Armada International June-July 2015

Issue 3/2015

June/July 2015

EYES ON TARGET Longer Range, Greater Flexibility

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Compass and hot-swap batteries.

Contents

The trusted source for defence technology information since 1976

3/2015

INTERNATIONAL www.armada.ch

06

fighter market

TODAY’S FIGHTER MARKET I Roy Braybrook

Achieving sales of fourthgeneration fighters is proving difficult, and Chinese combat aircraft marketing remains strangled by Russian engine availability.

14

helicopters

ADVANCES IN ROTORCRAFT I Roy Braybrook

24

32

AESA Radar Technology I Doug Richardson

Tankers, the New Generation

RADARS

TANKERS AIRCRAFT I Roy Braybrook

42

naval robots

COMPEnDIUM SUPPLEMENT

Spirited Underwater Robots

UAVs TIME TO GET REAL

I Peter Donaldson

I Eric H. Biass and Roy Braybrook

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Issue 3/2015

June/July 2015

I INDEX TO ADVERTISERS 27

Oshkosh

23

Armada Digital

21

Pacific

49

AUSA

39

Rafael

OBC

DCI

11

Rosoboronexport

19

DSA

41

SAAB

45

DSEI

IBC

AR Modular

Eurosatory

31

FLIR

IFC

IMDS

47

Kongsberg

9

MBDA

Entries highlighted with Red Numbers are found in UAVs Compendium 2015

13

I INDEX TO MANUFACTURERS Companies mentioned in this issue. Where there are multiple references to a company in an articles, only the first occurrence and subsequent photographs are listed below: 3D Robotics

8

AAI Aeronautics Aerosande C

Embraer

11, 12

Piaggio Aero

27

EMT

19, 20

Pratt & Whitney

33

18, 27, 28, 30

Enics

20

Prox Dynamics

30

29

Aerovironment

12, 14, 17, 18, 19, 21, 22, 30, 34

M

Y

AgustaWestland Airbus

14, 16, 18, 31, 32

MY

CY

CMY

Alenia

3, 7, 21, 26

8, 12, 19

20

Rosoboronexport

32

Ruag

21

GKN Aerospace Honeywell

18

IAI

37

Bell Boeing

12, 16, 36

Bell Helicopters

20, 22

Boeing

4, 5, 7, 7, 8, 11, 11, 12,

5, 15, 20 6, 7,18,19, 20, 22, 22, 23, 24, 26, 27, 30, 31, 32, 37, 38

22

Boston Engineering

44, 45

Brahmos

7, 8

Carter Aviation Technologies Cassidian

Kamov Karem Aircraft

20 8 3, 5, 7, 9, 10, 26, 34 19

Denel

17 14, 16, 19

Kongsberg

9, 44

Korea Aerospace Industries

8, 12, 16

L-3

21

Lockheed Martin

4, 6, 8, 8, 10, 11, 12, 22, 23, 26, 32, 34

7, 18

Datron

14, 20, 24

7, 31 33, 36

Dassault

16

12, 14, 17, 19, 20, 22,

Cyb-Aero Da-Jiang Innovations

6

14

Cobham Cyberflight

19

Israel Aircraft Industries

Klimov

21, 29, 30

20, 31

Inta

22, 24, 32, 36, 37, 38, 40 Bombardier

34

Indra

Kawasaki

Boeing/Insitu

6, 10

Ilyushin

14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20,

20, 21, 27

11, 18, 19, 21, 24, 26, 30, 31

Sikorsky

14, 15, 16, 18, 20, 22, 32

Singapore-MIT Alliance

48

Spirit Aerosystems

20

Stark Aerospace Sukhoi Tapo Telephonics Textron Thales Tikhomirov NIIP Turkish Aerospace

18 6, 7, 10, 24, 30 32 32 12, 28, 29 19, 28, 31, 43 30 21, 24, 27

14

Vestel Savunma

27

VTULaSTV

18 43

Maritime Applied Physics Corporation MBDA

7, 9, 32, 34

McDonnell Douglas

34

Wood Douglas

Neuron

18

Yakovlev Design Bureau

NIIR Phazotron

30

Zala Aero

21

21, 22, 25, 26, 27, 28, 32

Northrop Grumman

4, 8, 8, 12, 12, 13,

Nostromo Defensa Orbital ATK

4, 6, 7, 10, 18, 19, 20,

Pakistan Aeronautical Complex

21, 24, 27, 28, 29, 30

Patria

armada

Selex

21, 30, 31

U-Tacs

DRS Technologies

04

33, 36

Schiebel

United Aircraft Corperation

14, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20,

Elbit Systems

9, 18, 19, 27, 28

Sargent Fletcher

34

12

43

Sagem

20

26 20, 21

14, 16 11, 12, 20, 31, 43

Lufthansa

DRDO

ECA Group

Russian Helicopters Saab

Luch

Diehl

EADS

23, 25, 27, 28 8, 33, 36

43

Bedek

8, 9, 11, 12, 14, 22,

Rolls-Royce

ATE

11, 18, 19, 20, 34, 43, 44

Raytheon

18

Gids

44

17 10, 24

Rheinmetall

ASV

BAE Systems

Rafael

16, 18, 19, 21, 24, 26

Hindustan Aeronautics

14, 16, 22, 32

Qinetiq

5, 6, 7, 10, 11, 12, 12,

19

Atlas Elektronik

9 32 20, 33, 37

General Atomics

Arcturus

Aurora Flight Sciences K

GE Aviation

3, 7, 16, 17, 18, 17, 26, 31, 33, 35, 36, 37

CM

Eurofighter FLIR

17, 26

INTERNATIONAL

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20 10 12, 44 21

7 19

19 20, 30

new armada cover.indd 6

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ON THE COVER: With each passing year, air forces and navies move towards introducing Lockheed Martin’s F-35 Lightning-II multi-role combat aircraft into service. Although the aircraft has suffered its share of delays and cost overruns, like nearly all 4.5 and fifth-generation combat aircraft programmes, it will usher in a new era of air combat operations, promising impressive levels of connectivity with other aircraft, land and sea assets..

Volume 39, Issue No. 3, June/July 2015 armada INTERNATIONAL is published bi-monthly by Media Transasia Ltd. Copyright 2012 by Media Transasia Ltd. Publishing Office: Media Transasia Ltd., 1205 Hollywood Centre, 233 Hollywood Road, Sheung Wan, Hong Kong.

Tel: (852) 2815 9111, Fax: (852) 2815 1933 Editor: Thomas Withington Regular Contributors: Roy Braybrook, Paolo Valpolini, Luca Peruzzi, Peter Donaldson, Doug Richardson Chairman: J.S. Uberoi President: Egasith Chotpakditrakul General Manager International Marketing: Vishal Mehta Manager Marketing: Jakhongir Djalmetov Sales & Marketing Coordinator: Wajiraprakan Punyajai Editorial Coordinator: Sumana Sumanakul Art Director: James Nvathorn Graphic Designer: Khakanaa Suwannawong Production Manager: Kanda Thanakornwongskul Group Circulation Manager: Porames Chinwongs Chief Financial Officer: Gaurav Kumar Advertising Sales Offices ■ AUSTRIA, BENELUX, SWITZERLAND Cornelius W. Bontje Ph: +41 79 635 2621, cornelius.bontje@gmail.com ■ FRANCE Promotion et Motivation, Odile Orbec Ph: +33 1 41 43 83 00, o.orbec@pema-group.com ■ GERMANY Sam Baird Ph: +44 1883 715 697, sam@whitehillmedia.com ■ ITALY, NORDIC COUNTRIES Emanuela Castagnetti-Gillberg Ph: +46 31 799 9028, emanuela.armada@gmail.com ■ PAKISTAN Kamran Saeed, Solutions Inc. Tel/Fax: (92 21) 3439 5105 Mob: (92) 300 823 8200 Email: kamran.saeed@solutions-inc.info ■ SPAIN Vía Exclusivas, Macarena Fdez. de Grado Ph: +34 91 448 76 22,macarena@viaexclusivas.com ■ UK, EASTERN EUROPE, GREECE, TURKEY Zena Coupé Ph: +44 1923 852537, zena@expomedia.biz ■ RUSSIA Alla Butova, NOVO-Media Ltd, Ph: (7 3832) 180 885 Mobile : (7 960) 783 6653 Email :alla@mediatransasia.com ■ USA (EAST/SOUTH EAST), CANADA Margie Brown, Ph: (540) 341 7581, margiespub@rcn.com ■ USA (WEST/SOUTH WEST), BRAZIL Diane Obright, Ph: (858) 759 3557, blackrockmediainc@icloud.com ■ ALL OTHER COUNTRIES Vishal Mehta, Tel: +66 2204 2370, Mob: +66 98 252 6243 E-Mail: vishal@mediatransasia.com Jakhongir Djalmetov, Mobile: +66 81 645 5654 E-Mail: joha@mediatransasia.com Annual subscription rates: Europe: CHF 222 (including postage) Rest of the World: USD 222 (including postage) Controlled circulation: 25,029 (average per issue) certified by ABC Hong Kong, for the period 1st January 2013 to 31st December 2013.

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Editorial C

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t is an honour and privilege to take the helm of Armada International as this magazine prepares to enter its fourth decade in 2016.

Having been an avid reader and admirer of the magazine for many years, I am relishing the prospect of taking this publication forward. Armada International’s high standing in the global defence community is due in no small part to the tireless efforts of its outgoing editor Eric H. Biass. Eric been at the forefront of Armada International since 1988 and has reported on the global defence industry in an impartial, thorough and erudite manner throughout this period.

It is noteworthy that during this time, a number of turbulent events shook the international community, not least the fall of the Berlin Wall and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in the late-1980s and early1990s. These momentous events would be followed by the Persian Gulf War of 1991, the bloody civil conflicts in Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia in the mid- and late-1990s and more recently the Al Qaeda attacks on New York and Washington DC in 2001, and the subsequent conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Throughout all of these ‘paradigm shifts’ in the global strategic order, Eric and his colleagues have reported their consequences for the defence industry with sober, impartial insight; a welcome change from the hyperbole so often surrounding the reporting of the defence industry and conflict in general. We will

strive to ensure that Armada retains the high level of respect and authoritative edge it has earned, and the consistent high standards which Eric has delivered both as an editor and as a frequent contributor to the magazine. Most of all, we wish Eric all the very best in his future endeavours.

As these words were being written, the global defence and aerospace communities are contemplating their suitcases and preparing to head for the biannual Paris Air Show held in the French capital between 19 and 21 June.

Perhaps the ‘greatest show on Earth’, although this epithet would no doubt be disputed by the biannual Farnborough Air Show held in the United Kingdom, this sprawling aerospace jamboree is a perfect opportunity to take the temperature of the global military aerospace industry.

To reflect this event, this edition of Armada International includes detailed and informed discussion on several facets of that industry. Articles can be found examining the global combat aircraft industry, and the fortunes of several major combat aircraft programmes to this end. We also have articles examining the military helicopter domain and the market for new refuelling aircraft. This is in addition to our ever-popular Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) compendium which chronicles all of the latest developments in the UAV world regarding both technologies and procurements.

Thomas Withington, Editor

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FIGHTER MARKET

The Sukhoi T-50 prototypes provide the basis for the Russo-Indian FGFA, which in the 2020s will be the first heavy “fifthgeneration” stealth fighter available for international sales. (Sukhoi)

TODAY’S FIGHTER MARKET Achieving sales of fourth-generation fighters is proving difficult, and Chinese combat aircraft marketing remains strangled by Russian engine availability.

Roy Braybrook

T

he 38-tonne Lockheed Martin F-22A Raptor combines all-round stealth, Mach 1.8 supercruise and sensor fusion to provide the US Air Force (and no other) with short range air dominance and some ground attack capability in access-restricted areas.

Given only 8,200 kg of internal fuel (28% of clean gross) the F-22 remains critically dependent on tanker support.

Beginning in 2016, Modernization Increment 3.2A will introduce (inter alia) an improved data link and clearances for

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the AIM-9X and AIM-120D. The Raptor is to remain in service until around 2040.

Five of the eight planned Sukhoi T-50 development aircraft are now flying, and deliveries of the production PAK-FA may start in 2016. The export FGFA (FifthGeneration Fighter Aircraft) is jointly funded

by India, where it was recently redubbed PMF (Perspective Multi-role Fighter).

India has contributed half the cost ($ 295 million) of the FGFA preliminary design phase. Full-scale development will cost around $ 11.0 billion (compared

to $ 40 billion for JSF), including replacements for the T-50’s upgraded Saturn AL-31F engines and Tikhomirov Byelka (Squirrel) Aesa radar.

The Hindustan Aeronautics development share, originally 25%, has allegedly halved.

Russia plans to acquire 150 (starting with ten pre-series aircraft and an initial 60), but India has cut its requirement from 166 single-seaters plus 44 two-seaters to just 144 single-seaters.

The credibility of the FGFA programme is not helped by reports that India plans

One of the most potent modern strike fighters is the Sukhoi Su-34S, which has side-byside seating. A total of 124 have so far been ordered for the Russian Federation Air Force.

(United Aircraft Corporation)

The Sukhoi Su-27 was produced in China as the Shenyang J-11. This example was photographed from a US Navy Boeing P-8A Poseidon over the South China Sea in August 2014. (US Navy)

The latest Sukhoi Su-27 derivative is the Su35S, which has thrust-vectoring as standard.

This example, ‘Red 07’, was one of 24 produced at Komsomolsk-on-Amur for the RFAF in 2014. (United Aircraft Corporation)

In its “Super 30” form the Indian Air Force Sukhoi Su-30MKI (baseline version shown here at Nellis AFB) will have a reduced radar signature and Aesa radar. Armament provisions will include the Brahmos supersonic cruise missile. (US Air Force)

its own 20-25 tonne Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA), effectively a stealthy Dassault Rafale.

I Fencer

In late 2014 Russia offered Argentina the lease of twelve Sukhoi Su-24MK strike fighters against payment in beef and wheat.

The 39.7-tonne Su-24MK dates only from 1987, and was sold to Algeria, Iran, Libya and Syria. Other models are flown by Kazakhstan, Sudan and Ukraine.

The Russian Federation Air Force (RFAF) has around 150 Su-24s, including perhaps 60 Su-24MR dedicated reconnaissance aircraft. Russian Naval Aviation has 22.

I Flanker Derivatives

In 2011 RFAF Su-24s began to be replaced by the 45.1-tonne Sukhoi Su34S strike fighter, a Su-27 derivative built

by Napo at Novosibirsk, with side-byside seating and Saturn AL-31F engines.

Some 32 Su-34s were ordered in 2008, and a further 92 in 2012 for delivery by 2020. A total of 57 production Su-34s had been delivered at the end of 2014.

Reconnaissance demands will be fulfilled by adding external sensors.

The Su-30 is derived from the Su-27UB trainer. The RFAF has ordered 60 Irkutbuilt Su-30SM multi-role fighters with canards and thrust-vectoring AL-31Fs.

Some 34 were delivered by end-2014, and the last is due by December 2016. Russian Naval Aviation has ordered twelve of a planned 50 Su-30SMs. Deliveries began in July 2014. The RFAF also has acquired 16 Komsomolsk-built Su-30M2s, based on the export Su-30MK2.

Domestic prices for the Su-30 series benefit from exports of the 38.8-tonne Su-30MK, built by Irkut in Irkutsk and Knaapo at Komsomolsk-onAmur. China bought 100 Su-30MKK/ MK2s, following 76 Su-27SK/UBKs, the licence-building of 100 Su-27SKs as J-11As, and unlicensed building of over 100 J-11Bs. China is developing the carrier-capable Shenyang J-13 from a Ukrainian-sourced Su-33.

India has ordered 272 Su-30MKIs (140 to be license-built by HAL) and 42 upgraded “Super 30s”. This last batch will have a reduced radar signature, the Phazotron Zhuk-AE Aesa radar, and provisions for the MBDA Brimstone armada

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FIGHTER MARKET

“The stealthy Shenyang J-31 is comparable to the F-35C, but has twin engines and avoids the penalties associated with a stovl version.”

Boeing and Northrop Grumman have funded the preliminary development of an Advanced Super Hornet with reduced radar signature, conformal fuel tanks and an enclosed weapons pod.

(Boeing)

ground attack and Meteor air-to-air missiles, and for the 290-km Brahmos supersonic cruise missile. The first Brahmos-capable Su-30MKI was delivered to the IAF in February 2015.

Export orders for the Su-30MK series have included 44 Su-30MKAs for Algeria, nine Su-30MK2s for Indonesia, 18 Su30MKMs for Malaysia, six Su-30MK2s for Uganda, 24 Su-30MKVs for Venezuela and 43 Su-30MK2Vs for Vietnam. Most were built by Knaapo.

The RFAF’s current air superiority leader is the 34.5-tonne Irkut-built “4++ generation” single-seat Su-35S, which has thrust-vectoring 142-kN Saturn Type 117S engines, but no canards. The RFAF has so far ordered only 48, but a similar contract is expected to be signed this year.

Some 34 had been delivered by end-2014.

A long-anticipated Chinese order for 24 Su-35s is still delayed. China would prefer a more advanced engine, and needs more power for the heavier Chengdu J-20 stealth fighter. The first of five prototypes flew in January 2011. Some regard the J-20 as a canard-configuration F-22, but it is longer, indicating more internal fuel and a maximum weight up to 45 tonnes.

Retaining AL-31F engines, the J-20 is a heavy strike aircraft, a modern-day GD F-111, to take out aircraft carriers and airfields. More powerful engines could transform it into a long-range F-22, to engage tankers and AEW&C aircraft.

I The Best from Boeing

The US Air Force plans to keep 217 Boeing 36.5-tonne F-15Es in service until

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2035. The line is currently scheduled to close in 2019, with the 84th F-15SA (augmenting 72 F-15S) for Saudi Arabia.

Earlier sales included 25 F-15I for Israel, 24 F-15SG for Singapore, and 61 F-15K for South Korea.

The 30-tonne Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet is due to terminate production in December 2016. The US Navy will then have received 541 F/A-18E/Fs and 114 EA-18G Growler electronic attack aircraft. The only export customer has been Australia, which has ordered 24 F/A-18Fs (half of which have wiring provisions for conversion to electronic attack) and twelve EA-18Gs. The latter formed part of an FY14 US Navy contract that was awarded in June

2014, and also included 21 EA-18Gs and eleven Lot 38 F/A-18Es for that service. The RAAF’s Growler deliveries will start in early 2017, and IOC is scheduled for mid-2018.

An F/A-18 derivative might contest South Korea’s 120-aircraft KF-X programme, in which Boeing is now teamed with Korea Air Lines against Lockheed Martin and Korea Aerospace Industries. Indonesia is paying 20% of KF-X development costs. Turkey also wants a twin-engined aircraft for its TF-X. I Joint Strike Fighter

Under pressure from Congress, in 2013 the US Marine Corps announced an ‘objective’ IOC of 1 July 2015 for the 27.3-tonne F-35B, with a ‘threshold’ of December 2015. It will have Block 2B “initial warfighting capability software”, and clearance for the internally-carried Boeing Jdam and Raytheon Aim-120 and 230-kg GBU-12.

Block 3F full warfighting capability software and use of the four-barrel 25mm GD-OTS GAU-22/A Gatling gun will come with LRIP-9 aircraft in 2017.

The first operational unit, VMFA-121 ‘Green Knights’ is to deploy to MCAS

The Lockheed Martin F-35B (represented here

by BF-17, BuNo 168313 from LRIP-3) is due to achieve IOC with US Marine Corps on 1 July 2015, or December at the latest. (Lockheed Martin)

In January 2014 the Dassault Rafale began flight trials that will lead to clearance in this heavily armed configuration, with six Sagem Hammer air-ground missiles and four MBDA Mica and two Meteor air-air missiles. (Dassault-Aviation/V Almansa)

Iwakuni, Japan in 2017.

The US Air Force gave an IOC of 1 August 2016 for the 31.8-tonne F-35A, which will have Block 3i software and the same weapons clearances as the F-35B. The US Navy announced February 2019 as IOC of the carrier-based 31.8-tonne F-35C, with Block 3F software. Israel will lead the rest in 2018 with the ‘Ha-Adir’ (The Great) or F-35I. The American services plan to acquire 2,443 F-35s. Denmark has reduced its planned procurement, and reopened the competition. In Canada there is pressure to follow suit. However, recent actions by Russia and China (and fears of a revived Iran) are firming support for the F-35.

Eleven foreign nations currently plan to purchase 727 F-35s, of which 35 were contracted at end-2014.

The stealthy Shenyang J-31 is comparable to the F-35C, but has twin engines and avoids the penalties associated with a stovl version. The first and only prototype (31001) first flew on 31 October 2012, powered by 81.3-kN Klimov RD-33s. Supposedly a private venture aiming for exports, the J-31 could interest the PLA Navy. Pakistan may later buy 30-40 FC-31s.

I Typhoon

The 23.5-tonne Eurofighter Typhoon benefits from a four-nation domestic market (Germany, Italy, Spain and Britain),

but export sales have been slow. Production Tranche I of 148 aircraft included 15 for Austria. Tranche II of 251 included 24 for Saudi Arabia. Tranche IIIA of 172 includes 48 for Saudi Arabia and twelve for Oman.

Spain is to cancel 14 of its 87 Typhoons, and has offered pre-used Tranche Is to Peru for Euros 45 million each.

Following clearance of the Raytheon Paveway IV LGB, Typhoon development prioritises the MBDA Brimstone, Meteor and Storm Shadow missiles.

For the longer term, an Aesa radar (Euroradar Captor-E) and conformal fuel tanks are planned.

I Rafale

Defence economies have forced France to cut procurement of the Dassault Rafale from 294 to 225, of which 180 (including 48 carrier-capable Rafale-Ms) are already under contract. The current (fourth) batch of 60 Rafales has Snecma M88-4E engines and Thales RBE2 Aesa radars. The later F3R includes clearance by 2018 for the Meteor air-air and Sagem Hammer air-ground missiles.

In February 2015 Egypt signed for 24 Rafales (16 two-seaters and eight singleseaters), plus MBDA Mica and Scalp and Sagem Hammer weapons. This takes the pressure off the French government, as it helps it keep the Rafale line open while deferring deliveries to the French air force for budgetary reasons. Sales of

AD.

FIGHTER MARKET

In 2012 Russian Naval Aviation ordered 20 MiG-29Ks and four MiG-29KUBs. One is shown armed with two Tactical Missiles Corporation Kh-31 (AS-17) air-surface and two Tblisi Aircraft Manufacturing R-73 (AA-11) air-air missiles. (RAC-MiG)

126 Rafales to India, on the other hand did not materialise, but converted into India’s decision to acquire 36 readybuilt units. The deal may be considered a relief to Dassault, in fact, given the fact that the original negotiations involved a 70% local production of 108 Rafales of the total 126 units envisaged and that one of the known difficulties in the negotiations included production standard responsibilities.

This partial success in India could influence Malaysia. Qatar is another prospect, planning to buy two batches of 36 fighters.

Dassault’s older Mirage 2000 remains effective in many situations. The United Arab Emirates, which has a fleet of 68, announced this year that it would give ten Mirage 2000-9s to Iraq for counterterrorist operations.

I MiG-29

Over 1,600 20-tonne MiG-29s built for more than 30 nations will provide refurbishing and upgrade work for decades. Some 66 Indian Air Force aircraft are being brought (mainly by HAL) to MiG-29UPG standard, which is the most advanced currently in service.

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Bulgaria, Peru, Poland, Serbia, Slovakia and Syria are also having their MiG-29s modernised by RAC-MiG. Some 28 modified export MiG29SMT/UBTs have been accepted by the RFAF, which in 2014 placed a RUB 17 billion ($ 290 million) order for 16 more MiG-29SMTs. This retains the Izdeliye 9-13 airframe, but has an enlarged spine with extra fuel, uprated engines and modernised cockpit and avionics.

The Indian Navy order for 45 carriercapable MiG-29K/KUBs triggered a contract for 24 for Russian Naval Aviation, and provided the basis for the company’s “generation 4++” multi-role MiG-29M/M2. This has a lighter Izdeliye 9-15 airframe using aluminium-lithium alloys, fly-by-wire controls and uprated RD-33-3M engines.

This in turn spawned the 29.7-tonne MiG-35S/D, with Aesa radar and optional thrust-vectoring. Russia’s MoD plans to order 37 two-seat MiG-35Ds in 2016. There have been references to a possible fifth-generation derivative of the MiG-35, five tonnes lighter than the Sukhoi T-50.

At the top of the performance scale, by 2019 the RFAF is to receive around 60

modernised 42-tonne MiG-31BM multirole fighters with Zaslon-M radars.

I F-16

Over 4,540 Lockheed Martin F-16s have been ordered for 28 nations, the principal customers being the US (2,256 for the US Air Force, 40 for the US Navy and six for Nasa), Israel (343), Turkey (232) and Egypt (220). The US Air Force still has 1,108 F-16C/Ds, and plans to operate the type until 2025.

Production at Fort Worth is ensured until at least 2017, with work for Egypt (20 F-16C/D Block 52), Iraq (36 F-16IQ Block 52s) and Oman (a second batch of twelve F-16C/D Block 50s).

Sales of pre-used F-16s include twelve Portuguese aircraft to Romania. Bulgaria is considering buying F-16s from Greece.

The basic F-16C/D grosses 16.875 tonnes, but the United Arab Emirates F-16E/F Block 61 goes to 21.8 tonnes.

I Vigorous Dragon

The 19.5-tonne Chengdu J-10A entered Plaaf service in 2005. At the end of 2014 the Plaaf had around 330 J-10A/ B/S and the Plan around 70 J-10AH/S. The two-seat J-10S flew in 2003. The

J-10B has a diverterless intake and flew in 2008. The J-10AH is carriercapable. The WS-10A Waihang engine is being developed to replace the current Saturn AL-31FN. The 19.3-tonne J-10B presumably forms the basis for the $ 1.4 billion Pakistani purchase signed in 2009 for 36 FC-20s. However, conditions attached to the International Monetary Fund loan to Pakistan restrict government spending, delaying this by several years.

I Gripen

Sweden is reducing its fleet of 14-tonne Saab Gripens to 100 JAS39C/Ds, upgraded to Std MS20, which includes the Meteor and Boeing SDB. This will free around 60 JAS39C/Ds for leasing through Sweden’s Defence & Security Export Agency (FXM), which is also responsible for governmentgovernment sales.

South Africa purchased 26 Gripen C/Ds, but lacks the funds and pilots to operate the fleet effectively. Some should arguably be sold to raise funds for transports or MPA aircraft, which RSA actually needs. Thailand bought

twelve Gripen C/Ds via FXM, and plans to buy six more.

Hungary has extended its leasepurchase of 14 upgraded ex-SwAF JAS39A/Bs to a total of 24 years, taking it to March 2026. The Czech Republic has added twelve years to its lease of 14 JAS39C/Ds, taking it to October 2027, with an option on two more years.

The new Czech lease costs CzKo 1.4 billion ($ 59 million) per year, allowing for 2,200 flight hours at around $ 27,000 each. If an aircraft is lost, it will cost CzKo 294.2 million ($ 12.4 million).

The Czechs are considering leasing six more, and Slovakia is expected to lease eight Gripens to form a joint CzechSlovak squadron, with two aircraft assigned to UN missions. In August 2014 Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Sweden signed an agreement to cooperate on airspace surveillance by Gripen over the first two.

The 16.5-tonne JAS39E/F MS21 Std Gripen NG will have a General Electric F414 engine for Mach 1.25 supercruise, a Selex Galileo Raven Aesa radar and increased fuel. The F414-powered

‘Gripen Demo’ (39-08), a converted JAS39D, first flew in 2008.

In December 2013 an initial $ 2.5 billion Gripen NG development contract was signed by Saab and the Swedish FMV (Defence Material Administration).

This paved the way for 60 (possibly plus ten) new-build single-seat JAS39Es for SwAF, and ensured Brazil’s selection of Gripen NG for F-X2. The first of three JAS39E development aircraft (39-08) will fly by mid-2015, followed by the second (39-09) in 2016 and the third (39-10) in 2017. Production deliveries are scheduled for 2018-2026. Finland is a long-term prospect.

In October 2014 Brazil and Sweden signed a $ 13 billion deal under which the former will acquire 28 Gripen Es and eight two-seat Fs. Deliveries are scheduled for 2019-24, and the final 15 will be assembled by Embraer. Payments will reportedly start only when the last has been delivered. Brazil is to lease ten ex-SwAF Gripen Cs as an interim measure.

Embraer is project leader for the twoseater, and will produce all Gripen Fs.

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FIGHTER MARKET

This artist’s impression of a Brazilian Air Force JAS39E Gripen NG shows the aircraft with Diehl BGT Defense Iris-T air-air missiles on the wingtips and unidentified anti-ship cruise missiles under the wings. (Saab)

By the 2030s the Brazilian requirement will probably have grown to 108 units, to replace both the Northrop F-5EM/ FM and AMX (A-1). Embraer may also produce Gripen NGs for countries such as Colombia and Ecuador. Brazil may partner Saab in developing the Sea Gripen or Gripen-M (Marinha), which would have the usual naval modifications and increased fuel.

I Tejas

In 2006 India’s Tejas (Radiance) LCA (Light Combat Aircraft) was the subject of an IAF production order for 20 Mk Is, to equip No 45 Sqn at Sulur AB in Tamil Nadu. Deliveries began in January 2015, and FOC is expected by the end of the year. A further 20 were ordered in 2010 to form a second squadron. The 13.2-tonne LCA AF Mk II, with General Electric F414 engines replacing the F404, is to fly in 2015.

Five squadrons are planned. The Mk III is a proposed stealthy development.

The LCA Navy Mk I flew in two-seat NP-1 form in April 2012 and in singleseat NP-2 form in February 2015, to be followed by six development and 40 production aircraft. The Naval Tejas is to serve on carriers alongside the Indian Navy MiG-29K, using ski-jump take-offs and arrested landings.

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Developed from the Korea Aerospace Industries T-50 Golden Eagle supersonic trainer, in turn derived from the Lockheed Martin F-16, the FA-50 Fighting Eagle may be the modern equivalent of the ubiquitous Northrop F-5. (KAI) I Fierce Dragon/Thunder

Despite the country’s financial problems, the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex is claimed to be producing the 12.4-tonne Chengdu/PAC FC-1/JF-17 at 16 per year.

The Pakistan Air Force has 50 in service, and hopes to acquire 110 more.

I Fighting Eagle

Another aircraft in the 12.4-tonne category is the Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) FA-50, developed from the T-50 supersonic

trainer and TA-50 lead-in fighter trainer.

Boasting F-16 lineage and powered by an F404, the FA-50 may be the modern equivalent of the Northrop F-5E. The Republic of Korea ordered 20 FA-50s in 2011, and reportedly 40 more in 2013. In May 2011 Indonesia ordered 16 T-50I aircraft. In December 2013 the Iraqi Air Force ordered 24 T-50IQs. In February 2014 the Philippines ordered twelve FA-50s in a $ 420 million government-to-government.

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HELICOPTERS

ADVANCES IN ROTORCRAFT The majority of current rotary-wing aircraft are based on decades-old technology. Military operators want substantial advances in speed from 2030, while civilian counterparts demand reductions in emissions and noise. Everyone wants lower life-cycle costs.

Roy Braybrook

I

n the following discussion “new” helicopter and tilt-wing designs are discussed in terms of their degree of advance, ranging from mid-life upgrades to novel concepts using untested technologies. Each category is examined by reference to illustrative examples.

I Mid-Life Upgrades

The Westland Lynx entered service in 1977, and it is still in use with the armed forces of Britain and twelve other nations. It was the world’s first fully

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aerobatic helicopter, and in 1986 a Lynx with various refinements (notably Berp blade tips) established an FAI-approved helicopter absolute speed record of 400.87 km/hr, which still stands.

In 2012 deliveries began of a Lynx derivative, the 6.0-tonne AgustaWestland AW159, known in British service as the Wildcat. By the end of 2014 some 26 of the 34 ordered for the British Army had been delivered, and twelve of the 28 for the Royal Navy. The Republic of Korea Navy has purchased eight AW159s, and deliveries will start in late 2015. Cruise speed is 264 km/hr.

The Russian Helicopters 13-tonne Mil Mi-8/17/171 family is truly ubiquitous, with over 12,000 built for over 100 countries. The Mi-8 entered service in 1967. The latest member of the family is the Mi-171A2, which began hover trials in October 2014.

The Mi-171A2 differs in having more powerful Klimov VK-2500PS-03 engines, redesigned rotor blades of composite construction, and a modernised flight deck and avionics. Maximum speed is increased to 280 km/hr. It is not yet clear whether Mil intends to exploit the 23% power boost by increasing

Russian Helicopters’ Mil proposed this Mi-X1 high-speed compound helicopter with 1,000 km range to service oil facilities in the extreme north. (Armada/RB)

Due shortly to become the world’s fastest production rotary-wing aircraft, the AgustaWestland AW609 tilt-rotor has a maximum cruise speed of 510 km/hr. (AgustaWestland)

maximum weight, or in clearing improved hot/high performance.

The largest helicopter developed in China is the 13.8-tonne Avicopter AC313, an upgrade of the Changhe Z-8 (Aerospatiale Super Frelon). Powered by three P&WC PT6B-67As, the AC313 first flew in March 2010. It is in commercial service and forms the basis for the military Changhe Z-18.

The Boeing CH-47 Chinook entered service in 1962. Designed for hot/high operations, it has proved especially useful in Afganistan. Over 1,200 have been built for the US Army and 15 international customers.

The latest Chinook is the 22.7-tonne CH-47F with 3,529-kW Honeywell T55GA-714A engines. It first flew in 2006, and the US Army received the 300th in October 2014. The US Army Modernization Program calls for 525 Chinooks, including 464 new or rebuilt CH-47Fs. Australia, Canada, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom have ordered the CH-47F, and AgustaWestland is producing it under licence as the ICH-47F. A CH-47F Block Two is planned for service after 2020, with 20% more powerful T55-GA-715 engines allowing a ten-tonne payload when taking off at 4,000 ft altitude and 35 deg Celsius. It will also feature the Advanced Chinook Rotor Blade (ACRB), and improvements to the flight control, fuel and electrical systems. The CH-47F Block Three upgrade will use the Future Affordable Turbine Engine (Fate).

The 39.9-tonne Sikorsky CH-53K King Stallion is a derivative of the 33.3-tonne CH-53E Super Stallion. Developed for the US Marine Corps, the CH-53K will be the heaviest and largest rotary-wing aircraft in US service. It is powered by three 5,595kW T408-GE-400 engines, and introduces new composite rotor blades and a wider cabin. Estimated cruise speed is 261 km/hr.

The first of four CH-53K prototypes was rolled out in May 2014, and is due to fly in May 2015. The US Marine Corps

plans to achieve IOC by 2019, and to procure around 200 CH-53Ks by 2028.

Israel is believed to be interested in buying the CH-53K. I Fresh Starts

Airbus Helicopters (through its Eurocopter predecessor) has a long history of collaborating with Chinese companies, and is now working with the Harbin Aviation Group on a 7.8-tonne project.

The EC175 version produced at Marignane in France is powered by P&WC PT6C-69Es. It has a cruise speed of 285 km/hr and a maximum of 315km/hr.

The Harbin version is equipped with Turbomeca Ardidens and known as the AC352, or Z-15 in PLA use. In Chinese service the new design may replace the Harbin Z-9 (Dauphin) and Sikorsky S-70.

China is cooperating with Russia in developing a replacement for the 56-tonne Mi-26, the world’s heaviest rotary-wing aircraft. Little information has been released, beyond the fact that it will not be an upgraded Mi-26. At the opposite extreme, Avicopter is developing the stylish three-tonne AC3X2 single-handed.

This twin-engined, nine-seat helicopter is due to fly in 2018.

The Mi-8/17 replacement market is clearly attractive. The 15.6-tonne armada

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HELICOPTERS

The Airbus Helicopters EC175 is the European version of a 7.8-tonne helicopter jointly developed with China’s Harbin Aviation. It first flew in 2009 and is shown in service with Belgium’s NHV Group. (Airbus Helicopters/Nicolas Gouhier)

Mil Mi-38 first flew in December 2003.

Some development flying was done with the P&WC PW127TS, but the Russian MoD insisted on the Klimov TV7-117V, and this is now the only powerplant offered. Cruise speed is 285 km/hr.

The Mi-38 was originally seen by Mil as a stop-gap, pending availability of the MiX1 compound helicopter, which was to have high-speed blade tips and a ducted pusher propeller.

The Mi-X1 was motivated by the need to service oil operations in Russia’s extreme north, requiring a range of over 1,000 km. However, it appears to have been deferred (as was its 16-tonne Kamov Ka-92 rival) in favour of the more conventional Russian Helicopters Rachel project, which combines inputs from both Mil and Kamov.

It seems ironic that, while Sikorsky is now developing projects with contrarotating rotors, Kamov, the leader in that field, has switched to a single main rotor (and ducted tail rotor) for its 6.5-tonne Ka-60/62 series. The military Ka-60 first flew in 1998, but experienced problems with its NPO Saturn RD600V engines, and has recently dropped off the radar.

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The commercial Ka-62 represents a further development, which began with RD600V engines but later switched to the Turbomeca Ardiden. The Ka-62 was unveiled at MAKS-2013, and first flight is expected shortly. Cruise speed is predicted as 290 km/hr and maximum as 308 km/hr.

The Russian Defence Ministry may buy a militarised Ka-62.

Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) is developing the 8.7-tonne Surion to replace the UH-1 and MD500. It is also working on the LAH/LCH Light Armed/Civil Helicopter, which will be based on either the 4.5-tonne AgustaWestland AW169 or the 4.9-tonne Airbus Helicopters EC155 B1. A decision is expected before mid-2015.

The AW169 corresponds to the 4.5-tonne size specified by Korea’s Defense Acquisition Program Agency (Dapa), but Airbus appears better able to place work in Korea, reportedly offering to move all EC155 production to KAI. The RoK Army requires 200 LAHs. I Tilt-Rotors

The most advanced rotorcraft flying today are the tilt-rotor Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey and AgustaWestland AW609. The

27.4-tonne MV-22B for the US Marine Corps first flew in 1989. It entered service in 2007, followed by the US Air Force special operations CV-22 in 2009. Some 360 are being built for the Marine Corps and 50 for the Air Force.

These were originally to be augmented by 48 for the US Navy, which until

Although a leader in contra-rotating rotors, Kamov has switched to a single main rotor for its new Ka-62, which may be militarised for domestic defence and paramilitary operators. (Russian Helicopters)

Based on the EC155, the 430 km/hr Airbus Helicopters X3 adds short wings and tractor propellers, shaft-driven from the existing engines to provide both thrust and torque, allowing deletion of the tail rotor. (Airbus Helicopters/A Pecchi)

recently has shown little interest. However, in January 2015 it was announced that the Navy will take twelve Marine Corps MV22Bs (four per year) from the proposed FY18-20 multiyear procurement batch and convert them to HV-22s for carrier onboard delivery (Cod) duties, replacing the Northrop Grumman C-2A. In late 2014 the Japanese Defence Ministry stated that it will purchase 17 V-22s for amphibious operations. The V-22 has a cruise speed of 445 km/hr.

The smaller (7.62-tonne) AW609 first flew in 2003 and has a maximum cruise speed of 510 km/hr. It is marketed primarily as a corporate transport, but it clearly has potential applications in homeland security duties such as coastal patrol. It has also been suggested as an armed escort for the slower V-22.

May 2011 the X3 achieved a speed of 430 km/hr in level flight.

It was then widely expected that a production aircraft using X3 technology would emerge around 2020, but it appears that the market was not ready. Perhaps the oil industry felt that the time gained over its relatively short sectors did not justify the higher cost.

Instead, the Airbus Helicopters H160 (formerly X4) emphasises reliability and low operating cost, combined with a relatively modest increase in cruise speed to 296 km/hr. Unveiled in mock-up form at Heli-Expo in March 2015, the H160 will have Turbomeca TM800 Arrano (Eagle) engines and Blue Edge rotor

blades for reduced noise. Deliveries are scheduled for 2018.

The H160 is intended to replace not only the 4.3-tonne AS365 Dauphin and 4.9-tonne EC155, but also the AgustaWestland 4.5-tonne AW169 and much larger 6.4-tonne AW139. Airbus has reportedly proposed to Kawasaki that the H160 should be jointly developed and produced, with KHI manufacturing all the rotors and drive trains, and assembling XH160s for the Asian market. This is initially aimed at winning the Jgsdf UH-X contest for a new utility helicopter, which is worth 150 aircraft over 20 years.

Looking further ahead, the Airbus Helicopters X6, which is to fly in 2017, is

I new generation

Europe’s principal achievement in highspeed rotary-wing flight is the 5.2tonne Airbus Helicopters X3 compound helicopter, which is based on the EC155, but has short wings, mounting tractor propellers. These are driven by the main engines and produce differential thrust to eliminate the need for a tail rotor.

At high speed the main rotor is slowed to delay compressibility effects on the advancing tip, and unloaded by the wings to avoid retreating blade stall. In

Revealed at Heli-Expo in Florida in March 2015, the Airbus Helicopters H160 (formerly X4) is intended to replace a range of helicopters from the company’s Dauphin to the AgustaWestland AW139. (Airbus Helicopters)

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Europe’s Clean Sky Two programme is expected to lead to two high-speed rotorcraft demonstrators, one of which will be the AgustaWestland Future TiltRotor, appearing first in commercial form. (AgustaWestland)

a replacement for its Super Puma family, including the 11.2-tonne EC225/725. The X9 is a much lighter project, probably a replacement for the 2.9-tonne EC135 light twin, and due to fly around 2019.

Some advanced European rotorcraft developments are being supported by the Clean Sky Joint Technology Initiative (JTI), which aims to reduce aircraft-generated noise and emissions by 2020, under funding from the European Commission and Europe’s aviation industry.

Clean Sky One was launched in 2008 and will end in 2017, fielding six technology demonstrations relating to fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft. One module is the Green Rotorcraft, which is being developed by AgustaWestland and Airbus Helicopters on the basis of the latter’s EC120. It will have a 330-kW Austro Engine AE440 turbocharged diesel, developed with race-car engine maker TEOS Powertrain Engineering, innovative rotor blades, a low-drag airframe and an advanced electrical system in place of hydraulics. The aim is to reduce fuel consumption and gas emissions in future light helicopters. Subject to satisfactory ground tests, first flight will take place before the end of 2015.

Clean Sky Two was launched in July 2014, and will run to 2023. It will produce two high-speed rotorcraft demonstrators.

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One will be a compound helicopter named LifeRCraft (Low Impact Fast & Efficient RotorCraft). It is led by Airbus Helicopters, and will follow the X3 configuration, although the wing-mounted propellers could be pushers, to facilitate safe access to the cabin. The LifeRCraft is expected to fly around 2019 and achieve a cruise speed of 408 km/hr.

AgustaWestland is working on a Future TiltRotor demonstrator. In early illustrations this had outboard wing

extensions that tilted with the rotors to reduce downforce on the airframe at low speeds. However, in the latest configuration the rotors are moved to the wingtips, perhaps to restrict cabin noise. The project aims for a cruise speed of over 555 km/hr, and is scheduled to fly around 2019.

I Across The Pond

While Europe is looking for commercialled rotorcraft solutions for the 2020s, America searches for military-led solutions

The Sikorsky X2 compound helicopter achieved an unofficial record speed of 370 km/hr and provided the basis for this S-97 Raider armed reconnaissance project, which was rolled out in October 2014. (Sikorsky)

HELICOPTERS

The SB>1 Defiant is a joint project by Sikorsky and Boeing, being developed under the Pentagon’s Joint Multi-Role Technology Demonstrator (JMR-TD) programme, eventually to provide replacements for the AH-64E and UH-60M/V. (Sikorsky)

for the 2030s. In both cases near-term government support is very limited, hence progress depends heavily on industry investments.

One example of industry-funded development is the 3.6-tonne Sikorsky X2 compound helicopter, which has contrarotating rotors and a pusher propeller.

At speeds above 370 km/hr, the rotor speed is reduced from 446 to 360 rpm, and most of the thrust is provided by the propeller. In 2010 the X2 achieved its speed objective of 460 km/hr.

Based on the X2, Sikorsky is developing the 5.2-tonne S-97 Raider for the armed reconnaissance mission, to replace the Bell OH-58D and MD Helicopters MH-6.

The Raider has space behind the cockpit for six troops, and is designed to cruise at up to 408 km/hr. It was rolled out in October 2014, and first flight was planned for the first quarter of 2015. The project is 75% funded by Sikorsky, with its suppliers providing the remainder.

Unfortunately for Sikorsky, the US Army’s Aviation Restructuring Initiative (ARI) calls for retirement of the OH-58D

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and shelving of the Armed Aerial Scout (AAS) programme to replace it. The role has been assigned to the Boeing AH64D/E, teamed with drones.

All current US Army helicopters are planned for replacement under the three-phase Future Vertical Lift (FVL) programme. The first phase, the 13.5-tonne (class) FVL-Medium, or Capability Sets Two and Three, will replace the AH64E and UH-60M/V respectively from around 2030, using Improved Turbine Engine Program (Itep) powerplants.

Capability Set Four or FVL-Heavy will replace the CH-47F, and Set One or FVL-Light will produce a new generation of small helicopters.

The groundwork for the FVL-Medium programme is being prepared by the Joint Multi-Role Technology Demonstrator (JMR-TD) effort. Teams led by Bell Helicopters and a Boeing-Sikorsky partnership were selected in August 2014 to prepare demonstrators for flight in 2017.

Proposals by AVX Aircraft and Karem Aircraft were not chosen for flight tests, but these companies will continue to receive

funding until 2019 under Technology Investment Agreement (TIA) contracts.

Their projects thus retain some chance for final selection in the FVL acquisition process that will take place after 2019.

The Boeing-Sikorsky JMR-TD project is the SB>1 Defiant, which (following the smaller S-97 Raider) will have contrarotating main rotors with rigid blades, a pusher propeller and an advanced flyby-wire control system. It is designed to cruise at 425 km/hr. Sikorsky will lead in Phase One, and Boeing in Phase Two, the mission system demonstration.

The Bell Helicopters JMR-TD project is the V-280 Valor “third-generation” tilt-rotor, for which a maximum speed of 519 km/hr is claimed. It will carry a crew of four and accommodate 14 troops. It is designed to hover out of ground effect at 6,000 ft and 35 deg Celsius, and achieve the required ferry range of 3,900 km. Lockheed Martin will provide the cockpit and avionics, and GE Aviation the T64-GE-419 engines.

Spirit Aerosystems will manufacture the fuselage, GKN Aerospace the vee-tail

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HELICOPTERS

Competing with the Sikorsky-Boeing Defiant in the JMR-TD programme, the Bell Helicopters V-280 Valor is described as a “third-generation� tilt-rotor design, with engines that do not tilt with the rotors. (Bell Helicopters)

and control surfaces, and IAI the nacelles.

Unlike previous tilt-rotors, the engines will not tilt with the rotors.

The AVX Aircraft proposal is a 12.25-tonne, 425 km/hr compound helicopter with co-axial rotors, a foreplane and two ducted propulsive fans.

The Karem Aircraft TR36TD project has variable-speed titrotors with the rotors located at mid semi-span, the wing extensions tilting with the powerplants.

Not everyone is convinced that the US Army (which cold-shouldered the V-22 Osprey and has a history of abandoning advanced programmes) will proceed with FVL as currently planned. In the final analysis the service may prove unwilling to pay the price for fast load-carrying, although it may accept the need for highspeed attack aircraft.

Other work on advanced rotorcraft is being funded by Darpa. In 2009 Boeing was contracted to research a DiscRotor Compound Helicopter with multiple blades retracting into a large disc. In combination with ducted propfans and a swept wing, this was thought to provide potential for speeds up to 740 km/hr. In 2010 Boeing and Sikorsky were funded for preliminary work on a Mission Adaptive Rotor (Mar) that would continuously change the shape

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Although not funded to produce a demonstrator, AVX Aircraft is contracted until 2019 to continue work under the JMR-TD programme on this compound helicopter project with contra-rotating rotors, a foreplane and ducted propulsive fans. (AVX Aircraft)

of the blades, improving performance while reducing noise and vibration.

In 2014 Darpa launched its Vtol X-Plane programme, looking for radical improvements in vertical flight and cruise. Phase One contracts went to Aurora Flight Sciences, Boeing, Karem

Aircraft and Sikorsky (teamed with Lockheed Martin). All the proposals were unmanned air vehicles, but the technologies apply equally well to manned aircraft. In late 2015 Darpa is to select one contractor to build a demonstrator to fly in 2017-18.

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RADARS

AESA Radar Technology

The nose-mounted forward-facing N03601-1 is the main component of the N036 Byelka radar that Tikhomirov NIIP is developing for Russia’s new Sukhoi T-50 PAK-FA fighter. Allocer (Wikimedia Commons)

If you don’t know your GaS from your GaN, or your PESAs from your AESAs, then this article is for you. Our author provides a handy roadmap to the world of the latest generation of electronically-scanned antennae.

Doug Richardson

F

or many decades, the rotating or sector-scanning antenna was an instant recognition feature that announced the presence of a radar.

But these mechanically-scanned antennas are now giving way to electronicallyscanned antennas that allow nearinstantaneous beam steering. These come in passive and active forms, with the resulting arrays being designed by the

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acronyms PESA (passive electronically scanned array) and AESA (actively electronically scanned array).

In a PESA, the antenna array consists of phase shifters. Like a conventional mechanically-scanned antenna, these are fed by a single high-powered transmitter.

However, once monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) technology made it possible to create small antenna

elements-each with its own active transmit and receive active components-that were cheap enough to be used in large numbers, and small enough to be packaged into operational antenna arrays, the creation of AESA arrays became practical. This became possible for L and S bands in the closing years of the last century, and at X-band in the first years of the 21st century.

An early-model Euroradar Captor-E radar is installed in the nose of a Typhoon.

The antenna is mounted on a mechanism that allows it to be pointed over a range of angles. (Eurofighter)

the antenna to the radar’s receiver.

PESA radar also rely on a central highpower transmitter, a potential source of reliability problems.

The first active component in the receive channel sets the achievable noise figure. In a PESA, the incoming signal is initially passed through a passive component in the antenna array, but in an AESA, the active components are located before lossy passive components, so the noise figure is improved. Since the T/R module’s low noise receiver is located within the antenna itself, receiver thermal noise is typically reduced by a factor of between two and four.

This helps to improve the radar’s sensitivity, and thus its range.

Known as transmit/receive (T/R) modules, these antenna elements use highpower amplifiers (HPA) for transmitting, low-noise amplifiers (LNA) for receiving, and digitally controlled elements for phase and gain. T/R modules must combine high efficiency, low noise figure, and stable and precise control of signal amplitude and phase. Digital control of the timing and gain of the individual modules allows the creation of an antenna with agile beam steering, and extremely low sidelobes.

Complexity is inevitably achieved at a cost. A PESA antenna is more expensive than a traditional mechanically scanned antenna, while an AESA is more expensive still, but the cost of AESA hardware could decline in future years.

But that cost buys increased performance. Digitisation of the radar signal at the level of the radiating element, or at subarray level, allows digital beamforming.

It allows the creation of multiple simultaneous beams, an arrangement that can provide quicker target detection, longer waveform integration resulting in increased detection sensitivity and improved clutter mitigation. It also creates the possibility of having multiple simultaneous radar functions.

Most current AESA radar systems use a small number of digitised receiver channels, but the next development involves carrying out the digitisation at the subarray level, or even the element level. Digitisation at the AESA element

level will eliminate the MMICs traditionally for amplitude and phase control, thus simplifying T/R module functionality. According to Raytheon, it will allow the creation and processing of multiple simultaneous beams, increased polarisation diversity, and improved dynamic range.

Several features of AESA technology boost the performance of a radar. The central highpower transmitter used in a mechanicallyscanned radar must be connected to the antenna via waveguides or similar feed systems, and these must incorporate some form of flexible section in order to allow for antenna movement. Such an arrangement imposes signal losses as the transmitter output travels to the antenna, and similar losses will be suffered as the received signal makes its way from

Northrop-Grumman’s Mesa radar operates in L-band. Two large arrays mounted back-to-back in a vertical panel mounted above the aircraft’s fuselage provide coverage of a 120-degree sector on either side of the aircraft, while smaller arrays mounted at the front and back of a horizontal panel positioned above the main arrays provide 60-degree coverage of the forward and rear sectors. (Northrop Grumman)

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RADARS

As this Lockheed Martin diagram illustrates, digital technology is gradually being used at subarray and even at element level (Lockheed Martin)

The ability to reduce clutter interference is limited by the errors created by hardware instability, such as pulse-topulse phase and/or amplitude errors, and intra-pulse noise. But in an AESA, these errors can be de-correlated across the distributed high and low-power amplifiers.

Since an AESA is based on solidstate electronics, the mean-time between failures (MBTF) is generally higher (better) than that associated with vacuum-tubes such as TWTs. A tubebased transmitter of the sort used in conjunction with traditional antennas or PESAs is a potential source of single-point failures, but an AESA degrades gracefully as individual T/R modules fail.

Elimination of vacuum tubes means that tube warm-up time or pulsing limitations are no longer operational factors Improvements in manufacturing technology allow more functions to be integrated onto a single silicon chip.

Individual sections of a T/R module such as low-noise amplifiers, power amplifiers, and switches that formerly consisted of separate devices can now be made as a single chip.

The very high signal levels associated with PESA require the use of mechanical waveguide switches, but AESA involves lower signal levels that can be handled by solid-state switches.

To maximise its effectiveness, an AESA based radar system requires a master oscillator incorporating a very low noise source. The frequency-multiplied surface

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“If mounted to look straight ahead, a fixed Aesa array can be a liability in a fighter,”

curves joined by sharp corners. In the case of an AESA array, this reduction in area results in a loss of performance.

If mounted to look straight ahead, a fixed AESA array can be a liability in a fighter, since it can strongly reflect the signal from an enemy radar, greatly increasing the aircraft’s RCS. The obvious solution is to mount the array in a tilted position.

Inevitably, there is a performance penalty for using a tilted antenna—the performance against near-boresight targets will be sub-optimal. A 30 degree tilt is reported to result in a 15 per cent reduction in performance.

Mounting an AESA on a mechanism that allows it to be steered not only allows the array to be positioned to minimise its frontal-sector RCS when not in use, but can also be used to increase the radar’s field-of-regard, or to direct it towards a sector of interest in order to obtain the best long-range performance. Once an air-toair missile has been fired, the wider angular coverage made possible by a moveable array will allow the fighter to turn away from its opponent in order to avoid closing range to the point when it is in danger of encountering return missile fire.

acoustic wave (SAW) oscillators used in the 1980s gave way to lower-noise sources such as a sapphire resonator, a technique that offered orders of magnitude reduction in microwave oscillator noise over the earlier SAW-based designs.

With a mechanicallyscanned radar, the antenna can be pointed directly at the object of interest, so it functions at full efficiency.

This is not the case with a PESA or AESA array; the performance achieved against targets well off the antenna’s nominal boresight is reduced by a number of technical factors. The most important of these is the loss of effective aperture.

This can be demonstrated by looking at a coin. Seen head-on, the coin appears circular and displays its entire surface area. Turn the coin 45 degrees away from your eye, and it now appears not Northrop’s AN/APG-81 for the Lockheed Martin F-35 uses circular but as a reduced a tilted antenna. (Northrop Grumman) area made up of two convex

ARMADA_Smallest20 Watt:Layout 1 5/19/15 12:35 PM Page 1

Smallest 20 Watt Man-Packable Amp On The Market AR-20 with LNA

A Raytheon team recently tested the half-sized Aesa (left) planned for use on the rear corners of a next-generation Patriot radar in order to provide all-round coverage. As part of the same upgrade, the radar’s current forward-facing Pesa will be replaced by an Aesa equivalent. (Raytheon)

If all-round coverage is required from a surveillance radar, an AESA antenna can be rotated in the same manner the antennas of older radars. One or two AESA panels mounted on a rotating platform will probably be cheaper than a non-rotating array of four panels, and will certainly be lighter. On a warship, this will allow the antenna assembly to be mounted at a higher elevation, increasing the maximum detection range.

With a conventional rotating antenna, several scans might be needed to establish a good track on a target. A rotating AESA can revisit the target multiple times within a single scan, so will be faster at establishing a track, and better at tracking manoeuvring targets in the presence of clutter and jamming.

Combining the azimuth scanning capability of the AESA panel with that created by antenna rotation allows the radar beam to dwell for a longer time on targets of interest, allows more rapid track formation, and allows a range of azimuth scan rates to be created from an array turning at a single speed.

The development of gallium arsenide microwave monolithic integrated circuit (GaAs MMIC) technology allowed the development of cost-effective T/R modules. However, the more recently-developed gallium nitride (GaN) semiconductor technology allows the creation of T/R modules with significant power, efficiency, and performance improvements over their GaAs equivalents.

The RF devices in an AESA can generate large amounts of heat, creating thermal-management problems. The traditional air cooling normally used for avionics is not able to cope, particularly when GaAs technology is used, so liquid cooling became the accepted solution. Cooling channels could be placed directly under the T/R modules or MMICs, while integrated nano- and micro-size channels could be used to position the cooling even closer. However, liquid cooling systems can be expensive, bulky, unreliable, and hard to maintain.

GaN based T/R modules can be operated at a much higher temperature than their GaAs-based equivalents, so air cooling once more becomes a practical solution.

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RADARS

The Darpa Near Junction Thermal Transport (NJTT) programme is using a number of technological processes to improve thermal management of GaN power amplifiers. (Darpa)

Most current GaN devices are based on a silicon (Si) substrate, but a better solution is now available. GaN on silicon carbide (SiC) provides a better thermal conductivity. It is currently at what the US DoD terms Manufacturing Readiness Level 8 (MRL 8), so is ready for lowrate production.

GaN on Si technology currently has a major advantage in terms of cost, with GaN on SiC being used for higher-performance devices for which the inherent higher cost of the substrate material will be acceptable.

This higher cost is a result of the relatively slow growth rate of the SiC material during fabrication.

A problem often faced with semiconductor power amplifiers and other highpower electronic and photonic components is the high thermal resistance of the near junction region-the area where the substrate material connects to the GaN device.

The goal of the US Defense Advanced Projects Agency (DARPA) Near Junction Thermal Transport (NJTT) programme is to devise improved thermal management of the near junction region with the aim of achieving a 3x or greater improvement in power handling from GaN power amplifiers.

Techniques being investigated include the introduction of liquid cooling in the near-junction region (initially on SiC substrates), the removal by etching or other techniques of low conductivity

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epitaxial and transition layers at the interface of the GaN and the substrate, and the use of high thermal conductivity diamond substrates Crystalline diamond offers the highest room-temperature thermal conductivity of any bulk material, some three to five times better than that of a silicon carbide substrate. It also has good electrical resistivity, and a high degree of corrosion

resistance and chemical inertness. The high thermal conductivity promised by the use of a diamond substrate makes this a most attractive method of developing high-power semiconductor devices able to operate at lower temperatures (in order to increase reliability) or at increased power levels.

GaN on diamond technology should allow transistor power density to be increased by a factor of three, a move that promises to reduce the cost, size, weight and power of future defence systems.

The US services have enthusiastically adopted GaN; for example, while the first two Northrop Grumman Ground/Air Task Oriented Radar (G/ATOR) systems built for the USMC used GaAs T/R modules, all follow-on systems will use GaN. For evidence of the degree of improvement that AESA offers over PESA, especially when GaN technology is used, we need look no further than the Air and Missile and Defence Radar (AMDR) being developed by Raytheon as a successor to the AN/SPY-1(V) family of radars used by the US Navy’s Aegis weapon system. Its S-band element is being designed to be suitable for installation on DDG 51 Flight III destroyers, but is reported to have 30 times the capability of the AN/SPY-1.

Raytheon sees GaN-based AESA radar technology as an upgrade route for the Patriot surface-to-air missile system. It has successfully demonstrated a GaN-based

An antenna array for an electronically steered radar is visible on the superstructureof China’s new guided missile destroyer Kunming. Intelligence analysts will be trying to determine whether this radar uses Pesa or Aesa configurations. Haiphong Pioneer (Wikimedia Commons)

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RADARS

Although much of the current interest in Aesa radar is focussed on systems that operate at microwave frequences, the basic concept can be used at lower frequencies. Developed by the Russian design house NNIIRT, the Nebo SVU operates in the VHF band. (NNIIRT)

AESA radar that was added to an existing Patriot radar, along with replacements for the radar’s normal cooling and primary power sub-systems. This would give the radar double the range of the existing system.

It has also developed and tested a smaller half-sized GaN AESA array that could be used to give the system an all-round surveillance capability. This would require two of the smaller arrays to be mounted at the rear corners of the radar shelter.

These smaller arrays will not have the same range capability as the main array, but the company says that the latter could be deployed facing the primary threat axis-for example, the direction from a ballistic missile attack is anticipatedwith the smaller panels used to cover the remaining sectors.

However, the West does not have a monopoly on AESA technology, and other nations are catching up, particularly in the field of fighter radars. In Russia, NIIR Phazotron has created the Zhuk AE X-band AESA radar for the MiG-35 ‘Fulcrum’ fighter. This uses GaAs technology in a liquid-cooled configuration.

Tikhomirov NIIP is responsible for the N036 Byelka radar installation for the new Sukhoi T-50 PAK-FA. The latter consists of a forward-facing N036-01-

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reliable indications of their progress, or the level of technology that may finally be fielded. Russian sources with links to Chinese industry are reported to have indicated that an operational AESA radar for fighters is unlikely in the near future.

A date around the end of the decade seems more likely.

The latest country to reveal an AESA radar for fighter use is India, whose indigenously-developed Tejas fighter will be fitted with the L-273 Uttam AESA radar being developed by the DRDO’s Electronics & Radar Development Establishment (LRDE). The Active Array Antenna Unit (AAAU) will be mounted on a bulkhead located behind the radome, and the associated LRUs will be housed in the front fuselage immediately behind the AAAU. Since the antenna array is expected to dissipate about 2.6 kW of heat when the radar is transmitting, it will be fitted with a liquid cooling system.

In its initial form, the L-273 will offer air-to-air multi-target detection and tracking, multi target air-to-air combat, high-resolution raid assessment, synthetic aperture radar (SAR) high-resolution air-to-ground mapping, air-to-ground ranging, real-beam mapping, Doppler beam sharpening, ground moving target indication and tracking, terrain avoidance, sea search and multi target tracking, and inverse SAR modes.

1 installation in the aircraft’s nose, and two N036B-1-01 on the sides of the forward fuselage. These use T/R modules supplied by the Tomsk-based Research Institute of Semiconductor Devices.

According to one published source, these use GaAs technology.

Russian design teams have had to cope with the relatively poor level of technology in areas such as MMIC fabrication and component packaging.

The T/R modules available for these fighter radars are larger than those created by Western manufacturers, so the module counts of the resulting antennas are lower than their Western equivalents.

This could degrade sidelobe performance.

Fighter radar design is an area where China continues to lag behind Russia by several years.

China’s NRIET and LETRI organisations are known to be working on Circulating on the Chinese internet, this diagram may be AESA radars for fighter evidence of that country’s electronically-scanned fighter radars. use, but there are no (Chinese Internet)

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TANKER AIRCRAFT

Tankers, the New Generation Air-to-air refuelling is widely used to extend the radius/range and endurance of military receiver aircraft. It has been an essential feature of every major conflict since the Korean War. A new, more capable and operationally-flexible tanker generation is now being marketed.

Roy Braybrook

T

he 190-tonne Ilyushin Il-78 cannot compete in operational flexibility with a modern widebody offering considerable volume. On the other hand, the Il-78 is relatively inexpensive, provides four-engine surviva-bility, and can operate from unpaved runways. It is also the only short-term tanker option for Russia and China.

The Il-78 has 109,500 litres of fuel in the wing tanks, which are supplemented by two 21,925-litre tanks in the cabin, giving a total fuel load of 122.7 tonnes. Air-air refuelling

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is performed via two 1,760 kg/min Zvezda Upaz-1 hose-and-drogue units under the wings and one 2,320 kg/min PAZ-1M unit on the left rear fuselage. The basic Il-78 can be converted to the transport role by removing the cabin tanks, which allows the carriage of 225 troops, 145 paratroops or two 26-tonne vehicles.

Some 47 of the series were built by Tapo in Tashkent (Uzbekistan) between 1983 and 1991. They came in two forms, the Il-78 convertible tanker-transport and the Il-78M, a dedicated tanker with no rear cargo door, cargo handling or troop provisions. The production total included

four export Il-78Ms, designated Il-78Es, for Libya, delivered in 1989.

A total of 43 were delivered to two Soviet Air Force regiments. After the break-up of the Soviet Union in 1991, one unit was assigned to Ukraine, which subsequently sold six Il-78Ms to Algeria and four Il-78MPs to Pakistan.

A later Tapo production batch consisted of seven Il-78MKIs for India, delivered in 2003-2006.

China is believed to have obtained five Il-78Ms from various sources, including Ukraine. In 2005 China ordered from Rosoberonexport four

The Airbus A400M can serve as a tanker, providing fuel through three hose-and-drogue units, and also receive fuel in flight via a receptacle in the upper front fuselage. (Airbus Defence & Space)

reportedly costing a modest Roubles 3.5 billion (currently $ 56 million) per aircraft.

A prototype is expected to fly in 2015.

The export Il-78MK-90 is marketed as a convertible tanker/transport.

As an interim measure, the RFAF is having its twelve existing Il-78M brought to 210-tonne Il-78(M)2 standard with stronger wings and undercarriage and modernised avionics. The Il-78(M)2 can offload up to 74 tonnes of fuel at 1000 km radius.

In January 2015 the RFAF ordered two Ilyushin Il-96-400TZ tankers. This keeps the Il-96 line open, but it also provides a more flexible product than the Il-78 series.

The new tanker is based on the stretched 270-tonne Il-96-300 commercial freighter, and can offload 65 tonnes of fuel at 3500 km radius. It will have two Upaz-1 underwing pods, as on the Il-78.

I A330-MRTT

Il-78MKs (along with 34 Il-76MD transports in a $ 1.5 billion deal), but Tapo was unable to fulfil the contract. Three Il78s have recently been converted from Il76s in Ukraine for China. The first began flight trials in early 2014.

China is expected shortly to place a preliminary order for six Aviastar-built Il-78MK-90s with Perm/Soloviev PS-90A-76 turbofans. China operates around 24 examples of the 79-tonne Xian HY-6U (Tu16 derivative) tanker, but its drogues are not compatible with the probes of the Su30/J-11 fighter series. For the future, China is working on a flying-boom system for

higher fuel transfer rates, and automated in-flight refuelling, using differential satellite navigation based on its BeiDou (Northern Dipper) constellation.

The Russian Federation Air Force (RFAF) currently has seven Il-78s and twelve Il-78Ms, all assigned to the 203rd ‘Orlovski’ Regiment at Dyagilevo AB, south-west of Moscow.

Following the construction by Aviastar at Ulyanovsk of 39 new-build 210-tonne Il-76MD-90A transports with PS-90A-76 engines, the RFAF plans to acquire 100 airframes for completion for other roles, including 31 Il-78-90A dedicated tankers

The twin-engined Airbus Defence & Space A330-MRTT has a maximum takeoff weight of 233 tonnes. Fuel capacity is 111.1 tonnes, unchanged from the commercial A330, of which over 1100 are in worldwide service.

The A330-MRTT is marketed with a choice of three engine types: the 338-kN GE Aviation CF6-80E1A3, the 302.5-kN Pratt & Whitney PW4168A, and the 316kN Rolls-Royce Trent 772B. It can typically carry 291 troops (or 323 civilians) or 45 tonnes of cargo.

In-flight refuelling is provided via two 1200 kg/min Cobham Type 905E hose-anddrogue units under the wings and a 1800 kg/ min Type 805E unit under the rear fuselage, all with Sargent Fletcher Industries drogues.

An alternative centreline unit is the Airbus Military Aerial Refuelling Boom System (Amarbs) that can transfer fuel at 3680 kg/ min to receptacle-equipped aircraft. The boom has been ordered by Australia, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

The A330-MRTT can (for example) offload 50 tonnes of fuel while remaining on station for 4.5 hours at 1000 km radius.

Alternatively, it can refuel four Eurofighter Typhoons in a 6700 km deployment. The A330-MRTT can also accept fuel in flight from a boom-type tanker via a receptacle in the upper front fuselage.

At time of writing orders stand at 34 A330-MRTTs for five nations. Australia has already received its five, designated KC30As, which serve with No 33 Sqn at RAAF Amberley, Queensland. Saudi Arabia has six, serving with No 24 Sqn at Al Kharj. armada

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TANKER AIRCRAFT

A Russian Federation Air Force Ilyushin Il-78M Midas refuels an Indian Air Force A-50EI Mainstay airborne early warning aircraft via its fuselage-mounted NPP Zvezda Paz-1M hose-and-drogue unit during flight trials over Russia. (Ilyushin)

Singapore has ordered six aircraft. The United Arab Emirates has three aircraft, based at Al Ain. Great Britain is receiving 14, named Voyager, accessed under a GBP 10.5 billion contract awarded to the AirTanker industry consortium in 2008. This arrangement will run for 27 years, with a “core” fleet of nine aircraft operated by aircrew from Nos 10 and 111 Sqn at Brize Norton, Oxfordshire. The remaining five aircraft (the “surge” fleet) will be available to the RAF in times of emergency, but will otherwise be used in AirTanker operations, which may include leasing to other air forces. Conversion between roles is facilitated by most of the refuelling equipment being “role-removable”.

The RAF fleet takes two forms, equally split between the Voyager KC2 with two hose-and-drogue units, and the KC3 with three. The Voyager will be cleared to refuel all probe-equipped RAF aircraft, including the Lockheed Martin F-35B. One Voyager will be permanently stationed at RAF Mount Pleasant in the Falkland Islands to support the Typhoons providing air defence.

France is expected to sign an order for twelve A330-MRTTs in the immediate future. India and Qatar have officially selected this aircraft, and are negotiating contracts for twelve and two respectively.

Algeria is reportedly interested in acquiring up to six.

Arising out of Operation Unified Protector over Libya of 2011, when

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European air forces largely relied on US Air Force tanker support, the Netherlands has been pushing for smaller nations in the region to fund a tanker pool. This has led initially to a requirement for four aircraft with both drogue and boom refuelling, to be available by 2020 for the Netherlands, Norway and Poland.

It may be that only the A330-MRTT can satisfy this tripartite need, which is expected to lead to contract signature in 2016. The aircraft would be acquired,

owned and maintained by NSPA (Nato Support & Procurement Agency). Belgium and Poland may well join this group.

In the longer term Airbus is hoping to interest the US Air Force in an A330 variant designated KC-45 as its KC-Y, the second phase of the service’s tanker replacement programme, which is primarily concerned with replacing 59 McDonnell Douglas KC10s. This is expected to lead to production between 2024 and 2036, peaking at an annual rate of 15 units.

In the first decade of the present century Airbus Germany and Lufthansa Technik converted six A310-304s to MRTTs, four for the German Air Force and two for Canada. The latter named them CC-150T Polaris. The German aircraft are based at Cologne and assigned to European Air Transport Command (EATC).

The A310-MRTT has a maximum weight of 157 tonnes. Five tanks have been added under the floor to increase fuel contents to 74 tonnes, of which 45 tonnes are transferable via two underwing hose and drogue units, rated at 1200 kg/min. It can offload 40 tonnes at 1850 km radius, with two hours on station. Refuelling takes place between 5000 and 30,000 ft, at airspeeds of 370-560 km/hr.

I A400M

Airbus also produces the 141-tonne A400M tactical transport, which can be used as a tanker and carries 50.5 tonnes of fuel. A total of 174 have been ordered by eight nations,

The Royal Saudi Air Force has six Airbus A330-MRTT multi-role tanker/transports. One is shown equipped with two Cobham 905E hose-and-drogue units and the Airbus Military Aerial Refuelling Boom System. (Airbus Defence & Space)

TANKER AIRCRAFT

One of Great Britain’s A330-based Royal Air Force Voyager KC2s, distinguished by its two-point refuelling system, takes off from the Airbus Military Conversion Centre at Getafe in Spain. (Airbus Defence & Space)

and all but the British version (named ‘Atlas’) will have hardpoints for three hoseand-drogue units, and the necessary fuel lines and electrics for tanker operations. The A400M can loiter for two hours at 930 km radius, transferring 34 tonnes of fuel.

The A400M clearly cannot compete in fuel offload with the much larger A330MRTT, but it can use much shorter runways, and accommodate outsize loads via its rear loading ramp. It can also refuel a broader spectrum of aircraft, from helicopters at an airspeed of 200 km/hr at 5000 ft altitude, to fast jets at 535 km/hr at 25,000 ft. The pair of wing-mounted refuelling units require only two hours to install and each pod provides a flow rate of 1200 kg/min. The centreline pod is rated at 1800 kg/min.

The total could go as high as 107, allowing for the refuelling needs of the Bell Boeing MV-22B and the F-35B. Operational KC130Js are assigned to VMGR-252 at MCAS Cherry Point, North Carolina, VMGR- 352 at MCAS Miramar, California and VMGR152 at MCAS Futenma, Japan.

The KC-130J also provides the basis for the HC-130J Combat King II rescue tanker used by US Air Force Air Combat Command, and the MC-130J Commando

II special operations tanker flown by Afsoc.

The KC-130J has been exported only in small numbers, notably three to Kuwait and five for Saudi Arabia. In addition, six Italian Air Force C-130Js have been converted to tankers in-country.

I 707 to 767

The commercially most successful tanker to date was the 146-tonne Boeing KC135 Stratotanker, of which 803 were built

I Hercules

The 74.4-tonne KC-130J is the latest of the Hercules tankers, its more powerful RollsRoyce AE 2100D3 turboprops allowing it to refuel probe-equipped aircraft at airspeeds up to 500 km/hr. It is equipped with two Cobham 901E hose-and-drogue units manufactured by Sargent Fetcher Industries, each able to transfer fuel at 910 kg/min. The KC-130J can offload 26 tonnes of fuel at 925 km radius.

The principal KC-130J user is the US Marine Corps, which plans to purchase 79.

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The second Royal Australian Air Force Airbus KC-30A, serial A35-002, is shown on the hardstanding at Getafe, Spain, prior to delivery to No 33 Sqn at Amberley in Queensland.

(Airbus Defence & Space)

Airbus Voyager KC2 serial ZZ331, c/n MMTT018, from Royal Air Force No 10 Sqn, based at Brize Norton in Oxfordshire, refuels two Eurofighter Typhoon FGR4s from No 6 Sqn, based at Lossiemouth in Scotland. (Geoffrey Lee, Planefocus)

between 1955 and 1965. The US Air Force still has 167 with active duty units, 180 with the Air National Guard and 67 with the Air Force Reserve. The KC-135 is also flown by Chile (three), France (14), Singapore (four) and Turkey (seven).

Israel operates seven KC-707 ‘Saknai’ tankers, converted from ex-TWA 707s by IAI/ Bedek Aviation, which has now performed over 60 707/767 tanker conversions. Refuelling is performed via a boom developed

by IAI. These aircraft are assigned to No 120 ‘Desert Giants’ Squadron at Air Base 28 Nevatim. Similar 707 tanker conversions were performed by IAI in the 1990s for Chile, Colombia, Peru and Venezuela.

From a Boeing viewpoint, the optimum aircraft to replace the KC-135 on a one-for-one basis is the 179.2-tonne KC-767, produced by converting one of the commercial 767-200 series. Due to delays in the US Air Force KC-X programme, this new family was launched with export orders. The launch customer was Italy, which signed for four in 2002, followed by Japan, signing for four in 2003.

Italy’s first KC-767A flew in May 2005, but development problems (local flutter induced by the underwing pods) delayed IOC to May 2011. Like the Jasdf version, the Italian Air Force aircraft is based on the 767200ER and has a 3270 kg/min centreline boom. However, it also has three GE Aviation Services hose-and-drogue units,

the centreline unit transferring at 2180 kg/min and each wing unit at 1455 kg/ min. The KC-767As are operated by the 8th Sqn of No 14 Wing at Pratica di Mare.

Japan’s first KC-767J flew in December 2006. Deliveries took place between 2008 and 2010, and IOC was announced by Jasdf in May 2009. The KC-767Js provide fuel only through their booms, their main task being to support US-designed fighters.

They are assigned to No 404 Sqn of the 1st Tactical Aircraft Group at Komaki AB,

Aichi. Deliveries took place between 2008 and 2010, and IOC was announced by Jasdf in May 2009.

In 2010 the Colombian Air Force received two 767-200ERs that were converted to ‘Jupiter’ MMTTs (MultiMission Tanker Transports) under a $ 150 million contract with IAI/Bedek, signed in 2007. Aside from adding two 1200 kg/min underwing hose-and-drogue units, this introduced a cargo door.

In March 2013 the Brazilian Air Force selected an IAI/Bedek 767-300ER tanker conversion to fulfil its KC-X2 requirement to replace its four KC-137s, which were to be retired in May 2013. It had previously been held impossible to produce a boomequipped tanker from the 186.9-tonne, more capable 767-300ER, because its 6.4-metre longer fuselage (relative to the -200ER) gave insufficient ground clearance on rotation.

However, Bedek solved the problem by modifying the boom and its mounting.

The Brazilian KC-X2 order (which at time of writing is still being negotiated) has been increased from two to three aircraft. At least one will be converted by Bedek, and the remainder in-country by a TAP subsidiary.

The 767-300ER-based MMTT has also been offered to Poland and South Korea.

I KC-X

The US Air Force KC-X is the first of three programmes that will replace the service’s ageing tanker fleet of KC-135s and KC-10s over a 35-year period.

In 2011 the Boeing project, subsequently named KC-46A Pegasus, was selected

This Airbus A400M, the fourth ‘Grizzly’ development aircraft (EC-404) is shown refuelling a Spanish Air Force Boeing EF-18AM (serial 12-14) and an EF-18BM (12-74) from No 12 Wing at Madrid-Torrejon. (Airbus D&S/masterfilms/A.Doumenjou)

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TANKER AIRCRAFT

This Boeing 767-200ER was one of two converted into MMTTs (Multi-Mission Tanker Transports) by Israel Aerospace Industries for the Colombian Air Force. It is taking off on its delivery flight from Ben Gurion Airport, Tel Aviv, in 2010. (IAI)

as the least expensive means to replace 179 KC-135s on a one-for-one basis.

The requirement called for small scale improvements, and the ability to receive fuel in flight, but it basically asked for a modern (twin-engine widebody) KC-135.

No bonus points were awarded for superior performance as a tanker.

The Boeing bid was reportedly $ 20.6 billion, against the $ 22.6 billion for the same number of (much larger) A330MRTTs. The $ 4.4 billion “fixed-price incentive (firm target)” development contract was awarded in February 2011, limiting US Air Force expenditure to $ 4.9 billion. The Pentagon currently estimates that development will cost $ 5.9 billion, leaving Boeing to find the difference.

The contract calls for the delivery of the first 18 (including the four development aircraft) by August 2017, and the 179th by 2027, when the KC-46A will be replacing KC-135Rs that are around 70 years old.

The 188-tonne KC-46A is a tanker derivative of the Model 767-2C “provisioned freighter”, which is based on the commercial 767-200ER and lacks the aerial refuelling system and military avionics of the KC-46A. It is powered by two 282-kN PW4062 turbofans. It carries 96.3 tonnes of fuel, and can receive fuel

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in flight at 3635 kg/min through a receptacle in the upper fuselage. The KC-46A can offload 22.7 tonnes of fuel at 925 km radius, while loitering on station for eleven hours, before returning to base with standard reserves.

The KC-46A has the wing, the cargo floor and door of the 767-300F and the flight deck of the 767-400ER,

which was inspired by that of the 787 Dreamliner. It can accommodate 18 standard 436L pallets, and will be FAA certificated for 56 passengers, or 114 in contingency operations.

The US Air Force’s new-generation tanker comes with new-generation language.

It has two removable Cobham Warps (wing air refueling pods) and a permanent

Israel Aerospace Industries markets a boom-equipped tanker conversion of the Boeing 767300ER, shown in the form of demonstrator 4X-AGM. This concept has been chosen by Brazil to fulfil its need for three KC-X2 tanker transports. (IAI)

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TANKER AIRCRAFT

Pictured during flight trials over the US with registration N763TT, this Japan Air Self-Defense Force KC-767J serial 601 was the first of four converted by Boeing from 767-200ERs. It is assigned to No 404 Sqn at Komaki AB, Aichi. (Boeing)

CDS (centerline drogue system), each rated at 1200 kg/min. The “advanced fly-bywire refuelling boom” is a 3635 kg/min Boeing development of the KC-10 unit.

Refuelling is controlled by an operator at the Aros (air refueling operator station) just aft of the flight deck, using an RVS (remote viewing system) that provides a 185-degree field of view.

The development batch consists of two 767-2Cs (the first and third aircraft), which are initially assigned to FAA certification testing, and two KC-46As, which will be used to obtain an STC (supplemental type certificate). The first, 767-2C registration N461FT, had its maiden flight on December 28, 2014. The next, a KC-46A, is due to fly in April 2015. The Milestone-C project review is currently planned for September 2015, and should allow the launch of LRIP (low-rate initial production). Full-scale production will run at 15 aircraft per year from FY19 to FY24.

The first production KC-46A is scheduled to be delivered in 2016 to the formal training unit (FTU), the 97th Air Mobility Wing at Altus AFB, Oklahoma. The next to equip will be the first active duty-led KC-46A main operating base (Mob-1) at McConnell AFB, Kansas, where 36 KC-46As

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The first of four KC-X development aircraft, this Boeing 767-2C, registered N461FT, was photographed on its maiden flight from Paine Field, Everett, Washington on December 28th, 2014. (Boeing)

are to replace the 44 KC-135Rs of the 22nd Air Refueling Wing. The first Air National Guard training squadron will form part of the 157th Air Refueling Wing at Pease ANGB, New Hampshire (Mob-2), which will start receiving the Pegasus in 2018.

Boeing clearly hopes that later in the decade an affordable KC-46A will end Airbus’ present dominance of the international tanker market. In 2014 it

was estimated that the total programme acquisition cost (including R&D) would be $51.377 billion, giving a unit cost of $ 287 million in then-year dollars.

The first KC-46A export order could well be placed later in this decade, by Japan, which is expected to buy three more 767-based tankers. The KC-46A is also being marketed in South Korea, which has a requirement for four aircraft.

NAVAL ROBOTS

Spirited Underwater

Robots

Robotics’ growing importance to naval missions is highlighted by the central role of Autonomous Underwater Vehicles in the Franco-British Maritime Mine Countermeasures programme and Australia’s equivalent SEA 1778 effort. Both seek to provide integrated capabilities in the near term using technologies with high levels of maturity, although differences in approach are evident. Meanwhile, longer-term research and development is making progress in exciting areas such as bio-inspired vehicle design, which steals some of nature’s best ideas, and in techniques that enable robots to find their way around cluttered and unfamiliar environments without the aid of infrastructure.

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Peter Donaldson

O

n 27 March, the European armament cooperation organisation OCCAR, acting on behalf of the British and French governments, awarded the FrancoBritish Maritime Mine Countermeasures (MMCM) contract jointly to Thales Underwater Systems and BAE Systems along with a team of partners including the ECA Group in France and ASV, Wood & Douglas and Saab in Britain. Split equally between the two countries, the programme is intended to develop a prototype autonomous system for the detection and neutralisation of mines and underwater bombs using a combination of an Unmanned Surface Vehicle (USV), Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs), a Towed Synthetic Aperture Sonar (T-SAS) and Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs).

I Franco-British MCM

The new robotic vehicle is to be developed

by ECA from the A27-M, the largest in its range, and equipped with the Thales new Synthetic Aperture and Mine Detection Imagery Sonar (Samdis). The vehicle is to be deployed with a new launch and recovery system, also from ECA, that will enable operations in the most difficult sea conditions from non-specialised vessels. The vehicles will work with a high-level of autonomy and supervisory control from a ship or a shore-based operations centre via high-data-rate communications links. The programme’s approach is to use technologies with a ECA is to develop the robotic component of the new Franco-British MMCM capability based on its A-27M, along with an all-weather launch and recovery system. (ECA Robotics)

The shark-like GhostSwimmer developed by the Chief of Naval Operations Rapid Innovation Cell project Silent Nemo undergoes testing to explore possible uses for biomimetic vehicles. (US Navy)

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NAVAL ROBOTS

In meeting future British and French MCM requirements, a Thales-BAE Systems team is to integrate inhabited and uninhabited shore-based, surface and subsurface vehicles linked with network acoustic and radio-frequency communications. (Thales)

high level of maturity to meet eventually the needs of France’s SLAM-F future mine countermeasures system and the British Mine countermeasures and Hydrography Capability (MHC).

BAE Systems seeks to be more conservative in its approach to the Australian requirement, announcing back in October that it had offered a low-risk solution to SEA 1778 that would maximise the use of off-the-shelf products for mine and obstacle detection, classification, identification, avoidance and neutralisation. The company’s offering includes the Remus 600 and the smaller portable Remus 100, both from Kongsberg Hydroid. Combat-proven Remus are in service with 17 navies today, while 11 countries including the United States and Britain use the Atlas Elektronik SeaFox disposable mine neutraliser. BAE emphasises the low service entry risk associated with the SeaFox, pointing out that 70 ship, 15 portable and six helicopter-deployed systems are being delivered, encompassing more than 3,000 underwater vehicles.

Cutting edge R&D is rarely described as conservative, but mimicking the solutions that nature has evolved through millions of years of trial and error could be seen that way. However, this has become a fruitful path for engineers

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to take in developing robotic vehicles capable of undertaking dull, dirty or dangerous tasks in some of the Earth’s most complex environments.

With the exception of the flagellar motor that drives the corkscrew tail of a bacterium, nothing in nature uses rotary motion for propulsion in the way that vehicles designed by humans do.

Despite this oversight, which has denied fish the benefits of propellers, animals have evolved very efficient means of propelling themselves through water with sinusoidal wriggling of their bodies, powerful strokes of their tails, combined pitching and heaving motions of fins and even, in the cases of the octopus and the squid, jet propulsion. The limitations of current non-nuclear energy storage and conversion technologies make the attractions of biomimetic propulsion for underwater robots compelling, combining as they do high efficiency in the cruise, impressive acceleration and good manoeuvrability with precise control.

Along with sensing, communication, cooperative behaviour and autonomy, energy efficient biomimetic propulsion is a key area of research and development for future generations of unmanned underwater vehicles.

Late last year, the US Navy announced completion of a series of tests of the

shark-like GhostSwimmer developed by Boston Engineering under the auspices of the Chief of Naval Operations’ Rapid Innovation Cell project known as Silent Nemo, whose purpose is to explore uses of biomimetic vehicles. Established in 2012, the cell is intended to enable junior leaders to identify and rapidly field emerging technologies with the potential to solve pressing problems.

Measuring about five feet or a little over a metre and a half in length and weighing almost 100 lb (45 kg), the fishy vehicle served over several weeks to gather data on tides, currents wakes and weather conditions at the Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek-Fort Story (JEBLC-FS) facility near Virginia Beach, Virginia.

“It swims just like a fish does by oscillating its tail fin back and forth,” said Michael Rufo, director of Boston Engineering’s Advanced Systems Group.

Propulsion efficiency combined with a high-capacity battery enables it to operate autonomously for long periods, said the company, although it can be operated remotely from a laptop via a 150-metre tether, which is long enough for ship hull inspections, for example. Without the tether, it must surface regularly to download its data. Looking like an animal

The actively controlled contour fins of the Wanda were inspired by a reef fish called the bird wrasse, a hydrodynamic pressure profile image of which is shown above. (US NRL)

and operating very quietly provides it with a low profile for potential stealthy missions, according to the US Navy Warfare Development Command. “Our mantra is ‘you have permission to be creative’. We want our people to go out there and dream big dreams and put them into action,” said Captain Jim Loper, who heads the department for concepts and innovation. “We want to see projects like this replicated throughout the fleet.”

Boston Engineering has form with robot fish, specifically the tuna-like BIOSwimmer developed with support from the Department of Homeland Security, which is interested in inspection technology that can get into hard-toreach areas of ships, such as flooded bilges, tanks and difficult external areas like rudders, propellers and sea chests, which are recesses in the hull that act as water intake reservoirs. In a recent demonstration, the vehicle inspected the museum battleship USS Massachusetts moored in Fall River.

A variant model of the Boston Engineering GhostSwimmer with the auxiliary thruster on the tail; its normal swimming mode is by oscillating its tail in the way the shark that inspired it does. (US Navy)

I A fish called Wanda

Exploring technologies earlier in their development, the Naval Research

NAVAL ROBOTS

A Wanda undergoes testing in NRL’s Laboratory for Autonomous Systems Research facility, which can emulate tropical, desert and littoral conditions on-site. The fins generate all propulsion and control forces. (US NRL)

Laboratory (NRL) is also taking inspiration from fish to create underwater vehicles with novel propulsion, control and sensing capabilities optimised for operations in near-shore and littoral waters, which are often turbid, littered with obstacles and subject to complex, dynamically changing currents.

In late January, the NRL released an update on the development of a small vehicle inspired by a reef fish known as the bird wrasse (gomphosus varius), which exhibits impressive manoeuvrability and fine control, in which its pectoral fins play an important part. Engineers from the Labo-ratories for Computational Physics and Fluid Dynamics at the NRL have developed a fin with actively controlled curvature, four of which provide the Wrasseinspired Agile Near-shore Defor-mablefin Auto-maton (Wanda) with a novel low-speed propulsion and control system.

Mounted on the sides of the vehicle, the fins are controlled with a set of

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specially developed algorithms that take information from on-board motion and environment sensors and process it to generate appropriate movements of the fins. In this way, the vehicle can adapt to variations in flow conditions, hold its position against two-knot currents, operate at speeds in excess of two knots and coordinate its movements well enough to achieve waypoint navigation, says the NRL. Wanda’s modular construction enables it to accommodate a variety of missiontailored payloads, and the NRL is preparing to test some. One set for development and testing this year is a biochemical sensor system to detect trace levels of chemical signatures. Integrated into a low-speed platform like the Wanda, this will enable it to perform tasks such as plume tracking and target localisation in shallow waters.

Submarines leave heat plumes in their wakes that could potentially be tracked by such sensors.

I Jet propulsion octopus style

Scientists from British, American and Singaporean institutions turned to the octopus for inspiration for a flexiblebody jet propulsion to achieve acceleration performance unprecedented in human-made underwater vehicles, and announced the results of an initial experimental study on 05 February. The effort involved cooperation between teams from Southampton University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology in the creation of a deformable octopus-like robot with a 3D printed polycarbonate skeleton with no moving parts. Furthermore, the only energy storage device is its thin elastic outer hull, which works like a toy balloon that is inflated and then the neck released so that it flies around a room.

Measuring 30 cm long, the proof-ofconcept robot is filled with water from an external supply through the rocket

NAVAL ROBOTS nozzle to inflate its skin before being released. The skeleton holds the balloon in a streamlined shape as it contracts, while stabilising fins on the nozzle keep it running straight. In rapidly contracting from a bulbous to a streamlined shape, it can achieve 2.6 times the thrust of a comparable rigid rocket, according to the researchers, covering a distance of up to 10 body lengths (3 m) in under a second from a standing start. A further claim is that, in recent lab tests, it accelerated a one-kilo payload to 10 km/h in less than a second, a feat comparable to a one-tonne car accelerating from a standstill to 100 km/h in one second – under water.

“Man-made underwater vehicle are designed to be as streamlined as possible, but with the exception of torpedoes, which use massive amounts of propellant, none of these vehicles achieve speeds of even a single body length per second or accelerations of 0.1g, despite significant mechanical complexity,” said the study’s lead author Dr Gabriel Weymouth, a lecturer at the Southampton Marine and Maritime Institute at the university.

The team even claims to have bettered nature in efficiency; “Over 53% of the available energy is converted into payload kinetic energy, a performance that exceeds the estimated energy conversion efficiency of fast-starting fish.”

Flexible-body jet propulsion inspired by the octopus could provide diving robots with unprecedented abilities to accelerate while achieving high energy efficiency, according to research by Singaporean, British and American scientists. (Southampton University) I Slam dunk

It is a truism that humans know more about the surface of the moon than about the seabed, which hints at the challenges facing underwater robotics engineers in terms of navigation and completion of missions with little or no

Professor Michael S. Triantafyllou shows off the 3D printed skeleton and flexible skin that form the energy storage mechanism of the proof-of-concept octopus robot developed by the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology. (Smart)

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friendly infrastructure in place and under minimal supervision. With an accurate map installed, it is fairly straightforward for a vehicle to use onboard sensors to determine its own location and the converse is also true; if it has accurate position data, from a GPS receiver for example, it can use sensors to build a map of its surroundings and navigate through them. Denied both, however, the problem becomes the more difficult one known as Simultaneous Localisation and Mapping (Slam).

Successful Slam techniques have been implemented with success in autonomous ground vehicles and remain an active area of research and development in the underwater arena. Various types of algorithm including Kalman filters and particle filters, for example, are used in iterative processes that seek to make progressively more accurate estimates of the vehicle’s position and the relative positions of features in the environment with the use of regular updates from the sensors.

Work completed in 2013 by a team led by Angelos Mallios at the University of Girona in Spain provides an insight into how it works. The team developed new three-dimensional Slam techniques using a multi-beam sonar profiler and image compositing algorithms. Funded under the European Union’s 7th Framework Programme, the project was called “Probabilistic 3D surface matching for

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NAVAL ROBOTS bathymetry based Simultaneous Localisation and Mapping of underwater vehicles”.

This compounds swath profiles of the sea floor with dead reckoning localisation to build a picture of the sea floor divided into patches to limit the computational load on the computer. Using data from an attitude and heading reference system (AHRS), a Doppler velocity log (DVL), depth from a pressure sensor and bathymetric data from the multibeam echo sounder, the software applies mathematics such as Iterative Closest Point calculations with point-to-point and point-to-plane measurements to work out the robot’s position and orientation.

Overlap enabled newly generated patches to be compared with existing ones to look for matches that would help locate the vehicle within the mapped environment.

It was tested using an ACFR-built Sirius in Tasmania to explore an area measuring about 350 x 150 metres that was mostly flat but contained pockmarks with depths of about three metres. The team reported good location accuracy with a mean error of 0.14 metres.

I Cooperative Slam progress

Cooperation between robots can improve Slam accuracy, but relies heavily on their ability to communicate reliably. This is the subject of a study published in early March by a team led by Liam Paul at the MIT, partially supported by the Office of Naval Research. The authors argue that robots can better localise themselves if they can share measurements of each other, and commonly observed parts of the environment. However, the quality NEXT ISSUE AUGUST-SEPTEMBER 2015: 1 AUGUST, ADVERTISING: 15 JULY ■ Anti-Radiation

Missiles

The proliferation of sophisticated ground-based air surveillance radars and surface-to-air missile systems is moving at a considerable pace.

At the same time, several in-service Anti-Radiation Missiles (ARMs) are increasingly unable to address such threats, with a number of upgrade programmes and new ARM initiatives ongoing and on the horizon.

■ 120mm

mortars Particularly in mounted form, the “one-twenty” is gaining increasing recognition as an artillery element, especially with new high-performance rounds now being made available and the generalisation of semi-automatic autoloaders.

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of the communications channel is critical; communicating over any significant distance under water depends on acoustics, which is slow, unreliable and very limited in bandwidth, making cooperative operations very difficult.

However, the team has developed what it calls a novel graphbased Cooperative Slam (C-Slam) algorithm capable of generating communication packets for Simultaneous Location And Mapping capabilities that allow transmission by vehicles robots to map their surroundings and work out their own position that compensate for the and orientation at the same time could open new missions under foibles of the medium. ice and in the deep oceans. (University of Girona) According to the authors, packet size “...scales linearly with the Further improvements in acoustic number of observed features since the last communications are being made under successful transmission, constantly with the EU funded Project Sunrise carried the number of vehicles in the collective, and out by partners including the University does not grow with time even the case of of Rome and Nato’s Centre for Maritime dropped packets, which are common”. This Research and Experimentation. Its aim is enables the robots to limit their localisation to lead to an underwater internet of things, error without infrastructure such as pre- principally through the development of installed beacons or the need to surface for algorithms that can compensate for the GPS fixes, which enables them to complete time lags, low data rates and variability their missions significantly faster. The team of the medium and that run on softwareused realistic simulations of both vehicles defined acoustic modems. and acoustic communications to validate Progress in many other areas of robotic their proposed algorithm, which they technology, such as artificial intelligence argue enables long term robot deployments and object manipulation to name but two, into less accessible environments such as are required before robots can reach their under ice sites and deep ocean. Naturally, it full military potential, but advances in also offers benefits for operations in GPS- biomimetics, navigation and communicadenied environments. tion are important evolutionary changes.

■ Maritime Surveillance More than ever, the shores of one’s nation need to be monitored 24 hours a day. Not only the shores actually, but also the areas surrounding one’s own ship or fleet, or even one’s remote island before it gets colonised in a fait accompli situation.

■ Light air-to-ground Weapons Courtesy of the asymmetrical nature of current conflicts, great care has to be given, on the part of the defendants to minimize collateral effects and thereby cut any excuse for hypocritical propaganda in the media. On way of doing so is to use weapons with smaller radial lethality but with true surgical precision.

■ Sonar

Developments

The hearing of navies is sharpening around the world. Significant advances in acoustic technology are improving the ability of both ship-mounted and submarine sonar to detect their quarry and to

prosecute their targets. This article examines some of the leading sonar programmes ongoing around the world, and future technological advances.

■ Air-to-Air

Missiles

A multi-role combat aircraft is arguably little more than a high-speed mix of composites and metal without the air-to-air missiles required to prosecute its targets.

Armada takes a look at some of the leading air-to-air missile programmes ongoing around the world, taking their temperature and discussing how these programmes may develop in the future.

■ Programme Debrief We uncover the Type-26 Global Combat Ship ■ Modern Soldier Equipment A corollary to Modern Soldier Programmes, Modern Soldier Equipment aims at pointing to the numerous spin-offs that the various Modern Soldier Programmes have generated and that can be acquired separately.

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