52,000lb). But has Antonov chosen the load capacity of 16,000-18,000kg (35,300-39,700lb) because it spotted an empty niche, or because this is the maximum load capacity of an aircraft that could be built using An-148 and An-158 components at a moderate price? Probably both reasons were factors. Analysing the huge database of An-12 operations, Antonov’s experts stated the aircraft rarely flew with its maximum load of 20,000kg (39,700lb) and in more than 70% of flights they carried 11,000-13,000kg (24,30028,700lb) over a 2,000-3,000km (1,250-1,860 miles) distance. This is the typical transport task for the An-178.

Succeeding the An-12 The An-178 is a natural successor to the An12, of which 1,253 were built between 1957 and 1972 and are still in service, especially

t Antonov

An-178 UR-EXP is currently fitted with two D436-148 turbofan engines, but they will be replaced by new D436-148FMs. All photos Piotr Butowski unless stated

Piotr Butowski visited Kiev to witness the early tests of the Antonov An-178, Ukraine’s new transport aircraft

Please send all news correspondence [email protected]

AI.07.15

7

NEWS REPORT

in Africa and Asia. The An-178’s cargo compartment has similar volume to the An-12, but it is pressurised, which enables the aircraft to be used for carrying people, especially in the medevac role. The load capacity is similar, but ranges with respective loads are longer. The An-178

delivers 10,000kg (22,000lb) payload over the distance of 4,000km (2,450 miles) in contrast with the An-12’s 3,200km (2,000 miles). Another major difference is speed – the jet-powered An-178 attains 445kts (825km/h) while the turboprop An-12 achieves 300325kts (550-600km/h).

Antonov promises that the An-178 will be cheaper to operate thanks to two engines rather than four, fewer crew (three rather than six) and long periods between overhauls – the airframe’s life is planned for 80,000 flight hours or 40,000 cycles. The civil version of the An-178, which is to be certified according to FAR Part 25 airworthiness standards in about 18 months’ time, will have a maximum load capacity of 16,000kg (35,274lb). Later, after the installation of special equipment – targeting and navigation radar, head-up display, parachute-dropping facilities and optional self-defence systems – a military version will be developed. Due to this equipment, the military version will carry 15,000kg (33,069lb) of payload, or 18,000kg (39,683lb) when the maximum permitted G-load is limited to 2.25g. The civil certification requires a maximum G-load of 2.5g. The width and height of the An-178 cargo compartment has been chosen to be suitable for carrying most typical aircraft and ship containers and pallets with crosssection dimensions of 2.44m x 2.44m (8 x 8ft) or smaller. The length of the cargo hold was specified by the requirement of fitting two large (6.06m/20ft long) or four small (3.18m/125in) containers or pallets. The aircraft has autonomic loading facilities in the form of two hoists under the cargo compartment ceiling, which enables operations from airfields without cargo infrastructure. In the military configuration, the aircraft’s cargo compartment seats 90 soldiers or 70 paratroopers or 63 wounded (including 48 on stretchers).

FUTURE AN-148T Antonov is also designing a low-cost variant of the An-148 with a loading ramp. The An-148T would differ from the passenger An-148 only in the lowered floor and new rear section of the fuselage with a loading ramp. The aircraft retains the An148’s 29.13m (95.6ft) length and 28.90m (94.8ft) wingspan. The cargo compartment length is 12.67m (41.6ft) without the ramp, width at the floor 2.85m (9.3ft) and height 1.99m (6.5ft). The An-148T will carry a maximum payload of 10,000kg (22,046lb) over 3,000km (1,864 miles) at a maximum speed of 445kts (825km/h).

Top: The An-178’s cockpit is one of many features it has in common with the An-158;

others include outer wing panels and the front landing gear.

Above middle: The D436-148FMs that will be installed on UR-EXP in

August are manufactured by Motor Sich.

Below: The first An-178 (UR-EXP) landing at Hostomel

following a test flight on May 19.

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NEWS REPORT

AN-178 SPECIFICATIONS Engines: Two Ivchenko Progress D436-148FM turbofans, each rated with 16,976lb (75.5kN) at take-off and 18,519lb (82.4kN) at emergency Dimensions: length 32.95m (108.1ft), wingspan 28.84m (94.6ft), height 10.14m (33.3ft), cabin width at floor 2.75m (9ft), cabin height 2.75m (9ft), cabin length without ramp 12.85m (42.2ft), with ramp 16.65m (54.6ft) Weights, civilian version: maximum take-off 51,000kg (112,436lb), maximum load 16,000kg (35,274lb); military version: maximum take-off 53,400kg (117,727lb), maximum load 18,000kg (39,683lb) Performance, civilian version: maximum cruise speed 445kts (825km/h), ceiling 40,000ft (12,200m), range 1,000km (621 miles) with 15,000kg (33,069lb), or 3,000km (1,864 miles) with 10,000kg (22,046lb), required runway length 2,200m (7,218ft) Performance, military version: maximum cruise speed 445kts (825km/h), ceiling 40,000ft (12,200m), range 900km (559 miles) with 18,000kg (39,683lb), or 2,000km (1,243 miles) with 15,000kg (33,069lb), or 4,000km (2,485 miles) with 10,000kg (22,046lb), ferry range 5,500km (3,418 miles), required runway length 2,650m (8,694ft)

First Orders On the day of its maiden flight the An-178 received its first contract: Silk Way West Airlines ordered ten with the delivery of the first is expected in 2017. No details of the contract, including its price, were given, but according to Kiva, the unit cost of one aircraft is about $40 million. Silk Way West is an air cargo operator from Azerbaijan, which currently operates a dozen Il-76, An-12 and Boeing 747F aircraft. Antonov’s contact with Silk Way dates back to 2009, when the companies signed a preliminary agreement for the An-178 aircraft to be developed in consultation with the operator. Even more noteworthy is the letter of intent signed on the same day with the Chinese company Beijing A-Star Science and Technology, which intends to order two aircraft and later launch production of the An-178 in co-operation with Antonov in China. Beijing A-Star (which has purchased a licence to produce Extra EA-500 executive aircraft), along with Zhenjiang New Area High Technology Industry Capital, will establish Jiangsu A-Star Aviation Industry to begin aircraft production at new manufacturing facilities in Zhenjiang. Kiva, speaking to the author at Antonov’s

factory, said no details of co-production of the An-178 with the Chinese have yet been specified. Antonov has previous experience of co-operation with China. In recent years it was a consultant in the design process of the Y-20 heavy transport aircraft, the wing design for the ARJ21 regional airliner and on the upgrade of the Y-8F, the Chinese version of An-12.

Problems Kiva is optimistic about the An-178, but Antonov faces a difficult situation. Its biggest problem is the lack of production capacity. While the Ukrainians retained competences in designing aircraft, particularly rear-ramp transport types, their production plants at Kiev and Kharkiv make only a couple of aircraft per year. Rebuilding and modernising the production process requires investment that Ukraine cannot currently afford. But Kiva declared that the Kiev facility, even in its present condition, can make 12 aircraft per year and, after a “minor modernisation”, up to 24. However, that production would use old tooling and be labour intensive and of low quality. Another problem, which, according to Kiva is minor, is co-operation with Russia. Until 1991 the Ukrainian aircraft industry was an integral part of the USSR’s and, after the Soviet Union’s disintegration, close co-operation between Russia and Ukraine continued. The An-148 is manufactured jointly by both countries with the Russians making the landing gear, several systems and avionics. But the purchase of these components in Russia for future military versions of An-178 is

out of the question due to the current political situation between Russia and Ukraine. Kiva stated that the An-178 landing gear was designed by Antonov and, despite being made by Gidromash in Russia, mastering its production in Ukraine would not be difficult because the gear is made of steel, not titanium. (The An-148 and An-158 landing gear is made by Yuzhmash in Ukraine. The TA18-100-178 auxiliary power unit is currently made by Aerosila; the Ukrainian manufacturer Motor Sich offers the AI-450MS APU.) Kiva confirmed there are potential customers interested in the aircraft with Western engines, such as Pratt & Whitney or Rolls-Royce. That version is provisionally designated An-178-111. Antonov desperately needs co-operation with the West. Speaking to the author, Kiva put off more detailed questions with generalities that he “is seeking various partners”, but emphasised that the An-178 “merges into the line of Airbus transport aircraft” between the C295M and A400M. He added that another Antonov aircraft, the An-70 (now called An-188 in the design with jet engines and 40,000kg/88,000lb of payload) sits between the C-130J (20,000kg/44,000lb) and Boeing C-17 Globemaster III (77,500kg/171,000lb).

Left: Though designed by Antonov, the An-178’s

steel landing gear was produced by Gidromash in Russia. Right: Antonov is designing a new variant of the An-148, designated the An-148T, which will feature a lowered floor and a new rear fuselage section with a loading ramp. Antonov

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AI.07.15

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Military

Thales to Provide Crowsnest Capability Thales has been selected to provide the radar and mission system at the heart of Project Crowsnest – part of the UK’s future aircraft carrier capability. It will be fitted to the Merlin HM2 to act as the Royal Navy’s eyes and ears for its next generation aircraft carriers the MoD and Lockheed Martin UK, prime contractor for Crowsnest and the Merlin HM2, announced on May 22. Crowsnest will provide long-range air, maritime and land detection, as well as the capability to track potential threats. It will also support wider fleet and land operations, replacing the Sea King ASaC7 airborne surveillance and control capability, which has been operational since 1982 from Royal Naval Air Station Culdrose, Cornwall. The 849 Naval Air Squadron continues to operate the last remaining ASaC7s from Culdrose. Lockheed Martin UK will conclude the project’s £27 million assessment phase, expected to be completed next year, supported by Thales and AgustaWestland, the manufacturer of the next generation Merlin HM2. Progress on Crowsnest was essential given the wider implications of it for the navy and future carrier protection. The Fleet Air Arm’s Merlin HM2 is one of the world’s most advanced maritime helicopters and already provides various functions including anti-submarine warfare (ASW) and humanitarian duties. Crowsnest will deliver two Queen Elizabeth Class aircraft carriers and the fifth generation F-35B Lightning II fast jets to HMS Queen Elizabeth, initially from 2018. With the carrier due to set sail early next year, airborne surveillance is vital. Air Vice-Marshal Julian Young, Director Helicopters at the MoD’s Defence Equipment and Support organisation, said: “We have accelerated our programme delivery strategy in order to sustain the capability seamlessly through our Merlin HM2 helicopters as the Sea King ASaC7 fleet retires from service in 2018 and we are confident that the programme will be delivered as planned.” The Thales solution is an updated, improved and repackaged rolefit version of the Cerberus tactical sensor suite currently in service on the ASaC7 helicopter. The design comprises a single mechanically scanned radar head, which uses an innovative system to provide 360° visibility from the underside of the helicopter and folds up to the side of the aircraft when not in operation. It will be similar to that used by the ASaC7. Ian Harding

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Former Dutch AB412s Ready for Peru

Ex-Royal Netherlands Air Force AB412SP HAL462 (c/n 25630, ex RNLAF R-01), immediately after arriving at Gilze-Rijen Air Base. Kees van der Mark

Three former Royal Netherlands Air Force (RNLAF) Agusta-Bell 412SPs have completed preparations for delivery to the Fuerza de Aviación Naval (Peruvian Naval Aviation). In mid-June they were due to be moved by road from Gilze-Rijen Air Base in the Netherlands to Antwerp Harbour, Belgium, for shipment by sea to Peru. After the sale had been confirmed

Harpoon Launch from a Jaguar An Indian Air Force Jaguar IM maritime strike fighter has successfully launched a Boeing AGM-84 Harpoon missile for the first time. The live weapon was launched on May 22 over the Arabian Sea, 200nm (370km) off India’s west coast, from a 6 Squadron Jaguar, which had flown from Lohegaon Air Base in Pune. Nigel Pittaway

by the Dutch Ministry of Defence on January 19, the former search and rescue (SAR) helicopters had been going through maintenance and repainting into Peruvian Navy colours at AgustaWestland’s plant at Liège Airport in Belgium. The first, HAL462 (c/n 25641, ex R-03), was flown to Gilze-Rijen after completion on May 26. The second, HAL462 (c/n

25630, ex RNLAF R-01), followed on June 2 and the last, HAL461 (c/n 25638, ex R-02), on June 9. There was an acceptance flight for HAL462 at Gilze-Rijen on June 3, while the other two were combined with the ferry flight back to the Netherlands. The temporary RNLAF serials were removed after these flights. Kees van der Mark

Japanese P-3s for the Philippines? The government of the Philippines is seeking to acquire military equipment from Japan, including a number of Lockheed P-3C Orion maritime patrol aircraft, according to a senior Philippines naval officer. Philippine President Benigno Aquino met Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Tokyo on May 4 to discuss strengthened

ties and possible transfer of military equipment and technology. The Philippines and Japan are concerned about China’s assertiveness in the South China Sea and the military co-operation agreement is similar to those reached with Malaysia, Indonesia, Australia and the United States in recent times. Nigel Pittaway

Spanish Army Puma on Loan

Spanish Army/BHELMA IV AS332B1 Super Puma HT.21-09/‘ET-507’at Cuatro Vientos Air Base on May 30 on temporary loan to the Spanish Air Force’s 803 Escuadrón. The helicopter will reinforce the unit’s depleted Super Puma fleet, which is operated in the combat search and rescue role. After an initial two-year loan a decision will be made on whether to keep it on air force strength. This will depend on the availability of new NH90s due for delivery to the army. Roberto Yáñez

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Military

Wedgetails Europe’s MALE 2020 Are Go! The RAAF’s Boeing E-7A Wedgetail airborne early warning and control aircraft has achieved Final Operational Capability (FOC). The FOC milestone was passed on May 26 and means the six aircraft, together with logistics, management, sustainment and training systems are now fully able to support ongoing operations. One aircraft has been deployed to the Middle East since September 2014, under Operation Okra, and has flown in excess of 1,200 hours and 100 sorties in support of coalition strikes in Iraq and Syria. Nigel Pittaway

France, Germany and Italy have agreed to begin a definition study into developing a joint mediumaltitude long-endurance (MALE) UAS. The two-year MALE 2020 project, involving the countries’ respective defence ministries and industry, is intended to tailor customer requirements. It also aims to reduce financial and development risk and provide data to decide whether to proceed on a full-scale development and procurement of a joint UAV for delivery in the early 2020s. A statement from Airbus Defence and Space, Dassault Aviation and Finmeccanica said: “Besides being an answer to European armed

forces’ requirements, it will take into account the need to optimise the difficult budgetary situation through pooling research and development funding.” They added that the project would secure the sovereignty of unmanned MALE assets for the countries involved, which have depended on nonEuropean technology. The French and Italian air forces, for example, currently both operate MQ-9 Reaper MALE UAVs. The companies said a shared European platform would also foster joint certification and contribute to, “sustaining key competencies” in aerospace in the countries involved. Mark Broadbent

Two Boeing 777s for VVIPs The Indian Government intends to buy two Boeing 777-300ER aircraft from Air India for use as VVIP transports. The Defence Acquisitions Council has cleared acquisition of the aircraft for use by India’s President and Prime Minister, according to a report issued by the Indian Ministry of Defence on May 13. Outfitted by Boeing with a VVIP interior, encrypted satellite communications systems and a defensive sub-system they will be operated by the Indian Air Force Headquarters Communications Squadron ‘Pegasus’ at Palam. Nigel Pittaway

First Voyager Painted at Manching

Royal Air Force Voyager KC2 MRTT027 (msn 1555, ex EX-336, to be ZZ341/G-VYGL) lands at Getafe, Spain, on June 8. The aircraft was returning from Manching, Germany where it had arrived on May 13 for painting. It was the first A330MRTT to be painted by Airbus Defence and Space at Manching, although others are planned. The aircraft will shortly be delivered to Air Tanker. Roberto Yáñez

RNLAF T-346 Training Royal Netherlands Air Force (RNLAF) pilots are to be trained on the T-346A jet trainer as a trial. A final agreement was announced on May 11. It was signed the previous week during the annual European Air Chiefs (EURAC) meeting. The RNLAF will deploy two students to Lecce Galatina to follow the standard Italian AF training programme. A RNLAF instructor will train T-364A students for three years. The programme will determine whether Italian training is suitable for future F-35 pilots and if the T-346 can be a partial replacement for Dutch pilot training in Tucson, Arizona. Bob Fischer

Indonesia Considers US-2

The Indonesian Ministry of Defence is considering acquiring an undisclosed number of ShinMaywa US-2 amphibians from Japan. The ministry stated the possibility was discussed by Indonesian Defence Minister Ryamizard Ryacudu and Japan’s Ambassador in Jakarta, Yusron Ihza Mahendra, on May 5. The ministry said that any purchase would be covered by a defence memorandum of understanding signed between the two countries. Nigel Pittaway

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771 Squadron Anniversary Formation

Five Fleet Air Arm Sea King HU5s from 771 Naval Air Squadron at Royal Naval Air Station Culdrose, Cornwall fly past St Michael’s Mount on May 21 during a tour of Cornwall to mark the unit’s 76th anniversary. A sixth helicopter was due to participate, but had to be scrambled just before the flight for two consecutive rescue missions. The unit is scheduled to stop search and rescue operations on December 31, when its role will be taken over by a civilian contractor. 771 Naval Air Squadron/Royal Navy

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TALIOS Pod Hercules & R by Jan Kraak

France has seen an unprecedented interior deployment of armed forces and police personnel in the aftermath of the January terrorist attacks in Paris. Due to this and long-term military operations in challenging environments, the French Government recently revised the Military Programming Act for 2014-2019. An extra €3.8 billion will be allocated to the armed forces over the next four years. This money will be used to stabilise troop reductions and buy additional equipment. There were seven main aviation-related points in the revision, which was presented on May 20.

More Tigres (1) The acquisition of seven additional EC665 Tigres. Due to upgrades, maintenance, crew training, and continuous operational deployment (three Tigre HADs are in the Central African Republic and three Tigre HAPs are in Mali), there is a demand for more airframes. The original plan was to buy 80 but the number has been reduced to 60. (2) Speeding up the deliveries of six NH90s. The extensive use of the venerable Puma means the Aviation Légère de l’Armée de Terre (ALAT, French Army Aviation) has an urgent need for more tactical transport helicopters. The production of six NH90s, originally due to be delivered after 2019, will be accelerated,

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enabling the ALAT to receive some of the new helicopters sooner than planned. Meanwhile, the French Army’s Commander-in-Chief, General Jean-Pierre Bosser, confirmed the French Army’s new organisational structure on May 28. The ALAT is now a separate brigade and remains responsible for tactical transport, air support and all helicopters on France’s national territory. The Brigade’s central staff is more visible than in the former regiment structure, indicating the importance of air operations and the need for overview and co-ordinated decision-making.

Special Forces (3) Outfitting two C-130s with armaments. The French defence minister Jean-Yves Le Drian announced at the Special Operations Forces Innovation Network Seminar 2015 in April that the Ministry of Defence (MoD) will equip Armée de l’Air (French Air Force, AdlA) aircraft operated for the special forces. The armament is not yet clear. There was talk of bomb racks

on underwing hardpoints, but it does seem likely that there will be a cannon installed. The special forces Hercules will also receive new night vision equipment and will be operated by ET3/61 ‘Poitou’ at BA123 Orléans-Bricy. (4) The acquisition of 25 additional TALIOS multifunction targeting pods for the Mirage 2000D and Rafale fleets. In April the AdlA’s Commander-in-Chief, General Denis Mercier, pointed out to the National Assembly’s Defence and Security Committee that there are currently very few targeting pods in France available for training because most are deployed. This, in turn, means no additional aircrew are qualifying to reduce the pressure on the intense deployment schedule.

Further C-130s (5) Study the possible purchase of four new C-130Js. The rumours that circulated in April about the French MoD acquiring an additional six Hercules, after it recently became clear that the A400M is unlikely to be able to refuel the AdlA’s EC725 Caracals, were wrong only regarding the number of aircraft. The new C-130Js will partly replace C-160s, but two should be outfitted for Helicopter Air-to-Air Refuelling (HAAR). France is currently dependent on American and Italian Hercules to refuel the Caracal during long-range missions. This international cooperation was supposed to be temporary until the A400M became available. But due to

A French Air Force Mirage 2000N carrying F4 practice bombs at the beginning of a close air support mission during SERPENTEX 2014. Under the MoD’s plans, it is likely the 2000N and the Mirage 2000C will be deployed for air-to-ground missions. Jan Kraak

the A400M’s wake turbulence problems, the AdlA has to look for other solutions and a refuelling capability using C-130Js seems to be realistic. (6) Acquisition of a Signals Intelligence (SIGINT) system for the MQ-9 Reapers. Recent operations have shown the type’s value in supporting ground troops. With the delivery of a third Reaper to Niamey, Niger, on May 7, the MQ-9s will be able to play an even more important role in gathering and sharing information in real time, and to designate targets for French fighters. (7) Earlier delivery dates for the last three Airbus A330 MRTTs (Multi Role Tanker Transports),

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ods, Tigres, & Reapers between 2018 and 2025. Tanker replacement is becoming a priority as the ageing C-135FR fleet is starting to show more signs of fatigue. According to the French MoD, the average age of the C-135FRs is currently 51 years and there are concerns regarding a forced retirement of the remaining aircraft if they are not replaced by 2025.

Future Fleet The revised 2014-2019 act also confirmed the numbers of French military aircraft as far ahead as 2025. The AdlA will have 185 fighter jets, four Airborne Warning and Control System aircraft, 50 tactical

transporters, 12 MRTTs, 12 surveillance UAVs, and an undisclosed number of helicopters, light surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft. The Aéronavale, the flying component of the French Navy, will be made up of 15 upgraded Atlantic IIs, 27 NH90s and 40 Rafale Ms. The ALAT will operate 147 reconnaissance and attack helicopters, 115 tactical transport helicopters and 30 tactical UAVs.

Mirages to Jordan and Chad? Although the Mirage 2000C operates in the air defence role, its pilots have to

qualify and stay current in conventional air-to-ground operations. In April, ten Mirage 2000s and 150 personnel from Escadron de Chasse EC2/5 ‘Île de France’ at BA115 Orange deployed to Cazaux for a live firing exercise at the nearby Captieux range. The Orange crews’ qualifications might soon be put to use, as they will probably be deployed to either Chad for Opération Barkhane or Jordan for Opération Chammal. Gen Mercier told the Defence and Security Committee that the AdlA is looking at possibilities for using the Mirage 2000C and N in the air-to-ground role due to the

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enormous strain on the Mirage 2000D fleet and crews. Rumours suggest these deployments could start in the next six months, although the French MoD has not yet made any official statement. The Mirage 2000N flew conventional air-to-ground missions during Opération Harmattan over Libya in 2011 and participated in the SERPENTEX exercise at BA118 Mont-de-Marsan last year to train for close air support missions with Forward Aircraft Controllers from different units. But seeing the Mirage 2000C being deployed in the air-toground role is remarkable to say the least. The move is necessary, said Gen Mercier, because 30% of the personnel assigned to the Mirage 2000D squadrons are currently deployed. Besides the four aircraft in Niamey, the Nancy-based units also have six jets in Jordan. Gen Mercier said it has now become the norm for 2000D airmen to have two or three deployments a year, meaning they are away from home for around six out of 12 months. Deploying the other variants of the Mirage 2000 family for the air-to-ground role would relieve some of the operational pressure on the Nancy squadrons. However, because the 2000C and 2000N don’t carry designator pods, any guided bomb has to be delivered in cooperation with either a Forward Aircraft Controller or another aerial element (an Atlantic II, UAV or fighter). It is likely that some missions will be flown in mixed patrols with Mirage 2000Ds.

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Military

Special Ops Broncos in Spain

United States Special Operations Command (SOCOM) OV-10G+ Bronco 155492 returning from a test flight on May 28 at Naval Air Station Rota, Spain. It had been shipped to Spain by sea along with OV-10G+ 155481. The aircraft were loaned from NASA for trials in the Combat Dragon II light air support programme with a view to operating in Afghanistan. Testing ended on September 30, 2013, but the aircraft were retained by SOCOM and little was heard of them until their appearance at Rota. Antonio Muñiz Zaragüeta

Tata to Build C295s for IAF India has approved acquisition of 56 C295 medium transport aircraft, the Ministry of Defence announced on May 13. The $1.86 billion programme will see 16 Airbus C295 aircraft assembled in Spain by Airbus Defence and Space and the remaining 40 built in India by the Indian Production Agency (IPA), a Tata-Airbus consortium, over the next eight years. The aircraft will replace the ageing Avro 748 in Indian Air Force service. Nigel Pittaway

Reduced Il-112V order Total numbers of the new Ilyushin Il-112V light tactical transport aircraft for the Russian Air Force (RuAF) are to be reduced. The Russian state defence order programme initially called for 62 production-standard aircraft by 2020. It is expected that figure will be halved. The firm contract for a reduced number of Il-112Vs for the Russian MoD was expected to be signed by the middle of this year. The first production-standard aircraft are set for delivery to the Russian military in late 2018 or early 2019. Developed by the Ilyushin Aviation Complex, the Il-112V will be produced by the

VASO company in Voronezh and are due to be introduced by the RuAF and the naval aviation air arm as an An-26 replacement. The Il-112V, which is expected to make its maiden flight in 2016, is powered by two Klimov TV7-117ST turboprops, giving it a cruise speed of up to 297kts (550km/h). Its maximum take-off weight will be 21 tonnes with a maximum payload of up to six tonnes. The range with maximum payload will be 540nm (1,000km), while reducing payload to two tonnes will extend range to 2,590nm (4,800km). Two prototype aircraft will be used in the test and evaluation phase. Alexander Mladenov

Algerian Navy Lynx Trials in Germany

Two AgustaWestland Super Lynx 300 Mk140s destined for the Algerian Naval Forces – ZK191 (c/n 507) and ZK193 (c/n 509) – deployed to Kiel in Germany between May 28 and June 8 to carry out deck landing trials on the first of two Meko A200 frigates ordered in 2012. Together with the frigates, the Algerian Navy acquired six Super Lynx, which are being completed and tested in Yeovil, Somerset. They will supplement four Mk130s already in Algerian service. Both helicopters involved in the trials refuelled at Maritime Air Station De Kooy in the Netherlands on June 8, on their way back to the UK. Kees van der Mark

New Chinese STOVL Fighter Programme Chinese media has reported the East Asian nation is developing a short take off and vertical landing (STOVL) fighter to meet future naval requirements.

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Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) has signed a cooperation agreement with Chengdu Engine Group and China Aviation

Engine Establishment to develop a powerplant for the new aircraft, according to a China Daily report on May 13. Nigel Pittaway

E-2D Advanced Hawkeyes for Japan Approval has been granted by the US State Department for a possible sale of four Northrop Grumman E-2D Advanced Hawkeye airborne early warning and control aircraft to the Japan Air Self-Defense Force. The proposal was announced by the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) in a statement on June 1. The $1.7 billion sale covers four E-2D aircraft, ten Rolls-Royce T56A-427A engines, eight Multifunction Information Distribution Low Volume Terminals (MIDS-LVT), four Lockheed Martin AN/APY-9 radars and a range of support equipment and services. The DSCA stated: “Japan will use the E-2D Advanced Hawkeye aircraft to provide situational awareness of air and naval activity in the Pacific region and augment its existing E-2C Hawkeye AEW&C fleet.” Nigel Pittaway

Upgrade for Malaysian MiG-29 fleet The Royal Malaysian Air Force has shelved plans to replace its fleet of Mikoyan MiG-29N/NUB tactical fighters with a multi-role combat aircraft (MRCA) and will upgrade its older aircraft, according to RMAF Chief Major General Dato’ Roslan bin Saad. He told local media on June 1: “We have decided to upgrade the aircraft to ensure it has similar capabilities with fighter jets owned by other countries.” The RMAF has 16 single-seat MiG-29Ns and two twin-seat MiG-29NUBs on the strength of a combined 17/19 Skuadron at Kuantan, but not all are currently in service. Malaysia’s Aerospace Technology Systems Corporation (ATSC) revealed a proposal to upgrade the fleet during the recent Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace exhibition. Known as the MiG-29NM (modernised), the upgraded aircraft will include a Zhuk-ME FGM-229 slotted phased-array fire control radar, an NVG-compatible glass cockpit with two colour multi-function displays and hands on throttle and stick (HOTAS) functionality, and a concurrent structural upgrade to increase airframe life to 6,000 hours. Nigel Pittaway

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The Guild of Aviation Artists’ 2015 Exhibition The Guild of Aviation Artists’ 45th Annual Summer Exhibition is to be held between July 20 and 26 at the Mall Galleries, London SW1. More than 450 original, new works by 150 artists, all available for purchase, will be on show. The Right Honourable Geoff Hoon will open the exhibition during the Joint Exercise, by Jo hn Peter Cutts AG AvA, invite-only Reception and Private RAF Typhoon and Sukhoi Su-30 View on July 20. An impressive range of styles, from the exhibition will be representational to semi-abstract are dedicated to paintings of Westland to be exhibited on a wide variety of aircraft, to support AgustaWestland’s media, depicting aviation in all its forms. celebration of Westland’s centenary. A large portion of A number of prestigious prizes and trophies will be presented, including the BAE Systems ‘Aviation Painting of the Year’ and Key Publishing Flypast magazine’s ‘Fellows Award for Excellence’, each worth £1,000. Entry to the exhibition is free. From July 21 visitors will be able to view informal demonstrations by Guild artists. At 12 noon and 6pm on July 23, Guild Chairman Graham Cooke, MBE, GAvA, GAvA, ng Wo ld na Ro East of Suez, by will give a walkabout commentary on 45 19 et Fle n ter Seafire L111-Eas the exhibits.

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LRS-B Decision Loo New Helicopter, Air-t by Robert F Dorr In August the US Air Force is expected to reveal which of two competing industry teams will build its Long Range Strike-Bomber, or LRS-B, which is expected to be designated B-3. Northrop Grumman is competing against a partnership of Boeing and Lockheed Martin. The winner will build 80 to 100 new long-range bombers in a fixed-price contract that limits cost-per-aircraft to $550 million, not including engineering and manufacturing development and upgrades. Source-selection for the LRS-B has been postponed at least twice. General Herbert ‘Hawk’ Carlisle, the boss at Air Combat Command, acknowledged the delays in a discussion with reporters, but said the August date “looks pretty solid”. The competition is being handled very quietly – officials in the programme office have not been publicly identified – but a Pentagon source confirmed, “hopes are

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high” for the August date. Even if a further delay should occur, progress is clearly taking place in this highly classified venture, which began as the Next-Generation Bomber (NGB) in 2007. Almost nothing has been revealed about the competing designs. Although not a ‘black’ programme (hidden from all but a handful in government), LRS-B will remain low profile, with few details released to the

public or even to Congress. Current and retired officials say simplicity is key and size doesn’t matter. The LRS-B is likely to be smaller than a B-1B Lancer and is powered by two variable-cycle powerplants developed under the Versatile Affordable Advanced Turbine Engines (VAATE) programme. It will not have the variable-sweep wings found on the B-1B. Crew is expected to consist of two pilots, as on the B-2 Spirit.

The LRS-B will have lowobservable or stealth features, but will not be built for speed. The Pentagon source said the new bomber will be, “a flying truck” with the emphasis, “on function rather than form”.

Sikorsky Helicopter The Sikorsky S-97 Raider helicopter completed its maiden flight on May 22 at the manufacturer’s test centre in

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ooms, ir-to-Air Encounter West Palm Beach, Florida. Bill Fell was the pilot and Kevin Bredenbeck the co-pilot. Looking more like a Kamov than a Sikorsky design with two rigid co-axial rotors assisted by a pusher propeller, the S-97 is being developed to carry six troops and external weapons and to cruise at speeds up to 240 knots (444km/h). It’s derived from Sikorsky’s singleseat X2 demonstrator and is aimed squarely at the US Army, which has had difficulty fielding advanced rotorcraft. The programme is funded by industry. GE Aviation provided an YT706-GE-700R, part of the T700 family, for the single-engine S-97. This 2,5003,000shp (1,500-2,200kW) full authority digital enginecontrolled (FADEC) turboshaft engine is currently used in the MH-60M Black Hawk for the US Army Special Forces.

Sikorsky’s parent company, United Technologies, provided the flight control computers, air data system and prop drive. Triumph provided the gearbox. Sikorsky launched the S-97 programme in September 2010 to demonstrate a helicopter to meet US Army special operations and armedreconnaissance needs and to mature as part of an ongoing army effort dubbed Future Vertical Lift. The Capitol Hill delegations from Connecticut and Florida (Sikorsky’s two key locations) are highly visible and influential sources of support for the helicopter builder, which is now completing its second S-97 as part of a two-airframe demonstration programme. Mark Miller, vice president of research and engineering at Sikorsky, told AIR International the S-97 is a game changer, citing its extreme speed plus

The last of 315 QF-4 Phantom II aerial targets (serial number 71-0237) was shot down on May 27. Senior Airman Alex Echols/US Air Force

its manoeuvrability, hover ability, range and survivability. He referred to innovation at Sikorsky and to the company meeting the toughest challenges.

Doomed Drone American airmen shot down the last of 315 QF-4 Phantom II aerial targets from Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida on May 27, QF-4E-48-MC (71-0237, c/n 4225). An F-15C Eagle of the Florida Air National Guard was among fighters that fired three missiles – a combination of AIM-120 AMRAAMs and AIM-9 Sidewinders – to take down the Phantom. While this is the last QF-4 shoot-down for Tyndall, the QF-4 still flies at Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico. The Tyndall-based 82nd Aerial Target Squadron is transitioning to the QF-16 Fighting Falcon.

Galaxy Gone The last C-5A Galaxy of the West Virginia Air National Guard flew to the boneyard in late May, completing the 167th Airlift Wing’s conversion to the C-17 Globemaster III. Until that point, the wing had operated aircraft from Lockheed Martin and its predecessor companies for 52 years, including the C-121 Super Constellation, C-130 Hercules and C-5A. It was, “a successful era of iron and partnership”, said Colonel Shaun Perkowski, the 167th AW’s commander, at a May 20 ceremony in Martinsburg. The 167th is the last of three Guard wings to transition to the C-17 in the Pentagon’s plan to retire its oldest C-5s and upgrade the remainder to C-5M Super Galaxy standard.

Spotlight on Defence Attention fell on the homeland defence mission when F-15C

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Eagles intercepted an Air France Airbus A330-200jetliner bound for New York’s JFK airport on May 25. Authorities received several anonymous telephone threats of chemical weapons stashed aboard a dozen airline flights. They were able to carry out pre-take-off security checks on all but one of the flights. They hit a communications snag with the Air France flight because offices were closed: the date of the flight was Memorial Day in the United States and Whit Monday, or Pentecost Monday, in France. Flight 22 had taken off from Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris for JFK. Because of the holiday on both sides of the Atlantic, US authorities could not contact Air France and so the order was given for two F-15s to be scrambled and to escort the flight until landing. The military aircraft discreetly observed the Air France flight and were unseen by the aircraft’s passengers or crew. Colonel James Keefe, commander of the 104th Fighter Wing at Barnes Air National Guard Base in Westfield, Massachusetts, told a press conference the air force had launched, “on a suspected aircraft with a threat.” Left unspoken was the fact that since 9/11, American pilots have been ready, in some circumstances, to shoot down an airliner – killing innocent people on board to save a larger number of lives on the ground. However, thorough searches of the Air France aircraft found no chemicals or other suspicious materials. Homeland defence is the term used for the Department of Defense mission to protect North America. Homeland security, which includes airport screening, is a civilian function under the Department of Homeland Security.

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MV-22 ‘Has Chang Marine Corps Ope by Rick Burgess The US Marine Corps’ Deputy Commandant for Aviation, Lieutenant General Jon Davis, said the MV-22B Osprey tiltrotor transport aircraft is “so amazingly popular” that the service is challenged to meet demand for it, as well as training its maintenance personnel. The Osprey received similar praise from the commander of the first Special Purpose Marine AirGround Task Force-Crisis Response Central Command (SPMAGTF-CRCC), Colonel Jason Bohm. Speaking to reporters at a Defense Writers Group meeting on May 19, Lt Gen Davis said the MV-22 “has changed the way the Marine Corps operates probably more than anything I’ve ever seen. We are a vastly different Marine Corps today. “Ten years ago, we couldn’t do any of the stuff we’re doing right now,” he said. “We’re running really hard to provide that capability and we’re growing into it. We have been in surge operations [with the MV-22] since 2007. We’re feeling some of that pain right now.”

Training Lt Gen Davis said the most challenging aspect of maintaining MV-22 readiness is training enough enlisted maintenance personnel “with the qualifications they need to do the job”. “That community is so in demand,” he said, noting that five of the 13 V-22 squadrons are deployed – two with SPMAGTFs and three with Marine Expeditionary Units, a demand normally filled by a force of 15 squadrons. “The pressure point is in the barn: the enlisted maintainers,” Lt Gen Davis said. “They are the most

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in-demand maintainers in the Marine Corps.” Young maintainers have been “shifted around”, he said, creating a shortage in the MV-22 replacement training squadron. “That’s impacting my ability to generate readiness. They’re great maintainers; there are just not enough of them,” he added. Lt Gen Davis noted that HMX-1, the squadron supporting the President, routinely keeps 11 or 12 Ospreys mission-ready and, while the unit is probably more resourced, he is looking at how it does so well. “We are looking very aggressively in the Marine Corps at how we make ourselves better at this,” he said. Addressing an audience on May 19 at the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies in Arlington, Col Bohm said: “The flexibility, speed and endurance the MV-22B has, particularly when tied to a KC-130, are untouchable.” His unit deployed to Iraq last September and included a squadron of 12 MV-22Bs. The Osprey “can fly across the entire 20 countries of the CENTCOM [Central Command] AOR [area of responsibility] without ever having to touch deck, because it can do aerial refuelling,” Col Bohm said. That was critical to the unit’s casualty evacuation capability when tasked by CENTCOM “to fly casualties that had been stabilised in Iraq back to Kuwait to a high level of medical care”.

TRAP Support One of the MV-22B’s primary missions during the deployment was tactical recovery of aircraft and personnel (TRAP) to support coalition airstrikes in Iraq and Syria as part of Operation Inherent Resolve against Islamic State (IS). Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 363 maintained an airborne TRAP alert 29 times and a 30-minute launch alert for 100 days. The squadron had an Osprey on airborne alert when a Royal Jordanian Air Force F-16 pilot ejected over an area that was too close to an IS concentration and could not be rescued, Col Bohm said. Lt Gen Davis praised the Osprey’s range, and also said he is looking at the installation of 800lb (362kg) of armour used on the US Air Force CV-22Bs as an option for Marine Corps Ospreys.

The USN decided in the 2016 budget submission to retire its 26 older HH-60Hs serving in two helicopter sea combat squadrons, HSC-84 and HSC-85, that support SOF, plus the last remaining carrier-based helicopter antisubmarine squadron, HS-11. The MH-60S is nearing the end of its Sikorsky production run of 275; the last is scheduled for delivery in December. The service also is nearing the end of

Navy Analysing MH-60S The US Navy is looking at the degree to which its MH-60S Seahawk helicopter can pick up the role of supporting special operations forces (SOF), such as the SEALS, from the older HH-60H versions being retired next year. Captain Craig Grubb, the navy’s H-60 programme manager, told reporters at the Sea-Air-Space Exposition: “Whether the Sierra [MH-60S] can pick up all of that mission is still being analysed.”

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nged the Way the perates’ procurement of the MH-60R maritime strike helicopter, with the last due in 2018. Capt Grubb said the retired HH-60H fleet could be attractive to other domestic or international customers because the airframes are low-time on average.

Last HS Squadron Set for Transition The navy’s last helicopter anti-submarine squadron (HS) is slated for transition to a new name, base and helicopter next year. HS-11 ‘Dragon Slayers’, based at Naval Air Station Jacksonville, Florida, is scheduled to move to Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia, on June 1, 2016 as it upgrades from the SH-60F and HH-

60H to the MH-60S. On the same date, the unit will be re-designated Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 11 (HSC11). HS-11 is currently deployed on board the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 710 in the last deployment of the carrierbased SH-60F and HH-60H. The squadron will deploy eight Sierras aboard aircraft carriers, while being prepared to send a two-aircraft detachment to a Combat Logistics Force ship and one or two-aircraft detachments to other ships or land bases for personnel recovery or support of special operations forces. In a related development, in May the State Department approved the sale of ten MH60Rs to Saudi Arabia.

SH-60B Retired The US Navy conducted a retirement ceremony for its last SH-60B Seahawks on May 11 at Naval Air Station North Island, California, after completing 30 years of service. The navy is transitioning to the MH-60R version of the Seahawk. Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron 49 (HSM-49) ‘Scorpions’ was the last fleet SH-60B squadron. The last active-duty SH60B detachment to deploy returned to its base at North Island on April 17 as its host ship, the Perry-class frigate USS Gary, returned to San Diego after a seven-month deployment off Central America (also the last for Gary) . The SH-60B and the last Perry-class frigates it was designed to operate from are going out of service in the same year. The SH-60B retirement is one of several for naval helicopters in the next year. The US Marine Corps is retiring the last of its CH-46E and HH-46E Sea Knights this year, while the navy will retire its final SH-60Fs in January 2016 and its last HH60Hs next April, completing the implementation of its Helicopter Master Plan to equip the fleet with MH-60R and MH-60S Seahawks.

Coast Guard MH65D Transition

An HH-60H Seahawk assigned to HS-11 conducting a mine disposal exercise in April. MCS 3rd Class William Spears/US Navy

The conversion of the US Coast Guard’s MH-65C Dolphin fleet to the HH-65D configuration is nearing completion. The 93rd MH65D was delivered on May 8 to Coast Air Station Detroit, Michigan. The last six MH-65Cs are in the upgrade process at the Aviation Logistics Center in Elizabeth City, North Carolina,

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where they will be used as replacements as serving aircraft arrive for depot-level maintenance. The MH-65D, first modified in 2009, incorporates a new cockpit mission computer that will operate with the Rockwell Common Avionics Architecture digital cockpit planned for the next mod, the MH-65E. The HH-65C’s attitude gyro and wind estimation system were replaced by an embedded GPS and inertial navigation system. The MH-65E will feature additional improvements, including an updated Automatic Flight Control System and new sensors. Evaluations of these improvements begin this summer.

DoD Approves Designations The Department of Defense (DoD) has approved the designation RAQ-25A for the Unmanned Carrier-Launched Air Surveillance and Strike (UCLASS) system, with the designation reflecting its intended attack and reconnaissance roles. The DoD also approved the designation CQ-24A for the Lockheed Martin/Kaman cargo UAS known as K-Max, which deployed with the marine corps in Afghanistan for more than three years. Another UAS, the Aeronautics Defense Systems Aerostar, has been designated RQ-26A. It is used by the Naval Air Warfare Center’s UAS test directorate at Webster Field, Maryland, “as a surrogate test-bed”, said Jamie Cosgrove, spokeswoman for the Program Executive Office (Strike Weapons and Unmanned Aviation).

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NEWS COLUMN

Romeo & Ju the Moose & by Nigel Pittaway Besides inducting the Boeing EA-18G Growler Airborne Electronic Attack aircraft, the next few months mark a significant period for Australian air combat capability, with the introduction of new platforms and projects to enhance the capability of several others.

On June 11, the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) formally commissioned its first Lockheed Martin/ Sikorsky MH-60R Seahawk ‘Romeo’ unit, 725 Squadron, at HMAS Albatross, Nowra. The milestone marks the formal induction of both the squadron and the MH-60R into the fleet but the unit, previously known as NUSQN 725, has been working up on the Romeo alongside US Navy squadrons at NAS Jacksonville since the first two helicopters were handed over to the Commonwealth in December 2013. Australia is acquiring 24 MH-60Rs under Project Air 9000 Phase 8, a A$3.2 billion programme to fulfil a requirement for a maritime combat helicopter to embark on the RAN’s surface warfare vessels. They will replace the navy’s existing Sikorsky S-70B-2 Seahawks and its primary combat roles will be anti-submarine warfare (with Mk54 torpedoes) and anti-surface warfare with the Lockheed Martin AGM-114 Hellfire missile. Lockheed Martin delivered the 11th Romeo to the RAN on June 1, which will be followed by a further four by

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the end of the year. First of class flight trials to integrate type aboard the ‘Anzac’class guided missile frigate HMAS Perth have already begun and Australian defence minister Kevin Andrews said the project was on track to achieve the Initial Operational Capability (IOC) milestone in August. “This is a significant increase in technology and capability for [the] navy and the helicopters are equipped with a sophisticated sensor suite, torpedoes and air-tosurface missiles,” he said. “The Seahawk Romeo helicopter’s multi-mission and multi-target precision strike capabilities will increase the navy’s versatility and potency as a high-end fighting force.”

Ten Spartans are being acquired from L-3 Communications as part of a Foreign Military Sales contract, which sees the aircraft completed to the US Joint Cargo Aircraft (JCA) standard. The RAAF aircraft are

ferried as ‘green’ airframes from Alenia Aermacchi’s facility in Turin to the US, where they are modified by L-3 Communications in Waco, Texas. The RAAF has been conducting pilot, loadmaster and technician training in

The Royal Australian Navy commissioned its first Lockheed Martin/Sikorsky MH-60R Seahawk ‘Romeo’ unit, 725 Squadron, at HMAS Albatross, Nowra, on June 11. ABIS Sarah Williams/Royal Australian Navy

Spartans The first two Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) Alenia Aermacchi C-27J Spartan aircraft were scheduled to arrive at RAAF Base Richmond, west of Sydney, at the end of June, to fulfil a battlefield airlift capability lost when the de Havilland Canada DHC-4A Caribou fleet was retired at the end of 2009.

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NEWS COLUMN

Juliet, e & the Tiger the US since April, using the first three C-27Js delivered. Advanced tactical airborne training operations will begin in Australia in late 2016. The aircraft will be operated by the RAAF’s 35 Squadron, initially from Richmond, but will relocate to Amberley,

southwest of Brisbane, by the end of 2017. IOC is scheduled to occur at the end of 2016, and will see four aircraft in Australia and the ability to conduct airlift tasking on behalf of the RAAF’s Air Mobility Group. Final Operational Capability (FOC) will follow late in 2017.

More C-17s The other end of the airlift spectrum also received a boost in April with the announcement that two more Boeing C-17A Globemaster III strategic transports are being acquired for the RAAF. The aircraft are two of the ten ‘white tails’ built by Boeing that were awaiting a customer. As such they will be delivered rapidly, the first due to arrive at 36 Squadron’s home base in Amberley in August and the second in September. The additional aircraft bring Australia’s C-17 fleet to eight, and further pair will be considered as part of a Force Structure Review, being undertaken as part of the Australian Government’s Defence White Paper process. In the meantime, two of Australia’s C-17As have been fitted with a Fixed Installation Satellite (FISA) capability which, together with an L-3 Communications AirView 360 C-17 En Route Networked Situational Awareness (ERNSA) display system, was in May part of the RAAF’s Jericho Dawn series of capability demonstrations. The overarching Plan Jericho is the RAAF’s

vision of a fifth-generation, networked future designed to harness the full potential of digital platforms, such as the F-35, due to enter service in the next few years. The Jericho Dawn demonstration saw highdefinition video displayed on the screens in the C-17’s cargo bay. The video was sent from an RAAF IAI Heron UAS, flying from Woomera 2,000km (1,242 miles) away. Group Captain Robert Chipman, the RAAF’s Director of Plan Jericho, explained on May 20: “The networks and systems demonstrated in Canberra today allow passengers in the aircraft to receive live updates and video of their destination, such as enemy positions or disaster-damaged areas, right up to the point of insertion. “The systems may also provide utility in supporting other kinds of operations, such as Aeromedical Evacuations, by giving medical staff on board the ability to [hold a] video conference with specialists on the ground.” If the trials are successful, the satcom capability will be rolled out through the fleet and there are further plans to install a Link 16 Tactical Data Link capability in the aircraft.

Tiger Data Link The Australian Army’s fleet of Airbus Helicopters Tiger Armed Reconnaissance Helicopters (ARH) are also receiving significant additional capability with the introduction of an interim tactical data link (iTDL), which is currently being trialled on

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four aircraft. Australian Tigers were delivered with the Eurogrid data link, which permits data sharing between helicopters or between the helicopter and its ground station. The new capability will enable the Tiger to share data with the Australian Army’s digital Battlefield Management System (BMS) which is being introduced throughout the organisation. Elbit, the manufacturer and integrator of the BMS, is working with the Australian Army, the Defence Materiel Organisation (DMO) and Airbus Group Australia Pacific, to integrate the system into 21 of the army’s 22 Tigers. The 22nd helicopter has been permanently wired for flight test equipment and is therefore not compatible with the iTDL. The system integrates an Enhanced Position Location Reporting System (EPLRS) radio, GPS and tablet, which is mounted in the Tiger’s cockpit. The four aircraft will carry out trials under operational conditions, in multi-helicopter scenarios during the army’s major land manoeuvre, Exercise Hamel, in July. This will be followed by Exercise Talisman Sabre 2015, a major amphibious warfare exercise with the US Marine Corps due to be held in the Northern Territory. If successful, the iTDL will inform consideration of an integrated Tactical Data Link to be installed as part of the Tiger Capability Assurance Programme upgrade to be undertaken in the early part of the next decade.

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21

Commercial

Vietnam Airlines A350 Flies

The first Airbus A350-900 destined for Vietnam Airlines F-WZFI (msn 14, to become VN-A886), the second operator of the new twin-jet, conducted its maiden flight from Toulouse-Blagnac on June 1. It’s the first of 14 A350s that will be used by the airline. Following crew training the aircraft will initially be used on the Hanoi-Paris CDG route from September. Airbus

An-132 Plans Shape Up

Delta Takes 242t A330 Delta Air Lines has received the first higher maximum take-off weight (MTOW) Airbus A330300 N822NW (ex-F-WWYX, msn 1627). The new variant, approved by European Aviation Safety Agency and Federal Aviation Administration in April, has a 242,000kg (533,519lb) MTOW, up from the standard 235,000kg (518,086lb), and an optional centre fuel tank to extend range by 500 nautical miles (926km) to 6,100nm (11,297km). Airbus said 11 airlines have now ordered the variant. Mark Broadbent

NASA DC-8’s Polar Wind Flights NASA’s DC-8 Airborne Laboratory Aircraft leaving its Armstrong Flight Research Center home in Palmdale, California, on its journey to Keflavik for research into polar winds. Carla Thomas/NASA

Antonov has signed a contract for the design of the An-132 with TAQNIA of Saudi Arabia. Antonov

Antonov and the TAQNIA Aeronautics Company of Saudi Arabia have signed a contract for the design, and reached a preliminary agreement to build the An-132 transport aircraft in the Middle Eastern country. The An-132 will be a thorough upgrade of the An-32 turboprop, of which 385 were built from 1983 until 1998. The new type will have the same 5,071shp (3,782kW) Pratt & Whitney PW150A turboprops as the Bombardier Q400, offering a similar power rating to but much more modern than the An-32’s 5,180shp (3,800kW) AI-20D engines. The An-132 will have a new wing centre section (with a torque box fuel

tank) and a nose section, including the cockpit. The take-off weight will be 28,500kg (62,832lb), the same as the An-32; it will carry 9,200kg (20,283lb) of payload, up from 7,500kg (16,535lb). Its maximum speed will be 300kts (550km/h), increased from 285kts (530km/h), and range with six tonnes (13,228lb) of payload will extend to 3,175km (1,973 miles) from 1,650km (1,025 miles). The intellectual property and new components of the aircraft will be shared between Antonov and TAQNIA, though rights for the An-32 will remain with Antonov. It is hoped 100 An-132s will be built in Saudi Arabia. Piotr Butowski

The NASA Airborne Science Program DC-8 Airborne Laboratory Aircraft (N817NA) recently flew to Keflavik from where it conducted research flights into winds around Iceland and Greenland. The aircraft used Doppler aerosol and tropospheric wind lidar sensors to collect measurements into winds above the polar region, where cold air masses from the Arctic combine with warmer air to generate weather systems that influence the climate across the northern hemisphere. Data was also collected from tube-shaped probes dropped from the fuselage.

The information gathered by the aircraft will be combined with that generated by the lidar systems on the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum fur Luft und Raumfahrt, DLR)’s Dassault Falcon 20E, which also flew over the same regions in May. All the data will be used by European Space Agency scientists to create complex models of Earth’s weather and climate patterns for the ADMAeolus satellite, due for launch next year, which will provide real-time measurements of Earth’s wind fields to help with forecasting. Mark Broadbent

G500 Flies as Qatar Cements Orders The first of Gulfstream’s two new business jets, the G500, is now in flight testing after the initial aircraft (N500GA) made its maiden flight from Savannah Hilton Head International Airport, Georgia, on May 18. The aircraft attained 15,000ft (4,572m) and 194kts (359km/h), with the flight crew testing primary flight control systems, handling and avionics. A simulated approach and go-around was undertaken at Savannah. The G500’s certification is expected in 2017 and service entry a year later. Gulfstream’s other new clean-sheet biz-jet, the

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AI.07.15

The first Gulfstream G500 (N500GA) just before touchdown at Savannah at the end of its first flight. Gulfstream

G600, is due to fly in 2017. The day after N500GA’s debut flight, Qatar Airways firmed an earlier

memorandum of understanding for 20 Gulfstreams and ordered ten more for its Qatar Executive

division. The commitment covers a combination of G500s, G600s and G650ERs. Mark Broadbent

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Commercial

Boeing Begins 737 MAX Wing Assembly

s

Machine operator Les Nystrom loads wing skin panels and stringers for the first 737 MAX on the new panel assembly line at Renton. Boeing

Boeing has started assembling the wing for the first 737 MAX test aircraft at its Renton facility. Machine operators loaded wing skin panels, spars and stringers

into a new panel assembly line that will automatically drill holes and install fasteners in the upper and lower wing panels. Later this year the assembled wing will be joined

to the first 737 MAX fuselage on the new final assembly line for the type at Renton. The first aircraft is scheduled to fly in 2016. Mark Broadbent

Alitalia’s Refreshed Look

Kenya Airways Bailout

The Kenyan Government has given a Sh4.2 billion ($43 million) loan to assist the lossmaking Kenya Airways. The national carrier has been hit by a drop in revenues caused by the Ebola epidemic, a fall in domestic tourism resulting from the al-Shabab terror attacks, fuel price volatility and intense competition. The Kenyan Parliament’s Budget Committee said the loan was given through supplementary budget estimates. In the halfyear to September 2014, Kenya Airways reported a pre-tax loss of 12.5 billion shillings ($128 million). It is expecting 25% lower earnings for the year that ended in March. Kenya Airways is disposing its Boeing 777-200ER and 777300ER fleets and moving its remaining 787 Dreamliner orders to sale/leaseback agreements to help its financial situation. The Kenyan Government has 29.8% shareholding in the airline, which is also partly owned by Air France-KLM. Guy Martin

Airbus A330-202 I-EGJA (msn 825), on finals to Milan Malpensa on June 5, shows the new ‘pinstripe effect’ detail on the rear fuselage, leading up to the enlarged tricolour logo. Giorgio Parolini

Alitalia has unveiled its first major livery change for 46 years. The distinctive green cheatline has been dropped and the tricolour ‘A’ logo enlarged to cover the tail cone. The rear fuselage features what Alitalia calls a ‘pinstripe effect’ that appears different in tone depending on the light. The scheme was designed by Landor Associates, which created Alitalia’s previous look in 1969 and recently

UAV Inspections at easyJet

Dhruv Noise Trials Complete

Low-cost carrier easyJet will start using small UAVs for routine maintenance inspections. The airline announced a trial of CopterCraft systems last summer to investigate how HD cameraequipped UAVs could reduce maintenance downtime by streaming real-time video of the fuselage and control surfaces, letting engineers see whether

further inspection or repair work is needed. In a statement, easyJet said: “The tests proved pre-programmed drones could help reduce the number of hours an aircraft is out of service after events, such as lightning strikes, compared to manual inspection.” The airline plans to use UAVs at its engineering bases across Europe within a year. Mark Broadbent

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Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) has successfully completed noise measurement flight trials with a Dhruv Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH), as part of the process to certify the helicopter under European Aviation Safety Agency rules. The trials were conducted at Mysore Airport in Karnataka in compliance with International Civil Aviation Authority (ICAO) regulations and

rebranded Etihad Airways, the 49% majority stakeholder in Alitalia. The first aircraft to sport the revised livery were Airbus A330-200 I-EJGA (msn 825) and A320-200 EI-ETJ (msn 663). All Alitalia aircraft will be repainted into the new scheme by mid-2017. The revised livery is part of a wider revamp involving new in-flight entertainment, Wi-Fi connectivity and interiors. Mark Broadbent

comprised 96 noise runs spread over eight flights. HAL Chairman and Managing Director T Suvarna Raju said: “The EASA representatives witnessed the entire flight test and preliminary analysis of the recorded noise data, weather parameters and the aircraft parameters shows that the noise levels are within the acceptable limits specified by ICAO for ALH.” Nigel Pittaway

AI.07.15

23

Commercial

Spanish Police H135

The Spanish Police has received all three Airbus Helicopters H135s (formerly EC135P2+s) with deliveries of EC-MGL (c/n 1184, ex-EC-034) and EC-MGM (c/n 1185, ex-EC-035). They joined EC-MDY (c/n 1177, ex-EC-030), which was handed over in December. EC-MGL is seen landing after the acceptance flight at the Airbus Helicopters plant in Albacete on June 2. Roberto Yañez

A320neo LEAPs The first Airbus A320neo powered by the CFM International LEAP-1A F-WNEW (msn 6419) has joined the neo test fleet alongside the two aircraft powered by Pratt & Whitney PW1100Gs (F-WNEO/ msn 6101 and D-AVVA/msn 6286), the alternative engine option on the A320neo Family. A second LEAP-1A-powered aircraft will fly in mid-summer as Airbus targets certification in the fourth quarter. The LEAP-1A accounts for 55% of the A320neo powerplant selections to date, which represents 2,508 engines. A week after the LEAP-1A’s first flight, Airbus officials disclosed

during the firm’s Innovation Days in Toulouse that the company is assessing further ramp-ups in monthly A320 output to 60 units. A rate increase from the current 42 to 50 per month from early 2017 has already been announced. Major component assemblies, consisting of the wings, fuselage (including the cockpit and tail cone) and vertical stabilisers, for the first A321ceo that will be built at the new final assembly line in Mobile, Alabama, have been shipped from Hamburg. That aircraft is scheduled for delivery to JetBlue next year. Mark Broadbent

Iraqi Airways UK Flights

Iraqi Airways Boeing 737-8172(W) YI-ASH (c/n 40076) on finals at Manchester. The carrier is now flying two services from the airport to Sulaymaniyah and Erbil. The routes mark an expansion in the airline’s operations in the UK, joining the frequencies from London Gatwick to the same two cities and Baghdad. Rob Skinkis

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IAG’s Aer Lingus Bid Accepted The Irish Government has agreed to sell its 25.1% stake in Aer Lingus to the International Airlines Group (IAG) for €1.4 billion, subject to approval by the Irish legislature’s lower house and Aer Lingus shareholders. IAG Chief Executive Willie Walsh said Aer Lingus would gain strength by being part of a group in a “consolidating industry”. IAG is the parent company of British Airways, Iberia and Vueling. Under the terms of the deal, Aer Lingus will keep its branding, operations and slots at London Heathrow, and the existing daily scheduled operations between Heathrow and Dublin, Cork and Shannon will be retained for at least seven years. Mark Broadbent

Rostec and Bombardier Halt Talks Discussions between Russia’s state technology firm Rostec and Bombardier over the construction of the Bombardier Dash 8 Q400 turboprop in Russia have come to a halt. Rostec’s Chief Executive

Officer Sergey Chemezov told the Vedomosti newspaper that the talks have stalled because of the rouble exchange rate. Chemezov said components are currently too expensive to import. David C Isby

Falcon 5X Revealed and 8X Advances

The 5X is the second new Dassault Falcon to emerge within six months, following the unveiling of the ultra-long-range 8X last December. Dassault Aviation

Dassault Aviation presented its latest Falcon business jet, the 5X, at its Bordeaux-Mérignac plant on June 2. The type’s maiden flight is anticipated over the summer and certification should follow by the end of 2016. Engine, main systems and static and fatigue ground tests are all under way. The 5X has been designed for the 5,000 nautical miles (9,260km) range segment of the biz-jet market. The aircraft has an advanced digital flight control system derived from the one in the Rafale and Snecma Silvercrest engines.

Meanwhile, the Falcon 8X, Dassault’s new ultra-long-range model that flew in February, has now completed 500 flight hours of the 2,000 required for certification. Two 8Xs are flying from the Dassault flight test centre at Istres. F-WWOA (s/n 01) is exploring the flight envelope and F-WWW (s/n 02) is verifying performance parameters, including fuel consumption and landing/take-off distance. After assembly, a third 8X (s/n 03, F-WWOB) will be flown to the Falcon completion centre in Little Rock, Arkansas for cabin testing. Mark Broadbent

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15

NEWS BY NUMBERS

FEDEX FREIGHTER RETIREMENTS FedEx has phased out 15 aircraft as it continues to introduce the Boeing 767F to its fleet. The Memphis, Tennessee-based cargo carrier has withdrawn seven MD-11Fs, one MD-10-10, three A300s and four A310s. It has also brought forward retirement dates for a further 23 airframes, though it didn’t disclose further details. FedEx said the 767F, which it introduced in 2011 and is

4

Commercial replacing older types, is approximately 30% more fuel efficient. Mark

Broadbent

ETIHAD PHENOM 100S Etihad Airways has ordered four Embraer Phenom 100Es for its Etihad Flight College at Al Ain, UAE. They will be used to teach approximately 120 Emirati and international pilot cadets annually. The first students start training in the first quarter of next year. Mark Broadbent

Turkey’s Regional Jets Turkey is to produce its first passenger jets after the country’s Ministry of Transport, Maritime Affairs and Communication signed a memorandum of understanding with the Sierra Nevada Corporation, which owns the production rights for Dornier regional jets. Sierra Nevada will work alongside Savunma Teknolojileri Mühendislik ve Ticaret (STM) initially to

upgrade the Dornier 328JET with a new cockpit and engines. The revamped 32-seater, to be designated the TRJ-328, is scheduled to debut in 2019. A larger, clean-sheet 70-seat derivative, the TRJ-628, will follow in 2023. STM will be the prime contractor on the project but other Turkish aerospace players, including TAI and ASELSAN, will participate. Mark Broadbent

Italian UAVs in Civil Airspace Trials

The Alenia Aermacchi Sky-Y was used to research the integration of UAVs into commercial airspace in Europe alongside a C-27J Spartan. Alenia Aermacchi

Italian remotely piloted air systems (RPAS) are involved in two European Defence Agency research projects into the safe operation of unmanned aircraft in civil airspace. Alenia Aermacchi’s Sky-Y conducted the first fully-automatic avoidance manoeuvres between unmanned and manned aircraft in non-segregated European airspace. The Sky-Y was operated from Grazzanise Air Base,

Italy, as part of MIDCAS, a research programme into how radio, electrooptical, infrared and radar sensors enable a UAV to ‘sense and avoid’ manned aircraft and avoid collisions. An Alenia Aermacchi C-27J was intentionally flown as close as 150m (492ft) to the Sky-Y, at varying altitudes and from different directions, to test the sensors’ ability to identify a potential collision and

automatically change the UAV’s course to avoid the C-27J. Separately, the Piaggio Aerospace P1HH HammerHead is to test new satellite-based command and control data links in the second round of the Demonstration of Satellites Enabling the Insertion of RPAS in Europe (DeSIRE II), a joint EDA-European Space Agency programme. The Italian space

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Aircraft ACJ320neo A320ceo A320ceo A320ceo A321ceo A320ceo A320ceo A320neo

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Date May 19 Booked May, announced June 4 June 9 Booked May, announced June 4 June 2 June 2 Booked May, announced June 4 Booked May, announced June 4

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applications and satcom services provider Telespazio, the Italian coastguard, civil protection and law enforcement departments, the European Fisheries Control Agency and the Swiss defence procurement agency Armasuisse are all involved. Phase one of DeSIRE, led by Indra, involved flight trials off the Spanish coast in 2011 using an IAI Heron. Mark Broadbent

E-195s for Austrian

Seventeen Embraer E-195s are to be transferred from Lufthansa CityLine to its fellow Lufthansa Group member Austrian Airlines in a $900 million deal. The first will be delivered to Austrian in August for crew training, before commercial services with the type begin in January. All the E-195s will be transferred by the end of 2017, replacing Austrian’s ageing Fokker 70 and 100 regional jets. The E-Jets will be replaced at CityLine by Bombardier CRJ900 NextGens transferred from Eurowings, as that airline consolidates on the A320. Mark Broadbent

AI.07.15

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F he Russian Air Force’s (RuAF’s) once mighty and feared MiG-31 Foxhound force is set for resurgence. That’s because of the need to fill large gaps in the air defence networks in Russia’s remote and sparsely populated

northern and far eastern regions and support the country’s recently-launched ambitious military expansion and natural resources exploration strategy in the Arctic. The Foxhound is in a class of its own as a heavyweight ultra-long-range interceptor, equipped with powerful radar and long-range radar-guided air-to-air missiles (AAMs). The type is capable of supersonic cruise at Mach 2.32 (1,348 knots/2,500km/h) at high

altitude with afterburner and it can also go supersonic in the climb. Its range and speed performance, combined with its mission suite and weapons, enable the Foxhound to intercept air, land and sea-launched cruise missiles at distances of 1,200-2,000 kilometres (647 to 1,079 nautical miles) away. It’s a proven aircraft that’s well suited to operations from austere bases in harsh winter conditions.

There’s an active fleet of around 120 MiG-31s, including 50 upgraded MiG-31BMs. Andrey Zinchuk via author

MIG-31 FOXHOUND MILITARY

The

Foxhound’s New Tricks Alexander Mladenov assesses the capabilities and deployment of the Russian Air Force’s MiG-31s – the subject of a comprehensive upgrade and life extension programme

MILITARY MIG-31 FOXHOUND Alexander Mladenov

And now, 40 years after the first flight of the MiG-31’s prototype (dubbed Ye-155MP), and after nearly two decades of neglect following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the aircraft dubbed the ‘Imperial Interceptor’ is enjoying a rediscovered significance as a useful political tool as the Russian military machine establishes permanent bases in the Arctic. Furthermore, the MiG-31 force has been used for escorting strategic bombers on their power projection patrols in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. The active MiG-31 fleet in the current RuAF inventory is three times smaller than that of Soviet times, but renewed tensions 1

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between Russia and the West mean a fleet of no fewer then 130 life-extended, upgraded Foxhounds will remain in active service at least until the late 2020s or even early 2030s. In addition to those in active service, 130 more are held in long-term storage for use as spare parts donors. A further 150 or so produced before 1989 are destined for scrapping or have already been scrapped. The Foxhound fleet is currently undergoing a comprehensive mission avionics, airframe and engine refurbishment. The aircraft of nine frontline squadrons (including one assigned to Russian Naval Aviation), the operational conversion and combat training

squadron and a few in use with the RuAF’s flight test centre at Akhtubinsk are all being modernised. All frontline units have 12-strong fleets.

Upgrade Progress The upgraded Foxhounds are designated MiG-31BMs (for previous MiG-31Bs) or MiG-31BSMs (for MiG-31BS variants). The origins of the BM upgrade go back to 1997, when there was an aim to turn the Foxhound into a multi-role tactical aircraft by adding Kh-31P (AS-17 Krypton) and Kh-58U (AS-11 Kilter) anti-radiation missiles and KAB-1500 and KAB-500 guided bombs. Plans to add air-to-surface capabilities were dropped and the upgrade focused instead on a new mission suite and missiles to enhance air-to-air lethality. RSK MiG began development work in 2001, with two late-production MiG-31Bs (serials ‘58’ and ‘60’) becoming the original two MiG-31BM prototypes. They first flew in September 2005, and in December that year were handed over to the 929th GLITs (State Flight Test Centre) at Akhtubinsk for their exhaustive joint state testing and evaluation. The first stage was completed in November 2007, enabling the upgrade of around 15 aircraft to begin. One pre-production upgraded Foxhound was delivered to the 929 GLITs and the first two production-standard MiG-31BMs were handed over on March 20, 2008 to the 4th TsBPiPLS (Combat Training and Aircrew Conversion Centre) at Savastleika, east of Moscow – then known as the 3958th Air Base. This research-instructor squadron took on two more MiG-31BMs later that year. The quartet of upgraded Foxhounds at Savastleika was used for field trials and then

MIG-31 FOXHOUND MILITARY

2 1 MiG-31 pilots and weapons system officers wear VMSK immersion/high-altitude protection suits and ZSh-7 helmets. Russian MoD via author 2 The rearview periscope on the front canopy is among the features added during the MiG-31BM upgrade. Alexander Mladenov 3 All remaining MiG-31DZs are to be upgraded to the BM standard by 2019. Andrey Zinchuk via author

training of an initial instructor cadre, which would go on to convert frontline aircrews and develop new combat employment tactics to exploit the full capability of the new radar, data links and missiles. The first frontline unit to be re-equipped with upgraded Foxhounds was a component squadron from the 458th IAP, a fighter regiment stationed at Kotlas-Savatya north of Moscow, which received nine. After the unit’s disbandment in December 2009 as part of a structure overhaul, its MiG-31BMs were handed over to a new fighter squadron at the 6964th Air Base at Monchegorsk, close to the Russian Northern Fleet bases on the Kola Peninsula in the country’s northwestern territories. In 2011, the unit became a component

air group of the 7000th Air Base, which became the 98th SAP (Composite Air Regiment) in late 2013 – its structure including one fighter, one reconnaissance and one bomber squadron. In the same year it received three more MiG-31BMs. Two further upgrade contracts, signed in August 2011 and November 2014, cover up to 120 Foxhounds. By April 2013, 50 MiG-31Bs had been modernised (including completed, but undelivered, aircraft). In the past two years, only the MiG-31BS variant was cycled through the upgrade at Nizhni Novgorod. By April, the total number of MiG-31BM/BSMs handed over to the RuAF was estimated at around 67 (including the prototypes), but two of them have been lost in non-fatal accidents.

The 2011 upgrade contract (covering 60 of the youngest Foxhounds in the RuAF inventory – a mixture of ’B variants built between 1990 and 1994 as well as 1980s-era ’BS jets) called for the first batch of ten upgraded aircraft to be redelivered to the RuAF by the end of the year. In the event, only five MiG-31BMs were taken on strength by that date. The other five followed in June 2012. These ten Foxhounds re-equipped the two squadrons of the 712th IAP (fighter aviation regiment) at Kansk-Dalny in Siberia. In January 2013, the Russian Ministry of Defence reported that the two Kanskbased squadrons had completed their reequipment (with 24 aircraft delivered). Then the 790th IAP, stationed at Khotilovo

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MILITARY MIG-31 FOXHOUND

MIG-31BM SPECIFICATIONS Wing span: 13.46m (44.3ft) Length overall: 22.68m (74.4ft) Height overall: 6.15m (20.2ft) Wing area: 61.6m2 (663 sq ft) Max take-off weight: 46,200kg (101,851lb) Normal take-off weight: 41,000kg (90,388lb) Empty operating weight: 21,825kg (48,115lb) Internal fuel: 16,350kg (36,045lb) External fuel: 3,850kg (8,485lb) Max speed at sea level: 810kts (1,500km/h) Max speed at 55,800ft (17,000m): 1,620kts (3,000km/h) Landing speed: 151kts (280km/h) Economic cruise speed: Mach 0.85 Max operating speed: Mach 2.83 Time to 32,800ft (10,000m): 7min 54secs Service ceiling: 65,600ft (20,000m) Combat radius with four R-33 or R-37M missiles with max internal fuel at Mach 2.35: 720km (388nm) Combat radius with four R-33 or R-37M missiles with max internal fuel at Mach 0.85: 1,200km (647nm) Combat radius with four R-33 or R-37M missiles with max internal and external fuel at Mach 0.85: 1,400km (755nm) Combat radius with four R-33 or R-37M missiles with max internal and external fuel at Mach 0.85 and one in-flight refuelling: 2,200km (1,185nm) Ferry range with max internal fuel and two 2,500-litre underwing tanks, no missiles: 3,300km (1,780nm) Max endurance on internal and external fuel: 3hrs 36min Take-off run: 1,200m (3,940ft) Landing roll with brake chute: 800m (2,625ft) G limit: +5.0 Engines: Two Aviadvigatel D-30F-6 highbypass ratio afterburning turbofans, each rated at 93.19kN (20,944lb) dry and 152.06kN (34,171lb) with afterburner Maximum combat load: 3,000kg (6,612lb) WEAPONS PAYLOAD Either four R-33, R-33S or R-37M long-range AAMs carried under the fuselage Up to four R-73 heat-seeking WVR AAMs or R-77-1 active radar-guided BVR AAMs carried on underwing pylons. One GSh-6-23 six-barrel Gatling-type cannon with a 9,000rpm rate of fire – provided with 260 rounds and added to the starboard rear fuselage.

1 1 The R-33 was the MiG-31’s original long-range weapon, with a maximum reach up to 120km (65nm) in head-on engagements against targets at high altitude. Alexander Mladenov 2 The RVVBD, also known as the K-37M during its development and testing phase and now designated the R-37M, is a long-range air-to-air missile purposely developed for the MiG-31BM. Alexander Mladenov 3 The Foxhound’s two Aviadvigatel D-30F-6 turbofans are each rated at 152.06kN (34,171lb) with afterburner. Andrey Zinchuk via author

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airfield north of Moscow, began trading its MiG-31s and MiG-31DZs for 24 MiG-31BMs and MiG-31BSMs. The re-equipment of its two component squadrons was completed last December. The November 2014 contract covered the upgrade of more than 50 aircraft (believed to be up to 60), a mixture of ’BSs and ’DZs which are to be upgraded to the BSM and BM standards respectively. The work is currently under way simultaneously at two United Aircraft Corporation plants: Sokol in Nizhni Novgorod, which built MiG-31s until 1994, and 514 ARZ in Rzhev. The last Foxhounds to be upgraded under this contract are expected to be complete in late 2018. In parallel, Sokol is still upgrading outstanding MiG-31s from the 2011 contract. The unit price for overhaul and upgrades, as set in the 2014 contract, amounts to about 600 million roubles ($11.9 million). The combined production rate at Sokol is 12 to 13 aircraft a year, while 514 ARZ is expected to deliver between six and eight annually. All the overhauled and upgraded MiG31BMs/MiG-31BSMs have been lifeextended to give them ten more years and 1,000 flight hours. The average age of the RuAF’s MiG-31 fleet, including both

MIG-31’S PRINCIPAL MISSIONS • intercept cruise missiles and their launch aircraft by getting into missile launch range in the minimum time possible after beginning the attack run from the loitering area • detect and destroy low-flying targets such as cruise missiles, UAVs and helicopters • long-range escort of strategic bombers in international airspace. • deploy in a prompt manner in response to threats coming from directions not covered by ground-based air defence systems.

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upgraded and non-upgraded aircraft, is about 26 years. The life limits as set by RSK MiG, the Foxhound’s original equipment manufacturer, are 35 years and 3,500 flight hours, whichever occurs first. There is an option for a further extension to 40 years, depending on the RuAF’s projected needs and the condition of the airframes in terms of fatigue and corrosion damage. In April, Russia’s deputy defence minister, Yury Borisov, hinted the MiG-31’s service life can be extended up to 45 and even 50 years. Such extensions, which would see the type continue serving the RuAF until the mid or even late 2040s, would require a series of follow-on avionics upgrades and another main overhaul to keep the airframes and general systems airworthy.

The Upgrade The MiG-31 upgrade is primarily focused on introducing a radar with much improved detection and tracking performance; and missiles with longer range and better tactical data presentation to both the pilot and weapons system operator (WSO). The intention is to turn the Foxhound into a more effective long-range interceptor, with a vastly improved beyond-visual-range (BVR) combat capability for countering lowobservable manned and unmanned strike and reconnaissance aircraft at subsonic and supersonic speeds, low-flying cruise missiles and even hypersonic vehicles flying at speeds of up to Mach 6 and altitudes up to 82,000ft (25,000m). The heart of the ’BM upgrade is the Tikhomirov-NIIP S-800AM Zaslon-AM (also known as the N007AM) electronicallyscanned phased-array radar. It has a Baget-55-06 computer and, combined with

MIG-31 FOXHOUND MILITARY

Andrey Zinchuk archive via author

present form is insufficient for solving all avionics and equipment obsolescence issues, as the upgraded Foxhound retains the old infrared search and track (IRST) sensor, legacy navigation suite and cockpit layout.

New Missiles

the existing 250kg (551lb) fixed phasedarray antenna (which controls its radar beam electronically for a faster and more accurate pointing), the Foxhound’s maximum detection range is now 240km (130nm) in head-on encounters against large fighters flying at medium and high altitudes. That’s up from the 120-130km (65-79nm) for the MiG-31’s original S-800 Zaslon-A. With increased processing power and refined software, the Zaslon-AM can now track up to 24 air targets simultaneously and provide data for engaging six of them with four types of radar-guided AAMs (R-33, R-33S, R-37 and R-77-1). The radar retains the same angular coverage, scanning an area out to 70º on each side of the centreline and to 60º below and above the nose.

Former Foxhound pilots say the legacy Zaslon radar could get a stable lock-on of low-flying cruise missiles, such as the BGM109 Tomahawk, at 20 to 30km (11 to 16nm) in look-down/shoot-down situations. The lock-on range of the upgraded Zaslon-AM against such a target has been extended to about 40km (22nm) – a 30% improvement in detection/tracking performance. In August 2014, Yury Bely, the director general of Tikhomirov NIIP, which designed both the original Zaslon and the ZaslonAM, revealed the process of integrating the updated radar with a new long-range missile had been protracted; the last firing trials of the new radar/missile combination were completed in 2013. He also claimed the ’BM upgrade in its

In February 2012, the then RuAF commander-in-chief, Colonel General Alexander Zelin, revealed that the new Tactical Missile Corp-developed RVV-BD long-range missile for the MiG-31BM was in its final testing and evaluation phase. It was also known as the K-37M (Item 610M) during the test phase before being renamed R-37M on entering RuAF service. The weapon weighs 510kg (1,124lb) and is propelled by a two-stage solid-fuel rocket motor, enabling it to reach targets 200km (110nm) away. The first production-standard examples are believed to have been taken on strength by the RuAF in the second half of 2013. The R-37M, just like its predecessors the R-33 and R-33S, is carried semi-recessed under the MiG-31BM belly and is launched from AKU-410-1 launcher units. It uses inertial guidance after launch with midcourse radio correction, while its active radar seeker (based on that originally developed for the R-77-1 BVR missile) is switched on during the terminal flight phase for precise guidance. The new

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MILITARY MIG-31 FOXHOUND missile was designed to be more agile to hit small-size manoeuvring targets while offering improved resistance against both passive and active jamming. The R-37M is said to be capable of hitting targets manoeuvring at up to 8g at altitudes between 49,000 and 82,000ft (15,00025,000m), and it has a maximum range in head-on attacks of more than 200km (110nm). The R-33’s maximum range is 120km (65nm). It has a target manoeuvring limitation of 4g. Both the R-37M and R-33/33S can be fired at targets flying up to 32,800ft (10,000m) above and below the launch platform’s flight level. 1 The active radar-guided R-77-1 can be carried on the four underwing pylons the radar or the IRST in head-on and tail-on also used by the heat-seeking R-73, when attacks; there is also an option for visual equipped with AKU-171E launchers. A aiming by the pilot with seeker locked in the new increased-range derivative of the R-77 boresight position. (AA-12 Adder), the R-77-1, uses inertial The R-73’s maximum range in low-level guidance after launch with mid-course radio engagements is 2.2km (1.2nm) tail-on and correction, allowing its reach in head-on 12km (6.47nm) when fired head-on. At highattacks at high altitude to extend to 110km level the respective ranges extend to 12 and (59nm). Targets flying between 66 and 31km (6.5 and 17nm). 82,000ft (20-25,000m), turning at up to 12g, can be reached. Avionics The MiG-31BM retains the original 8TP The pilot’s cockpit is little changed: it only retractable IRST sensor under the nose, received a small LCD display, added in the integrated with the radar through the fire upper right corner of the instrument panel, to control system computer, to provide an present tactical information. additional degree of electronic counterThe WSO’s cockpit features more changes countermeasures (ECCM) capability. The compared to older MiG-31s. It has two IRST can detect air targets at up to 50km newly-added large LCD displays for tactical (27nm) at high altitude, scanning through 60º and navigational information (in place of the left and right, 6º upwards and 15º downwards original huge circular CRT tactical display), relative to the aircraft’s centreline. flanked by two small rectangular displays In addition to target detection and used on the non-upgraded aircraft. tracking, the 8TP can cue R-73 (AA-11 The MiG-31BM also has two new R-800L Archer) heat-seeking air-to-air missiles, UHF/VHF radios and its navigation suite equipped with a true all-aspect seeker with has been improved with the addition of an nitrogen cooling and digital signal processing integrated A-737 satellite navigation receiver for greater sensibility and better resistance to with a combined GLONASS/NAVSTAR jamming. capability for improved precision. The upgraded Foxhound, however, isn’t Externally the MiG-31BM can easily be suited to the off-boresight capability of the distinguished from its non-upgraded brethren R-73 as it lacks a helmet-mounted cueing by the rear-view periscope on the top of the system. So the R-73 is a straightforward front canopy and two short pylons under replacement of the R-40TD (AA-6 Acrid), as each wing (capable of carrying R-73 and it has similar range performance but a more R-77-1 launchers) as well as the presence sensitive seeker. It can be cued either by

of a semi-retractable air refuelling probe on the port side of the front fuselage. The MiG-31BSM sub-version, in turn, can be distinguished from the MiG-31BM by the lack of the air refuelling probe.

Real-World Limitations The MiG-31 is now undoubtedly an improved aircraft, with its powerful radar and longrange AAMs, but it is plagued by technical shortcomings, inherited from the original MiG-31 design, that have reduced its overall performance and combat potential. According to Colonel General Viktor Bondarev, the RuAF commander-in-chief, the canopy glazing strength limits the MiG-31’s maximum speed to Mach 1.5, although the Foxhound had originally been cleared for prolonged operations at Mach 2.23 and a dash speed of Mach 2.83. Col Gen Bondarev also noted the MiG-31, previously unique in the RuAF for performing the long-range intercept mission, is going to be supplemented in the foreseeable future by new fighter types, armed with long-range AAMs, such as the Su-35S. The MiG-31BM remains an aircraft tailored for homeland defence missions rather than offensive air superiority missions in highly-contested airspace against an opponent fielding modern fourth- or fifth-generation fighters. The upgraded Foxhound lacks any meaningful self-protection capability and has limited 2

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MIG-31 FOXHOUND MILITARY manoeuvrability. Its only self-protection sensor is the 1970s-vintage SPO-15LM radar warning receiver (RWR) and it even lacks chaff/flare dispensers (or at least such dispensers have not been noted on the upgraded Foxhounds). Another omission in the MiG-31BM’s mission avionics suite is a modern electro-optical sensor useful for longrange identification of air targets detected by the radar. The aircraft is entirely unsuitable for any manoeuvring air combat as it is limited to turning in the vertical and horizontal plane with a 5g load at low altitude, reduced to a 3g load when flying above 55,760ft (17,000m) and exceeding Mach 2.2.

Current Operations As of April, three RuAF and one RNA squadrons were operating a mixture of nonupgraded MiG-31 and MiG-31DZ versions. They include the two squadrons of the 764th IAP at Bol’shoe Savino (near Perm) and one assigned to the 22rd IAP at Tsentralnaya 3 Uglovaya (near Vladivostok). The sole RNA MiG-31 squadron is 1 A MiG-31BM from the 98th SAP at Monchegorsk fires an R-73 heat-seeking missile. Russian MoD via assigned to the 7060th Air Base at Yelizovo Alexander Mladenov 2 This Foxhound was among the first four production-standard MiG-31BMs delivered (near Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy) on in 2008 to the MiG-31 instructor-research squadron at Savastleika. Alexander Mladenov 3 A four-ship MiGKamchatka Peninsula in Russia’s Far East. 31 formation from the combat training centre at Savastleika during a flypast over Zhukovskiy in August 2012 Today all the MiG-31-equipped units stand for the RuAF’s centenary. The first two are upgraded MiG-31BMs and the other two are legacy aircraft. on quick reaction alert (QRA) for homeland Ivan Voukadinov via author 4 The 7060th Air Base Yelizovo, on Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia’s Far East, is home to Russian Naval Aviation’s sole MiG-31-equipped squadron. Andrey Zinchuk via author air defence. Reaction time from receiving the

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PRODUCTION DATA MiG-31 production totalled 519 aircraft, of which 349 (produced at the Sokol plant between 1976 and 1988) were in the initial productionstandard – colloquially known as the ‘vanilla’ version. These were followed in 1989-1991 by 101 MiG-31DZs equipped with a semi-retractable air refuelling probe and improved navigation suites. The last production-standard version of the Foxhound, designated the MiG31B, was produced between 1990 and 1994; a total of 69 were built.

Fifty of these were delivered to the RuAF; the rest were inherited by the newly created Kazakhstan Air Force after the Soviet Union’s break-up. Meanwhile 40 ‘vanilla’ MiG-31s were upgraded to MiG-31BS standard, acquiring the same mission avionics suite as installed on the MiG-31B. The ’B and ’BS enhanced mission avionics standards included an improved N007 Zaslon-A radar system, featuring processing and ECCM capabilities, new data links and an A-723 long-range

navigation system. The MiG-31B/BS can also fire the improved R-33S long-range AAM (believed to have been equipped with an active-radar seeker for terminal guidance and featuring an improved agility) and its overall combat capability was increased by 1.2 to 2.5 times that of the ‘vanilla’ MiG-31. The first MiG-31Bs were rolled out in the late 1980s and handed over in early 1991; however, the derivative was eventually commissioned into RuAF service

as a fully combat-capable weapons system only in 1999. Perm-based engine-maker Aviadvigatel built 1,497 D-30F-6 afterburning turbofans for MiG-31s and by April 2013 some 1,231 were still in inventory. As many as 244 D30F-6s were installed on aircraft in active operation or kept as ‘hot’ spares while 947 more were held in long-term storage with less than 42% expended service life – although 292 of those stored were said to be in condition beyond economical repair.

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MILITARY MIG-31 FOXHOUND scramble order to take-off is eight minutes; when aircrews are wearing high-altitude pressure suits (required for operations above 39,360ft/12,000m), it increases to ten minutes, due to the time needed to put on the cumbersome kit. The 790th IAP’s MiG-31BSMs and 98th SAP’s MiG-31BMs are also routinely called upon to support RuAF long-range bombers

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during their long-endurance missions in 3 international airspace. The Foxhounds escort Bears, Blackjacks and Backfires off the Kola Peninsula on their routes south and southwest towards pre-designated areas in the Atlantic Ocean. In these extended-range missions the MiG-31BM/MiG-31BSMs take fuel from Il-78 Midas tankers. The same role is performed by the 22nd IAP’s MiG-31DZs stationed at Tsentralnaya Uglovaya on Russia’s Pacific coast. They were seen for the first time escorting two Tu-95MS Bear-Hs (supported by two Il-78 tankers) on September 17 last year by a pair of US Air Force F-22 Raptors from the 3rd Wing at Joint Base ElmendorfRichardson at a point 55nm (102km) off the coast of Alaska.

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MIG-31 FOXHOUND MILITARY In addition, Monchegorsk, Kansk and Bolshoe Savino-based Foxhounds are now routinely called on to fly longendurance training patrol missions over the Northern Sea Route (a strategically important commercial and military shipping lane in the Arctic, stretching between the Barents Sea in the west to the Bering Strait in the east). These units are also tasked to deploy on a temporary basis to airfields beyond the Polar Circle to provide effective cover of designated air-to-air refuelling areas over the Barents Sea used by RuAF strategic bombers on global patrol missions. The deployments are also intended to underpin Russia’s efforts to exercise control over a vast chunk of the frozen Arctic and the commercial exploration of its natural resources. In June 2012, the Russian Ministry of Defence announced its intention to permanently station a squadron-sized unit equipped with MiG-31s at Rogachevo airfield

AUTONOMOUS OPERATING CAPABILITIES

1 This Monchegorsk-based MiG-31BM (serial ‘03’), was among the first serial-upgraded Foxhounds, delivered in 2009 and operated by the 98th SAP. Andrey Zinchuk via author 2 The MiG-31 uses two brake parachutes after touchdown; the distance needed for a full stop is 800m (2,624ft). Andrey Zinchuk via author 3 A MiG-31DZ from Khotilovo toting an R-60 training round and an operative seeker for practising target lock-on. Andrey Zinchuk via author 4 This non-upgraded MiG-31 from the Russian Naval Air Service’s sole Foxhound squadron takes off from its home base, Yelizovo. Russian MoD via Alexander Mladenov

in Novaya Zemlya island in Russia’s remote Arctic territories, well beyond the Polar circle. The plan was indefinitely put on hold, but the ministry does intend to deploy MiG-31 squadrons at Tiksi and Anadyr airfields, beyond the Polar circle, on a permanent basis by 2017. The first MiG-31 training deployment to Rogachevo airfield on Nova Zemlya island took place in September 2014. MiG-31 aircrews from Yelizovo are also tasked with intercepting low-flying cruise missiles launched from air, sea and ground platforms. The Strizh, a small rocketpowered drone converted from a surfaceto-air missile, is the most difficult target drone ever encountered by the MiG-31 crews during AAM practice firing exercises.

It has a maximum speed of 2,300km/h (1,240mph), equating to Mach 2.2 at high altitude, and is used to test aircrews’ skills in head-on long-range intercepts deploying the R-33 missile. The Stizh-3 version can fly at supersonic speed at altitude from 160ft to 3,280ft (50 to 1,000m). Yelizovo and Monchegorsk-based MiG-31 squadrons are also charged with controlling airspace over the routes used by Russian nuclear submarines armed with intercontinental ballistic missiles transiting from their home bases on the Kamchatka and Kola peninsulas to their assigned patrol areas. The Foxhounds protect them from detection and tracking by foreign longrange anti-submarine aircraft. Andrey Zinchuk archive via Alexander Mladenov

The most effective way of using the Foxhound are the so-called semiautonomous group missions with handoffs from ground-controlled intercept (GCI) stations or airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) aircraft. The group tactics are also particularly useful in areas with huge gaps in radar coverage or without any radar coverage from ground stations. A four-ship of MiG-31s could perform line-abreast sweeps of a vast swathe of territory. Each MiG could cover a sector up to 140º wide in the horizontal plane, equal to 200km (110nm) across. With the four-ship’s radars set in a co-ordinated search mode pattern, the formation could provide radar coverage across 800 to 900km (440 to 485nm) of territory, searching for targets flying from ground level to 82,000ft (25,000m). The lead Foxhound, acting as the mission commander, can receive target information from the other three aircraft using a secure APD-518 data link. This method is especially useful to counter mass raids of bombers and cruise missiles without relying on ground radars for target detection and guidance. Using the advanced data links aboard the MiG-31, a commander could also coordinate the sweep operation with other MiG-31 groups operating in the same area, perform target hand-off from one aircraft to another in a better attack position or launch missiles at the most threatening target encountered during the sweep. These advanced tactics require many well-trained aircrews. But only the crews of one of the two MiG-31BM-equipped squadrons of the 712th IAP at Kansk have been declared ready to perform such complex autonomous and semiautonomous group operations. The young pilots and WSOs assigned to the second squadron were still working to gain this advanced combat employment qualification. The annual training requirements of the RuAF’s Fighter Aviation branch call for at least 100 flight hours for each combatready MiG-31 pilot and WSO, equating to between 80 and 100 sorties.

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TECHNOLOGY ANTI-UAV DEFENCE SYSTEM relatively new and growing security challenge was underlined when seven of France’s 19 nuclear power plants were illegally overflown by unidentified, small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in October and November last year, with the authorities seemingly powerless to prevent the incursions The landing of a Parrot AR quadcopter UAV in front of the German Chancellor Angela Merkel at an event in Dresden on September 15, 2013, in a protest by the Pirate Party, had earlier highlighted the issue. Although no harm came to the French power stations, and Merkel was reported to be simply amused by the Parrot AR landing, it requires little imagination to foresee how small UAVs may be used by those with aggressive intent.

High Street Availability With all types of UAVs now easily available from high street stores or online, from micro to mini and larger, the demand is growing from governments and the military for the development of reactive and defensive systems to counter any potential threat from these vehicles. Three British companies have answered that call by launching an Anti-UAV Defence System (AUDS). Blighter Surveillance Systems, whose ground surveillance radar can detect small objects on the ground, has teamed with Chess Dynamics (an electrooptical surveillance provider) and Enterprise Control Systems (ECS), a jamming specialist. The collaboration has resulted in a single system using radar for detection, an electrooptical camera for tracking and a directional

radio frequency jammer for disrupting the operation of a UAV. Mark Radford, Chief Executive Officer of Blighter Surveillance Systems, explained: “Once the electronic scanning radar is in position it can sit there 24/7 scanning the skies on a 180º arc. As soon as an unidentified UAV is detected, the co-ordinates are sent to the electro-optical camera. This will then search in the general known location, acquire the UAV and start tracking it. “The system then passes the lock-on to the jamming antennas. Once the object of interest continues to close to a range where we can affect its communication channel, we switch on the jammer to inhibit the various communications channels, be they GPS or coupling communication or telemetry channels. We can do that selectively so we can control exactly how we disrupt it. We can then either bring it down in as controlled a method as possible or force its operator to turn it around due to our disruption of their control. The key is always to prevent it getting to its target destination.” The jamming technology has been matured as a result of ECS’ experience in developing counter-IED systems used by the military in Iraq and Afghanistan. Radford said: “Different threats need a different response and what we have done with AUDS is focus power into a discrete package that can be precisely pointed at the target. We exploit datalinks. No system is perfect and we know how to mess with the datalinks.”

Opportunism Radford pointed out AUDS does not scale up to tackle more sophisticated and larger military UAVs that would be dealt with, should a threat from them be envisaged, by appropriate military systems. AUDS is mainly a shield against the smaller, more opportunistic type of incursion by an

A UK consortium hopes an easily deployable solution will answer governments’ security concerns over small UAVs. Andrew Drwiega reports

Three British companies teamed up to develop AUDS, a single system using radar, an electro-optical camera and a directional radio frequency jammer. Enterprise Control Systems

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operator with a stand-alone UAV. AUDS can detect and track a ‘swarm’ of UAVs but only disrupt one at a time. The operator uses three screens: the first shows radar tracking, the second is used for identification and the third is the master control. Trials were initially conducted in South Korea along the 250km (155 miles) demilitarised zone. Further demonstrations have taken place on behalf of the French government in Captieux, France, and, in May, during UK Government sponsored counter UAV trials (known as Bristow 15) at QinetiQ West Freugh in Scotland. According to Radford more than 80 hours of demonstrations have been conducted against 150 different types of UAV. “We have even tracked sea birds and falcons which we deliberately released,” he said, underlining the system’s sensitivity.

Power Requirement There isn’t a large power requirement for the system. Graham Beall, managing director of Chess Dynamics, the supplier of the electrooptical element, said: “You could run the whole thing off a 13amp plug.” With further trials due to take place in the US within the next months, the military, law enforcement and homeland security communities are all interested. The New York Police Department is concerned about the possibility of a terrorist attack launched by a UAV. Paint ball firing weapons mounted on small UAVs have already proved they can accurately attack targets. AUDS is only available to government and military cutomers. Celebrities who suffer from the public and paparazzi using cameras mounted on a mini UAV trying to get that one ‘exclusive’ picture of them at home will have to wait a little longer for a potential defence, although less technical systems are sure to be developed to meet the demand.

America’s Superfighter

TRAINING F119 ENGINE THE BIRTH AND DEATH OF THE F-22 COMBAT OPERATIONS SYSTEMS AND WEAPONS

INTRO F-22 Raptor - America’s Superfighter

INTRODUCTION

On May 1 F-22 Raptor 91-4007 took off from runway 22 at Edwards Air Force Base in California, an event I was privileged to witness. The aircraft, assigned to the 411th Flight Test Squadron, is one of six used by the F-22 Combined Test Force resident at the desert super base. As the aircraft lifted off the pilot retracted the landing gear, stayed low and pulled into a vertical climb. The dear old 1950s-era English Electric Lightning was renowned for its ability to climb, a capability we can no longer see in that Cold War stalwart. And the 1970s-era McDonnell F-15 Eagle can still turn heads in an unrestricted climb: an event rarely seen these days. Fast forward from yesteryear to Edwards on the first

day of May 2015. One F-22, two Pratt & Whitney F119 engines, 70,000lb of thrust, 15,000 feet of runway and unrestricted airspace over the field. The take-off was nothing short of amazing – a true testament to aerospace engineering. F-22 4007 climbed effortlessly until it was out of sight. Twelve years earlier I watched an F-22 take off for the first time. The location: Edwards Air Force Base. The operation: flight test. The experience: memorable. Nothing’s changed. The F-22 is a fascinating aeroplane with phenomenal power, thrust-vector control, unsurpassed agility and a lethal shoot and strike capability. Sleek and potent the Silver Bullet’s ‘air dominance’ credentials remain supreme.

Mark Ayton

EDITOR

Published by Key Publishing Ltd, PO Box 100, Stamford, Lincolnshire, PE9 1XQ, UK Telephone: +44 (0)1780 755131 Fax: +44 (0)1780 757261 Subscription: [email protected] Website: www.keypublishing.com

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Editor: Mark Ayton Assistant Editor: Mark Broadbent Designer: Dave Robinson Sub Editors: Sue Blunt, Carol Randall, Norman Wells Advertising Manager: Ian Maxwell Production Manager: Janet Watkins Commercial Director: Ann Saundry Executive Chairman: Richard Cox Managing Director & Publisher: Adrian Cox

F-22 Raptor - America’s Superfighter

“THEY’VE KILLED THE F-22” I

Loh and Behold From the late 1980s onwards, one officer working on ATF issues was Lieutenant General (later, General) John Michael Loh. Long before he took over Tactical Air Command in March 1991 — overseeing its transformation into Air Combat Command — Loh conducted studies of future fighter needs. Loh dwelled on “return on investment”, or ROI. If the United States was going to sink billions into a quantum technological leap, Loh argued, it was imperative to manufacture the new fighter in sufficient numbers to make it economical. Loh told AIR International: “No business spends billions to develop a product expecting a handsome return over a long production cycle and then terminates the programme after only a few hundred. I endured this graveyard spiral of dwindling numbers causing increased unit costs with the B-2 Spirit bomber to the point that we spent as much to develop it as we spent on production. The B-2 cycle was a gross violation of ROI.” The Raptor attained initial operational capability on December 15, 2005. In 2007, I visited the Virginia Air National Guard at Richmond airport. Colonel Jay Pearsall’s 192nd Fighter Wing was preparing to surrender its base and its F-16 Fighting Falcons to move to Langley Air

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t would be wrong to use the past tense when speaking of the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor. The superfighter is waging war today and will be with us for decades. Still, in important ways, the F-22 has witnessed its own birth and death. For practical purposes, the Raptor was born on October 31, 1986 and died on July 21, 2009. On the earlier date, the Pentagon selected two aircraft as candidates for its Advanced Tactical Fighter, or ATF, programme. On the later date, the United States Senate followed the lead of President Barack Obama and Defense Secretary Robert Gates by voting 58-40 to kill future purchases of F-22s. Conceived to fight a nuclear-armed Soviet Union and blooded in unorthodox battle with the Islamic State, the F-22 overcame criticism and fiscal hurdles to evolve into a superb air-to-air platform. It reached maturity after being over cost, behind schedule, and fraught with technical glitches. Once the Soviet threat ended, critics argued the F-22 programme needed to be reined in. Much of the verbal flak was hurled about after the Lockheed (later, Lockheed Martin) aircraft was selected in preference to the NorthropMcDonnell YF-23.

F-22 Raptor - America’s Superfighter Force Base, Virginia, to join the F-22 force. “We’re not being assimilated by the active duty force,” Pearsall told me. “We will not wear their patches.” Pearsall would be in “partnership” with the active-duty 1st Fighter Wing (FW). No boundaries would be drawn because of a pilot’s active-duty or Guard status. Some F-22s owned by the active-duty wing, commanded by Colonel (later, Major General) Mark Barrett, would doff their FF (for ‘Fighting First’) tail code and adopt a VA tail code (the abbreviation used for the state of Virginia). All of the promises made to Pearsall were based on a production total of 381 aircraft. Most were never fulfilled and only one F-22 was given the VA tail code. Pearsall and his airmen were being betrayed. While Washington agonised, the “fifth generation” fighter became visible on ramps. On December 12, 2007, General John Corley, the boss at Air Combat Command, officially declared F-22s of the integrated active-duty 1st FW and Virginia Air National Guard 192nd FW fully operational — three years after the first Raptor delivery to the Virginia base. Interviewed for this article, Corley ruminated upon the pressures on 1st Fighter Wing commander Colonel Barrett to forge a combat outfit with what Corley remembered as “too few airplanes and too much demand”. A combat wing typically had three or four flying squadrons. Barrett’s ended up with two, plus the Guard unit, which owns no aircraft but demands plenty of resources. The 27th Fighter Squadron (FS) ‘Fighting Eagles’, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel James Heller, took delivery

and a new bomber. Among luminaries attending Gates’ swearing-in were Secretary of the Air Force Michael Wynne and Chief of Staff of the Air Force General Michael ‘Buzz’ Moseley. Theirs was a “true partnership”, Wynne told AIR International. Both sensed from day one that Gates was unhappy with the air force — and with them. Gates came to the Pentagon, “absolutely convinced that we in the air force were not supporting the troops in the field”, Wynne told AIR International. “He was single-minded that we were not in support of the army. I did not realise until then how ‘single-dimension’ he was. He discounted the good things we were doing in Iraq — the Predator [drone] and so on.” Moseley was a fighter pilot and an experienced, smart, shrewd player in Washington’s military-industrial infrastructure. He was a persuasive advocate for the F-22, a new bomber, a new helicopter and a new tanker. None of these aircraft fitted Gates’ priority — which was Iraq. Nor did Wynne and Moseley. They had a larger vision. The nation, Moseley believed, could handle Iraq and Afghanistan without surrendering its readiness to wage a near-peer war with a modern nation-state. In an interview with AIR International, Lieutenant General Thomas McInerney, a former commander of US Air Force units in the UK, remembered knowing Moseley “since he was a captain” and spoke of “the tank”, the secure Pentagon conference room where the Joint Chiefs meet. McInerney told AIR International Moseley “had a keen mind that retained every detail of an issue, plus the skill to impart the information concisely”.

in 2005 of the first combat-coded F-22 (serial number 03-4042). The 94th FS ‘Hat in the Ring’ received its first F-22 (serial number 04-4062) on March 3, 2006. Plans to retain the third flying outfit at Langley, the 71st FS ‘Ironmen’ as an F-15C Eagle unit, quickly became too complicated after Virginia Guardsmen refused to kowtow. The 71st was deactivated in 2010. The three active-duty squadrons, once scheduled to each receive 24 Raptors, had become two squadrons, each equipped with 18 Primary Aircraft Authorised (PAA). “We knew we were going to end up with fewer airplanes and fewer squadrons but more mouths to feed,” Corley told AIR International. As for the new F-22s, “we were flying the wheels off of them. We had a programme called ‘Ready Alaska’, in which we trained pilots and maintainers for the next Raptor base. That, of course, was Elmendorf.” Soon, the Langley-based 1st FW faced added pressures assisting in the formation of an F-22 wing at Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico. It was an expensive and short-lived detour. Holloman received its first Raptor in 2006 and gave up its last in a major reshuffle on April 8, 2014. Holloman’s assets were used to bolster the Raptor presence at Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida (see American Hornets p46-49).

“Buzz could go into the tank and give a two-minute summary of why Gates was wrong on an issue,” McInerney said. “He could articulate things and get to the bottom line. Because he had the ability to articulate things so well, it frustrated Gates, who wanted to use the air force and the navy as cash cows [to shift funds to ground warfare in Iraq]. Moseley was a threat to Gates.” The Virginia Guardsmen felt the knife twist in their wound when one of their leaders (not Pearsall) visited Langley and was told that one-third of the Guardsmen who were giving up ownership of aircraft, a beloved airbase, and in some cases their long-time homes would maintain and fly F-15s, not F-22s. “That’s not what we were promised,” the Guard officer said. “You don’t get a choice here.” “Oh, yes, we do. Look at your support on Capitol Hill and look at ours.” “Some of your pilots will have to fly F-15s.” “Ain’t going to happen.” The Guardsman was right. It didn’t. Instead, the 71st FS folded. The pressures at Langley — too few airframes, too many sorties needed, too many people to be trained — persisted.

Enter Gates

“Full of himself”

Jim Haseltine

Issues at Langley

Robert Gates took office as Secretary of Defense on December 18, 2006. That day, I requested an interview with him. The air force had been shrinking for a decade and a half in the aftermath of Desert Storm, the Persian Gulf War (in 1991). Before Gates, air force leaders hoped their shrinking, decrepit inventory of warplanes could be recapitalised. What was needed most? The Raptor

Gates was preoccupied with counter-insurgency. “He said we were dragging our feet,” Lieutenant General David Deptula told AIR International. “In fact, the air force leadership was fully committed to counter-insurgency but saw it as one part of a spectrum of capabilities.” The F-22 had the potential to be a long-range, land-based strategic asset, suited for a near-peer war with Russia, China, Iran, North Korea,

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F-22 Raptor - America’s Superfighter or any adversary with an integrated air defence network. Gates was “arrogant” and “full of himself”, Deptula said. The Defense Secretary had “myopic vision that clouded his ability to see his responsibilities”. Gates was “not malicious”, Deptula said, but failed to see the importance of near-peer warfare and strategic air power. After years of controversy, the F-22 was performing well in 2007. Air force leaders were looking ahead to long-delayed recapitalisation. Gates, however, remained focused on fighting small wars rather than preparing for big ones. As a result, mine-resistant, armour protected vehicles, Predator and Reaper drones, the MC-12W Project Liberty surveillance aircraft (a derivative of the Hawker Beechcraft King Air 350), and the hapless C-27J Spartan airlifter were developed and put into service. Gates also pushed for the “battlefield airman”, a blue-suiter who would fight not in the sky but on the ground. Airmen found themselves relegated to ground convoy duty.

later surfaced with a legal action against the manufacturer of his F-15. His lawsuit went to the heart of the question air force investigators immediately needed to sort out: was the problem caused by age and fatigue, or by a fault in manufacturing the aircraft? Perversely, a manufacturing flaw would be a blessing. The alternative was an entire fleet falling apart from geriatric ills. I’ve talked with Stilwell several times but as recently as June 2015 he did not want to be interviewed on the record. By spring 2008, a combination of fixes and reexamination of the problem returned all but a couple of dozen Eagles to airworthy status. The official verdict was a manufacturing flaw. The fighter inventory was not dying of old age — not yet. The big scare was a false alarm — for the time being. In January 2008, Gates publicly used an argument against the F-22 that later came up repeatedly. The F-22 was not useful, Gates said, because it was not being used in Iraq. The Raptor was intended for a different kind of warfare, but it could make a contribution in the Middle East and would, in fact, do so seven years later. Gates neglected to say the F-22 had been taken to a weapons range in the United Arab Emirates and had demonstrated its capabilities without a glitch. Gates also failed to say that Wynne and Moseley had proposed deploying the F-22 to the combat zone several times and had been turned down, by Gates and Joint Chiefs Chairman, Admiral Michael Mullen. Wynne and Moseley knew they were expected to support administration policy. They also knew that, if asked by lawmakers, they were required ethically and by law to give a personal opinion, even if it differed from policy. They explained policy and gave opinions in private meetings and public testimony on Capitol Hill in spring 2008. That spring, Wynne sensed his job was in jeopardy. Moseley did not. A report prepared for Deputy Secretary of Defense Gordon England concluded fielding 381 F-22s would be detrimental to overall US force structure. This prompted a meeting in Gates’ office.

Nuclear Mishap

US Air Force

An incident on August 29-30, 2007 became part of the F-22 saga because it gave Gates a reason — or an excuse — to sack two of the strongest advocates for the Raptor. Major General Richard Newton III told reporters how five “key procedural breakdowns” resulted in a B-52H Stratofortress carrying six AGM-129 cruise missiles that hadn’t been stripped of their W80-1 nuclear warheads. Wynne — who’d been telling Capitol Hill about the need for 381 Raptors — publicly acknowledged the “serious error” that allowed the nuclear-tipped AGM-129s to be loaded on to a B-52H at Minot Air Force Base, North Dakota. After the incident, five officers were relieved of duty, including a wing commander. Newton said the mishap “was an isolated incident and that the weapons never left the custody of airmen”. Key figures in Washington told Wynne the matter had been handled well. By the end of 2007, Wynne and Moseley believed the unfortunate mistake with the cruise missiles was now history. They were wrong. In November 2007, the press focused on new technical problems with the F-22 including leaks, corrosion and structural weakness. At the same time supporters of the plane, including the industry team behind it, touted the F-22 as an ISR platform (intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance). Starting in 2007 and dragging into 2008, an apparent strong reason arose to recapitalise the air force. It was the scare that convinced Wynne, Moseley and others that existing aircraft were falling apart. It began on November 2, 2007. Major Stephen Stilwell was piloting an F-15C Eagle (serial number 80-0034) over Missouri countryside. A Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 pilot fulfilling his Air National Guard duty, Stilwell was thrown into a “sudden, hellish maelstrom”, according to a Washington Post account. Without warning, Stilwell’s aircraft fell apart around him. In seconds, he made the transition from normal flight to plummeting earthward inside a nose section no longer attached to wings, rear fuselage, engines, or tail. Stilwell ejected. The canopy of Stilwell’s F-15C struck him in mid-air. His seat absorbed some of the impact, sparing him what otherwise would have been fatal injury. Stilwell

With the Boss

US Air Force

“I was sitting in his office with Buzz,” Wynne told this magazine. “Gates told me the F-22 wasn’t needed because we would never go to war with our competitor nations”, such as Russia and China. But Wynne was worried Moscow and Beijing were exporting sophisticated air defence systems to Third World nations that America might fight. “I told him we were not at war with the Russians when my brother was shot down over Vietnam by a Russian anti-aircraft missile.” Wynne’s older sibling, Lieutenant Patrick Edward Wynne, was one of two airmen aboard an F-4C Phantom II shot down and killed near Kep in North Vietnam on August 8, 1966. “We were summarily dismissed from the meeting. Outside in the hallway, I told Buzz, ‘I think Gates knows now that it’s his personal mission to fight the air force’.” In spring 2008, the two air force leaders met in the office of Senator Ted Stevens, Republican from Alaska and Senator Daniel Inouye, Democrat from Hawaii, powerful figures in the appropriations process and staunch F-22 supporters. Stevens would soon be indicted (on July 29, 2008) on unrelated corruption charges. That spring, however, he loomed as a powerful force in Washington. Inouye did too. “They were with us,” Wynne said. But elsewhere in the Capitol, Wynne detected hints that support was eroding. Moseley didn’t see it. A master at

Above: Former Secretary of the Air Force, Michael Wynne. Above middle: Former Chief of Staff of the Air Force, General Norton ‘Nortie’ Schwartz. Top: Former Chief of Staff of the Air Force, General Michael ‘Buzz’ Moseley.

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digesting detail and explaining complex issues to others, Moseley was impervious to what was about to happen to him. Wynne said: “In May 2008, I told Buzz, ‘within two weeks one or both of us is going to be fired’.” The Senate Armed Services Committee was finalising an appropriations bill that supported the air force leaders and their quest for 381 F-22s. It was the last year in which Congress would authorise F-22 purchases. “Buzz looked at me in shock,” continued Wynne. “I don’t think Buzz understood how serious a divide we had put between us and the Secretary’s office.” Wynne could imagine being accused of insubordination. Moseley could not. It never occurred to either that a nuclear incident the previous year would be used against them.

Suddenly, without warning, and without doing it face-to-face, Gates sacked Wynne and Moseley on June 5, 2008. The official reason was a series of incidents in which nuclear components were mishandled, especially the Minot AGM-129 mishap. Beneath the surface lay a different reason for the dismissals. Gates saw the air force leaders as obsessed with F-22 Raptor and F-35 Lightning II stealth warplanes and wanted the focus to be on Iraq. Pentagon leaders are often faulted for preparing for the last war. Gates was preparing for the current one. He criticised the US brass for what he called “next-war-it-is”. He lambasted “the propensity of much of the defence establishment to be in favour of acquiring what might be needed in a future conflict”. General Norton ‘Nortie’ Schwartz became chief of staff on August 1, 2008. He and his staff inherited a plan for 381 Raptors. Schwartz travelled to my hometown to visit me soon after taking office and said he hoped for an adequate number of F-22s. Michael Donley, who replaced Wynne, and Schwartz had been on duty for six months when Obama, a Democrat, was inaugurated on January 20, 2009. One of Obama’s first decisions was to retain Gates, a Republican. Donley and Schwartz were widely viewed as interim leaders with little clout in Washington. One critic, who was kindly disposed toward Schwartz, called him, “the Jimmy Carter of chiefs of staff”. McInerney told AIR International: “When they got Nortie, they got the weakest guy they could have.”

Peer Problems

On June 4, 2008 — the day before the axe fell — Deptula, then air force deputy chief of staff for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR), talked to me about the F-22. “We need to keep up with peers,” said Deptula. Russia had six aircraft production lines, including four that assembled variants of the Sukhoi Su-27/Su-35 Flanker and Su-34 Fullback fighters. Deptula said China also had six combat aircraft production lines, turning out various fighters including the J-11B version of the Su-27 and the J-8 Finback.

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F-22 Raptor - America’s Superfighter

programme would continue as planned. At Gates’ urging, a halt to production of the F-22 became policy in the Obama administration and enjoyed the support of Obama’s recent rival for the presidency, Senator John McCain, Republican from Arizona. The Senate voted 58-40 to delete F-22s from the budget on July 21, 2009. “They’ve done it,” Deptula said to a colleague. “They’ve killed the F-22.” Gates, who’d always said he’d taken the top Pentagon job reluctantly, used his final days, he said later, to argue for strong defence. Having weakened the air force, cancelled the F-22, and remained distracted by Iraq, Gates was suddenly a hawk. “I used my public speeches to warn Americans about the consequences of significant reductions in defence capabilities,” wrote the man who’d killed the Raptor in his memoir, Duty. To write this article, I renewed my 2007 request for an interview with Gates. I received no response. Robert F Dorr

To Schwartz’s enormous credit, he brought dignity, decency and effort to an impossible situation. The only air force chief in decades who was not a fighter pilot, Schwartz made one last, valiant attempt to get enough F-22s. Jackie Henningsen, director of studies and analysis on the air staff, presided over a classified study that concluded that 272 Raptors was the smallest acceptable number consistent with strategic needs. This would permit ten squadrons of 24 aircraft — one for each air expeditionary component — with a handful of additional airframes for backup and training. “They took this number to Schwartz and he said it was too high,” Deptula told AIR International. “So we got rid of the backup and training capacity and settled on 240 as the number we were going to ask for. No fighter had ever before been manufactured in such small numbers.” Schwartz fought for this number. Gates would have none of it. He wanted to shut down the Marietta production line at the earliest practicable juncture. Donley and Schwartz were pressured — very possibly, ordered — to co-author ‘Moving Beyond the F-22’, an humiliating Washington Post op-ed piece on April 13, 2009 that signalled surrender to Gates’ priorities. Production of the F-22 would end not at 381 airframes, nor at 272, nor at 240, but at 187. The leaders would “not recommend that F-22s be included in the fiscal 2010 defence budget”. The F-35

This article is adapted from material that will appear in the book Air Power Abandoned, by Robert F Dorr, to be published in the spring 2016 by Autumn Dog Publications.

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Jim Haseltine

Impossible Situation

L

F-22 Raptor - America’s Superfighter

ifting off the 10,008ft runway at Tyndall Air Force Base, a greyish Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor points its nose toward the brilliant yellow orb of the sun and climbs above Florida’s Emerald Coast. Lieutenant William Meedon performs a last-minute check of the routine stuff — wheels up, systems working, oxygen flowing — and heads out over the Gulf of Mexico. With a second Raptor in formation with him, Lt Meedon, an instructor, is performing a routine flight in what he calls, “a fighter that no one else in the world can match”. Until May 2015 Lt Meedon was a member of the 43rd Fighter Squadron ‘American Hornets’, the formal training unit (FTU) commanded by Lt Col William Creeden that trains all F-22 pilots for combat-coded units. “For getting in time and rehearsing your skills, you can fly it when

you have bad LO,” said Lt Meedon, referring to the low observables (LO) or stealth features that render the F-22 difficult to spot on radar. “In early days the LO was not holding up as well as it should. Those days are past but every airframe still has an occasional bad LO day. When that happens it isn’t war capable, but you can still perform training flights.”

Fly and Fight

Most of the time, the squadron’s Raptors are ready to fly and fight. And while the unit is a schoolhouse, reporting to Air Combat Command, it can deploy combat-ready aircraft and instructor pilots in a crisis. That isn’t likely, but air force officials are always conscious of how few Raptors they have and how valuable they are. Moreover, the 43rd Fighter Squadron (FS) shares the base with a combat-coded F-22 unit. The 95th FS ‘Mr Bones’ was reactivated on October 11, 2013 and

AMERICAN 46

F-22 Raptor - America’s Superfighter nothing in the world today that can touch it. “It’s not the perfect tool for a low-threat, counter-insurgency situation as in Syria and Iraq, but it is proving valuable there. Against a modern nation state with an integrated air defence system and double-digit surface-to-air missile (SAM) systems, it would be not just valuable but essential.” The Russian NPO Almaz S-300 long-range surface-to-air missile was given the NATO codename SA-10 Grumble: the first with a double-digit. Officials at Tyndall told AIR International that F-22 mission capable rates in April 2015 were 79%, above the 75% air force-wide goal. The mission of an FTU, to prepare a pilot for his or her service aircraft, is always taxing. From the beginning, the 43rd FS has faced challenges because of the high ratio of pilots to airframes in the F-22 fleet, caused primarily by active-duty and Air National Guard pilots being assigned to the same aircraft. As happened elsewhere in the F-22 community, the 43rd FS has

N HORNETS 47

Jim Haseltine

commanded by Lt Col Erick Gilbert and was deployed to the Middle East in May 2015. Both squadrons report to the 325th Fighter Wing (FW), commanded by Col Derek France. Also part of the wing is the 2nd Fighter Training Squadron (FTS) ‘American Beagles’, which operates T-38C Talons to conduct adversary training for F-22 pilots. The 2nd FTS commander is Lt Col Derek Wyler. Co-located with the two active-duty F-22 units is the 301st FS assigned to the 44th Fighter Group, Air Force Reserve Command. The 301st FS, which traces its history to the Tuskegee Airmen of World War Two, provides pilots and instructors. It is a reserve associate squadron, has no F-22 Raptors assigned and uses jets assigned to the 43rd FS. Referring to the superfighter that is no longer as controversial as it once was, Lt Meedon said: “Notwithstanding the bugs that happened along the way, the technology in the F-22 absolutely works. There’s

F-22 Raptor - America’s Superfighter

overcome early technical difficulties with LO and a prolonged series of issues involving the F-22’s on-board oxygen system. As planned from the beginning, the squadron relies heavily — far more than FTUs for other aircraft types — on a major portion of training time being spent in simulators rather than cockpits.

Austin Skelley, Ryan Shelhorse, Marcus McGinn and Dan Dickinson. From the beginning, the task of training F-22 pilots required a high tempo of sorties and extraordinary amounts of simulator time. A structural issue that involved the Virginia Air National Guard confounded early plans for the first combat-coded unit, the 1st FW at Langley Air Force Base, Virginia — and, ultimately, made the 43rd’s job more difficult. Officials knew from the beginning that they were not going to get as many F-22s as they wanted. One solution was to ask Langley to operate a wing that would employ two aircraft types. It would have two squadrons of F-22s and one of F-15s. The idea was eventually put into effect but never worked well and has since been abandoned. When Virginia’s Guardsmen gave up the base they had used since just after World War Two — Sandston Field, part of Richmond airport — and the F-16 Fighting Falcons they owned, they were promised that by moving to Langley and no longer having ownership of the aircraft they used, they would have the opportunity to fly the most advanced fighter in the world. But, then, active-duty officers told the Virginian Guardsmen that some of them would have to fly with the third squadron at Langley, the one using F-15C Eagles. In 2012, it was announced that the 7th FS assigned to the 49th Wing based at Holloman Air Force Base was to move hundreds of its F-22 support personnel and aircraft to Tyndall, in the spring of 2013. A move made to comply with the air force F-22 fleet consolidation plan. The then 49th Wing commander at Holloman was Harrigian, the former CO of the 43rd FS. It is easy to wonder if Harrigian felt shortchanged: he had been with the F-22 almost from the beginning and had risen to command a combat wing only to see F-22 production shut down and the 49th Wing given a new mission. Today, the long story of the fight for more F-22s is over but the 43rd FS continues to train those who will serve in a fleet that is smaller and

FTU Beginnings

The saga of the 43rd FS and its F-22 training mission began on September 26, 2003, when Lt Col (now Maj Gen) Jeffrey Harrigian delivered the 18th Raptor (serial number 01-4018) to Tyndall. Maj Gen Harrigian was the squadron’s first commander (following its demise as an F-15 Eagle unit in Alaska and rebirth on the Florida shore) and its first to fly the F-22, the second being Maj Keith Luzynski. At the time — from 2000 to 2005 — the aircraft was designated F/A-22 in a bid to emphasise that it has both air-to-air and air-toground capabilities. In 2004, the then air force Chief of Staff Gen John Jumper became the first and only US Air Force service chief to train with the 43rd FS to qualify in the F/A-22. Critics said it was a waste of taxpayer dollars for the air force’s member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to qualify in a new fighter. In an interview with the author in 2003, Lt Col Mike Stapleton, the then 43rd FS Director of Operations, said: “Our mindset from the very get-go is to shoot it down if it’s in the sky or blow it up if it’s on the ground. Our job is to gain access to the adversary, whatever that means. Our job is to gain access, whether the target is on the ground or in the air.” The real job, though, was training, and some wondered if Tyndall was ready for it. New buildings and a new taxiway were built to support what was then called the F/A-22. At first, new Raptor trainees arriving in Tyndall were seasoned pilots with experience on other fighters. Many had flown the F-16 Fighting Falcon, which, like the F-22, has a right-hand side-stick controller rather than a control stick between the pilot’s legs as on the F-15. In 2008, Tyndall welcomed its first cadre of F-22 pilots with no previous operational experience in a fighter. All went first to fighter fundamentals school at Randolph Air Force Base, Texas, followed by F-22 lead-in training in two-seat F-16s at Luke Air Force Base, Arizona. The lieutenants selected as the first “green” Raptor pilots were

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more closely consolidated than was once planned. In a sense, the squadron is at a crossroads. A combination of military needs, policy decisions and funding measures will determine how fully the squadron continues to prepare airmen to fly and fight in the F-22.

Ongoing Training

In Fiscal Year 2014, the 43rd FS graduated 23 Raptor pilots, short of a goal of 38. The air force expected to graduate 30 in 2015, well short of the 42 its force-structure calls for. The basic course, called the B course, for a student new to tactical jet aviation, has been tailored so that the student spends the maximum amount of time in simulators and a minimum in the cockpit. When a student straps in the F-22 cockpit for the first time, he or she is witnessing something that’s off-limits to civilians, journalists, even lawmakers. Decades after design work began on the Raptor only one outsider has ever got up-close-and-personal with the instrument panel and other details inside this majestic fighter. When producers of the 2015 movie Aloha needed a cockpit shot for storytelling purposes, actor Emma Stone, who plays Captain Allison Ng in the film, put on a ‘green bag’ (flight suit) and received considerable assistance climbing in. The location was Hickam Air

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Jim Haseltine

Force Base, Hawaii. Stone was sworn to secrecy. She could sit in the cockpit for a promotional portrait to plug the movie but she could not talk about what she’d seen. While in the aircraft, Stone used an evocative hand gesture to give the Hawaiian greeting known as the “shaka”, which is popular in Hawaiian surfing culture and means “hang loose”. The unsatisfactory low level of entrants to the F-22 B course is caused in part by a worldwide shortage of young people with an interest in becoming pilots and in part by relentless budget pressures over the past three to four years. Due to the latter, the F-22 basic qualification syllabus has seen cuts and changes, particularly with the number of fights students must make to graduate. In the past, the new F-22 pilot was expected to complete 43 sorties. This requirement was reduced to 38 in 2014 and is expected to be reduced further if the federal budget process known as sequestration continues to take its toll. A noteworthy policy change at the top occurred on May 16 when President Barack Obama, speaking at the US Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut, told new ensigns that Congress must put an end to sequestration if it wants him to sign bills sent to the White House. Tyndall continues to be an amenable place to live, train and fly. Blessed with good weather and abundant facilities, the base is considered key to the future of the US Air Force — and that’s especially true of the 43rd FS with its unique training mission. Robert F Dorr

F-22 Raptor - America’s Superfighter

F-22 Raptor - America’s Superfighter

OVERCOMING THE CHALLENGES T

he Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor became a combat veteran on September 23, 2014. That night, four Raptors were part of a strike package that spent two hours travelling 1,200 miles (1,931km) to attack an Islamic State (IS) facility near Aleppo in Syria. The event occurred a month after President Barack Obama authorised the use of military force against IS. It kicked off an aerial campaign that has vindicated high-tech weaponry but is criticised as being too miserly in magnitude to have much effect. The criticism is based on numbers. Just six F-22s are deployed to the combat zone at a time. During Operation Desert Storm, the 1991 Persian Gulf War, all US and allied forces averaged 1,241 sorties per day. During Operation Inherent Resolve, the effort against IS, all US and allied forces are averaging 12 sorties per day. Moreover, because of stifling rules of engagement, about half of these flights end with aircraft returning to base with unexpended munitions. It may be a small-scale operation, but the combat debut of the Raptor was an overdue triumph for the diamond-winged, stealthy superfighter that spent a decade being trashed by critics. The F-22 was soaking the US taxpayer, the sceptics said. The F-22 was dangerous to fly, claimed those affected by the Raptor’s short-lived and overblown (no pun intended) oxygen system issues. Once committed to battle, the F-22s were assigned to be ready in the event of the Syrian Air Force responding to the attack. Syria’s air defence network attempted to track the strike package but took no action against it. The F-22s then drew the task of maintaining communication across the battlespace. A source told AIR International that on a subsequent mission F-22s used their air-to-ground capability. Lieutenant General William Mayville, director of operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff and a US Army officer, told reporters: “What we were looking at were the effects we wanted to see on the target areas and what platforms in the region would be best suited to do that. We had a large menu of targets to strike and we chose from there. Really, it’s less the platform than the effects we seek.” The F-22s belonged to the 27th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron. In view of IS’s practice of brutally executing prisoners, the US Air Force is unusually secretive about the names of the airmen participating in the operation. And because of host-country political sensitivities, the service has never acknowledged the locations from which warplanes operate in the Middle East.

An F-22 Raptor refuels from a KC-135R Stratotanker over the Atlantic Ocean during a mission from Langley Air Force Base. MSgt Jeremy Lock/US Air Force

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F-22 Raptor - America’s Superfighter Although Raptors had previously deployed to Al Dhafra Air Base in the United Arab Emirates, those involved in the first wave of combat operations apparently took off from Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, the base for the KC-10 Extenders that refuelled them. Both bases are just across the Persian Gulf from Iran, which has been supporting Shiite forces in Iraq and Syria fighting against IS.

‘Enhance Everybody Else’

General Herbert ‘Hawk’ Carlisle, the boss of Air Combat Command, told reporters on June 1 that no missions into Syria happen without the F-22 playing a pivotal role. The F-22 uses its capabilities “to enhance everybody else”, Gen Carlisle said at a breakfast with journalists. “It’s amazing what that airplane can do.” He cited “its ability to get there, its sensor suite, its ability to pass information”, the way the F-22 can defend a strike package and attack targets on the ground – and spoke of a 12-hour mission where an F-22 pilot “switched to different roles numerous times” doing strikes and escort while refuelling from a tanker “about seven times”. While others question the effectiveness of the air campaign, Gen Carlisle spoke of inflicting grave damage on IS and “taking a serious toll on their morale and capability”. Raptors made their first overseas deployment to Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, in 2007. A dozen at a time have been a presence there ever since, and undertaken visits to South Korea. Raptors have been travelling to the Middle East since 2009. Retired Lieutenant General David Deptula said in an interview for this article: “They were supposed to go in 2008 but were cancelled at the last minute.” In fact there were four separate occasions when F-22s were scheduled to go to a warzone, only to have the deployment cancelled by then Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Michael Mullen on orders from then Defense Secretary Robert Gates.

F-22 RAPTOR COMBAT UNITS 1st Fighter Wing (FF tailcode) Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Virginia 27th Fighter Squadron ‘Fighting Eagles’ 94th Fighter Squadron ‘Hat in the Ring’ (Partnered with 149th Fighter Squadron)* 3rd Wing (AK tailcode) Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska 90th Fighter Squadron ‘Pair o’ Dice’ 525th Fighter Squadron ‘Bulldogs’ (Partnered with 302nd Fighter Squadron)** 154th Wing (HH tailcode)* Joint Base Hickam-Pearl Harbor, Hawaii 199th Fighter Squadron ‘Mai Tais’* (Partnered with 19th Fighter Squadron) 325th Fighter Wing (TY tailcode) Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida

Above middle: Airman 1st Class Jennifer Craig and Australian Major Matthew Harper prepare an F-22 Raptor for departure from Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska.

95th Fighter Squadron ‘Mr Bones’ (Partnered with 301st Fighter Squadron)**

Senior Airman Cynthia Spalding/US Air Force Top left: A crew chief looks over her tools before preparing an F-22 Raptor for a training mission at Nellis Air Force Base. TSgt Michael Holzworth/US Air Force

*Air National Guard **Air Force Reserve Command

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F-22 Raptor - America’s Superfighter When the F-22 participated in Exercise Iron Falcon, similar to the better-known Red Flag exercises, at the United Arab Emirates Air Warfare Center at Al Dhafra in November and December 2009, Raptor advocates were discouraged from publicising the event. A single F-22 appeared at the Dubai Air Show that November, but even then publicity was minimal. Both the cancelled deployments and the shroud over successes on the UAE weapons range prompted F-22 supporters to believe their bosses wanted them to fail. That first appearance in the Middle East did not escape the notice of Iran, which called the presence of the superfighter “provocative”. No doubt for understandable reasons, no Raptors reside permanently anywhere among the 800 overseas bases the United States has maintained overseas since the end of the Cold War.

Three Main Bases

Paul Ridgway

Three words: Langley, Elmendorf and Hickam. Mention those names to anyone who flies or maintains the F-22 and recognition is instant. They’re the military airfields in Virginia, Alaska and Hawaii, where combat-coded F-22s live, and from where they venture on deployments to world trouble spots. A fourth location, Tyndall Air Force Base in Florida, is home to one F-22 combat squadron and a training unit (see American Hornets, p46-49). On October 1, 2010, as part of a larger consolidation, Langley Air Force Base was combined with the US Army’s nearby Fort Eustis to become Joint Base Langley-Eustis, or JBLE. In addition to hosting two active-duty F-22 squadrons, JBLE’s 1st Fighter Wing is home to two Raptor flying units and the F-22 Raptor Demo Team, which travels all over the world performing manoeuvres used in air combat and is the only unit to showcase the F-22. The second main base to receive the Raptor was Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska, renamed Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in 2010. On November 10 that year, an F-22 of the 525th Fighter Squadron at the base was lost in a fatal crash near the town of Cantwell. The pilot, Captain Jeffrey Haney, went down, according to an accident board, because of a malfunction with the engines’ bleed air system that caused other systems aboard the Raptor to shut down abruptly. This was the third crash of a Raptor and the first hull loss of an F-22 in an operational squadron. When controversy flared in ensuing years over the Raptor’s on-board oxygen system – now resolved – officials insisted it was not a factor in Haney’s crash. When the first pair of Raptors arrived at Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii, on July 9, 2010, a press release touted a strengthening of US war readiness in the Pacific. Hickam, too, underwent a name change and is now Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam. Pilots from the Pacific Air Forces’ 19th Fighter Squadron and the Hawaii Air National Guard 199th Fighter Squadron fly the aircraft and a combination of Guardsmen and active-duty airmen maintain them. General Craig McKinley, head of the National Guard Bureau – and the first and only four-star general in Air National Guard history – proclaimed the F-22 to be a “crown jewel”. He used the same term for what he called the “type of team spirit” shared by active-duty airmen and Guardsmen. Hickam is the only location where the Guard owns F-22s and the facilities that support them.

Flying the F-22

Conversations with several F-22 Raptor pilots – none of whom wanted to be named – paint a picture of mixed feelings about the aircraft. No pilot dislikes the fighter to which he is assigned, but the F-22 arouses at least partial negatives from some, and not solely because of the now-resolved oxygen system issue. The reliance on, and occasional failure of, digital software makes some uncomfortable. Work on the F-22 design dates back to 1986. That’s when the Common Integrated Processor (CIP) began to evolve. That year, the IBM 286 computer was just coming into use with the general public. The CIP became the ‘brain’ of the Raptor’s avionics system but was a bane to the first generation of pilots, who were born in the stick-andrudder age. Thinking not about what was possible but about what might only be dreamed of, engineers sketched out the future F-22 to meet computing goals that seemed unattainable. One engineer paraphrased a famous truism by science fiction giant Arthur C Clarke: “If a distinguished scientist tells you it can’t be done, he is probably wrong. If a techno-nerd at Lockheed says it can be achieved, he is probably right.” For instance, a fibre-optic transmitter and receiver, part of the display avionics, was roughly the size of half a sheet of paper in 1986. Four years later that same computational power had been shrunk to roughly

Above: Weapons loaders assigned to Virginia Air National Guard’s 192nd Maintenance Group inspect a universal ammunition loading system at Langley Air Force Base. MSgt Carlos Claudio/US Air Force Above middle: A crew chief signals the pilot to prepare to taxi on the flight line at Kadena Air Base, Japan during a deployment to the Okinawa base. The airman and aircraft are assigned to the 525th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron based at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska. Airman 1st Class Maeson Elleman/US Air Force Opposite bottom: A maintainer removes a panel from an F-22 Raptor in preparation to apply low observable coatings. Senior Airman Dana Hill/US Air Force

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the size of today’s computer disk. Today, it’s a thousandth of a grain of sand. The engineers working on the future Raptor began to feel confident they might achieve their ambitious goals. Computational power has greatly changed all aspects of the F-22 programme, from design through manufacturing and the testing and operational use of the aircraft. This is not an issue to a younger generation of millennial F-22 pilots who are ‘natives’ born in the digital age rather than ‘immigrants’ forced to make the transition into a digital era.

Those pesky little electrons inside the F-22 gave pilots plenty of cause for bar-room banter and late-night TV comedy hosts’ punchlines. On April 10, 2006, a software glitch imprisoned Captain Brad Spears inside his F-22 (serial number 03-4041) cockpit for five hours after landing. Firefighters had to cut him out. Repairing the Raptor cost $182,000. Another digital disaster forced 12 F-22s to turn back over the Pacific because their on-board systems couldn’t cope with the International Date Line. Engineers corrected the error at a cost of $200,000. Some just don’t view the Raptor as their favourite. A few years ago an F-22 squadron commander who had previously piloted the F-15E Strike Eagle was offered a choice between a plum assignment that would keep him in the F-22 and a different posting that would return him to the F-15E. He chose the latter without hesitation, one of at least two who made that choice because the Strike Eagle is more comfortable, more versatile and, being more numerous, offers a greater variety of potential duty postings. The cockpit gets plenty of attention when pilots talk. It’s simply too small. It was designed too small from the beginning and no way exists to make it larger. Even before the advent of the bulky helmet-mounted cueing system now in use, a Raptor pilot could rely on bumping his head on the ceiling of the canopy (which is 140in/3.55m long, 45in/1.14m wide, 27in/680mm in height and weighs 360lb/158kg). Lacking a canopy bow, the monolithic polycarbonate canopy gives the pilot superb visibility, but the feeling of being cramped inside the Raptor never goes away. With insufficient elbow-room, the layout takes some getting used to. But pilots unfamiliar with the side-stick controller, similar to the one on the F-16 Fighting Falcon, quickly become accustomed. A fully integrated radar and electronics system is a relatively recent addition to today’s operational F-22s. Deptula told AIR International: “The F-22 was limited to flying basic fighter manoeuvre missions

A physiology technician, tests a Reduced Oxygen Breathing Device which allows aero medical personnel to discreetly reduce airflow for realistic pilot training on hypoxia awareness. Senior Airman Austin Harvill/US Air Force

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F-22 Raptor - America’s Superfighter

An F-22 pilot who asked not to be named told AIR International that “even without using the thrust-vectoring nozzles, you can fling this thing all over the sky”. A Raptor pilot wants to fight beyond visual range and to kill the enemy without ever seeing it, but if he must manoeuvre, an F-22 pilot can do so better than anybody. “Deep in our hearts, I think we really want a close-quarters knife fight,” the pilot said. “Okay,” he added. “I admit it. We all want to be air aces.”

Wringing It Out

At least one F-22 pilot taxiing towards the runway hammerhead discovered he was peering down at grass instead of concrete. He was executing a routine, 90º turn along the edge of the taxiway. The F-22’s nosewheel is behind the cockpit, meaning it’s possible for the pilot to be over the grass while the aircraft is on concrete. Once the pilot is okay with the software and the confined interior, and actually in the air (after a take-off run no longer than that of other fighters), the F-22 can fly and fight like nothing else. To begin with, it can be taken into an immediate full vertical climb and can accelerate while climbing. It can cruise at 40,000ft (12,192m) at Mach 1.2 (1,470km/h), with the nose heading 20 degrees off the course of travel to enhance stealth. In a paper prepared for manufacturer Lockheed, test pilot Paul Metz wrote: “Supercruise, or the ability to travel at high supersonic speeds without afterburner, is one trick in a bag of tricks offered by the F-22. But this trick happens to be exclusive to the Raptor. While fighter aircraft have been flying faster than sound since the Century series of fighters, they almost always required an afterburner for supersonic flight. Because afterburner severely reduced range, supersonic flight was exploited for only relatively short periods of time – for example to avoid ground fire or run down an adversary. “Some of today’s frontline fighters can maintain slight supersonic flight with non-afterburning thrust without a full weapons load and without external tanks, but the Raptor can sustain much higher speeds for much longer periods with a full load of weapons. “This ability to supercruise gives the F-22 huge offensive and defensive tactical advantages. Supercruise performance demonstrated in flight tests with the Raptor is nothing short of eye-watering.”

Problems and Fixes

At Langley, Elmendorf, Hickam and Tyndall, pilots and maintainers of combat-coded F-22s face familiar challenges, even while their brethren are deployed into harm’s way. A recent decline in the cost of fuel, considered temporary, hasn’t made a dent in the $68,362 hourly cost of flying a Raptor; pilots sometimes feel they spend too many hours in the simulator and too few in the cockpit. A US Air Force-wide shortage of maintainers, caused by flawed personnel policies of a decade ago, is affecting the sortie rate in some F-22 units. The worldwide pilot shortage, civilian and military, is expected in the near future to reduce the numbers of new F-22 pilots who are needed most – the freshly minted first lieutenants who will grow with the aircraft over the next two decades. There are issues everywhere, from spare parts to standards enforcement, because the number of combat-coded F-22s is so small (126 in operational units on May 31, out of 187 built). Perhaps it would be a comfort to F-22 advocates if they knew the obvious: while their six squadrons (plus affiliate units) may not seem enough, they’re almost equivalent in strength to the entirety of the Royal Air Force. It isn’t enough. Everybody knows it isn’t enough. But none of that can detract from the contribution being made by the aircraft and airmen of the combat-coded F-22 Raptor force. Nothing can. Robert F Dorr

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Jim Haseltine

from 2009 to 2014. The first beyond-visual-range missions were first flown in 2014.”

DEPLOYMENTS F-22 Raptor - America’s Superfighter

T

he F-22’s career has been marked by the milestones of its deployments, first to stateside exercises, then overseas and finally to combat operations as part of the coalition air operations over Syria and Iraq against Islamic State (IS) and becoming a critical component of airpower.

this regional focus. Kadena Air Base on Okinawa received the first F-22 deployment outside the US in 2007. Andersen Air Force Base on Guam followed a year later. Outside the Pacific, the first F-22 deployment to the Gulf was to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in 2009. All of these have been followed up by repeated deployments on a regular basis. While the F-22 is a stealth design, its deployments are highvisibility, designed to display, to friends and adversaries alike, that US commitment includes a willingness to send its best fighter. Even a small number of F-22s can convey this message, as well as providing a ‘silver bullet’ operational capability against high-value air or ground targets in a conflict.

Initial Deployments After years of training deployments in the US (such as Combat Hammer at Hill Air Force Base, Utah, in October 2005, which saw its first supersonic live-bomb deliveries), the F-22’s exercise debut was in the US-Canadian Northern Edge in Alaska in June 2006, when it scored 144 simulated air-to-air kills without any losses. The exercise was also the first opportunity for other types of combat aircraft to fly missions alongside the F-22, starting the process of identifying synergies and making the aircraft a part of tactics. A US Marine Corps F/A-18 pilot participating in the exercise was quoted as saying the F-22 “made my airplane more effective”. Perhaps the most valuable deployments for evolving the F-22’s capabilities have been those to the US Air Force’s highly realistic, largescale Red Flag exercises. For new aircraft with emerging capabilities, such as the F-22, participation is particularly critical. The type’s first Red Flag at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, was in February 2007 and its initial Alaska-based Red Flag in June 2012. At Red Flag, the F-22’s pilots were not only able to hone their skills and refine tactics they’d learnt during training and exercises at their home bases and in other stateside training, but take them to a higher level by operating as part of the most realistic simulated coalition and joint air operations exercise available. Units equipped with other types of aircraft learned how they could work with the F-22 and potentially learn, as did the F/A-18 pilot, how to use the type to become more effective in combat.

Rapid Raptor

The need to project a limited-size but high-capability F-22 force has led to the development of the ‘Rapid Raptor’ deployment package – which consists of four F-22s, supported by personnel and equipment configured to fit in a single Boeing C-17 transport, and ready for operations within 24 hours of arrival at their destination. The feasibility of this concept was demonstrated by a test deployment to Elmendorf Air Force Base in Alaska in August 2013. As well as providing a message of commitment to US friends and a show of force to adversaries, F-22 deployments afford additional training opportunities such as participation in multinational exercises, including Iron Falcon in the UAE and Foal Eagle in Korea. As with the Red Flags, it is not just the F-22 fleet that has benefited from these deployments, but other coalition and joint-service aircraft that have had the opportunity of seeing the Raptor’s capabilities and thinking about the best way to take advantage of interaction with a fifth-generation fighter in a simulated combat environment. Sometimes, potential threats come to the F-22s. Those based in Alaska have had to scramble to escort Russian Air Force Tupolev Tu-95 Bear-H bombers through international airspace. But it’s overseas deployments that have brought Raptors closer to action, including an incident in September 2013 when an F-22 on a deployment to the UAE was flying an HVAAE (high-value air asset escort) mission for a US Air Force MQ-1 Predator UAV in international airspace. The fighter was alerted that two

Pacific Focus

Three of the six combat-coded F-22 squadrons are based around the Pacific Rim, and the type’s first overseas deployments reflected

An F-22 pilot performs pre-flight checks. TSgt Russ Scalf/US Air Force

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TS & COMBAT F-22 Raptor - America’s Superfighter

Iranian McDonnell F-4E Phantoms were approaching the Predator. US Air Force chief of staff General Mark Walsh described what happened next. “He [the Raptor pilot] flew under their aircraft [the F-4s] to check out their weapons load without them knowing he was there, and then pulled up on their left wing and then called them and said: ‘You really ought to go home.’”

required to engage the dense and sophisticated integrated air defence system in Syria which, while weakened by years of civil war, was at its height among the most capable in the developing world. Lieutenant General William Mayville, director of operations for the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a press conference on September 24 that the Syrians did not turn on their radars or oppose the strike. The F-22’s participation in the anti-IS air campaign, first over Syria and then subsequently over Iraq, has not received the intense publicity associated with its first combat mission. When it became apparent that sophisticated aircraft or surface-to-air missiles (SAMs) would not be used against coalition aircraft, tactics shifted. More recently, the emphasis has been on using the F-22’s stealth and sensor capability to fuse information with that from off-board sensors, providing improved situational awareness. By February 2, F-22s had flown 112 combat sorties – some lasting up to 12 hours with multiple refuelling – and delivered 132 air-tosurface munitions. General Herbert ‘Hawk’ Carlisle, commander of Air Combat Command, was quoted as saying the Raptor’s primary function in these sorties has been “making sure other airplanes are aware of what’s around them and, in cases where they need to, direct them so they stay out of any potential threat”.

Combat

The F-22s that went into combat for the first time on the night of September 23, 2014 were in striking range of their targets because they were participating in the ongoing series of deployments to the UAE. F-22 Block 35s from the 1st Fighter Wing, were part of the initial threewave strike (including cruise missiles) against IS targets in Syria. “They did very, very well the other night – very well,” said a US Department of Defense (DoD) spokesman on September 24. In the strike, the F-22s initially acted as offensive counter-air aircraft but, with no air targets to engage, they then dropped their weapon loads of two internally carried GBU-32 1,000lb (454kg) JDAM (Joint Direct Attack Munition) guided bombs on a ground target. Video footage released by the DoD showed an F-22 attacking what was said to be an IS command and control facility (captured from the Syrian military) at Raqqah. It showed a non-contact explosion demolishing rooftop radio equipment while leaving the building standing. High-technology US aircraft in the initial strike included not only the F-22s but also US Air Force F-16CJs with Raytheon AGM-88 HARMs (high-speed anti-radiation missiles) in the suppression of enemy air defences role and US Navy EA6B Prowlers in a stand-off electronic warfare role. None of them were

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Flying Sensor Suite

suggested by Lockheed Martin’s Project Missouri flight demonstration in December 2013 when, without compromising its stealth, an F-22 passed data in flight to Lockheed Martin’s F-35 Co-operative Avionics Testbed, a modified Boeing 737. Additional secure communications capabilities have been achieved by integrating a secure Rockwell Collins radio, along with two L-3 Communications systems to handle the encrypt/decrypt function, into the F-22’s AN/ASQ-220 communications, navigation and identification (CNI) system. This capability was reportedly developed in less than seven months through using existing US Air Force networking standards and software developed for an unspecified UAV, probably the stealth Lockheed Martin RQ-170. The new capability was then

Gen Walsh said on February 27 that the US Air Force has been able to use the F-22 in combat in a way the air force has “never been able to use an airplane before”. This echoed the September 30, 2014 statement on the F-22’s combat role in the campaign by Major General Jeffrey Harrigan, the Air Force Assistant Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations, Plans and Requirements: “Whatever that combination of aircraft that’s out there at that particular time, they’re able to provide them with situational awareness as to what they’re seeing – which then builds, for that other aircraft, more situational awareness about what’s going on. Every single package that goes north [in Iraq and Syria] has F-22s.” Speaking in Arlington, Virginia, on June 1, Gen Carlisle described how the F-22’s “ability to enhance everyone else and ability to give the whole force situational awareness” have led to the development and use of combat tactics making use of the Raptor being a “flying sensor suite with remarkable capabilities” at passing information. The F-22’s flexibility was, he added, demonstrated by one pilot’s experience in a 12-hour mission, during which he “re-roled five times. He went to the tanker about seven times, did strikes, escort... He did redirect, did ISR [intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance] and passed data.” Noting that F-22 operations have been primarily at night, Gen Carlisle described another mission where Raptors targeted threat anti-aircraft artillery “as far west in Syria as possible, where only F-22s could have done it” and were able to deliver their JDAMs onto this target “14-and-a-half hours after it was first detected”.

Stealth

The details of the connectivity enhancements required to enable the F-22 to carry out its missions over Syria and Iraq while remaining stealthy, have not been publicly revealed. But how it is done was

integrated on the F-22 and tested within 30 days. Another approach to network connectivity would be using a suitably equipped relay aircraft, either stealthy (such as the RQ-170) or nonstealthy (such as the Bombardier E-11A), as an intermediary for the F-22. Some or all of these techniques may be used over Syria and Iraq. In the absence of opposition, the Raptor’s stealth characteristics (which could require that its network connectivity be limited to low probability of intercept directional antennas and communication links) are less important, but its target identification capability is highly useful. Similarly, the F-22’s current limitations in using networked tactics – its Intra Flight Data Link provides communications with other F-22s and its Link 16 data link is receive-only – is less of a liability in the current permissive threat environment. But this underlines that planned improvements in F-22 connectivity will only become operational when the combat-coded aircraft receive the Increment 3.2 upgrade. Retired US Air Force Lieutenant General David Deptula, once in charge of the service’s ISR programmes, was quoted as saying: “It doesn’t do a whole lot of good to build the world’s most advanced aircraft and then not be able to share the data automatically with other aircraft in the constellation. That’s being penny-wise but pound-foolish.” David C Isby

Above right: Airmen install an auxiliary power unit into an F-22 Raptor. The repair is uncommon and considered heavy maintenance. TSgt Russ Scalf/US Air Force Top: An F-22 Raptor assigned to the 27th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron pulls out of its parking shelter for a strike mission over Syria. TSgt Russ Scalf/US Air Force Above left: Maintainers troubleshoot the communications, navigation and identification system on an F-22 Raptor assigned to the 95th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron. TSgt Marie Brown/US Air Force

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SYSTEMS &WEAPONS

T

New Capabilities

he F-22’s combat missions over Syria and Iraq have demonstrated the operational implications of its designed-in stealth, supersonic cruise performance and onboard integrated avionics and sensor systems. Together, they enable the Raptor to operate in airspace that would be denied to other aircraft. The F-22 relies on upgraded capabilities to provide situational awareness and air-to-air and airto-surface weapons capabilities. Its systems remain a work in progress and the full potential of the design will only start to be reached once the planned upgrade of all combat-coded F-22s to Block 35 configuration is completed and Increment 3.2B operational. A number of upgrades have been incorporated into the F-22, both pre-planned and those put in place in response to an emerging need. For example, the onboard oxygen generator was changed in response to highly publicised hypoxia-like events that led to F-22s being temporarily grounded in 2012. Those problems have not recurred in more than three years and a permanent solution, the retrofit of the Automatic Back-up Oxygen System, is on track for completion this year.

The F-22 requires modifications to meet developing threats (such as the need to be integrated in networked operations without compromising stealth) and take advantage of new weapons technologies. This is reflected in the Fiscal Year (FY) 2016 budget request for F-22 modernisation, announced in February, which called for $403.2 million for research, development test and evaluation to create the upgrades and a further $202.4 million to produce and install them. The need for these upgrades reflects significant differences between aircraft. As the campaign against Islamic State opened in 2014, the F-22 force had about 34 Block 20 airframes, 63 Block 30s and 86 Block 35s. The Block 35 configuration enhanced the integrated sensor and avionics suite with the side-looking synthetic aperture radar (SAR) and an electronic attack capability. The satellite communications and data link compatibility introduced with the Block 30 was upgraded with additional processing power. The Block 35’s enhanced stores management system (ESMS) affords wider weapons integration, while earlier versions require more extensive modernisation to ensure weapons compatibility. The F-22 force uses two different software iterations, Increments

Top: An F-22 Raptor releases an inert GBU-32 JDAM over the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. Jim Haseltine

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KEY SENSORS AND SYSTEMS Northrop Grumman/Raytheon AN/APG-77(V)1 active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar The F-22’s upgraded multi-mode AESA radar was fitted as original equipment to all Block 30 and Block 35 aircraft. It was capable of interleaving the situational awareness provided by air-to-air search, multi-target tracking, weather mapping and air-to-ground modes and side arrays, even before Increment 3.1 enhanced its capability. Its highly directional radar reduces the probability of interception. It is reported to be capable of detecting a 1m2 (10.76 sq ft) radar cross section target at a range of approximately 109 nautical miles (200km). A fighter-sized target can reportedly be detected at 125-150nm (231-277km), over twice the range of the F-15C’s original APG-63. TRW AN/ASQ-220 The TRW AN/ASQ-220 integrated communication/navigation/ identification (CNI) system was designed to maintain the F-22’s stealth while sharing information between aircraft systems, without pilot involvement in combat situations. The CNI system includes the intra flight data link, the Link16 compatible Joint Tactical Information Data System (JTIDS) receive-only terminal (made operational by Increment 3.1), a Mk12 identification friend or foe Mode 5 capability (operational with Increment 3.2B) and UHF/VHF radios (upgraded to be capable of encrypted communications). Hughes Common Integrated Processor (CIP) The F-22 avionics architecture uses a central-processing system that is interfaced with its sensors and avionics. The dual CIPs provide redundant capabilities as mission computers. Increment 3.1 gave the CIPs upgraded software, enabling the use of tailorable mission planning data for sensor emitter management and multi-sensor fusion, including precise geolocation of selected threat emitters, enabling targeting by weapons on board the F-22.

2.0 and 3.1. At the end of last year, 79 aircraft had been upgraded with Increment 3.1. By 2018, the US Air Force will complete the modernisation of all combat-coded F-22s (about 144 airframes, those not out of service or set aside for training or development missions) to Increment 3.1. All have already received the Increment 2 upgrade. Having different airframe and software configurations complicates operations – upgraded F-22s will automatically share information, but pilots of earlier aircraft must manually input details into the flight computer – and maintenance, as the same part built for an F-22 of one block may not be interchangeable with an otherwise identical one due to embedded software differences.

BAE Systems AN/ALR-94 Integrated Electronic Warfare System The F-22’s Integrated Electronic Warfare System (IEWS) was included in all Block 30 and 35 aircraft when they were built. It provides radar warning, countermeasures deployment and missile launch detection functions. The system’s integral AN/ALE-52 dispenses chaff, flares, decoys and expendable active jammer payloads. But the IEWS is primarily designed to achieve a first-look, first-kill against multiple targets while the F-22’s stealth capabilities are not compromised, through target detection, classification, tracking and engagement. The system, which uses sensor data generated by the suite’s passive sensors, represents the first-ever deployment of a wideband electronic warfare digital receiver on a fighter, with electronic apertures on the wings and fuselage providing 360º coverage. Recent upgrades to the IEWS have been part of the F-22’s current enhanced precision geolocation capability. Automatic Ground Collision Avoidance System The F-22’s Automatic Ground Collision Avoidance System (Auto GCAS) has been developed by Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works, the Air Force Research Laboratory and NASA, using technologies developed for the F-16’s GCAS system. Auto GCAS will warn the pilot of impending flight into terrain and then, if there is no change in direction, take temporary control and put the aircraft into an automatic recovery manoeuvre. It will execute a rapid roll to upright, followed by a 5g pull-up until terrain avoidance is assured. It achieves this by continuously updating a projection of the aircraft’s flight path and, with reference to the onboard digital terrain elevation database, checks to see if the aircraft is in imminent danger. Auto GCAS can be overridden. A pilot activated recovery system (PARS) function enables a disoriented or hypoxic pilot to initiate an automated recovery manoeuvre.

Radar Modes

The Increment 3.1 upgrade provides new air-to-ground radar modes for the F-22’s Northrop Grumman/Raytheon APG-77(V)1 active electronically scanned array (AESA) and a SAR ground mapping capability. An improved geolocation capability will enhance the aircraft’s ability to self-target weapons such as JDAMs (Joint Direct Attack Munitions), enabling a pilot to select multiple targets and hit them with several weapon types. Increment 3.1 makes it possible for an F-22 to carry up to eight 250lb (133kg) GBU-39/B SDB I (Small Diameter Bomb) guided munitions internally and attack two fixed targets in a single sortie. This capability has undergone extensive live-fire testing. Fleet-wide SDB operations are scheduled to start in October 2017. Increment 3.1 will also make possible an electronic attack capability, though

Top right: An F-22 Raptor loaded with four GBU-39/B Small Diameter Bomb test articles

during a loads test flight designed to ensure the GBU-39 does not exceed the aircraft’s structural load boundaries. Darin Russell/US Air Force Above middle: Ammo troops load an inert GBU-32 JDAM into an F-22’s internal weapons bay. Jim Haseltine

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this will not be made operational in the short term. That will give the potential for F-22s to be the AESA’s precision radar beam – which could be used for jamming or burning out electronics by broadcasting concentrated energy.

Increment 3.2

The F-22 will not be able to use the Block 35 configuration’s full capability until the Increment 3.2B upgrade is operational. Increment 3.2, which has become a major defence acquisition programme in its own right, is divided into increments 3.2A and 3.2B. These are respectively on track for fielding in July (and completion in 2017) and 2020 (completion in 2022). Increment 3.2 will deliver advanced electronic protection and combat identification, and significantly improve ground threat geolocation. It will also integrate weapons including the Raytheon AIM-120D AMRAAM (advanced medium range air-to-air missile) and AIM-9X Sidewinder Block II. The first live-fire testing of the AIM-9X from an F-22 took place in April. When the ESMS is upgraded through the installation of Increment 3.2, Raptors will have an ability to re-target up to eight SDBs in flight. All Increment 3.2-upgraded F-22s will have a Link 16 standard data link receive (but not transmit) capability and enhanced combat identification systems. The Automatic Ground Collision Avoidance System will be retrofitted as part of Increment 3.2.

Stealthy Link 16

These upgrades will not end the F-22’s evolution. A priority is fitting a stealthy Link 16 transmit capability, which will permit the enhanced exchange of tactical information to other types of aircraft and to ground units. The first 155 F-22s were built with their integral computer systems using 32-bit, 25MHz chips, which are long obsolete and require replacement. One proposed upgrade would replace all the computer systems with a single, integrated open-architecture system similar to that designed for the F-35. The planned Increment 3.3 upgrade, intended to include an automatic target tracking capability, is not yet funded.

be selected later this year. Another scheduled F-22 upgrade is the ‘fifth to fourth-generation’ gateway programme, intended to facilitate improved network connectivity between F-22s, F-35s and F-15C Eagles, especially in air-to-air combat. This programme, seen as enabling network-centric US Air Force air combat operations into the 2040s, is planned to start in FY 2017.

Armament

The F-22’s armament is, except for those weapons reserved for external mounting, integrated into its stealth design. The internal General Dynamics 20mm M61A2 Vulcan cannon (with 480 rounds of ammunition) was adapted to the F-22 by placing its muzzle behind a flush-mounted fuselage door that only snaps open before firing, to reduce any disruption of the F-22’s stealthy radar cross section alerting a potential target. The main air-to-air weapons capability is with the missiles carried in the F-22’s three internal weapons bays. The Raptor currently uses Raytheon AIM-9M Sidewinders, one in each side bay, mounted on LAU-141/A trapeze-type launchers. Up to six Raytheon AIM-120C-7 AMRAAMs can be carried in the main weapons bay on LAU-142/A vertical ejection launchers. For air-to-surface missions, two 1,000lb (454kg) GBU-32 JDAMs and up to eight GBU-39/B SDBs can be mounted in the main weapons bay, along with two AMRAAMs. For situations where full use of the F-22’s stealth characteristics are not required, the four underwing stores stations, plumbed for the use of external fuel tanks, are each capable of carrying 5,000lb (2,268kg). David C Isby

Helmet Mounted Display To take advantage of the improved weapons capability provided by Increment 3.2, the US Air Force wants the F-22 to get a technologically mature helmet-mounted display system that would be able to cue its sensors and weapons. This system would have to be capable of being fielded by 2021, with funding to start in FY 2017. The Thales Scorpion helmet-mounted display has already been demonstrated on the Raptor. A system to meet this requirement is expected to

Above left: The APG-77 radar’s T/R module array as published by Northrop Grumman. Northrop Grumman Above right: Ammo troops load an AIM-120C7 AMRAAM missile into an F-22’s internal weapons bay. Jim Haseltine Top: F-22 Raptor 4002 fires an AIM-9 Sidewinder air-to-air missile during a separation test at 40,000 feet. Flown at a 26° angle-of-attack at only Mach 0.4, the test flight demonstrated the Raptor’s ability to operate at slow speeds in a combat environment and still maintain manoeuvrability. Judson Brohmer/US Air Force Opposite top left: The hydraulic door of the F-22 Raptor’s internal-mounted 20mm M61A2 six-barrel Gatling gun in the open position during a high-speed functionality test. Judson Brohmer/US Air Force

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PRATT&WHITNEY’S

F119 ENGINE T

he genesis of the Pratt & Whitney F119 low-bypass turbofan engine which powers the F-22 Raptor began in 1981, when the US Air Force issued a request for information for an Advanced Tactical Fighter (ATF) intended to replace the McDonnell Douglas F-15 as the USAF’s primary air-superiority fighter. Michael Ondas, General Manager of the F119 programme for Pratt & Whitney, said that within the Pentagon, “in the early 1980s, there was a lot of concern regarding development of peer advanced fighters [by the Soviet Union] pushing F-15s, F-16s, etc.” By May 1983, defence contractors had supplied enough stealth, supercruise and manoeuvrability design ideas for the ATF for the Pentagon to issue a request for proposals for development of a Joint Advanced Fighter Engine (JAFE) to power the proposed new USAF fighter. That September, Pratt & Whitney and General Electric were contracted to develop JAFE prototypes.

YF-23 for a fly-off for the ATF production award. Pratt & Whitney and General Electric were each contracted to produce six prototype engines – two for each of the two fly-off competitors and two for testing in F-15 test-beds. The YF-23 flew for the first time in late August 1990 and the YF-22 a month later. Although GE’s YF120 was a revolutionary design boasting the first-ever adaptive-cycle fan, which added to its complexity but which paired well with both the YF-22 and YF-23, on April 23, 1991 the US Air Force selected the YF-22/YF119 combination for production. Reportedly, while the YF-23 was faster and stealthier than the YF-22, the latter was more agile. For the team that had developed the F119 at P&W’s West Palm Beach facility, the news was momentous. Crowds of employees gathered in marquees near the humid Florida Everglades to find out from P&W’s president what the USAF’s decision would be. “It was a huge decision for the company – we knew it was a huge opportunity to do something very different and … something very advanced for the next 20 years,” recalled Ondas. F119 ground testing began in December 1992 and the F-22 first flew in September 1997, the type achieving USAF full operational capability in December 2007.

The Fly-Off

In October 1986, from five designs from different contractors, the US Air Force chose the Lockheed Martin YF-22 and Northrop Grumman

Fewer Parts

One big advantage of P&W’s deceptively simple F119 design was that, although the F119 would generate much more thrust than any previous US fighter engine, it had 40% fewer parts than the fourthgeneration F100 powering the F-15 and F-16. For the first time in a fighter engine, the F119 employed one-piece integrally bladed rotors (IBRs), for all three fan stages and several of its six compressor stages. “In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the availability of CFD (computational flow dynamics) was growing by leaps and bounds,” as computer processing power grew exponentially, said Ondas. “Design tools were significantly enhanced. With the introduction of IBRs we saw significant benefits from aerodynamics, and efficiency benefits in the engine.” Also, where the F100 and F110 employed two high-pressure turbine (HPT) stages and two low-pressure turbine (LPT) stages, the F119 used only one of each – cutting the number of turbine parts in the engine by half compared with all previous US fighter-turbofan designs. However, said Ondas, “Within that simplification, each of the parts involved were much more technologically advanced, because of what was being asked of them.” P&W’s F119 design work was informed

The 507th and last F119 engine built by Pratt & Whitney. All images Pratt & Whitney

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achieved this with the F119’s twodimensional vectoring exhaust nozzle. Under the control of the engine’s fullauthority digital engine control, the convergentdivergent nozzle can be vectored up to 20 degrees upwards or downwards. This improves the F-22’s agility and helps keep the aircraft’s exhaust signature from being visible to radars and infrared sensors. The F119 produces no visible smoke, making the F-22 less detectable from the air or ground.

by the company’s previous military-engine research efforts, “but, realistically, it was looking to be done clean-sheet – [the F119] was operating in a higher-temperature environment than the F100.” Many advanced materials, cooling and aerodynamics technologies went into the F119’s design, whose maximum thrust remains classified. (It is officially “in the 35,000lb [155.7kN] class”, but various sources suggest the F119’s maximum thrust is actually in the 37,000lb39,000lb [164.6kN-173.5kN] range.)

Reduced Maintenance Requirement

Other requirements were for the F119 to need less maintenance than previous engines and for maintenance access to it to be easy. To this end, said Ondas, P&W’s chief engineer spent a lot of time with USAF aircraft mechanics working out how the F119 could best be designed for maintainability. Ondas said the resulting design made sure “all externals” – line replaceable units (LRUs) – “were laid out one deep on the [engine] case so they’re accessible” to mechanics. The engine uses “captured fasteners” – any fasteners which dislodge are captured before they can enter the engine as foreign object debris – and no FOD-inducing safety wire. All the F119’s wiring harnesses are colour-coded and of “quickdisconnect” design, so that any LRU can be replaced in 20 minutes. Only six “common” hand tools are required for F119 field maintenance and “the engine comes apart very cleanly in modules”, so that any module can be removed easily from the engine. This has stood the F119 well in service, said Ondas: “There has been no engine-related loss of an aircraft and it has achieved a best-in-class performance record” for reliability and durability. When the F-22 first saw combat duty, over Syria last September in missions against Islamic State, “the system performed quite well,” said Ondas. Pilots reported they had no concerns about the engines, even during attack-co-ordination missions exceeding 12 hours in duration. Hearing F-22 pilots describing the F119 as “reliable and dependable” in combat was music to P&W engineers’ ears. P&W began delivering F119s in late 2000 and when production ended in December 2012 had built 507. The F119’s depot maintenance overhaul interval is 4,325 total accumulated cycles. Ondas said this means each F119 will, on average, need a depot overhaul every 10-15 years. In 2011 the F119 Heavy Maintenance Center at Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma received its first engine for depot maintenance, P&W announcing in March 2013 that this first full overhaul was complete. Chris Kjelgaard

Technologies in the F119

These technological improvements began at the front of the engine, where P&W’s decision to employ wide-chord, hollow titanium fan blades let it design the blades without a shroud. In older engines, the shroud is a ring of metal which connects each fan blade some distance from the fan’s outer circumference, stiffening the fan. The shroudless design improved the F119’s efficiency, as did P&W’s decision to use wide-chord, high stage-load blades for each compressor stage. Making the compressor blades wider and their aerodynamics more three-dimensional also made them more durable. Another efficiency improvement came from P&W’s decision to make the F119’s two spools counter-rotate. This aerodynamically conditioned the airflow entering the engine’s compressor from its LPTdriven fan stages, improving the efficiency of the airflow through the compressor – and also improving the efficiency of the airflow entering the counter-rotating LPT stage after it had exited the HPT. P&W employed its patented ‘Alloy C’ – a heat-resistant, non-burning titanium alloy officially known as Ti-35V-15Cr-0.05C – to make the F119’s compressor stators, allowing the engine to run hotter and more efficiently. P&W also used Alloy C for parts in the augmentor and exhaust nozzle, increasing their durability. The company used a ‘Floatwall’ design for the lining of the annular combustor. Although P&W declines to comment on the Floatwall, other sources report this combustor lining is made of thermally isolated individual panels. Each panel is made of oxidation-resistant material high in cobalt content and is cooled by air drawn from the compressor. P&W made the F119’s HPT blades from single-crystal superalloy material, incorporating cooling-air pathways; and it applied advanced thermal barrier coatings to the blades.

Supercruising, Stealth and Agility

A key requirement for the F-22/F119 combination was that it would be able to supercruise – achieve and maintain above-supersonic speeds without using afterburner. (However, each of the F-22’s two F119 engines has an augmentor in front of its exhaust nozzle, providing reheat for quick acceleration even when the aircraft is flying supersonically.) P&W won’t reveal performance details of the F-22/F119 combination, other than Ondas saying the overall system design – including “the raw power of the engine, which is a big factor” – allows the F-22 to “supercruise at a very high reliability level [as] a result of conscious design choices for the airframe and engine”. However, the USAF’s official F-22 fact sheet confirms the F-22 can supercruise at airspeeds “greater than 1.5 Mach”. In April 2012 the Lockheed Martin-copyrighted website f22-raptor.com provided a “current estimate” that the F-22 could supercruise at airspeeds of “1.72 Mach”. The F-22 was also required to be stealthy and agile. P&W Pratt & Whitney gave the F-22 considerable agility by developing a two-dimensional vectoring exhaust nozzle which can be vectored up to 20° upwards or downwards.

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s the propeller blades slowed, feathered and stopped, I couldn’t help but be impressed. I’ve done quite a lot of gliding over and around mountains, but never in an aircraft with a maximum takeoff weight (MTOW) of 4,740kg (10,449lb). As you approach a Pilatus PC-12NG your initial thought is that, for a single-engine

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aircraft, it really is quite a big machine. Standing 4.26m (13.9ft) tall and with a wingspan of 16.28m (53.4ft), it towers over most of the other aircraft on an average GA ramp, even the twin-engine ones.

Build Quality The Swiss have always had a reputation for quality engineering, and as Pilatus production test pilot Jan Schatteman and I walked around the gleaming PC-12NG, I could see immediately that it was beautifully made. Starting at the spinner, it is powered

by a Pratt & Whitney PT6A-67P turboprop which can produce up to 1,845shp (1,376kW), but is flat rated to 1,200shp (895kW). All the power is converted into thrust via a four-blade aluminium Hartzell prop, which is both fully feathering and reversible. The single-slotted Fowler flaps cover 67% of the trailing edge to keep the stall speed down, but as small ailerons often result in reduced control authority around the longitudinal axis, I wondered if spoilers were fitted to augment the lateral control (as they are on the TBM series). I was surprised to

PILATUS PC-12NG COMMERCIAL

A Class of its Own

Powerful and practical, the PC-12 is a sterling performer in its class. Dave Unwin flies it

see that they aren’t, and made a mental note to check the roll rate. The wings feature elegant winglets and I wondered if they contributed to the aileron’s efficiency, possibly by constraining spanwise flow. The Honeywell weather radar is housed in a pod at the starboard wing tip, while de-ice protection is provided by Goodrich pneumatic boots on the wings and tailplane, and engine bleed-air to the intake. The windscreen and prop are heated electrically, just like they are in airliners. This is a much better method than ducting engine

bleed-air onto the screen which is always noisy and less efficient at reduced power during the descent and on the approach – just when you need them. I could see that in many respects the PC-12NG has been designed and built to far higher specifications than is required. Many of its features are more reminiscent of a transport category aeroplane, although with a maximum ramp weight of 4,760kg (10,494lb) the Federal Aviation Administration doesn’t need a type rating. However, the European Aviation Safety Agency requires

as the minimum a private pilots’ licence with High Performance Airplane (HPA) endorsement and type rating training, which is typically one week of ground school and a minimum of ten hours flight training (singlepilot, instrument flying rules).

Rugged Next to catch my eye was the undercarriage. I knew that the PC-12NG had been approved to operate from unprepared landing strips and, having inspected the rugged-looking double trailing link main undercarriage and

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COMMERCIAL PILATUS PC-12NG

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low-pressure tyres, I could see why. The wheel track is also commendably wide (the main gear retracts inwards into the wings), while the nose leg retracts backwards into the fuselage. I’d already spotted that (for a tricycle undercarriage) the nosewheel did seem to provide a lot of ground clearance for the prop. This is maintained even with a flat tyre and the nose leg compressed – very impressive! Other aspects of the aircraft that indicated it is designed to be used from airstrips as well as airports are powerful LED landing and taxi lights on each undercarriage leg and more lights in neat underwing ‘blisters’. I now understand why the aircraft is such a firm favourite with Australia’s Royal Flying Doctor Service, which currently operates over 30 of them. As I moved towards the tail I noted the two ventral strakes and large dorsal fin, but what really got my attention was the giant cargo door aft of the wing. At 1.32m (4.3ft) by 1.35m (4.4ft) it is absolutely enormous, and as it opens wide and is hinged at the top it makes loading and unloading very easy. It’s little surprise that the PC-12NG is a favourite with freight companies, air ambulance operators and the military, as well as with private owners. There is a pilot’s ‘airstair’ door forward of the wing, immediately aft of the cockpit. Both doors are on the port side. I particularly like this arrangement. Firstly, if you’re using the aircraft as a freighter you can fill the cabin to capacity without having to leave space for an aisle. Most small freighters ‘bulk out’ (run out of space) before they ‘gross out’ (run out of weight-carrying capacity) – which is why the Cessna Caravan’s cargo pod is such a popular option. Secondly, most private owners probably prefer to personally check that the door has been shut and locked correctly. I next studied the large T-tail (unusual in an aircraft of this class), which is fitted with a stick shaker and a stick pusher. I asked Jan what the stall was like; he replied with a grin that I would soon find out for myself!. Like many T-tail designs, it features a ‘bullet’ fairing. By now I was itching to find out if the PC-12NG flew as good as it looked.

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Roomy Cabin The big cargo door and large cabin have always been a major part of the PC-12’s success story, and once I’d got to the top of the airstair and entered the aircraft I could see why – it’s huge! The cabin’s length (excluding the cockpit) is a generous 5.16m (16.9ft), and with a width of 1.52m (4.98ft) and a height of 1.45m (4.7ft), it is extremely spacious. At the back of the cabin is the baggage compartment, which has a capacity of 1.13m3 (39.9ft3). It is heated, pressurised and fully accessible in flight. Another excellent feature is the design of the lavatory. This is immediately aft of the cockpit, and is closed off on both sides by folding doors. Many aircraft use curtains instead of doors, which is certainly not as private. The PC12’s is a much better idea. Jan and I now made our way into the cockpit. The seats are extremely comfortable and offer plenty of adjustment (even the armrests move, while the headrests have six positions). The rudder pedals also adjust over a good range, while I fully approve of the fact that although the passenger seats have threepoint restraint systems, the pilot’s seats have four-point harnesses. In common with other large single-engined turboprops, such as the Caravan and TBM 900, one of the PC-12NG’s biggest selling points is that it is certified for single-pilot

operation and so very much aimed at the owner-pilot. Consequently, as I began to study the instruments and controls I was curious to see how user-friendly the cockpit was.

Honeywell Avionics The instrument panel is fitted with the advanced Honeywell Primus Apex suite. This consists of four identically-sized liquid crystal display screens – two are primary flight displays (PFDs) and the other two (used as multi-function displays [MFDs], one each for systems and situational awareness) are mounted vertically in the centre of the panel. Each screen has a diagonal size of 255mm (10in) and is easy to read, even in bright sunlight. Cleverly, each screen can be sub-divided into 1/6th, 1/3rd or 2/3rd sections, with each containing different data, such as engine parameters or navigation information. Aircraft configuration, for example trim, undercarriage and flap position, is also shown here. It’s a very elegant and intuitive system, yet although each one of the three individual undercarriage position icons can show seven different displays, I’d still also like to see three lights adjacent to the undercarriage selector. There are no analogue instruments at all, as the back-up instrumentation consists of a small, selfcontained Emergency Standby Instrument 2

PILATUS PC-12NG COMMERCIAL

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1 PC-12 HB-FVI is used by the Sauber Formula One team to fly drivers around Europe. The aircraft is seen here in 2012, when it was delivered, and is painted to represent the team’s car that year. 2 The spacious cabin is 5.16m long, 1.52m wide and 1.45m tall. 3 Each pilot has a primary flight display and there are two multi-function displays, one each for systems and situational awareness. 4 Each screen can be sub-divided into 1/6th, 1/3rd or 2/3rd sections to present different data, such as engine parameters or navigation information, in the same display. 5 A double trailing link main undercarriage and low-pressure tyres make the aircraft suited to unprepared landing strips.

System to the left of the captain’s PFD. This neat little unit displays attitude, speed and altitude, and can run off its own integral battery in the unlikely event of a total electrical failure. An alpha/numeric keypad for the flight management system (FMS) is located below the lower MFD, with a large cursor control device aft of the power control lever. Jan demonstrated how to programme the FMS by moving the cursor with the track ball, while inputs are confirmed by using the ‘enter’ softkey, as you would on any computer. It appeared to be both easy and intuitive. As the flight deck is wireless it is possible to input data swiftly and simply – useful when programming the FMS with multiple sectors or a particularly complex flight plan. There isn’t a prop lever. Instead, prop control is automatic, and prop speed never exceeds a nice, slow (and quiet) 1,700rpm. Another transport category-type feature fitted to the aircraft is the Crew Alerting System. There are red ‘Master Warning’ and orange ‘Master Caution’ lights, sensibly sited just above the PFDs, while the nature of the out-of-limits condition is displayed on the system’s MFD.

THE SPECTRE With its excellent range, large cabin and ability to cruise at high speed yet loiter for hours on end at low speed, Pilatus realised that the PC-12 would make an ideal multimission platform and it developed a variant of the aircraft to carry different sensors. Originally known as Eagle and now called Spectre, this model features a retractable sensor platform and a seven-passenger utility interior, including a sensor operator’s console, as standard. However, most Spectres are custom-tailored to the user’s specific mission requirements. A typical operator console incorporates two display monitors, a digital video recorder, a communications panel and a lift-platform control, although multiple expansion bays allow additional radios and data links. The operator’s seat is equipped with an Inflatable Restraint System, allowing it to be safely occupied during take-off and landing. The sensor platform is housed in the aircraft’s tail cone and it can be extended and retracted in flight. Once deployed it provides a full 360º field of view, and when retracted it is covered by a pair of doors. As well as electro-optical and infrared sensors, the Spectre can also carry the Multi-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar, while the cabin can be rapidly reconfigured by removing the operator’s console – the wiring harness uses a single quickdisconnect plug and the console is held in place by latches. Spectres are operated by many air forces and government agencies and have been used for a wide variety of operations, including intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions, border surveillance, drug enforcement and disaster relief.

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COMMERCIAL PILATUS PC-12NG As on many turbine-powered aircraft, the switches for most of the electrical systems – such as the external lights, starter and generator – are in the overhead panel. The centre console carries just a few switches and rheostats for the internal lights, along with the power lever, fuel condition lever and flap selector. The control yoke is liberally studded with switches, buttons and even a trigger, which must be pulled to allow use of trim control. One particularly noticeable aspect of the cockpit is how big and robust the switches (mostly large rockers) are. However, I did wonder if perhaps the switches would be better colour-coded rather than the somewhat anonymous grey.

Start Up, Taxi, Take Off

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Jan started the engine, while I watched closely. The start sequence is very straightforward – simply switch on the batteries, then press ‘start’, and at 15%Ng (gas generator speed) move the fuel condition lever to ‘ground Idle’. The engine lit promptly, and we moved onto the pretake-off checks. These included checking the stall protection system (remember it has a stick-shaker and a stick-pusher) lowering the flaps to 15° and setting the trims. Taxying from the Pilatus factory to Buochs airport is an unusual and possibly unique experience as you cross a busy road. However, the traffic lights are (properly) biased in the pilot’s favour, and I’ve never had a long wait. Taxiing was very easy because the nosewheel steers through the rudder pedals and the hydraulic brakes are both powerful and progressive. Although I ensured that the power lever was on the idle stop, in common with most turboprops there’s so much thrust that it wanted to taxi faster than I did. Rather than ride the brakes, I pulled the power lever up over the gate and back into the ‘Beta’ range. Approaching the runway I pushed the fuel condition lever to ‘Flight Idle’ and carefully taxied into position Having lined up on Buochs’ 2,000m (6,561ft) runway 07, I brought the power up against the brakes. A glance at the windsock showed a gentle crosswind from port, while 2 as ambient conditions were essentially International Standard Atmosphere (ISA) we had a density altitude of about 1,500ft (457m). With two passengers on board, no baggage and 750kg (1,653lb) of Jet A-1 in the tanks we were around 1,040kg (2,292lb) below the MTOW, with a fairly forward centre of gravity. With 1,200shp at my command the acceleration was unsurprisingly excellent. Unlike most of the other turboprops that I’ve flown, in the PC-12NG you don’t have to monitor the torque gauge, as the torque limiter automatically protects the engine. Instead, I just smoothly pushed the power lever forward to the stop and concentrated on keeping straight. Tracking the centreline was easy, despite the crosswind. The airspeed increased quickly and I rotated at 85kts (157km/h). It was interesting to note how little the pitch attitude seems to change at rotation, but this could be an optical illusion as the long cowling slopes down and away from the cockpit. I then retracted the undercarriage, engaged the yaw damper and raised the

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PILATUS PC-12NG SPECIFICATIONS Length: 14.40m (47.2ft) Height: 4.26m (13.9ft) Wingspan: 16.28m (53.4ft) Wing area: 25.81m2 (277 sq ft) Empty weight: 2,800kg (6,172lb) Maximum all-up weight: 4,760kg (10,494lb) Useful load: 1,960kg (4,321lb) Wing loading: 183.65kg/m2 (404.8lb/m2) Power loading: 5.29kg/kW (11.6lb/kW) Fuel capacity: 1,522 litres (402 US gallons) Maximum operating limit speed: 240kts (444km/h) Maximum Mach operating speed: 0.48m Cruise speed: 270kts (500km/h) Stall speed: 67kts (124km/h) Climb rate: 1,920ft/min (9.75m/sec) Service ceiling: 30,000ft (9,144m) Range (including IFR reserve): 1,715nm (3,176km) Engine: Pratt & Whitney PT6A-67P turboprop, producing 1,200shp (895kW)

flaps. The undercarriage comes up with no discernible change in pitch trim, but as the flaps retract, the trim changes and the aircraft seems to ‘settle’ slightly; although it’s easily trimmed out (as long as you remember to pull the trigger before operating the trimmer). The 1,200shp turning a big four-blade prop produces considerable amounts of precession and P-factor (asymmetric blade effect). Consequently, without the yaw damper you’d have to adjust the rudder trim whenever you changed either the airspeed or power setting if you wanted to keep the pedal forces neutral and the slip ball centred. With the yaw damper engaged, the automatics keep the slip ball centred, although initially it’s slightly disconcerting to feel the rudder pedals moving under your feet. I let the aircraft quickly accelerate to 130kts (240km/h), and as we’re relatively light the rate of climb is phenomenal, and we’re soon at 10,000ft (3,048m). An examination of the general handling revealed the roll rate to be brisk, and with surprisingly low stick forces. I had read that earlier models were rather heavy in roll, but one of the changes Pilatus installed in 2006 was a servo-tab in each aileron. For such a big machine, I thought it very pleasant to ‘hand fly’, and noted that the control harmony was also good, while the stick-free stability is outstanding. Jan encouraged me to make full use of the PFD, and I found that if I placed and held the flight path marker icon on the horizon’s ‘zero-pitch’ reference line then I don’t lose a foot of altitude. Because the PC-12NG has a T-tail, it is fitted with both a stick-shaker and a stick-pusher. There is an electrically heated angle of attack vane in the outboard leading edge of each wing, and when this senses the alpha is approaching a critical value the stall warner sounds and the stick-shaker actuates. If no recovery action is taken then the stick-pusher fires. This pushes the control yoke forward with a force of around 28kg (61lb). As we were a good way below MTOW, with the flaps at 40° I managed to get the indicated airspeed down to almost 65kts (120km/h) before the shaker activated, while the pusher fired at about 60kts (111km/h). These are pretty slow speeds for an aircraft this big that can cruise at up 270kts (500km/h) and 30,000ft (9,144m). The PC-12NG is very much a ‘going places’ machine, and not only is it in its element at altitude but sometimes favourable winds can add 100kts (185km/h) to the groundspeed.

PILATUS PC-12NG COMMERCIAL enabling us to not only reach many suitable airports, but even several different countries.

Precision Approach

For a few days most of northern Europe had experienced particularly good visibility because of a so-called ‘Polar plume’ of Arctic air that had swept down from the north and, from 30,000ft above the Alps, the view is stupendous. From our lofty perch Jan points out Austria, France, Germany and Italy. The maximum cruise speed is 280kts (518km/h), but a more representative and efficient speed is between 250-260kts (463481km/h). With an outside air temperature of -44ºC (-47.2ºF) conditions are essentially ISA, and at 255kts (472km/h) we’re only burning around 225kg/h (496lb/h).

Glide Performance Jan then directs me to perform an emergency descent as if the pressurisation has failed. As with most turboprops, if you pull the power right back, the prop generates loads of drag, and it was easy to achieve a very high descent rate (8,500ft per minute/43m per second) without excessive speed. As for the pressurisation, all I can say is that I never noticed it working – which is

We head off to Grenchen, a GA airfield close to Bern, where the autopilot flies a perfect precision approach (aka ‘Coupled Baro-VNAV’) even though the groundbased navaids make this particular runway non-precision (it only has VHF omri-range/ distance measuring equipment). Returning to Buochs was easy in the great visibility, but in more inclement weather the exceptional situational awareness provided by the Apex system would’ve been much appreciated, particularly as the 7,000ft (2,133m)-tall Mount Pilatus is inside the circuit when you’re downwind for runway 25. Jan demonstrates a remarkable shortfield landing with full reverse and then it’s my turn. The undercarriage and flaps both extend smoothly, although the aircraft does 3 balloon slightly as the flaps reach 40º. Jan recommends placing the flight path marker exactly what you want. symbol on the virtual runway’s threshold I level out at 12,000ft (3,657m) and Jan (remember the PFD uses synthetic vision) takes control. “There’s a way we can burn and then controlling the speed with power. even less fuel,” he grins. During the briefing This works out pretty well, and after a Jan had explained that on production smooth touch-and-go the second landing test flights and engine change-related is very gentle. Pull the power control lever maintenance flights, company test pilots into reverse and we stop amazingly quickly. perform an in-flight shutdown and re-light I’m rather pleased with my second landing, within the glide-cone of Pilatus’s base although Jan deflates my ego somewhat by airfield. I can see we’re practically overhead pointing out the trailing-link undercarriage is Buochs, so having informed air traffic control a flatterer, and that you actually have to apply of our intentions, he pulls the fuel condition yourself to make a bad landing. lever back, the prop disc turns into four In conclusion, I can see why the PC-12NG blades which slow and feather – and we’re is so popular. It truly is a pilot’s aeroplane, in a 3,600kg (7,936lb) glider, high above with good performance and fine handling. the Alps. As an experienced sailplane There’s always a temptation to compare an pilot I automatically note our speed, sink aircraft with another, particularly if they are rate and altitude, and then do a quick ‘final both powered by the same engine. However, glide’ calculation. We’re gliding at 115kts I cannot think of any other single-engined (212km/h) while sinking at 800ft/min (‘eight turboprop I’ve flown that is capable of hauling down’ in glider parlance) which means that such a heavy load (or nine passengers) or we would have 30 minutes from a 30,000ft flying over 1,800nm (3,333km) from a short, cruising altitude to restart the engine. In the unprepared runway. Comparisons are extremely unlikely event of it not restarting meaningless – the PC-12NG is, quite we could glide around 60 miles (96km), literally, in a class of its own. 4

1 The PC-12’s rugged construction makes the aircraft ideal for Australia’s Royal Flying Doctor Service, which operates over 30 examples. 2 A 1.32m x 1.35m rear fuselage cargo door is opened hydraulically and closed electrically. 3 Dexter Air Taxi uses a fleet of PC-12s for flights in Russia. 4 The PC-12 can take nine passengers over 1,800 nautical miles from short, unprepared runways.

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TECHNOLOGY NASA SUPERSONIC RESEARCH Boeing’s Icon-II concept was the second design presented to NASA for research into NASA’s ‘N+3’ timeframe. NASA/Boeing

A Supersonic Tomorrow NASA experts think it’ll be possible for airliners to fly supersonically over land in an environmentally acceptable fashion within the next 20 years. Chris Kjelgaard finds out more

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he only supersonic airliner ever to achieve a long history of commercial passenger service, the AérospatialeBAC Concorde, stopped operating more than 11 years ago but today, still, there’s no replacement in sight. At least one Tupolev Tu-144, Russia’s less successful supersonic airliner of the same era as Concorde, is kept in flyable condition; but it flies only very occasionally, does not operate commercially and only takes to the air in support of specialised research efforts. Despite the considerable advances made in computerisation, aerodynamics, materials technologies and aircraft and engine design since Concorde stopped flying, supersonic commercial flight now seems just a nostalgic, wistful dream. Or does it? Low-sonic boom supersonic business jet designs have been on manufacturers’ drawing boards for several years now – although to date no such aircraft has been built or flown. Leading experts think supersonic airliners could well be in production and flying scheduled services on a daily basis within the next 20 years – and doing so much more quietly than Concorde and the Tu-144 ever did. Indeed, so quietly would these aircraft fly and so unnoticeable would be any sonic booms they might create, that they would be allowed to fly supersonically over land and the sea – potentially transforming the commercial interest in these new jets. Concorde never flew supersonically over land during its 27-year commercial life: the hefty, frightening sonic booms it created and the jet’s barely transatlantic range restricted its services to flights back and forward across the Atlantic between two cities in Europe and two in the USA. (The Soviet Union did allow the noisy Tu-144 to fly

experimental projects into various aspects of supersonic flight.

Sonic Booms Of overarching importance to NASA has been its constant effort to develop a comprehensive understanding of how sonic booms are created, how they propagate through different atmospheric conditions, how they’re generated or changed by different flight manoeuvres, and how they’re perceived by people on the ground. But perhaps NASA’s most important area of research has been into how booms can be reduced in intensity and amplitude so that they aren’t audible at ground level at all. NASA’s sonic boom research has brought the organisation’s understanding of the phenomenon to the point where Peter Coen, the manager of NASA’s High Speed Project, told AIR International that, “we really classify this as a breakthrough in being able to achieve low-boom supersonic flight for transport-class aircraft.” Apart from its various boom flight testing and ground perception testing experiments, which are conducted from the NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base in California, NASA also conducts extensive experimentation into supersonic travel and boom characteristics using wind-tunnel testing. (NASA Armstrong is the former Dryden Flight Research Center, renamed last year in honour of Apollo 11 commander Neil Armstrong, a former Edwards test pilot.) Absolutely key to NASA’s wind tunnel tests and theoretical modelling efforts is the tremendous capability the administration has developed in three-dimensional computational flow dynamics (CFD) analysis of the aerodynamics around and behind every part of an aircraft during supersonic flight. “With 3D computational flow dynamics, now we can get a full 3D solution of the threedimensional airflow round the aircraft to three or four body lengths [round and behind it] and we have not been fooled much in the wind tunnel in recent testing,” said Coen. “We’re even using CFD to understand unexpected results arising from the wind tunnel’s own geometry and disturbances. We have spent time in trying to remove any uncertainty in the wind-tunnel results.”

Schlieren Imaging and CFD supersonically over remote parts of the vast Russian landmass, such as Siberia; but the booms the Tu-144 created were no less disruptive than those which Concorde produced.) The US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is at the forefront of today’s research into future supersonic commercial flight. For several decades – through its former Supersonics Project and now through its High Speed Project, both under the umbrella of the administration’s Fundamental Aeronautics Program – NASA has conducted a long series of

One visual technique that NASA finds useful both in flight and in wind tunnel testing to demonstrate

the accuracy of its CFD modelling is Schlieren imaging. This very old photographic technique (first developed in the 19th century and taking the German word for a smear) requires a source of back-lighting and – up until recently, at least – a knife-edge

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placed at the focal point of the camera lens. The knife-edge aligns all the light coming into the lens into parallel waves, blocking out about half of the light entering the camera. The theory in using Schlieren imaging to visualise an aircraft in flight or a model in the wind tunnel is that supersonic shockwaves create different air densities around and behind an aircraft. Light is refracted differently within each area of different air density. Shockwaves are visible as dark and light bands in Schlieren photographs. Recently a NASA contractor, a small company called MetroLaser, developed what it calls Ground-to-Air Schlieren Photography System (GASPS) that could produce Schlieren images without the need for a knife-edge to be placed at the focal point of the camera’s lens. NASA flight-tested this system, using the sun as a source of backlighting, with its McDonnell Douglas F-15B Eagle. The GASPS trials required the F-15B to fly supersonically along a very precise trajectory 2

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1 NASA’s F-15B flying with a ‘Quiet Spike’, a multi-segmented, articulating spike designed to reduce and control a boom. Lori Losey/NASA 2 Back in 2003, NASA’s F-15B test-bed flew in the shockwave of Northrop Grumman’s modified F-5E as part of the Shaped Sonic Boom Demonstration (SSBD) project. A US Navy F-5E followed for baseline boom measurements. Carla Thomas/NASA 3 A future aircraft design concept from Lockheed Martin. Simulations and wind tunnel tests generate data that tells researchers how to improve a design towards achieving a much lower-level sonic boom and to reduce emissions. NASA/ Lockheed Martin 4 A NASA F/A-18B taxies at Edwards for a flight as part of work to test caustic wave fronts. Tom Tschida/NASA

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can combine to create a commercial aircraft whose boom noise is as low as 70 Perceived Level Decibels (PLDB) on the ground, such an aircraft would be sufficiently quiet to operate supersonically over land. The organisation’s CFD work also enabled it to solve a problem NASA seemingly once couldn’t overcome: ‘the low-boom, low-drag paradox’. Traditional design and analytical tools didn’t provide enough detail of the 3D airflow field for NASA to come up with an aircraft design that offered a wing leading edge sharp enough to minimise the boom and the drag on the wing, while round enough to provide acceptable take-off and landing distances and to keep low-speed aircraft noise down. However, “we’ve pretty much debugged 1 that now,” Coen told AIR International. “With better design technologies that can handle in order to eclipse the sun from the camera’s more variables and details in small areas, point of view. The camera itself needed with better CFD, we’re achieving reasonable to be placed very precisely on the ground lift-to-drag ratios with these designs.” to obtain complete alignment of the three objects at a specific moment in time so it Caustic Wave Fronts could record Schlieren images of the F-15B’s NASA’s mathematical approach and flight. research into sonic booms has traditionally This worked beautifully and NASA then focused on ways to smooth out the sound released publicly both a video and several waves created by the shockwaves that are colourful Schlieren images of the F-15B with produced by an aircraft as it pushes through the sun backlighting it. However, the US and beyond the speed of sound. Government then decided to classify the When an aircraft travels supersonically, it images – far too late, since they had already creates large shockwaves of air overpressure been widely distributed throughout the world behind it. Different shockwaves come from via the internet. Experts at NASA Armstrong different parts of the aircraft at the same were frustrated and somewhat mystified by time – its nose, canopy, engine inlets, control the images’ retroactive classification. surfaces, wing leading edges and tail, for NASA’s recent CFD work helps the instance. They coalesce into a single large organisation understand at a deep level the wave front, which is produced by lots of the propagation of sonic boom waves and ways smaller individual waves as they move in to use aircraft design techniques to minimise tangent to this front. the amplitude of these waves. Coen said Often – depending on a number of factors, that once NASA’s research findings and the such as atmospheric conditions, the speed US aerospace industry’s design capabilities

NASA SUPERSONIC RESEARCH TECHNOLOGY

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the aircraft is travelling and if it is flying straight and level during cruise flight – this ‘caustic’ wave front (as the front produced by all the aggregated tangent waves is known) has its focal point in the air. The boom wave reflects back into the air above the focal point. In such cases a sonic boom is often relatively quiet on the ground. Sometimes, as a result of the wave front reflecting back up into the atmosphere, faint sound waves known as “evanescent waves” are produced laterally to the front. These can be heard on the ground as a faint rumbling sound. However, sometimes the focal point of the caustic wave front will intersect with the ground and this will produce a very loud boom, experienced by any person or animal within a crescent-shaped area several miles wide and several hundred feet from front 4 to back. Usually this boom will actually be heard as two individual loud bangs in very quick succession. This is because focused booms created by military jets and first-generation supersonic airliners – particularly when they are transitioning to supersonic flight when climbing, or when (in the case of a fighter) it’s pushing over into a steep diving turn – typically create an ‘N’-shaped wave with two large spikes of air overpressure. The air pressure within each of those spikes increases within the space of a very few milliseconds by 10lb or 11lb per square foot. This level of overpressure change is equivalent only to the change in air pressure a person experiences when climbing two flights of stairs. But in the ‘N’ wave the overpressure is created very quickly, twice within a very few milliseconds rather than over a period of several seconds, which is what produces the loud and unpleasant double-bang noise. Accordingly, NASA directed its research to try to change the ‘N’ shape of the focused-boom

sound waves into more rounded sine waves with no sharp spikes.

Changing Sonic Boom Characteristics

As NASA’s knowledge of booms developed, its researchers realised that what was needed, rather than a large, gradually curving sine wave, was for the aircraft to create lots of small waves spread over a period of time. Now, said Coen, “we have a much greater understanding of the pressure signature in the near field [behind the wave front focal point].” NASA now aims to create “more, smaller waves” than envisaged in its original mathematical concept work. It “concentrates more on shaping and spacing

of the waves”, in order to produce a much lower level of perceived noise from the boom than an ‘N’ shaped wave, according to Coen. “Large waves stay very coalesced, but smaller waves tend to get dispersed and have a longer rise time from the ambient pressure peak to the boom pressure peak. It’s a matter of tens of milliseconds, instead of single milliseconds,” explained Coen. Milliseconds it might be, but this relatively large increase in the time taken for the boom overpressure to peak makes a boom much less intrusive on the ear. Coen explained that NASA’s boom research works with a concept of perceivedlevel decibels (PLDB). These are similar to average weighted-noise decibels (dBA),

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TECHNOLOGY NASA SUPERSONIC RESEARCH

NASA researchers are tweaking, modifying and testing concepts to develop and validate tools that could someday be used by industry to design commercial supersonic aircraft. NASA

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NASA SUPERSONIC RESEARCH TECHNOLOGY “but the numbers are a little louder,” he said. NASA’s sonic boom research work has now got to the point where the organisation is confident it can achieve ground boom levels as low as 80 PLDB for an aircraft the size of a 200-passenger supersonic jet. “But I think we can get lower as we refine our design targets and the tools we use to shape designs,” he added. The 70 PLDB goal for a supersonic commercial aircraft is well within NASA’s reach – and, by means of its subsequent free transmission of test data to US-based companies, the aerospace industry’s too – within the next three generations of aircraft design, according to Coen.

Next-Generation Supersonic Airliners

“I’m quite optimistic that we can get to a point in the N+3 timeframe where we could get a 200-passenger aircraft of 70 PLDB,” Coen said, offering cruise speeds in the Mach 1.4-Mach 1.8 range over land,. “Over water, it might fly faster,” in order to make the aircraft even more commercially attractive to passengers and airlines, he added. (N+3 is NASA’s shorthand for the 2030-2035 period when the next-but-two generation of new commercial aircraft will go into design and production.) This might be all the more possible if some work NASA is undertaking on shockwave suppression shows promise. “We’re doing some foundational work, more long-term, on active shockwave-suppression technology – mainly involving some off-body energy addition of heat or plasma. We’re investing in those to a small degree. If they pay off, we can go to even larger aircraft, or get an even lower boom level.” Unless this work provides all the promise for which Coen is hoping, any supersonic commercial aircraft in 20 years’ time is likely not to be much larger than 200 seats. Partly this is because such an aircraft needs, of aerodynamic necessity, to have a long, slender fuselage. However, even more important is that experimental work shows that the amplitude of the coalesced boom wave is directly proportional to its weight. “If we get beyond 200 passengers, the weight of the aircraft gets beyond the point where we can get the boom

down to an acceptable level,” using existing or near-future technology, Coen said. “I see nothing that says we can deal with a 400,000lb aircraft and achieve a low boom, unless fusion technology comes along.” NASA awarded two study contracts a few years ago, to Boeing and Lockheed Martin,

for supersonic aircraft designs that could be produced in the 2030-2035 N+3 timeframe using existing technologies pushed to their expected levels of advancement by that time. Lockheed Martin’s design in particular envisaged an aircraft in the 200-passenger category and Coen thinks this size category is what the industry would find achievable within the next 20 years.

Important Research Another important factor arising from NASA’s boom research is that an airliner capable of flying supersonically over built-up areas without producing unacceptable boom levels would need to fly at a cruise speed in the Mach 1.4-Mach 1.8 range, according to Coen. This is rather slower than Concorde’s cruise speed. However, Concorde only accelerated to supersonic speed well away from land and only cruised supersonically over water. “Anywhere from Mach 1.4 to Mach 1.8, the boom is not going to change much,” he said. “Mach 1.8 is kind of a sweet spot to drive a low boom and [for aircraft flying in that speed range] you can use composites, and you don’t need mechanically modified inlet designs,” he said. For the Mach 2.4-Mach 2.7 cruise speeds NASA studied in the 1990s for potential commercial aircraft as part of its High Speed Research programme (phased out in fiscal year 1999), variable-geometry engine inlets and exotic materials were needed in the aircraft designs, adding a great deal of complexity and also making the aircraft much noisier near airports. “It’s very hard to make the engine work well from a take-off noise perspective” in high-Mach-cruise aircraft, noted Coen. More wind tunnel and flight testing research is needed on ways of reducing a commercial aircraft’s boom during certain phases of flight. For instance, said Coen, an important challenge is to find ways of reducing the boom an aircraft creates when it climbs supersonically or accelerates from subsonic to supersonic speed. Today, aircraft produce very brief loud booms, perceivable only within very small areas, during these manoeuvres. Coen said that “continued improvement in design tools will help [reduce] the climb boom”, but added that the size of the boom created during the transition from subsonic to supersonic flight remains “one of the big long-term challenges” for NASA. However, “some manoeuvres can be done to remove or reduce the boom – for instance, subtle changes of pitch angle while going through the focus, nothing that would make passengers sick,” he said. Obtaining a full understanding of this issue will require more flighttesting and Coen theorises that NASA’s new research into the application of off-body energy, in the form of heat or plasma to

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1 This rendering of a possible future civil transport shows a vehicle shaped to reduce the sonic shockwave signature and drag. NASA/Lockheed Martin 2 One of the Schlieren images of a NASA F/A18 generated during the Ground-to-Air Schlieren Photography System (GASPS) trial. NASA 3 A sonic boom footprint overlaid on a Google Earth image. The town of Boron, California, is to the lower left. The extent of the focused boom is illustrated by the crescent shaped colour contour lines. Tom Tschida/NASA

reduce the size of sonic booms, could prove useful in this area.

Shape-Changing Materials Another idea interesting NASA’s researchers is the possibilities that shape-changing materials offer to modify an aircraft’s wing and other aerofoils for different phases of flight. Such technology might also be very helpful in reducing the size of, or even doing away with, any boom that might be created by the deflection of an aircraft control surface – such as an aileron – during flight, according to Coen. Without the use of shape-changing material, the deflection of a control surface will create a gap between the wing (or any tail stabiliser) and the control surface, generating turbulent vortices which, at supersonic speed, could produce loud, though perhaps fairly localised, booms.

However, if the deflected control surface stayed continuously attached to the rest of the wing or tail stabiliser, there wouldn’t be a gap for any turbulent vortex and the deflecting the control surface would produce either much smaller booms or none at all. The use of shape-changing materials might sound fanciful, but it isn’t. NASA is already employing a related technology in one of the experiments it is conducting as part of its Environmentally Responsible Aviation project. Much of the noise created by an aircraft during its approach is due to the airflow past its extended landing gear and deflected control surfaces, such as flaps. In wind tunnel tests at NASA Armstrong, NASA is experimenting with a ‘continuous mould line’ flap-and-wing arrangement in a reduced-scale, half-body model of a Gulfstream 500 jet. When the flaps are deployed, a layer of material stretches 2

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between each deflected flap and the adjoining trailing edge of the wing, so there is no gap present between the flap and the wing. Initial results are reportedly very promising in reducing approach noise. Shape-changing materials could also be useful in variable-sweep wing designs, the aircraft flying with a low angle of wing sweep at low speeds and a much higher angle of sweep at supersonic speeds. Using traditional aircraft-construction materials, variable-sweep designs would provide structural, weight and low-boom integration challenges, according to Coen. But, “if we could use flexible-material systems, they would be of great benefit overall”, he said.

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Powering the Next Supersonic Airliner

A major consideration for any low-boom aircraft is the type of engine that’d be most 3

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suitable to power it. High-bypass turbofans are much more efficient for commercial aircraft at subsonic speeds, but low-bypass turbofans are better for aircraft cruising at low supersonic speeds. Pure turbojets are the best turbine-powered engines for aircraft cruising at fairly high-Mach speeds well beyond the speed of sound. Today an adaptable commercial engine doesn’t exist. However, Coen thinks the Adaptive Versatile Engine Technology, and follow-on Adaptive Engine Technology Development research programmes being funded by the US Air Force for the engines of its next-generation fighters, offer considerable promise for potential future commercial airliner use. Unlike normal turbofans, which provide two streams of air (bypass air and core air), adaptive technology engines will provide three, one of which can be used variably

4 NASA F/A-18B 852 flew a series of low-supersonic, high-altitude flight profiles to investigate the boom threshold. Jim Ross/NASA 5 Cessna researchers prepare to launch a blimp that carries several microphones used to record sonic booms at an altitude of about 3,000ft. Tom Tschida/NASA 6 A project researcher connects microphone wiring for a spiral array designed to collect boom data. Tom Tschida/NASA

5 6 in different parts of the engine for different

phases of flight. This stream could be used, for instance, to produce extra bypass air for low-noise, high performance at low speeds and high-thrust, cool-temperature performance for ‘supercruise’ capability. Placing such engines in next-generation supersonic airliners will be important to keep environmental noise to a minimum. These engines would be as quiet as, or perhaps even quieter than, today’s latest turbofans. Turbine engines in supersonic airliners would be embedded or partly embedded within their fuselages, or else potentially placed on top of the rear fuselage for their noise to be deflected upwards. They would be shielded by twin, angled stabilisers that would replace the conventional vertical and horizontal stabilisers found on today’s airliners. Should Lockheed Martin Skunk Works’ prediction in October that it thinks it could create a workable fusion reactor within a decade, and could eventually develop a portable fusion reactor, lead to such development within the next 30 years,

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TECHNOLOGY NASA SUPERSONIC RESEARCH all bets for aircraft propulsion might be off. “That would be a game-changer in so many ways,” said Coen, adding that one consequence might be that low-boom aircraft able to carry far more than 200 passengers could become technologically and commercially feasible. However, he personally thinks portable nuclear fusion will not be feasible until well after 2030. Coen also noted that “a number of NASA people are big proponents of lowenergy nuclear reaction propulsion”, but added: “Again, I’m taking a wait-and-see attitude on that. If it can be done, it has a lot of long-term potential.” But no matter how a next-generation supersonic airliner is powered, it won’t be as fuel-efficient as an equivalent subsonic aircraft, he said. “Going faster takes more energy – we’re fighting physics. There’s no [aerodynamic] spot where it takes less drag for supersonic flight than subsonic. The trade-off is some fuel efficiency versus flight time. We can close the gap a bit [in terms of fuel-efficiency], but any advance that is applicable to a supersonic engine is also probably applicable to a subsonic engine, so we’re chasing a moving target.” As a result, supersonic commercial flight won’t replace subsonic as the primary means of commercial air transport in the foreseeable future, Coen predicted. “There are not going to be super-discount [supersonic travel] fares unless that fusion reactor comes along,” he said. Coen sees any 2035-era supersonic travel as being “a niche kind of long-range market”.

Remaining Technological Challenges

Other challenges must still be overcome for a new supersonic airliner to fly by 2035, though Coen believes these can be overcome relatively easily and with minimal technological development. For one thing the long, slender, low-boom designs that NASA is studying do not lend themselves well to having forward-facing cockpit windows, unless manufacturers use the same solution adopted for Concorde the Tu-144 – an adjustable nose that droops for take-off, landing and low-speed manoeuvring and retracts for transonic flight and supersonic cruise. Another solution, much

simpler mechanically and eminently possible with minor advances in today’s technology, would be to provide synthetic vision systems in place of cockpit (and perhaps passenger) windows. These systems would use forward- and side-facing cameras to provide the pilots with the views required for visual flight, on window-sized cockpit displays. These displays could also

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incorporate infrared synthetic vision systems (such as that in today’s Gulfstream G650) to improve pilot situational awareness of the low-level flight environment at night and in poor weather conditions. Coen said that NASA has, in fact, already flown several aircraft experimentally with external-camera vision systems to provide the pilots with a comprehensive view of the outside environment. However, none of the aircraft it has flown to date with such systems have been airliners; and he realises that certification by airworthiness authorities would need to be performed thoroughly. That said, “All the preconditions are there. Small advances in processing power and miniaturisation would be needed, but I think the technology is well within reach in the 2030 timeframe,” he remarked. One more area of development would very probably be necessary, according to Coen. Because these aircraft would almost certainly be long and slender and have very thin wings, “they would tend to have more aeroelastic properties” than today’s commercial jets: that is, parts of the aircraft would tend to exhibit flutter. “Designing aircraft which are free from flutter is a challenge,” he said. “Active flutter-suppression systems that can fly exist, but not on commercial aircraft. You need a fail-proof system if an aircraft is to be certified to fly commercially, and getting manufacturers comfortable to design an aircraft that can do that.” However, Coen notes that long-fuselage airliners, current and past, have flown with systems designed to dampen the tendency for these jets’ rear fuselages to fish-tail in flight, which isn’t

dangerous structurally or for control, but provides a level of discomfort for passengers sitting near the back of the cabin. New commercial aircraft, such as the Boeing 787 and Airbus A350 XWB, are certificated and flying with active gust and load alleviation systems. An active flutter-suppression system may be the next step – and commercial aircraft manufacturers (particularly Boeing) are designing their latest aircraft to be larger and to have wings with ever-higher aspect ratios. Such aircraft will have similar flutter issues to potential low-boom airliner designs, Coen said: “This brings the idea of the integrated flight system with flutter suppression closer to reality.”

This Lockheed Martin concept, which uses an ‘inverted-V’ engine-under-wing configuration, was one of two designs presented to the NASA for studies into supersonic aircraft that could enter service in 2030-2035. NASA/Lockheed Martin

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Black Heading Back to

Germany’s second largest carrier, airberlin, has a three-point plan to regain profitability. Dominik Sipinski reports

Simone Ciaralli/AirTeamImages

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n less than a year Stefan Pichler, the new Chief Executive Officer of airberlin, wants to bring the German carrier back to profitability. Just four weeks after taking office, he revealed a new three-phased plan involving strengthening airberlin’s position at hubs, a revised fare structure and capacity adjustments. “I’m taking full responsibility for this – in 2016 airberlin will be back to profitability,” Pichler announced in Berlin at his first meeting with journalists after taking office in February. The change of leadership is meant to speed up the restructuring of the carrier, which posted a €315.5 million loss in 2013 and a €376.7 million loss in 2014. The airline has received capital injections from Etihad Airways, its largest single shareholder. Etihad bought 29.21% of airberlin’s shares in 2011 and in April 2014 provided €300 million in bonds convertible to stocks to cover for the German carrier’s losses from 2013. Pichler, who previously led the successful restructuring of Fiji Airways, outlined the general approach of how he wants to take airberlin back into the black. He admitted that, so far, his ideas are more of a masterplan than a fully-fledged strategy. Accordingly, he did not respond to some of the questions posed by journalists, including fleet changes, in much detail.

Stabilisation The plan is aimed first at steadying the carrier and only then expanding its operations. “Growth is a nice thing, but first we have to stabilise the company,” Pichler said. “We need to fix our position – airberlin can be much better, but we cannot jump the stairs.” The first phase will focus on adjusting and improving capacity utilisation. Pichler revealed that for the March-June period the carrier is offering 4.5% less capacity than in the same period a year ago. That came after reducing available seat kilometres in 2013 by 5.1%, then increasing them by 3.1% in 2014, and by May 2015 reducing them again by 7.4% year-on-year. “In the low season we will aim at high yields, while in the high season our goal will be a 100% load factor,” Pichler announced. He added that past data shows yields need to be improved. In 2013 airberlin had a high average load factor of 84.9% yet the airline had an operating loss of €231.8 million. Such a result is, according to Pichler, very uncommon in the airline industry. For example, Ryanair in the same year had a lower load factor of 82% and yet posted a net profit of €569 million.

Hub Focus Capacity will not only be optimised, but shifted to focus more strongly on the airline’s hubs. Pichler believes that a multi-hub strategy combined with a low-cost structure might give airberlin a unique competitive advantage, offering the benefits of connecting flights while still keeping a lower cost than legacy carriers. “The multi-hub strategy gives us [an] advantage over the point-to-point competitors. We are in a very competitive position – for example, there are 37.4 million people living within two hours’ drive from

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COMMERCIAL AIRBERLIN Düsseldorf. But we need to concentrate more on our hubs, as our current market share in them is too low,” he explained. According to the carrier’s data, airberlin currently holds 35% and 33% of market share respectively in Berlin and Düsseldorf, its two largest hubs. In Stuttgart it serves 20% of flights, while in both Hamburg and Vienna the figure stands at 17%. In Munich, it is 10% and in Zurich merely 7%. Pichler wants to improve the market share in the largest hubs to over 50%. This will also mean network changes. Airberlin launched new flights from Berlin to Prague and Billund in April, as well as increased frequencies to Gdansk, Warsaw and Graz. “Of course in the process we might have to leave some markets, but I cannot name them yet,” Pichler added.

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after the flight,” Pichler said. “We need to listen to them better and then we will react better. The number of people dealing with customer feedback will grow threefold.” Other immediate changes will include the restructuring of the management and improving internal communications; a focus on the charter market; a greatly extended corporate travel programme under a new brand, ‘airberlin business benefits’; as well as a status match offer for customers changing to airberlin’s Topbonus loyalty programme from other airlines’ schemes; and new mobile apps.

future shape of the narrowbody fleet. “We are focused on profit, not on size,” he said. “Size is irrelevant, [the] number of planes is unimportant, because I cannot pay my staff in aircraft parts. Nobody will invest in our fleet if we are not able to make profit.” The CEO was a bit more specific when discussing the long-haul fleet. “We will serve long-haul routes mostly with our partners [through codeshares/alliances]. However, we will also increase the number of flights to the United States and [the Caribbean island of] Curaçao. For now, we will keep on flying with Airbus A330s and once we are profitable Fleet Plans we will think about possibilities for growth, Pichler was much less specific when asked because there are many,” he explained. about the fleet strategy. In the narrowbody Pichler added that while a large share of jets segment, the carrier is in the process of long-haul flights will be served via Abu Dhabi converting into an all-Airbus A320 fleet. This in partnership with Etihad, airberlin will seek involves phasing out the airline’s Boeing 737opportunities to open new direct routes itself 800s, many of which are not even five years wherever enough potential is identified. And old, in favour of 14 A320s from Alitalia. despite the Etihad partnership, airberlin does This change, facilitated by Etihad Airways not plan to withdraw from the oneworld being a dominant shareholder in both alliance, of which it has been a member carriers, is meant to speed up the fleet since March 2012. replacement process. Pichler, however, “We have quite a good balance between didn’t give exact details about the planned the two, it is not an ‘either/or’ situation. However, not every oneworld partner is 2 equally important for us. We want to simply do what is best for airberlin,” Pichler said. The airline will also continue operating its Vienna-based subsidiary NIKI. Pichler stressed this largely leisure-oriented carrier has great potential, but didn’t elaborate on any plans. But airberlin will gradually sell all nonaviation-related assets. “Everything that is not our core business, we will part with,” Pichler announced.

Fares and Customer Service The most visible change of the plan to improve operational results for customers is the introduction of a simple fare, called ‘JustFly’, with no checked luggage included. Airberlin previously offered this on selected routes but from May 5 it expanded it to cover the whole network. Prices start from €44 one-way. Three other fares (FlyDeal, FlyClassic and FlyFlex) offer different levels of flexibility and services, depending on the price. Airberlin passengers will also notice substantial changes in customer service. From June, if a customer makes a complaint they will receive initial feedback within 24 hours and a definitive response within seven working days. “We cannot be just about the chocolate heart our passengers receive as a goodbye

Competition and Opportunities

1 Airberlin operates seven A319s, including DABFO (msn 3728), pictured at Hamburg. Jan Ostrowski/AirTeamImages 2 Airberlin has reaffirmed its commitment to NIKI, its Austrian-based subsidiary that operates A320 family aircraft – A321-211 OOLEW (msn 4611) is seen during pushback at Berlin Tegel. HAMFive/AirTeamImages 3 Stefan Pichler took over as airberlin’s Chief Executive Officer in February. Dominik Sipinski 4 A320-214 D-ABFP (msn 4606) on finals at Nuremberg in February. Timo Breidenstein/AirTeamImages 5 Despite its close partnership with majority stakeholder Etihad Airways, airberlin will continue to be part of the oneworld alliance. Rui Alves/AirTeamImages

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The market situation in which airberlin will be trying to restructure will not make things easy for the carrier. Just a few days after Pichler’s conference, Ryanair announced it will open a new base at Berlin-Schönefeld. With five Boeing 737-800s based there initially, that airline will directly challenge airberlin in the city’s market on five leisure routes (Alicante, Bari, Madrid, Malaga and Rome) and two strategically-important connections for airberlin to Cologne-Bonn and Palma de Mallorca. Ryanair’s presence in Berlin, and Germany as a whole, is destined to grow as this market is one of the priorities for the Irish low-cost carrier. Pichler asserted that airberlin will not engage in a price war. “The problem with being the cheapest airline is that it’s not a sustainable model. There will always be newcomers who operate on an even lower cost,” he said. It remains to be seen how much of an impact Ryanair’s growth in Germany will have on airberlin. Ryanair has hinted that Berlin

AIRBERLIN COMMERCIAL 4 could be one of the first airports from where

it might operate low-cost transatlantic flights. In March it backtracked from a statement that its board had approved a business plan for long-haul services. But if Ryanair ever did start transatlantic flights from the German capital, it would pose a challenge for airberlin’s long-haul network. Another factor that will change the Berlin market will be the opening of the city’s muchdelayed new airport, Berlin Brandenburg International (BBI), now scheduled for 2017 – six years late. Once the new hub is operational, more capacity will be available in the city. Airberlin is in a position to get a positive impact from BBI. The airline’s connecting passengers currently have to transfer at the old and congested Tegel Airport, which substantially decreases quality and customer satisfaction levels.

Lufthansa A separate challenge for airberlin is that it will have to compete with new products from its largest domestic rival, Lufthansa. The German flag carrier has itself announced the introduction of its own new, simplified fare structure with no checked luggage. It is also planning to expand its long-haul low-cost operations under the Eurowings brand. Although Munich is the only airport that is a hub for both airlines, Lufthansa and airberlin do compete for passengers from the Ruhr Area. Both operate short-haul point-to-point and long-haul flights from Cologne-Bonn and Dusseldorf, which are only 50km (25 miles) apart. Lufthansa is also active in Berlin, although it has no hub there and is unlikely to operate any direct long-haul routes from the capital even after the opening of BBI. Pichler wants to turn airberlin into a much more dynamic, customer-friendly and profitable airline. But the carrier – too small to be in the same league as Lufthansa, easyJet or Ryanair, yet too big to be just a regional carrier – is in a difficult position. The next few years will show if there is enough space in the German market for it to be a significant player. 5

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TECHNOLOGY GE ADAPTIVE CYCLE ENGINES

Towards To

In the second of two articles on the engines to power the US fighters of tomorrow, Chris Kjelgaard finds out about GE Aviation’s views and work on adaptive-cycle engines s the only company to date that has developed and demonstrated an engine with an adaptive-cycle fan, and to have run an engine containing a rotating turbine stage with blades made from ceramic matrix composite (CMC) material, GE Aviation is in a strong position to push for a major role in powering tomorrow’s US fighters.

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So it’s no surprise it was one of two companies – along with Pratt & Whitney – the US Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) contracted in 2012 to develop a three-airstream, adaptive-cycle fan Adaptive Engine Technology Development (AETD) design intended as the technological precursor to a mature engine for volume production. Through a planned four-year Adaptive Engine Transition Programme (AETP) – funding for which President Obama sought in his Fiscal Year 2016 (FY16) budget request to Congress (and which was approved in

principle by the House Armed Services Committee) – adaptive-cycle engine technology would power future US fighters that aren’t even on the drawing board yet. That these aircraft designs are nowhere near taking shape might make today’s adaptive-cycle engine development seem a little premature. But the long lead times involved in designing and integrating fighter and engine designs for maximum capability, performance and operational flexibility put AFRL right on track with its AETD and AETP timing. “There’s not a whole lot more technology

GE ADAPTIVE CYCLE ENGINES TECHNOLOGY

Tomorrow

A cutaway preview of GE Aviation’s AETD engine. GE Aviation

development work that can be done before we have to lock the technologies in and start really designing the right engine for the right airplane using those developed technologies,” said Jeff Martin, GE Aviation’s general manager for new and derivative programmes for next-generation military aircraft – who oversees GE’s engine-design research efforts for future US military aircraft programmes such as the US Air Force’s F-X and US Navy’s FA-XX requirements. “The next five years will probably be the last five years before you have to say ‘here’s what’s going in the engine in terms

of materials, architecture’ that’s all going to have to be known before you start an EMD (engineering, manufacturing and development) programme or a ‘Milestone B’ programme [of record]” validation, he added.

GE Aviation’s Adaptive-Cycle Background

Before GE Aviation’s 2012 AETD contract award, under which the US Air Force is providing a little over half the funding for a $350 million cost-sharing R&D effort and the company the rest, GE was one of two firms contracted by AFRL in 2007 to develop

an Adaptive Versatile Engine Technology (ADVENT) demonstrator engine; the other was Rolls-Royce. The ADVENT programme was the direct predecessor of AETD. In July last year, GE Aviation ran its allnew ADVENT engine design successfully, becoming the only contractor to meet all ADVENT project objectives. During the fullengine test of its three-airstream, adaptivecycle fan design, it met all the performance and durability targets AFRL had set. These included successful operation of an ADVENT engine at its design maximum temperatures and pressures, as well as

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TECHNOLOGY GE ADAPTIVE CYCLE ENGINES reduction of bypass-duct temperatures by more than 150ºF (65ºC) compared to contemporary fifth-generation fighter engines. GE’s ADVENT design also demonstrated a ‘cooled cooling-air’ thermal-management approach. Using a heat exchanger driven by the third airstream produced by the engine’s adaptive-cycle fan, this technique cooled to a much lower temperature the compressor bleed air drawn off to cool the engine’s high-pressure turbine stages. It meant the hot section of GE’s ADVENT engine required less cooling air and enabled the engine to demonstrate high overall pressure ratios (OPRs).

programmes, said the company’s success in demonstrating its ADVENT design means it has already demonstrated all the technologies required in its AETD engine. He described the ADVENT research effort as “extremely enlightening” in helping develop GE’s AETD design. So, unlike Pratt & Whitney, which is using an internally purchased F135 engine to provide a full-scale core for testing its fullscale AETD adaptive-cycle fan design, GE sees no need to perform a full-scale fan test during its AETD research. GE’s remaining AETD testing schedule

amount of detail on the engine design with a very large contingent of government personnel – not just [US] Air Force, we had navy [and] NASA involved in the review also. “On April 30 we had our formal debrief from the AFRL, where they gave us our report card on the review. I would say the feedback we received was extremely positive – they were very happy with the depth of the PDR, the depth of the analysis and design work we have done… and they were certainly very pleased with the capability of the design as we have it today.” He also revealed that, although the original

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During a test of its ADVENT core in 2013, GE recorded the highest combined compressor and turbine temperatures in the history of jet propulsion, AFRL officially verifying the records. GE’s ADVENT design included the most extensive use of ceramic matrix composites in aviation history. This allowed the leading edge of the engine’s high-pressure turbine nozzle to withstand temperatures in excess of 3,000ºF (1,648ºC). The company ran its ADVENT core for more than 80 minutes at on-or-above-target turbine temperatures.

GE’s AETD Status Dan McCormick, GE Aviation’s general manager for advanced combat engine

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calls for it to begin a compressor rig test at the compressor research facility at WrightPatterson Air Force Base before the end of the year, the test probably running into early 2016. Next spring, the company will rig-test a sub-scale version of its AETD fan, also at Wright-Patterson and, in mid-2016, test its full-scale AETD core at its own test centre in Evendale, Ohio. At the beginning of March, GE Aviation was the first of the two AETD contractors to undergo a preliminary design review (PDR) by the US Government of its AETD design and development work to date. It passed with flying colours. (Pratt & Whitney was due to undergo its AETD PDR by early May.) McCormick noted: “We went into a great

$350 million funding agreement remains in place, AFRL is considering an “additional design effort to be added to AETD for GE, and I’m assuming for P&W as well”. By May, AFRL was working on a request for proposals (RfP) for this design work but had not awarded any contracts or defined any funding amounts. McCormick’s best guess was that any additional AETD design contract would be of “$50-100 million added scope”. The add-on design effort would be “focused on some of the specific areas where all parties recognise there is still a continued level of risk in the programme”, he said. “The focus of those potential additional efforts is to burn down that risk post-PDR…to do

GE ADAPTIVE CYCLE ENGINES TECHNOLOGY additional risk-reduction work that can be added to AETD to continue to move adaptivecycle technology maturation forward.”

GE and AETP According to McCormick, the US Air Force Life Cycle Management Center (LCMC), the Wright-Patterson-based organisation that would manage AETP, remains in discussion with GE and P&W over the potential scope and timing of the programme. AETP would provide a transition from the AETD research effort into a larger-scale engineering development programme, creating a

milestone for the US military’s adaptive-cycle engine development effort, according to McCormick. Funding would begin “with a relatively small amount in FY16 and go out through the Fiscal Year Defense Plan [lasting to FY2020] with a funding profile. I would say it’s a significant amount of dollars to continue the work.” GE Aviation believes that, if Congress approves President Obama’s AETP budget request, the company would be involved in adaptive-cycle engine development through the AETP stage. “LCMC says they plan to issue two contracts, one to GE and

look like following AETP, recognising there is no commitment to an EMD programme at this time.”

GE Aviation and FLADEs Neither GE nor Pratt & Whitney will actually build a full-size AETD engine, but under the research programme both contractors must produce designs for one. (In the absence of specific engine dimension requirements from AFRL, both companies sized their AETD designs so they would fit into exactly the same space the F135 engine takes up in the F-35 airframe.)

2 1 GE Aviation’s adaptive cycle engine in test. All photos General Electric 2 The ADVENT engine demonstrated the reduction of bypass-duct temperatures by more than 150ºF (65ºC) compared to contemporary fifth-generation fighter engines.

technological pathway towards volume production of one or more adaptive-cycle engine designs. “We are very engaged with them: they have a draft of the RfP which we have provided feedback on,” said McCormick. “Their objective is to have a final RfP issued by the end of June. We’re very heavily involved in those discussions and AETP picks up where AETD leaves off. The AETP programme would certainly include more design work, maturing the design to a detailed design review (DDR), and we envision several full-up engines being tested.” The DDR stage is the next formal design

one to Pratt, for the AETP programme. Assuming the programme survives the budget challenges and moves forward, our expectation would be to be on contract for AETP,” said McCormick. LCMC is consulting closely with the two AETD contractors. “LCMC requested that we lay out a plan for the programme that defines the scope of AETP. They asked for our recommendation on what we’d like the programme to look like – ie, what we would include relative to design, component and rig work and engine tests,” added McCormick. “We have provided them a conceptual view of what an EMD programme might want to

AFRL closely guards the engine architecture details of the two companies’ AETD designs. But the fact both have adaptive-cycle fans and third airstreams that are complementary to their core and bypass airstreams means they require variablegeometry features. These are needed to produce the third stream of air and direct it to different locations within the engine, as variably required. McCormick confirmed GE Aviation’s AETD design uses variable-geometry mechanisms, which the company calls ‘FLADE’ features. The term ‘FLADE’ stands for ‘fan-on-blades’, ‘blades-on-blades’ or

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TECHNOLOGY GE ADAPTIVE CYCLE ENGINES even ‘fan-blades-on-fan-blades’. In a series of applications to the US Patent Office from 2003 to 2005, GE described various FLADE engine designs featuring adaptive-cycle third airstreams. It received patents for them in 2007. As described by GE in application US 2005/0081509 of April 21, 2005, the FLADE engine configuration possibly most likely to feature in the company’s AETD design has an outer, second bypass duct in addition to its primary bypass duct and engine core. This annular, secondary bypass duct, called a FLADE duct, allows a third stream of cold air to flow along inside the engine casing outside the main bypass duct. From the FLADE duct the third stream of air is diverted as required by variable-geometry features to wherever in the engine it is needed to improve turbine cooling, increase thrust or otherwise enhance performance. The FLADE duct is fed by an annular inlet located inside the fan casing but outside the first row of fan blades. It contains one or two rows of FLADE vanes (located outside and between the first and second main fan stator rows) which can be set variably, as well as fully open or closed, to allow differing amounts of air to flow through the inlet into the FLADE duct. Between the vanes, a row of outer FLADE fan blades, attached to and effectively a radial continuation of the second row of main fan blades (hence the ‘fan blade-on-fan-blade’ nomenclature), compresses and accelerates air to flow through the FLADE duct.

characteristics.” As in its ADVENT engine, GE’s AETD design also uses FLADE features “in other stages of the fan to accomplish other aspects of the adaptive cycle”.

Other Design Aspects GE’s AETD fan has three stages, like the fan in its F136 engine, but there the similarity ends. Not only does the adaptive-cycle fan produce a third airstream, but “the AETD core is all-new”, said McCormick. “If you look in detail at the core of the AETD engine, it would look very different than the core of the F136.” GE’s AETD compressor is “of the family of compressors that has led to the current, production-design LEAP compressor. It was generated [from an] earlier version of LEAP, but it is of the basic family of high-OPR compressors that is going into that size of commercial engine.” He added: “The AETD compressor is modified and tailored to the compression

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Variable-Geometry Features Lying along the length of, but outside, the engine core and main bypass duct, the annular FLADE duct also has variable-area FLADE air nozzles controlling the exit flow of third-stream air into the aft end of the bypass duct. A FLADE engine also has other variablegeometry features, such as variable-area fan stators, variable-area bypass injector doors and a ‘single expansion ramp nozzle’, controlling the flows of air through its fan 2 section and its main bypass duct into its exhaust nozzle. 3 GE Aviation used a FLADE variableratio we need for this combat engine geometry fan design to produce the cycle, and it also takes into account the third airstream in its ADVENT engine and militarisation of the design relative to things employed other FLADE variable-geometry like clearances, where we have to do features elsewhere in the engine. The things differently in a military environment company confirmed in an internal white compared to the commercial folks. So it’s paper that, in ADVENT, the FLADE design the same family [as the LEAP compressor], met all its performance objectives in but tailored to this application in a military controlling the ratio of core air to the ratio of engine cycle.” air flowing through the bypass duct. GE’s AETD compressor, unlike LEAP, does In ADVENT, the FLADE design proved not have ten stages. McCormick said: “It’s “effective for flow holding [without spilling less than that, but we can’t disclose details any engine-inlet air] at high-speed flight or stage counts. It is a higher-compression conditions” – making it potentially invaluable ratio compressor than legacy military for supercruising – “and the cooler air machines.” provides a heat sink for unrestricted He also confirmed there are blisks (singleoperation throughout the flight envelope”, GE piece rotor stages) in the compressor, “which is said. Also, the third airstream was “a source pretty common these days for most folks, not of cooling for the nozzle hardware, thereby just GE. There are blisks through the majority serving to enhance component durability”. of the compressor stages in our engine.” McCormick noted: “The AETD FLADEs Use of CMCs are different from ADVENT in that they McCormick said GE Aviation is using CMC are tailored to the size application that materials both for static and rotating parts AETD requires but, from a technology in its AETD design. “Right now, [use of] standpoint, it’s the same concept and basic

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GE ADAPTIVE CYCLE ENGINES TECHNOLOGY rotating CMCs is limited to the stage two LPT (low pressure turbine) rotating blades.” GE’s decision to use CMCs for rotating blades for the first time ever by any manufacturer follows a successful test last December when it fitted a demonstrator F414 (the engine which powers the F/A18E/F Super Hornet and the EA-18G Growler) with CMC blades on its second LPT rotating stage. The company ran the demonstrator for 500 endurance cycles in conditions mimicking the stresses under which the much more powerful F135 engine operates. After the endurance test it found the CMC blades – which required no cooling and were one-third the weight of the nickelalloy blades they replaced – had stood up completely to the high-stress testing. “There’s still maturation that needs to continue, but that was a major milestone and success for us in proving the capability of rotating CMC airfoils,” said McCormick. GE Aviation is probably also using CMCs in its AETD design’s highpressure turbine (HPT) nozzle. Jeff Martin said: “There are no parts of the engine that see a bigger thermal difference or range than the HPT nozzle, [and] we’ve had lots of success in ADVENT and rig tests. We’re planning to put a HPT nozzle on the next batch of commercial engines coming out, like the GE9X. ADVENT used a full-up CMC stator. With HPT nozzles, we film-cool the surface of the nozzle and we manage the temperatures there.” Martin revealed: “We ran a rig test through ADVENT of the CMC nozzle, back in the days when we didn’t know if we could do it. Because of an inadvertent error in the rig tests, we actually ran the nozzle without any cooling on the nozzle leading edge…we ran it for over an hour, and after the test was done the material looked brand-new. All the ceramic coating melted on the leading edge, but the material itself looked great. So the tests and data confirm the material is pretty tough.”

Sixth-Generation Fighter Engines

No one knows yet if the US military will ever decide to install an adaptive-cycle engine in the F-35. McCormick conceded that upgrades to legacy engines have long proved successful for incremental improvements in production fighters. However, he said “the magnitude of the change” AFRL wants for future engines (and perhaps for future-production F-35s) regarding range, acceleration and the thermal-management capability to allow unrestricted operation throughout the entire flight envelope requires a three-airstream adaptive-cycle engine. McCormick said Lockheed Martin has “assessed the installation of our AETD engine into the F-35” and gave GE “very high marks… on our ability to meet what they regard as future requirements or desired

requirements relative to thrust, fuel-efficiency and thermal-management capability”. However, nobody – including the US Air Force and US Navy – knows exactly what future operational requirements operators will want from their F-35s. They would only have an incentive to install adaptive-cycle engines in their F-35s if the benefits GE and Lockheed Martin have demonstrated “are enough to change the game in the way they manage their fighter fleets”. An important consideration in using adaptive-cycle engines in future military – and possibly supersonic civil – aircraft is that “the adaptive-cycle architecture and core size we’re looking at is very scalable”, said McCormick. “In many of the studies going on right

4 1 The compressor in the ADVENT demonstrator engine. 2 GE has already demonstrated all the technologies required in its AETD engine through the ADVENT programme. 3 GE has had positive results from the preliminary design review conducted by the US Air Force, US Navy and NASA. 4 A front view of GE’s proposed AETD engine.

now for F-X and F/A-XX, those airplanes may want to be two-engine and not singleengine, which would imply a smaller engine in a twin-engine application... We have done some things in AETD for scalability, looking where our core could apply as-is and, if needed, how we could scale it. “We plan to do additional work as part of the AETP programme looking at scalability, especially in the core.”

Integration of Aircraft and Engine

Generally, designs and technologies for sixth-generation fighter engines depend “on what the airplane is going to do”, said

Martin. Whether future aircraft would “need to go fast at dry [thrust] or go fast at augmented will determine what the engine architecture looks like”. However, “what’s clear is that the one feature the airplane has to have that legacy aircraft have not [is] the next generation of aircraft needs to be highly integrated with the propulsion system”, including the exhaust. “From a power system and thermalmanagement system standpoint, all these things are going to have to be much more integrated with the propulsion system than they have been in the past because you just can’t afford a federated airplane.” So all system designs in future US fighters will need to be closely co-ordinated. “We think there are cost and weight issues of integrating a lot of the functions that today are done by separate subsystems in the vehicle,” noted Martin. “The engine is the most efficient energy generator on the airplane, so why wouldn’t we use [it] to do all the energy-generation functions on the aircraft? “We think the next-gen airplane is going to be a megawatt-class power requirement, so we need to figure out how to do that, and we’re working that solution right now.” GE has a head start, according to Martin. “We demonstrated pretty enormous thermal capacity on the ADVENT engine. Due to requirements, the AETD engine will have a little less thermal capacity than ADVENT, but still a ton of it.” He added: “The cooled cooling-air aspects of the engine require a third stream of air to cool the cooling air, and that third stream brings along extra capacity that could take off vehicle heat loads. The system required to cool the vehicle systems is complex but it’s going to be complex no matter what. “When you consider you’re flying around at mid-Mach with some kind of big energy draw, where all the electronics have to be kept at 70 degrees and the inlet temperature is 270 degrees, that’s a thermal problem of some significance… we’ve been doing a lot of work on that. “I think the real breakthrough is going to be integration technology, but it’s going to require a better understanding of how to… have that propulsion system very highly integrated.” “I’ve been pounding this drum for four years with industry guys, saying we really need to sit down and start working together on how would we design an integrated vehicle.” AFRL recognises this need. All indications are that the next adaptive-cycle studies it will fund – under AETD, AETP and a potential new study programme called Air Dominance Adaptive Propulsion Technology (ADAPT, which GE believes would target further technology maturation) – will focus on the best ways to integrate airframes and their systems with adaptive-cycle engines.

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ooking out of Air Canada’s offices in downtown Toronto, a steady stream of turboprops is visible. But Benjamin Smith, Air Canada’s President, Passenger Airlines, would rather his visitors didn’t notice the swarms of Bombardier Q400s. Almost all belong to regional carrier Porter Airlines, one of Air Canada’s main competitors. A well-liked underdog challenging the Goliath that is Air Canada, Porter runs services into one of the world’s most unusual regional airports, Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport. The facility is located on an island on Lake Ontario, a stone’s throw from the soaring skyline of the Canadian metropolis

and its most visible landmark, the CN Tower. Air Canada Express operates 15 daily flights on the milk run from Billy Bishop to Montréal, while Porter operates 86 per day and aspires to operate CSeries regional jets from the island airport. In an exclusive interview with AIR International, Smith said: “We don’t think it’s viable to fly jets there [given] infrastructure of the airport, but we want more slots and proper access, we are committed to Billy Bishop Airport and will expand.” That’s rather surprising, because Air Canada has for years been heavily focused on promoting improvements at its main hub at Toronto Pearson International Airport, 14 miles (23km) to the northwest. There, it has finally achieved what it always craved. Air Canada and its Star Alliance partners, whose operations were formerly spread over four terminals, are now concentrated under one roof in Terminal 3 – “a huge advantage”, according to Smith. And the often time-consuming and

expensive journey to Pearson from downtown Toronto is also a thing of the past thanks to a new express train that started operating in the spring. The improved Pearson hub is one of several factors boosting Air Canada, the country’s biggest airline. Last year it carried 38.5 million passengers, up from 35.7 million the previous year. “The last few years were really good, but the last decade was very difficult,” Smith said. “It was maybe even a bit worse for us: Toronto was the epicentre of the SARS [severe acute respiratory syndrome] disease in North America [in 2002], in the middle of the decade we went through a full restructuring equivalent to US Chapter 11, and then we had a very difficult merger with Canadian Airlines, which took a long time to make work.” Today, everything is more positive. “We fixed our pension plans, got our liquidity up and our fleet right this decade; we optimised our product and we have full transit facilities at all major airports we operate to, so we can penetrate the US market as we haven’t in the past. We [put in] a lot of effort to make our airline into a much more sustainable business.”

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COMMERCIAL AIR CANADA And Air Canada has achieved something that Lufthansa, for example, lacks so far – a deal with its pilots. “Getting a ten-year pilot deal was a central point of our ‘Go Forward’ plan. It was a big effort to get our pilots to align themselves with our vision,” Smith said. “That’s a big step change for Air Canada. We didn’t have a negotiated deal for two decades.” The details of the deal have not been made public, but Smith said: “We are extremely happy from a financial perspective.” Air Canada became profitable again in 2013 and the president doesn’t hesitate to claim, albeit boldly: “We have the best product in North America.” Still, there are challenges. “The US has a cheaper infrastructure than we do, airports are very expensive in Canada,” Smith said. “We have total annual costs of C$13 billion now, if we would do business in the US, we 1

AIR CANADA FACTS AND FIGURES IATA code: AC ICAO code: ACA Ownership: ACE Aviation Holdings (11%), publicly traded and others (89%) Operations started: January 1, 1965 (as Air Canada), predecessor 1937 Employees: 27.000 Passengers carried: 2014 – 38.5m; 2013 – 35.7m; 2012 – 34.9m Fleet: 18 Airbus A319s, 42 Airbus A320s, 11 Airbus A321s, 8 Airbus A330-300s, 20 Boeing 767-300ERs, 6 Boeing 777-200LRs, 17 Boeing 777-300ERs, 8 Boeing 787-8s, 45 Embraer 190s Orders: 3 Airbus A321s, 33 Boeing 737 MAX 8s, 2 Boeing 737 MAX 9s, 2 Boeing 777300ERs, 7 Boeing 787-8s, 22 Boeing 787-9s Hubs: Toronto, Montréal, Calgary, Vancouver Route network: 186 destinations, 61 in Canada, 50 in the USA and 75 international Profit: 2014 – US$84m, 2013 – US$10m 2

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would save a billion.” And there is a geographical and demographic disadvantage. “Canada has just the population of California and the 33 million Canadians are very thinly spread,” he added. That makes inroads into the US market even more crucial for Air Canada.

Open Skies In that respect an Open Skies agreement between Canada and the US, granting Canadians unrestricted access to America, is important. Air Canada’s President and Chief Executive Officer Calin Rovinescu told AIR International: “We are the largest foreign carrier in the US and fly to 50 destinations there. We take lots of traffic from secondary US cities like Pittsburgh, Boston or Cleveland without their own direct services to points we serve, via Toronto or Vancouver mostly. These are fantastic markets for us.” For Air Canada, Toronto is a hub for passengers travelling to European and Asian cities from many US cities. Transiting via the city often provides shorter travel times for

Americans than transfers within the US at Chicago, New York JFK, Newark and Atlanta. And for European travellers, flights to the US via Canada are often the quickest option too. Smith said: “The transfer is seamless, without the need to take up your bag in Canada on journeys from Europe to the US, the minimum connecting time is 80 minutes.” With a quarter of all flights and 20% of revenues, the US market is important for Air Canada. “There are opportunities that weren’t there in the past, now we are flexing our muscles and go into markets where we are sure we can succeed.”

Dreamliners for New Routes An important factor in Air Canada’s new selfconfidence is the factory-fresh Boeing 787 fleet, about which Rovinescu enthused: “The 787 opens up routes for us that wouldn’t have been possible without it.” Examples include the connections from Toronto to Dubai and Delhi. Rovinescu explained: “With our focus on profitability, we would not take a Boeing 777 to Delhi, we wouldn’t be satisfied with the yield. Instead, our

1 Boeing 767-300 C-FMWV (c/n 25586) on finals to St Maarten in the Dutch Antilles, one of the Caribbean leisure destinations for Air Canada’s low-cost subsidiary rouge. Jan Severijns/AirTeamImages 2 Air Canada will eventually operate 15 787-8s and 22 787-9s. Mathieu Pouliot/AirTeamImages 3 The airline’s Boeing 777-300ERs are being reconfigured with 458 seats, up from the previous 349, in work that will completed by 2016. Air Canada 4 The consolidation of Air Canada’s operations in Terminal 3 at Toronto Pearson International Airport has helped the carrier, according to its executives. Air Canada 5 With 71 examples, the A320 Family forms the backbone of Air Canada’s short-haul fleet. Here A320-211 C-FFWJ (msn 150) departs Montréal. Mathieu Pouliot/AirTeamImages

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AIR CANADA COMMERCIAL first 787-9 will serve this market from November and it’s the perfect aircraft to do that.” Air Canada currently operates eight 7878s. Seven more are on order, along with 22 Boeing 787-9s that will be delivered from this autumn. The shorter 787-8 is equipped with 255 seats; the longer 787-9 carries up to 289 passengers. This summer the 787-8s will fly from Toronto to London Heathrow, Paris, Copenhagen and Tel Aviv and seasonally to Zürich and Tokyo. The type is also replacing 767s on routes from Vancouver to Tokyo, Seoul and Shanghai. Almost at the same time as it starts the Delhi service, Air Canada will – again with Dreamliners – begin a non-stop route to Dubai in November. Smith said: “So far we mostly offered connections to Dubai with our joint venture partner Lufthansa via Frankfurt or Munich, 3 but by going non-stop we enhance our own presence in the region.” Air Canada also has a code-sharing partnership with Etihad Airways on the UAE carrier’s three weekly services to Abu Dhabi. “The bilateral [arrangement] allows Canadian and Arabian carriers each six flights a week, we don’t want Open Skies as it disproportionately favours them,” Smith explained.

Domestic Competitors Air Canada is the country’s market leader with a share of 57%. “We have very competitive low-cost competition, mostly from WestJet,” noted Smith. “But their incursion into our domestic market share is pretty much flat. We were able to hold them at bay.” With 67% of all flights, domestic traffic is the biggest share of Air Canada’s traffic, although it accounts only for 38% of revenues. The airline is also the biggest international carrier in the country for non-US destinations, which account for 42% of revenues. “We have ferocious competition in all three areas, the domestic, international and US business, but we are very adapted in surviving,” Smith stressed. “Transatlantic is one of our best performing markets, we are in a wide-reaching joint venture with Lufthansa as well as United Airlines.” London Heathrow is Air Canada’s main hub in Europe. It serves eight destinations from there: Toronto, Montréal, Calgary, Vancouver, St John’s, Halifax, Ottawa and Edmonton (the latter four during the summer season).

Low-Cost Long-Haul Air Canada introduced a new low-cost, long-haul subsidiary called rouge in July 2013. It currently flies nine Boeing 767300ERs to destinations in the Caribbean and to Europe in the summer on leisure routes such as Toronto to Edinburgh, Manchester and Dublin. Rovinescu explained: “Rouge has been enormously successful so far. It is not an ultra-low cost strategy, because that is impossible in the context of a legacy carrier. The concept is to serve the leisure markets at lower cost, now we have the right cost structure for the Caribbean market.” He said the same of the European summer destinations, “where we couldn’t make an adequate return with our cost structure before.” Rouge’s 767s are currently equipped with

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280 seats in two classes, as opposed to 191 in the mainline Air Canada’s 767-300s. Rouge also operates 20 Airbus A319s, seating up to 142, compared with 120 in the mainline version. Rouge’s operating costs for the 767s are 23% cheaper than the same aircraft used by the mainline Air Canada, those for the A319s are 19% less. “The reason is the higher seat density and other labour rules,” Rovinescu said. Rouge serves Honolulu out of Toronto twice weekly, which is a nine-hour flight. “We don’t want to ignore those markets, we fought very hard to get the right contracts, and it’s a really complementary product to the mainline, it fully connects to it.”

Revised Cabins To gain cost and revenue benefits from denser seating, Air Canada is currently reconfiguring its mainline Boeing 777 fleet. Previously the airline’s 777-300ERs all had 349 seats in two classes. Now the 19 aircraft, including two to be delivered, will be equipped with 458 (work that will be completed by June 2016). There will be 36 seats in the new 787-style international Business Class, 24 in a new Premium Economy (with eight-abreast seating) and 398 in Economy, now ten abreast. “It’s still the same [seat] width as the 747-400s, but with narrower aisles,” Smith pointed out.

Air Canada also operates six 777-200LRs, which will also be refurbished. “We use them on the ultra-long-haul routes from Vancouver to Sydney and from Toronto to Hong Kong, and we want to start other routes where the -200LRs will be the only capable aircraft without [a] weight penalty. Its range is really important for us,” Smith revealed. “We want to continue to strengthen our position over the Atlantic, to grow capacity and penetration of the US market and do more on the Pacific. And there are some smaller opportunities in South America and Africa.” And it’s to those continents where the 777200LRs, with their range of over 10,811 miles (17,400km), might come into play. The sky, it seems, is the limit for Air Canada, which is now stronger than ever. 5

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ore than 270 aviators and support personnel arrived at Marine Corps Air Station Yuma for the latest biannual United States Marine Corps Weapons and Tactics Instructor Course (WTI) in March. Facilitated by Marine Aviation Weapons and Tactics Squadron 1 (MAWTS-1) since 1978, the seven-week course provides advanced tactical aviation training to create weapons and tactics instructors. WTI 2-15 took place in March and April. In a Marine Corps interview earlier this year, Major Douglas Seich, the MAWTS-1 operations officer, said: “WTI is characterised by advanced tactical training that encompasses full-spectrum operations. When units come here, and individuals train

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via WTI, we expose them to mission sets that they perhaps haven’t seen before in order to prepare them for combat.”

Training the Trainers WTI can be viewed as a ‘train the trainer’ course in advanced tactical aviation. Graduates are expected to deliver the course material and lessons learned at WTI to their respective squadrons. This helps provide standardised practices throughout the US Marine Corps aviation squadrons. Maj Seich elaborated: “WTI is important to the marine corps because of the product it produces. One of the cornerstones of WTI is the production of a training continuum within the [service]. Weapons and tactics instructors are the training experts; [they give] the continuity in the fleet to ensure not only [an instructor’s] unit is trained, but adjacent units can be assessed or helped to train as well. “They serve in key staff officer billets

to help facilitate training throughout the marine corps [through] a number of venues, whether that be a Marine Air Group Weapons and Tactics Instructor billet or a mass role in the Marine Air Training Standardisation Squadron.”

Subject Matter Experts A WTI flight instructor, who asked to be referred to as ‘Tank’, told AIR International: “The vast majority of WTI graduates are returning directly to individual squadrons to be training officers. All the training they received at WTI is handed directly through their individual squadron training plans.” This makes WTI graduates the subject matter experts in advanced tactical aviation for their squadrons. To be selected to attend WTI, aviators have to already have a certain degree of experience. ‘Tank’ explained: “Students are nominated by their respective Marine Air Groups [MAGs]. This happens via their

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The US Marine Corps’ Weapons and Tactics Instructor Course is designed to improve readiness and capability, as Steven Valinski explains

squadron commanding officer and training officers. Requirements and prerequisites vary from division to division, but ultimately each student is one step away from holding the highest level of qualification, a Weapons and Tactics Instructor. “In the F/A-18 Division, students must be a mission commander and have graduated from either the Marine Division Tactics Course [MDTC] or Top Gun.”

Evolving Curriculum Participation is not limited to the Marine Corps – aviators from other Department of Defense (DoD) branches or coalition countries can also participate. Students spend three weeks in the classroom and four weeks flying. While the rigorous curriculum is designed to best prepare aviators for combat, it changes to meet current demands and expectations. “The WTI course is constantly evolving to meet the current situation,” said ‘Tank’.

“The most recent change was a complete overhaul of the course construct to provide for a more logical flow of events.” The four-week flying component consists of several phases that get progressively more complex and allow for increased integration between aircraft types. “The flight phase follows a specific-common-generic phase,” explained ‘Tank’. “During the specific phase, integration of aircraft is minimal and the specific type/model/series are focused on more basic skills. During the common phase, more integration is observed, but typically not between departments (ie, F/A18s integrate with AV-8Bs, but not yet with rotary wing). “In the generic phase, the entire MAGTF is integrated and all aircraft are planning and flying together.”

Training Events The course syllabus for WTI is specific to airframe and role. Some non-aviator roles

MV-22B Ospreys on the ramp at Marine Corps Air Station Yuma awaiting another mission. All photos Steven Valinski unless stated

also participate in WTI; for example, C-130 crews play a vital role in that aircraft type’s missions, so they are participants. Mission sets and scenarios are in the form of events, which can be spread out over multiple days and cover topics such as close air support, airto-ground, long-distance insertion (rotor), anti-air warfare and air-to-air. Staying true to the mantra ‘train as you fight’, live ordnance is used whenever possible. ‘Tank’ explained: “Some target sets are restricted to inert ordnance based on the complexity of the target area – ie, urban target training ranges. The ratio is approximately 1:1 in the F/A-18 Division.”

HA/DR One WTI training event many Yuma residents are familiar with is that for humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HA/DR). With main staging areas of a local park and buildings such as hospitals and churches,

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MILITARY USMC WEAPONS AND TACTICS INSTRUCTOR COURSE With a demanding flight schedule and environmental challenges, such as the desert heat in Yuma and occasional high winds and blowing dust, marines have to stay focused and on task. “Any lapse in attention to detail can result in an aircraft mishap,” MGySgt Lloyd said. “I cannot overemphasise the importance of ensuring that every component and fastener is where it is supposed to be.”

Logistics 1 A Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 122 (VMFA-122) ‘Werewolves’ F/A-18 Hornet from MCAS Beaufort refuelling during WTI 2-15. 2 Helicopters and ground troops conduct humanitarian assistance and disaster relief training in public during WTI, with staging areas that include local buildings and Kiwanis Park, where this CH-53 is pictured. Cpl Charles Santamaria/US Marine Corps 3 Live ordnance is used whenever possible during WTI to provide the most realistic combat experience. Here an AV-8B Harrier II from Marine Attack Squadron 211 (VMA-211) ‘Wake Island Avengers’ is armed with two 1,000lb Mk83 bombs.

Another challenge is logistics. All the equipment and gear needed for WTI has to be moved from the participating squadrons to Yuma. Gunnery Sergeant Ryan Lowe, the logistics chief for MAWTS-1, said in an interview: “Two months before the start of the course, Captain Craig Sisson, the ground logistics officer for MAWTS-1, and I will travel to the east and west coasts to communicate the units’ needs during a 1 logistics planning conference to key unit

CH-53s, UH-1Ys and ground troops conduct this event in public. While most people associate the US Marine Corps with combat, marines have been performing HA/DR all around the world for decades. The event provides an opportunity to show the public the ‘humanitarian’ side of the marine corps, while executing a mission they may be called upon to do at any time. The apex of classroom and flight training is realised with sophisticated events during the final week of WTI known as FINEX, which stands for Final Exercise. ‘Tank’ said: “The flow is one plan day followed by execution. FINEX 1-3 is the final week of WTI from Monday to Saturday.” FINEX 2 is Thursday, with FINEX 3 on Saturday of the final week.

Maintenance With the fast pace of the course and the amount of missions that need to be completed, the always important role of the maintainer is even more critical during WTI. Master Gunnery Sergeant William Lloyd, the maintenance chief for MAWTS-1, said in a interview: “Our mission is to maintain and fix aircraft to accommodate students during the daily flight schedule.

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“Depending on the evolution there can be over 60 aircraft operating at one time. These types of aircraft operated more than 8,000 flight hours in multiple training scenarios during the last class.” According to a marine corps report, extensive support is required to meet the maintenance demands of WTI. Some 18,500 maintenance hours are needed for rotorcraft and more than 8,200 for fixed-wing aircraft.

leaders planning for WTI. “During each class we have approximately 12 additional units. It’s our job to co-ordinate with them to make sure they receive all of the right gear, such as generators, fuel bladders, shower trailers, mobile laundry facilities and tactical vehicles at the right place and at the right time. “Approximately 3,329 tons of gear will be moved for this class [WTI 2-15]. This is

4 The Aerial Productions International SMART-1 (Small Manned Aerial Radar Target, Model 1), derived from the BD-5J, is a small, lightweight single-engine jet. During WTI the type simulates enemy threats, such as cruise missiles, to present a realistic threat to air and ground forces in training. 5 A KC-130J from Marine Aerial Refueler Transport Squadron 152 (VMGR-152) ‘Sumos’ based at Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, Japan, sits on the south Combat Aircraft Loading Area at Yuma while being prepared for a WTI mission. 6 Ordnance specialists disarm an AH-1W Cobra at Auxiliary Airfield 2, near Yuma, in a forward arming and refuelling point exercise during WTI 2-15. LCpl Jodson Graves/US Marine Corps

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USMC WEAPONS AND TACTICS INSTRUCTOR COURSE MILITARY significant, because [most of it] came from the east coast. There were approximately 447 tractor trailers sourced to transport all of this gear to support the additional troops.” While months of planning are needed to prepare for WTI, adjustments to the plan often need to be made to account for other changes or delays. Captain Sisson explained: “Logistics is never the exact same task day after day. It’s constantly a changing scenario with every course. “Logistics is crucial. If one unit doesn’t receive its tactical gear on time, it can back up other units, causing a domino effect, [meaning we] ultimately fail our mission. Failure is simply not an option.”

WTI 2-15 The classroom portion for WTI 2-15 began in early March, with around 80 pilots and 190 support personnel participating. More than 85 aircraft were brought in, with additional support provided by others based at Yuma

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(F-35, F-5), civilian contract aircraft and some from other DoD branches. Participants came from many additional squadrons. The importance is in the distribution of aircraft types so that all airframes the Marine Corps flies are represented.

on the NTTR, which were guarded by ‘Red’ adversary aircraft from Yuma, Arizona and Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada”. Because of the US Air Force’s success in integrating fourth- and fifth-generation aircraft during exercises such as Red Flag, the US Marine Corps consulted with the air force to help integrate the F-35B into WTI. Marine Corps Major Geoff Franks, a MAWTS-1 weapons school instructor and

F-35 Integration The F-35B Lightning II was first brought into WTI in 2014, but in roles limited to strike coordination and reconnaissance, escort and area defence missions. The type is not fully integrated yet, but WTI 2-15 saw it become more dynamically involved. Lieutenant Colonel Todd Rampey, the executive officer of MAWTS-1, said: “The F-35 pilots have flown in close air support, armed reconnaissance and anti-air warfare (AAW) missions thus far in WTI. They also participated in the long-range strike to Nellis on Tuesday April 21 and flying armed reconnaissance in FINEX 2 on April 23. “The most dynamic integration so far has been with the F/A-18s during AAW where they executed fourth/fifth generation integration TTPs, also known as fighter integration.” According to the US Air Force, FINEX 2 “employed the F-35Bs as part of the ‘Blue’ strike package whose objective was to degrade, depress and destroy integrated air defence systems and other ground targets

an F/A-18 Hornet instructor pilot, said in an interview: “We’ve leveraged the air force heavily because it is way ahead of the game in terms of integrating fourth-gen assets like the F-15 with fifth-gen assets like the F-22. “Now, as the F-35 has come along, which for the marine corps the F-35 is expected to achieve initial operational capability, or IOC around July, we need to be postured to teach tactics to the F/A-18 community so the F/A18 fleet will be able to start integrating with the F-35s.” The Nevada Test and Training Range (NTTR) was used because it can a robust threat environment for which the F-35 is designed to operate in. According to the NTTR commander, Colonel Thomas Dempsey III, the NTTR ties 5 all domains – air, space and cyber – into realistic operational training and readiness. “The marines choose this as their battle space for their graduate-level graduation exercise because we, in an operationally integrated mentality, offer the best battlespace to get at the systems and the complexities the F-35 brings. “That’s the thing about the NTTR that sets us apart from everybody else: it’s not just the physical land space but the systems that we can challenge aircrews with. We offer

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the most comprehensive environment for warfighter realism training.” According to Lt Col Rampey, the first F-35 student class is scheduled for WTI 2-16 in the spring of 2016.

Multi-Force Participation While WTI is a marine corps course, a variety of DoD forces take part. The US Air Force participated with E-3 Sentries from the 964th Airborne Air Control Squadron. The 21st Fighter Squadron, which trains pilots from Taiwan at Luke Air Force Base, sent F-16 Fighting Falcons. The 116th Air Control Wing provided a Northrop Grumman E-8C Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (JSTARS) and the 23rd Bomb Squadron B-52H Stratofortress bombers. The US Navy’s Air Test and Evaluation Squadron Nine (VX-9) ‘Vampires’ took part with F/A-18 Super Hornets and Air Intercept Controllers. From the US Army came the

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10th Special Forces Group (Airborne) with the RQ-7 Shadow and the 108th Air Defense Artillery Brigade. To help provide a full spectrum of assets and threats, much like Red Flag, WTI incorporates electronic, cyber and space threats as part of the package. US Marine Corps Forces Cyberspace, US Joint Functional Component Command for Space, the US Joint Electronic Warfare Center and other electronic, cyber and space components are involved. Civilian contracted aircraft are also regular participants. An ATAC Hawker Mk58 Hunter and an F-21 KFIR, Aerial Productions International SMART-1 jets, an MI-24D Hind and an Antonov An-2 from Vertol Systems and Omega tankers were some of those involved for WTI 2-15. As ‘Tank’ mentioned to us: “Privately contracted aircraft are used when organic military support is not available.”

WTI 1-16 and Beyond With Marine Operational Test and Evaluation Squadron 22 (VMX-22) moving from Marine Corps Air Station New River in North Carolina to Yuma, a smoother, more efficient transition from testing new weapons and technologies to implementing them can be expected. This will further validate the importance of WTI as the new capabilities are put to use more quickly, maximising their combat advantage. VMX-22 will also be expanded to include several examples of every airframe the US Marine Corps flies. The F-35B is expected to reach IOC with in July, so we will see the type integrated more into future WTI events. With assistance from the US Air Force and lessons learned from exercises such as Red Flag, the F-35’s fifth-generation capabilities can be maximised while improving the effectiveness of the marine corps fourth-generation fleet. New and upgraded airframes will also be incorporated into WTI. Two examples are the Boeing Insitu RQ-21A Blackjack and the future Sikorsky CH-53K King Stallion. Ideally, the marine corps would like to have all its aviators participate in WTI, but this is not operationally feasible. The current ‘train the trainer’ approach helps to reduce bottlenecks in learning and implement new weapons and technologies. While MAWTS-1 is the US Marine Corps’s university for the development and sharing of advanced aviation tactics and techniques, WTI will continue to be the delivery method of choice for years to come. With an always evolving curriculum, it is certain that marine corps aviators will continuously maintain the highest degree of readiness and capability.

N EW ! SPECIAL The Post-Operation Desert Storm years were bleak ones for the US Navy’s fighter community. However, just when it looked like the F-14’s ocean-going days were numbered, a reprieve came. Thanks to the aircraft’s awesome load-carrying capacity, legendary long range and the advent of a bolton targeting sensor pod for precision bombing, the Tomcat evolved into the ‘Bombcat’. With first-hand accounts from the crews involved, as well as in-action photographs from both private and official sources. This 100page special magazine from the team behind AirForces Monthly magazine covers all of the major ‘Bombcat’ milestones. INCLUDING: Combat debut over the Balkans during Operation Allied Force in September 1995 Attacks on al-Qaeda and Taliban forces during Operation Enduring Freedom from 2001 to 2004 Final Tomcat combat cruise to Operation Iraqi Freedom, with an account of very last bombdrop mission flown by the F-14 in US Navy service AND MUCH MORE!

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