05/05/2010 – HUNTING

Businessmen support the purchase of Gripen NG

By: Cinthia Isabel (cinthia@abcdmaior.com.br)

For Correa, companies can take off economically by purchasing the Gripen NG. Photo: Antonio ledes

Director of the Department of Defense Industry Fiesp come out in favor of a plane as one of the most viable options for the country

There is no doubt that the Gripen NG, the Swedish company Saab, is within the concept of technology entrepreneurs who want to Brazil. According to the director of the Department of Defense Indúustria Fiesp (Federation of Industries of São Paulo), José Augusto Correa, companies that already manufacture parts and equipment to the airline industry need a “push” to take off economically and the only solution is the federal government choose to purchase the aircraft Swedish.

Corrêa said that one of the best-designed aircraft between those who dispute the federal government tender for the purchase of 36 supersonic fighters for fleet renewal of the FAB (Brazilian Air Force) is F-18, the American company Boeing. However, the director believes to be impossible to unite the Brazilian strategies with the North American restrictions.

But the Rafale, the French company Dassault, is a plane ready but not yet sold to any country, as indicated by Correa. “The F-18 fighter is already established. The French airplane is the worst of all when it comes to technology transfer. That’s what I call an old-fashioned buying, “he said.

Minister – Within a few days the Defense Ministry will define what the game more feasible for the stab wounds. At a news conference held on the morning of Wednesday (05/05) in Fiesp, Defense Minister Nelson Jobim said it is poised to prepare the explanatory statement to deliver to President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Next week, the Ministry’s position on the purchase of aircraft. The FAB has already given its assent to the choice of the Gripen NG’s.

After delivery of the document to President Lula, a hearing will be scheduled with the National Defense Council to discuss the option of the Ministry of Defence. After the meeting, the federal government will announce who will close business for the purchase of new fighters. “The Ministry has not made the choice, we are finalizing discussions. There are still some technical details that will be attached to the document within the next few days, “mentioned Jobim.

The defense minister on Wednesday attended the seminar “International Security: Prospects Brasileiras.” The event that occurred in Fiesp, started around 9am, with a lecture series that offered a view on major issues involving Brazil in security affairs and defense.

Region – The ABCD project is already involved in the production of supersonic fighter Swedish Gripen NG Saab. The INBRA Aerospace Inbrafiltro Group, based in Maua, is making the wings and landing gear covers four aircraft for the brand. If the federal government choose the Gripen NG in the bidding for the FAB, San Bernardo will receive an aviation hub. The land for the venture is already defined and should be on the margins of the section of South Ring Road.

http://www.abcdmaior.com.br/noticia_exibir.php?noticia=20587

Powerful Past, Promising Future Mark 1000th F414 Engine Milestone

May 05, 2010 — LYNN, Mass — The F414 Turbofan Program celebrated delivery of its 1,000th production engine today, capping a decade of providing power to a growing range of applications and demonstrating critical technologies that deliver significant increases in mission capability.

“We look at this milestone as a tribute to the past ten-plus years, as well as a springboard for future technical innovation,” said Tony Mathis, vice president and general manager of the Lynn Turbofan Department. “We are pleased with the track record we have compiled to date, and we look forward to continuing to produce one of the most versatile and reliable powerplants in military aviation history.”

The F414-400 engine (22,000 lb/fn) has achieved an outstanding record of performance to date. With more than 1 million engine flight-hours of experience in Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet and E/A-18G Growler aircraft, the F414 continues to exceed United States Navy (USN) goals for reliability and time on wing. The USN plans to purchase more than 1,200 engines, including spares, to power 594 twin-engine F/A-18 E/F and EA-18G aircraft. Individual F414 high-time production engines have accumulated 3,800 EFH.

In addition to operation with the USN, the F414-400 engine is now operational with the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). The first five F/A-18E/F Super Hornets arrived in Australia on March 26 with 19 additional aircraft planned for delivery through 2011.

The F414G, a single-engine variant of the F414-GE-400, delivers 20 percent more thrust for the Gripen Next Generation aircraft than previous powerplants. The NG Demonstrator first flew in May 2008 and has completed more than 100 flights, exhibiting excellent operability and performance in both subsonic and supersonic operation.

In anticipation of evolving and more demanding requirements, the F414 family is continuing on an ambitious growth path to increase thrust, improve durability and satisfy environmental considerations. The Enhanced Durability Engine (EDE) is focused primarily on durability improvement and life-cycle cost savings for the USN customer, while the Enhanced Performance Engine (EPE) – with increased thrust – is targeted for potential international customers.

The EDE incorporates an advanced high pressure turbine (HPT) and six-stage high pressure compressor (HPC) that offers a 2-3X hot-section durability gain and reduced fuel consumption, which could equate to a $1-2 billion savings over the life of the USN fleet. The EPE includes EDE improvements plus a new fan for greater airflow, resulting in a 20 percent thrust improvement and greater operational flexibility.

Demonstrator versions of both the EDE and EPE have been successfully run, laying the groundwork for a USN-funded specific fuel consumption (SFC) reduction effort. This initiative, geared toward developing near- and long-term energy strategies, is aimed at showing a 3 percent SFC gain compared with the current F414-GE-400 configuration. An F414-powered Super Hornet operating on a biofuel blend successfully flew in April 2010 — the first tactical USN aircraft to use a biofuel blend.

GE is also working with the USN to develop a retrofittable noise reduction kit for the F414 that features chevron exhaust nozzle technology. These nozzles have serrated edges where each “lobe” penetrates into or out of the primary flow and generates a secondary flow, significantly reducing jet noise. To date, results show a 2-3-decibel noise reduction — or about half the sound energy. The USN has identified funding for a program to further test and mature the technology to prepare it for incorporation in the USN F414 fleet, with work scheduled to continue through 2011.

GE Aviation, an operating unit of GE (NYSE: GE), is a world-leading provider of jet engines, components and integrated systems for commercial and military aircraft. GE Aviation has a global service network to support these offerings.

http://www.geae.com/aboutgeae/presscenter/military/military_20100505.html

11:35 GMT, May 5, 2010 Rio de Janiero | SELEX Galileo, a Finmeccanica company and Europe’s leading supplier of sophisticated airborne radar systems has concluded an agreement with ATMOS, a subsidiary of ATECH, to establish them as the Brazilian AESA Radar Centre of Excellence and Airborne Radar Systems House. The agreement is directly in accordance with the Brazilian Defence Strategy’s intention of strengthening Brazil’s national defence industrial capability.

The agreement which follows on from the recent Memorandum of Understanding focuses on the individual target programmes, such as the Raven ES-05 AESA for Gripen Next Generation (NG), and details the training, development, production and support activities to be carried out by ATMOS. In addition to the Raven ES-05 AESA radar for the Saab Gripen NG proposed for the FX-2 programme, the agreement also covers all radars in the SELEX Galileo portfolio including the Seaspray 5000E and 7000E AESA surveillance radars and the Gabbiano T20 mechanically scanned (M-Scan) surveillance radar system.

This range of surveillance radars is being offered to meet a wide range of major Brazilian Air Force requirements including maritime patrol aircraft and helicopter operations.

The collaboration will provide ATMOS with in depth training on radar systems, development activities in the Raven ES-05 AESA, including full participation in the final testing and flight trials, plus the skills necessary to test and fully support the radar in Brazil. In the longer term joint development of advanced radar sub-systems will take place to ensure the future needs of the Força Aérea Brasileira (Brazilian Air Force) are met. This transfer of knowledge and technology also applies to the other SELEX Galileo radars to ensure that the ATMOS capability covers all aspects of airborne radar systems.

“We consider this to be a hugely important agreement” said Alastair Morrison, Senior Vice President of Radar and Advanced Targeting Line of Business in SELEX Galileo. “Brazil is an increasingly important market for us and we understand the need to transfer knowledge and technology to satisfy the Brazilian needs. In ATMOS, we have found a partner with the vision and capability that will allow us to make that a reality. As important, we have found a partner who will work with us to exploit the engineering capability in Brazil and ensure that SELEX Galileo and ATMOS can develop innovative and effective radar systems in the future”.

http://www.defpro.com/news/details/15006/

It seems the Gripen Group has not given up quite yet?

Which Brazilian partner did Thales team up with for tech transfer and development?

All these comparisons with the current generations of fighters to the F-35 — are always fun, but how relevant are they?

The main challenges the F-35 will face will be from SAMs not 4.gen fighters.

And the second biggest challenge will be from other 5. gen fighters.

AFAIK, most “professionals” seem to be quite happy with it’s technical capabilites (although I believe DJCross once said that he would have liked a longer range on internal fuel).

The main critisism in the media recently seems to have been focusing on project management, delays, and how that could affect the price and the fighter gap, not on the capabilities.

The Eurocanards are fantastic fighters, however I think we need to accept that they are not VLO; This reduces survivability when faced with advanced SAMs, and also when meeting 5. gen jets like e.g. the PAK FA or the J-12.

However in most other scenarios they will still do fine, and for many years to come.

It’s a pity Europe did not launch their 4.5 gen fighters a bit earlier and then moved on to a 5. gen — some competition would have been good, both for European companies and for LM. Now it looks like it will become an LM monopoly in the future, in the “Western world”.

It is not all too late of course; Perhaps Japan or S Korea will decide to move forward with a 5. gen. Could be very interesting if that happened…!

Unfortunately it seems that Germany has decided it does not need a 5. gen — German engineers are excellent and it could have been great for us enthusiasts to see what they could have produced, if given the chance by their politicians. Alas not likely to happen. Perhaps France will launch a 5. gen initiative, perhaps together with UAE and/or Brazil?

Nervous Indian Oil Corp Refuses To “Hot Refuel” Gripen During MMRCA Evaluation Tests

The Gripen team in India is understood to have tried hard to push for the chance to demonstrate the fighter’s “hot refuelling” capability, but was unable to do so after Indian Oil Aviation — the standard supplier of aviation fuel to the Indian Air Force — refused to be part of such an exercise. Hot refueling is a process by which a fighter is refuelled (in between sorties) while its engines are still on, thereby cutting down refuelling time by half and turn-around time significantly — a capacity highly desirable in a combat situation, which basically puts aside the need for a pilot to park the aircraft, power down and exit the cockpit for refuelling to begin.

According to sources, the Gripen team was very keen to demonstrate the hot refuelling capability — even the IAF had no problems witnessing the demonstration even though it wasn’t required as part of the tests — but the offer was shot down by Indian Oil, which said it had never conducted a hot refueling operation before, and wasn’t sure it was equipped to take the risk, despite assurances from Saab that it was standard practice with the Gripen. Hot refueling, it must be said, does have its share of risks.

The incident has, however, had its effect. The IAF is now keen to witness a hot refueling demonstration, and will look favourably upon such a capability in its final evaluation of the MMRCA competition. Also, it has requested Indian Oil Aviation to set about getting itself certified for hot refueling ops for the future. IOC will need to look abroad for any sort of certification. Hot refueling trucks and crews in the US, for example, receive special training and certification from an agency in the USAF command structure.

http://livefist.blogspot.com/2010/04/nervous-indian-oil-corp-refuses-to-hot.html

I am surprised to learn they they are not already doing “hot refuelling” in India?

Edit: I know that hot refueling (or “hot pit”) is being done with Gripen, Rafale, F-15 and F-16, and the Typhoon. But I am not sure about the SH and Mig-35, can they also do “hot pit refuelling”?