Thai Air Force technicians and Swedish Air Force instructors in front of a Royal Thai Air Force Gripen during a visit to Saab in Linköping. Photo: Per Kustvik
Training is underway at the Swedish Armed Forces Technical school in Halmstad and will continue until the end of the year. The technical training also includes a On the Job Training (OJT) part at the Swedish Air Force Wings F 7 in Såtenäs and F 17 in Ronneby. As part of their training, technicians spent time at Saab’s Gripen manufacturing hub in Linköping. The technicians’ training programme forms part of Thailand’s 2008 procurement contract for six Gripen fighter jets.
In a parallel initiative, Air Chief Marshal Itthaporn Subhawong, Commander in Chief of the Royal Thai Air Force (RTAF), met with Lt. Gen. Carlo Gagiano, Chief of the South African Air Force to discuss areas of mutual interest, including Gripen and its introduction into the SAAF. The chiefs met at Air Force Base Makhado, home to South Africa’s Gripen fleet.
The visit also emphasized both countries’ commitment to co-operate and promote bilateral relations.
The RTAF also signed a contract with the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration (FMV) to supply it with a Saab 340 AEW Erieye airborne surveillance system and another Saab 340 aircraft for training and transport. They will be delivered in December 2010.
WASHINGTON (NNS) -- The Navy will demonstrate the 'Green Hornet,' an F/A-18 Super Hornet powered by a 50/50 biofuel blend, on Earth Day, April 22, at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md., as part of its Energy Strategy.
Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus has made energy independence a top priority for the Department of the Navy (DoN), and the 'Green Hornet' flight is an important step in the certification and ultimate operational use of biofuels by the Navy and Marine Corps.
The 'Green Hornet' initiative supports Mabus' energy reform targets, which will increase warfighting capability by reducing reliance on fossil fuels from unstable locations and reducing volatility associated with long fuel supply transport lines. The secretary's energy reform targets include:
- By 2016, the Navy will sail a "Great Green Fleet" composed of nuclear ships, surface combatants with hybrid electric power systems using biofuel and aircraft flying on only biofuels.
- By 2020, at least half of the DoN's shore-based energy requirements will come from alternative sources and half of total DoN energy consumption will come from alternative sources.
"[The flight] will demonstrate that our systems can work on biofuel," Mabus said in his remarks at a recent energy forum at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab in Laurel, Md. "After it is successful, and we are absolutely confident that it will be; we will move to expand biofuel testing to our marine gas turbine engines and to the engines of our tactical vehicles."
The biofuel blend to be used in the Super Hornet is derived from the camelina sativa plant, which is a U.S.-grown, renewable, non-food source. The objective of the Navy's biofuel test flight program is to confirm there is no difference in performance between the biofuel blend derived from the camelina plant and standard petroleum-based JP-5. The Navy's ultimate goal is to develop protocols to certify alternative fuels for use in Naval Tactical systems.
The Navy Fuels Lab at NAVAIR Patuxent River, Md., will develop certification requirements for a variety of biofuel sources, including chemical properties, material compatibility, component and propulsion system performance and weapon system performance.
The Defense Energy Support Center, which oversees procurement of biofuel for the Navy, recently awarded a $2.7 million contract to Sustainable Oils of Seattle and Bozeman, Mont. for 40,000 gallons of the camelina-based fuel.
Mabus, as well as energy and environmental leaders from throughout the Department of the Navy, are scheduled be in attendance at the Earth Day flight demonstration. Distinguished visitors will have technical briefs and a tour before the flight demonstration, and will meet the aircraft's pilot immediately after.
"We are a better Navy and a better Marine Corps for innovation; we have led the world in the adoption of new energy strategies in the past," Mabus said at the Naval Energy Forum last year, when he announced his energy reform targets. "This is our legacy."
Green Hornet is an environmental and energy concept that reaches beyond the element of alternative fuels and encompasses efforts ranging from operational and policy through technology research and development. Examples of these efforts range from more energy efficient aircraft refueling policies implemented by the fleet at the Navy's master jet bases, to ongoing research and development efforts by NAVAIR and General Electric to evaluate more fuel efficient engine components. These engine improvements are designed to reduce the Specific Fuel Consumption (SFC) for the F414 (F/A-18E/F Super Hornet) engine. The Super Hornet is Naval Aviation's largest fuel consumer.
For more news, visit www.navy.mil.
Air Force News, Missiles & Bombs News — By Boeing Company on July 22, 2010
ST. LOUIS --- The Boeing Company successfully launched a missile from the F-15 Silent Eagle's newly designed Conformal Weapons Bay (CWB) on July 14. Demonstration aircraft F-15E1 departed from Point Mugu Naval Air Weapon Station, Calif., at 5:59 p.m Pacific time, launched an inert AIM-120 Advanced Medium Range Air to Air Missile (AMRAAM) from its left-side CWB, and returned to base at 6:52 p.m.
The test demonstrated the CWB's flightworthiness and ability to deploy an AMRAAM in flight with no adverse effect on the performance of the aircraft or the CWB itself.
"I've been flying F-15s for more than 20 years, but this flight was different from all others," said Boeing F-15 Chief Test Pilot Dan Draeger. "This first launch of an AMRAAM from the F-15's internal weapons bay opens a new era for the F-15 and for strike fighter capability in the dominance of the F-15 Eagle.
"The F-15, CWB and missile performed exactly as we predicted," Draeger continued. "The Silent Eagle continues the F-15's role as the most versatile strike fighter aircraft ever built."
F-15E1 made its first flight with a CWB from Lambert St. Louis International Airport on July 8. The CWB, which carried an AIM-120 Instrumented Test Vehicle (ITV), was successfully opened and closed during that 80-minute flight, validating Boeing's design approach.
"The F-15SE's internal carriage CWBs will significantly increase tactical options for international customers while retaining all the cost-certain, battle-proven capability of the Strike Eagle," said Roger Besancenez, F-15 Program vice president for Boeing.
The Silent Eagle is an innovative design solution developed in response to international customer requirements for a cost-effective, high-performance fighter aircraft to defend against future threats. Using a modular design approach, the F-15SE offers unique aerodynamic, avionic and Radar Cross Section (RCS)-reduction features that provide the user with maximum flexibility to dominate the ever-changing advanced threat environment. RCS reductions include treatments to the aircraft (based on U.S. government policy).
The F-15SE CWBs can carry a variety of air-to-air missiles, such as the AIM-9 and AIM-120, and air-to-ground weapons such as the Joint Direct Attack Munition and Small Diameter Bomb. The Silent Eagle's CWBs can be easily removed, and the aircraft can be rapidly reconfigured into the combat-proven external carriage/conformal fuel tank load-out based on mission requirements.
A unit of The Boeing Company, Boeing Defense, Space & Security is one of the world's largest defense, space and security businesses specializing in innovative and capabilities-driven customer solutions, and the world's largest and most versatile manufacturer of military aircraft. Headquartered in St. Louis, Boeing Defense, Space & Security is a $34 billion business with 68,000 employees worldwide.
17 August, 2010, DNA News
By Suman Sharma | Place: New Delhi | Agency: DNA
With an astronomical 155% increase in price in three years, the Russian Sukhoi-30 fighter aircraft seem to be going the Gorshkov way.
The deal for aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov was hammered in 2004 for $974 million (Rs4,560 crore), but it was renegotiated in 2010 at $2.3 billion (Rs10,770 crore).
After the Indian Air Force (IAF) wrote to the ministry of defence expressing concern at its depleting strength and pressing for immediate purchase of 40 Sukhois-30s under the fast-track provision, which does not warrant tendering or open competition, a deal was inked with Russia in 2007 for $1.6 billion (Rs7,490 crore), that is $40 million (Rs190 crore) a piece.
Latest figures tabled in parliament, however, show that another deal for 40 + 2 Sukhois (2 are replacements for aircraft that crashed last year), to be manufactured by Hindustan Aeronautical Limited (HAL) under licence from the Russian Federation’s Irkutsk, has been struck for $4.3 billion (Rs20,125 crore), that is $102 million (Rs480 crore) a piece.
The latest deal will make the IAF inventory 270-strong and India the largest operator of Sukhois by 2018, when HAL is to deliver the aircraft.
But the escalation in cost cannot be justified, especially since the aircraft being manufactured by HAL do not have enhanced features, such as the AESA (active electronically scanned array) radar. Defence experts, in fact, are of the view that since the assembly line is in Bangalore, where HAL is based, the latest deal should have cost less.
The deal becomes even more loss-making since American fifth-generation fighter aircraft, F-35, manufactured by Lockheed Martin are priced at $100 million (Rs470 crore) a piece. F-35, an advanced stealth fighter with features such as supercruise and AESA radar, competes with fourth-generation fighters, such as Eurofighter Typhoon and the French Rafale, in Norway and Denmark for deals.
The American F-16, again made by Lockheed Martin, is competing in India for IAF’s fighter jet deal with Typhoon and Rafale.
IAF already has these four-plus generation fighters, which are awaiting clearance for upgrade in a separate deal involving Irkutsk and HAL.
The “deep upgrade” will include enhanced combat features, systems and avionics, which would increase the flight performance and keep the aircraft in service for a longer duration. The biggest feature of the “deep upgrade” is the inclusion of the AESA radars replacing the passive radars in IAF Sukhois.
The twin-engine heavy-weight Sukhoi entered IAF service in 2000 after clearance in 1997, but has not undergone any upgrade since.
(All currency conversions are based on current rate and are approximate)
