Help
Thales wins Indian Air Force low-level radar deal
November 20th, 2009 | Uncategorized | Posted by Pierre Tran
DUBAI – Thales has won a contract to supply the Indian Air Force 19 low-level transportable radar systems based on the Ground Smarter (GS) 100 sensor, the defense company announced at the air show here.
Thales will build six of the 19 radars at its Limours facility, southwest of Paris. Under a technology transfer agreement, its local partner Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL) will build the remaining 13 units in India, the French defense company said Nov. 15.
Each low level transportable radar system comprises the GS 100 radar, operational and communications shelters, an energy subsystem, mobility subsystem and quarters for personnel.
“This contract reinforces our position in the Indian region as a major supplier of air defense radars,” said Richard Deakin, Thales senior vice president and head of the air systems division. “BEL is a leading supplier of defense electronics systems and subsystems and plays a leading role in a number of major Indian defense programmes.”
The GS 100, based on the SR3D radar platform, is a mobile, modular and multifunctional sensor designed to track complex target manoeuvres at very low altitudes, Thales said.
The sensor can detect and track targets up to a range of 180 km. The SR3D platform is also used in the Ground Master 400 long range radar, launched into the market in 2007.
No financial details were given. The international competition for the radar was launched in 2003.
– ptran@defensenews.com
F-22 returns to Dubai display schedule Thursday, Nov. 19
November 19th, 2009 | Uncategorized | Posted by Andrew Chuter
The U.S. Air Force F-22 is making its second appearance of the week with a scheduled display time starting 16.16.
The aircraft, one of six in the Gulf on a military exercise, made its first display flight here on the opening day.
Eurofighter’s Typhoon is missing from the display for the first time this week. Like the F-22, the Royal Air Force has had six aircraft in the Gulf on exercise.
14.00 Patrouille de France
14.26 Boeing F-15E
14.38 Eurocopter Tiger
14.44 PAC Super Mushak
14.51 Lockheed Martin F-16
14.58 Aermacchi M346
15.05 Alenia C-27J Spartan
15.12 Dassault Rafale
15.21 Pilatus PC-21
16.00 Airbus A380
16.08 Hongdu Aviation L15
16.16 F-22
16.31 Frecce Tricolori
Selex seeker onboard MARTE missile sale
November 19th, 2009 | Uncategorized | Posted by Andrew Chuter
Selex Galileo is to supply its SM-1S radar seeker to equip MARTE Mk2/N missiles destined for the Middle East.
The Italian company said the deal was worth 26 million euros. It declined to name the customer for the MBDA-developed missile.
The user, though, is almost certainly the United Arab Emirates Navy.
MBDA announced at the IDEX defense show in Abu Dhabi earlier this year that it had secured a first customer for the new ship-launched version of the anti-ship missile.
The French-based missile-maker also declined to name the customer.
However, shipbuilding industry executives at the show said the weapon was to be fitted to 24 fast patrol boats being introduced into service with the UAE Navy.
MARTE was originally developed for helicopter launch but has recently been repackaged as a surface-to-surface weapon.
The SM-1S I-band active radar seeker was especially designed for the missile by the Finmeccanica-owned company.
Eurofighter: AESA decision by February
November 18th, 2009 | Uncategorized | Posted by Andrew Chuter
Industry hopes to deliver proposals to the Typhoon partner nations to fit an active electronically scanned radar on the fighter by the end of the year, according to Eurofighter chief executive Enzo Casolini. A decision by Britain, Germany, Italy and Spain on whether to proceed could come by February, he said.
Some industry executives, though, wonder whether funding constraints among the partner nations might make that approval date slip to the right.
Speaking at the show, Casolini said he believed that adopting the new radar technology and the new MBDA Meteor ram-jet missile by 2015 is a fundamental requirement for current users and the aircraft’s future export prospects.
Eurofighter is already embroiled in key export campaigns in India and Japan, where an AESA radar capability is essential.
Saudi Arabia, Typhoon’s biggest export customer to date, would fall in behind what the British Royal Air Force does, he said.
The British have been the strongest supporters of AESA technology for Typhoon for operational and export reasons, followed by Germany.
The Eurofighter boss said he was confident industry could deliver an “affordable and technically feasible” proposal to the partner nations.
A study involving industry and the partner nations has focused on two options. One is converting the current mechanically scanned Captor radar to electronic scan known as Captor-E.
Casolini said his perception is that a new Selex Galileo radar which uses novel swashplate technology will be adopted.
A Selex radar using the same technology has been selected by Saab for the Gripen NG fighter development being offered in Brazilian and Indian fighter competitions.
Swashplate technology allows the radar to reposition, giving it a wider scan than current AESA systems offered by U.S. manufacturers.
Lockheed, Raytheon sign missile support deal with UAE’s Global Aerospace Logistics
November 18th, 2009 | Uncategorized | Posted by Pierre Tran
Dubai – Global Aerospace Logistics (GAL), Lockheed Martin and Raytheon said Nov.18 they have signed a joint collaborative agreement to provide logistics and sustainment services for the air and defense missile systems of the United Arab Emirates.
“Under the agreement, GAL will work with Raytheon and Lockheed Martin to develop a logistics and sustainment capability to meet the immediate and future needs of the UAE’s air and missile defense strategy,” the companies said in a joint statement.
Initially, GAL and its U.S. partners will support deployment of Raytheon’s Patriot missile defense system, which fires the Raytheon GEM-T and Lockheed Patriot Advanced Capability-3 missiles.
The companies aim to provide logistics maintenance capabilities to the UAE Armed Forces, and train up local employees. The deal would also allow the UAE to sell support services to the air and missile defense industry in the region.
“This agreement is about taking an innovative and collaborative approach to support our UAE partner’s vision to further develop their industry and long-term defense capability,” said Skip Garrett, vice president and deputy for Patriot Programs at Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems.
“The United Arab Emirates will develop a world class maintenance and logistics facility to support the defensive systems it has invested in and Global Aerospace Logistics, Lockheed Martin and Raytheon will provide long term expertise in maintaining these premier systems,” said Denis Cavin, Lockheed Martin vice president for air and missile defense strategic initiatives.
GAL is an affiliate of Emirates Advanced Investments, a business development and investment company based in Abu Dhabi.
Dubai Flying Schedule, Wednesday, Nov. 18
November 18th, 2009 | Uncategorized | Posted by Andrew Chuter
14.00 Frecce Tricolori
14.24 Lockheed F-16
14.32 Airbus A380
14.39 Pilatus PC21
14.46 Eurocopter Tiger
14.25 Dassault Rafale
15.00 Hongdu Aviation L15
15.07 Alenia C27J Spartan
15.13 Aermacchi M346
15.21 PAC Super Mushak
16.00 F-16
16.09 Boeing F-15E
16.22 Patrouille De France
Saab wins interim AEW deal, but competition continues
November 18th, 2009 | Uncategorized | Posted by Wendell Minnick
By Andrew Chuter and Wendell Minnick
Dubai – Saab may have won a deal with the UAE to supply an interim airborne early warning and control aircraft, but the main event, a battle between Boeing, Northrop Grumman and Saab to provide a long-term solution, continues.
The Swedish supplier stole an advantage over its rivals when the UAE announced today it was acquiring two Saab 340 turboprops equipped with the Erieye radar to allow the air force to train and gain operational experience of AEW.
The Saab 340’s big brother, the Saab 2000 Erieye active phased array system, is one of three competitors in the long-running AEW&C competition in the UAE.
Boeing is offering the 737 equipped with Northrop Grumman’s new Multi-role Electronically Scanned Array (MESA) system.
Northrop is also pushing the new E-2D Advanced Hawkeye now being flight-tested by the U.S. Navy.
Maj. Gen. Faris Al Mazrouei, the UAE Army logistics chief who announced the deal, made it clear though that in his opinion, neither the Boeing nor the Northrop offerings were at a stage where a decision could be reached on a winning platform.
Boeing had suffered technical deliveries on the 737 MESA platform it was delivering to Australia, while Northrop’s E-2D machine had yet to be fielded by the U.S. Navy, he said.
The first of the Australian platforms, known as the Wedgetail, are about to be delivered after a long delay.
The Saab 340 deal will see both aircraft delivered in little more than a year.
James Culmo, Northrop’s vice president and program officer for the AEW program, said the company was also in discussions with India for the E-2Ds.
“The UAE decision is expected in 2010 for four aircraft with an option for a fifth,” said John Beaulieu, U.S. Navy, business development manager for the E-2/C-2 program.
The E-2D offers radar modes including air and sea surface capability. Radar modes include airborne early warning, surveillance, enhanced sector scanning and enhanced tracking capability.
The Hawkeye platform also has the capability todeal with the increasing threat posed by cuise missiles.
Northrop Grumman also sees a large market for its new MESA airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) aircraft, said John Johnson, vice president and general manager, Northrop Grumman’s Aerospace Systems Division.
MESA would meet UAE needs for a complete airborne early warning and control solution. “The UAE would be an ideal candidate for the system,” Johnson said.
MESA meets regional C2ISR challenges and answers demanding airborne and ground Moving Target Indicator (MTI), Indications and Warning (I&W), and maritime surveillance requirements.
The radar uses a multirole electronically scanned dorsal antenna that radiates left and right 60 degrees and back and front 30 degrees. “You can track over a hundred targets,” said Northrop’s Paul “Buzz” Kalafos, vice resident, International Infrastructure Systems, Electronic Systems.
“Mechanical radars have more breakdowns,” he said. MESA is the next generation of airborne radars that will eventually replace mechanical round airborne radars.
With a range of 300 nautical miles and a line of sight at 40,000 feet altitude, MESA has multiple surveillance modes that include an airborne mode that covers cruise missiles, fighters, helicopters; maritime mode for fast patrol boats and large vessels like frigates; dedicated track beam mode; and Indications Friend or Foe (IFF) mode.
The radar can also project further into a threat sector while maintaining 360-degree coverage.
According to Northrop’s PowerPoint presentation, MESA coverage from UAE airspace covers most of southern Iran.
The system “provides for gap filler capabilities for lack of coverage or loss of forward EW radars,” Johnson said. MESA can work with Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicles and fire control radars.
Australia is set to receive two aircraft next week, and the program with Turkey for four systems is now moving forward after overcoming earlier problems.
The Turkish air force ordered four systems under the Peace Eagle program under a deal with local Turkish aerospace companies for parts production, assembly and aircraft modification.
In November 2006, South Korea ordered four systems in a $1.6 contract with Boeing and Northrop. They are set for delivery in 2012.
Saab has sold the Erieye to Brazil, Greece, Pakistan, Sweden and Thailand. The customers have used Saab turboprop or Embraer jet platforms.
Northrop has sold hundreds of Hawkeye E-2 variants to numerous customers including the U.S. Navy, France, Japan and Eygpt.
Boeing Reaches Milestone on NC3S Project Vigilare
November 17th, 2009 | Uncategorized | Posted by Wendell Minnick
By Wendell Minnick
Dubai – Boeing announced Nov. 17 that Project Vigilare, a Network Centric Command and Control System (NC3S) solution in Australia, had completed two major milestones. The first is a data transmission with a Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) F/A-18 Hornet using Link 16 technology, and the second is the development of its record and replay feature.
“These key capabilities will deliver significant benefits to the Australian Defense Force,” said Rod Drury, Boeing Defense Australia (BDA), vice president of Strategy and Business Development. “Our NC3S product line, of which the Australian solution is provided under Project Vigilare, continues to strengthen Boeing’s position as a global developer of advanced defense technology.”
Boeing is in discussions with South Korea on the NC3S and recently met with government officials at the Seoul Airshow, Drury said.
Besides Australia, Malaysia also has NC3S program set up at Headquarters Integrated Area Defense System, which “supports Five Power Defense Arrangements joint operations,” he said. “It was delivered in June 2004 at Royal Malaysian Air Force Base Butterworth.”
“Vigilare provides Australian Defense Force with enhanced surveillance and battle-space management capability.” It is being “progressively developed to the RAAF from 2009-2010,” he said.
The Vigilare’s Link 16 capability will allow the RAAF to securely transfer and receive critical tactical data to and from RAAF platforms, such as the Boeing 737 Wedgetail AEW&C aircraft.
An RAAF Boeing 737 Wedgetail AEW&C aircraft at the Dubai Airshow 2009. Thomas Brown / Staff
The Wedgetail is equipped with Northrop Grumman’s new Multi-role Electronically Scanned Array (MESA). The first two aircraft are set for delivery to Australia next week. Australia has on order six Wedgetail aircraft.
Boeing will conduct a follow-on NC3S capability demonstration for Australia in early 2010, in which a Wedgetail will transmit data using Link 16 to the Vigilare system at the Northern Regional Operations Center (NorthROC).
The record and replay capability will improve operator training and mission planning by allowing console operators to replay real and simulated scenarios to multiple operator consoles simulators simultaneously, separately or concurrently with an active NC3S system.
The feature operates in two modes: role replication or video replay, in which the operator can replay missions, and interactive replay, in which the operator can interact with the replay and manipulate the replayed data and voice set to explore different outcomes.
Pakistan Shows Off K-8 Trainer for Export
November 17th, 2009 | Uncategorized | Posted by Wendell Minnick
Air Marshal Farhat Hussain, PAC chairma,n at Dubai Air Show 2009. Thomas Brown / Staff
By Wendell Minnick
Dubai – Pakistan Aeronautical Complex (PAC) showed off its K-8 Karakorum two-seat intermediate jet trainer and light attack aircraft at the Dubai Air Show along with models of its newest fighter, the JF-17 Thunder, which is under production.
PAC hopes to expand exports of the K-8 in the region, said Air Marshal Farhat Hussain Khan, PAC chairman. The aircraft are already serving in the Egyptian Air Force and the K-8 is a cost-effective trainer solution. “We do joint sales and marketing with our Chinese partners.”
The K-8 is a joint Chinese Aviation Industry Corporation (AVIC) and PAC program, as is the JF-17, he said. The Chinese variant of the trainer is the JL-8 and the fighter is the FC-1.
He confirmed reports that Pakistan will procure the Chinese-built Chengdu FC-20 fighter, an export version of the J-10 fighter. However, PAC will not participate in the co-production of the FC-20 program, Farhat Hussain said.
PAC began series production of the JF-17 this year and expects to roll out its first aircraft by the end of this month.
“We have an initial order from the Pakistan Air Force for 150, but we expect it to go to upwards of 250 JF-17s,” he said. After that, PAC hopes to begin exporting the fighter.
The JF-17 is a multi-role combat supersonic fighter equipped with both a beyond-visual-range and within-visual-range dog fighting capability. Besides supersonic, it has sub-transonic maneuverability.
It is equipped with a state-of-the-art digital glass cockpit with three large, full-color Multi-Function Displays (MFD), digital moving map, Helmet Mounted Display, hands-on approach and a wide angle Smart Heads-Up Display (SHUD).
The primary sensor of the target acquisition and weapon aiming system is the multi-mode pulse Doppler radar. It also offers look-down performance and electronic counter-counter measures capability.
Despite media reports the JF-17 has suffered setbacks trying to resolve the acquisition of an engine for the aircraft the Russian-built RD-93 engines have been outfitted on the aircraft without problems, Farhat Hussain said. “The media created the issue, it was not true.”
PAC has no plans to develop an indigenous engine or avionics system for the aircraft at this time, he said. “We have no desire of becoming engine producers,” he said.
The aircraft has a maximum speed of 1.6 mach with a service ceiling of 16,700 meters and a ferry range with drop tanks of 3,000 kilometers. The weapons systems are a mix of Chinese and Pakistani systems.
Predator variant eyes clearance for Gulf sales
November 17th, 2009 | Uncategorized | Posted by Andrew Chuter
The Predator unmanned air vehicle is never far from the public eye here, thanks to its exploits over Iraq and more recently Afghanistan and Pakistan, but General Atomics Aeronautical, the company that makes them, is rarely in evidence in the region.
That changed this week when, for the first times in years, General Atomics took a stand at the Dubai show to market Predator and products such as the Lynx radar.
Until now, Predator has been exportable to only a selected list of NATO members and others.
The vehicle, sometimes known as the Predator A, is operational with the U.S. military and the Italian air force.
The machine has been on the U.S. government’s banned list for exports to the Gulf region and elsewhere.
Now, though, General Atomics has developed a new export variant of Predator, which it hopes will allow the company to sell the UAV to America’s allies in the region.
Chris Ames, the business development director at General Atomics, says that without any significant changes, the company has come up with a UAV it thinks will allow Predator to satisfy U.S. export requirements but retain the performance characteristics which made it famous.
The new export version won’t be capable of being weaponized, however.
Ames said the machine would be able to undertake its mission as a persistent intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance platform but wouldn’t carry missiles or other weapons.
“The vehicle is going through the U.S. approval process now and we are hoping for approval soon. We have conducted due diligence and we are satisfied it will meet export regulations,” Ames said.
In the meantime, the company is using the Dubai show to test the water locally and gauge possible levels of interest in the vehicle.
Ames declined to be drawn on what the proposed changes to the vehicle are, or what it was that caused the U.S. government to restrict exportability in the first place.
The executive hinted, though, that one of the concerns in the past related to violation of the Missile Technology Control Regime – a treaty set up to stop the proliferation of unmanned systems capable of delivering weapons of mass destruction.