COIN small and large

[buglerbilly]

The LAAR Lightweight Combat Aircraft Is Coming to the Air Force

By Robert F. Dorr in Aerospace under Defense Technology

A small, nimble warplane – an economical featherweight compared to robust combat aircraft like the 40-ton F-15E Strike Eagle – now enjoys a high priority on the Air Force’s shopping list as the service remakes itself for counter-insurgency conflicts.

Under the OA-X program begun in September 2008, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz is pushing toward an eventual, $2 billion purchase of up to 100 Light Attack Armed Reconnaissance (LAAR) aircraft. The LAAR is likely to be a turboprop aircraft and will be part of mainstream Air Force operations. Air Combat Command (ACC) is performing developmental work rather than, as might be expected in an unorthodox effort, Air Force Special Operations Command.

One observer, given a glimpse of ACC’s capabilities-based assessment conducted in 2009, made the comment that, “this looks a lot like World War II.” That was a reference to the likely airframe and the guns and bombs it will carry, not to the 21st century digital avionics ACC expects to pack inside. An ACC official responded: “Yeah. We get that a lot.”

Among aircraft being proposed are the AirTractor AT802U (a modified crop duster, demonstrated at the 2009 Paris Air Show), Alenia M346, Embraer EMB-314 Super Tucano, Hawker Beechcraft AT-6B Texan II, and Pilatus PC-6 Porter. Pentagon officials say LAAR must be derived from an “in production” aircraft design. Boeing, however, is proposing an OV-10(X) Bronco, based on the twin-engine, twin-boom forward air control aircraft of the Vietnam era, which the planemaker would return to production at a facility not yet chosen.

The Air Force wants a “kinetic,” or rapid engagement, capability that, it says, “will reduce the sensor-to-shooter timeline cycle.” The LAAR aircraft will also function as a digital-era forward air controller, coordinating fire directly with supported ground units through voice, video and datalinks – and minimizing the danger of blue-on-blue or “friendly fire” incidents.

One reason for LAAR and the OA-X program: operating cost. The Air Force wants an aircraft that can fly one combat hour for $1,000. A combat flight hour costs $7,750 for an F-16C Fighting Falcon and fully $44,000 for an F-15E Strike Eagle.

Typical air-to-ground ordnance for LAAR will include one or two podded 7.62-mm. mini-guns, two 500-pound guided-munitions, 2.75-inch rocket projectiles and the AGM-114N Hellfire air-to-ground missile. A “needs” document that does not yet have formal status calls for operating from austere airfields on five-hour missions over distances of 900 nautical miles up to a ceiling of 30,000 feet.

In its short-term plans for the new aircraft, the Air Force plans to purchase 15 examples in fiscal year 2011. ACC wants a 24-aircraft squadron ready for combat within two years and will then decide whether to equip an entire wing. If the program grows as expected, many of the aircraft will be assigned to Air National Guard units.

Last November, Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan) and Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R-Kan) sent a letter to Secretary of Defense Robert Gates stating concerns with reports that the United States and Brazil are negotiating for acquisition of Super Tucanos. Brownback and Tiahrt, strong defenders of the Wichita-built AT-6B, argued that such an agreement would “demean the integrity of the federal acquisition process” and cost thousands of American jobs.

Closely related to the OA-X program and the LAAR aircraft, the Navy is November 2009 launched Imminent Fury, a demonstrator program with a leased Super Tucano, designated A-29B in Pentagon parlance. The purpose: special operations support for SEAL teams in the field. The Imminent Fury aircraft is equipped with an electro-optical sensor in a nose turret and satellite and secure communications systems. According to one source, the Navy leased the Super Tucano from EP Aviation, a subsidiary of the contractor Xe Security, formerly Blackwater International.

Photo:
A version of the OV-10(X) Bronco that is one proposed candidate for the LAAR program. Courtesy of The Boeing Company via Robert F. Dorr

[Trackmaster]

Isn't this just so "Boeing"
From what I read, the airframe has to be "in production"
So what does Boeing do...proposes an aircraft that isn't in production, expecting the rules will be changed for the big boys from Seattle..sorry, Chicago.
And if you looked hard enough, I'm sure you would find something made by "the Frenchies" in the other airframes. That would put them out of the competition.

[Gubler, A.]

Isn't this just so "Boeing"
From what I read, the airframe has to be "in production"
So what does Boeing do...proposes an aircraft that isn't in production, expecting the rules will be changed for the big boys from Seattle..sorry, Chicago.
And if you looked hard enough, I'm sure you would find something made by "the Frenchies" in the other airframes. That would put them out of the competition.

The OV-10 qualifies as a production aircraft. The AT-6B isn't in production, the T-6B is. The whole point of theise requirement is not to have a humming production line but to ensure the aircraft can actually be built and fly without an extensive development program. So you can't propose a new design. You could even bid a new block of Skyraiders if you could demonstrate that you have the tooling and the ability to support it (which you can't). The OV-10 proves all that despite that the tooling has been gathering dust the past 20 odd years.

As to the French connection that doesn't effect the procurement decision; maybe a re-write of a RFP spec (for a certain tanker's performance judging). As to the Super Tucano this is probably more to do with Brazilian FX competition leverage.

[Trackmaster]

Point taken on the OV-10

[buglerbilly]

JFCOM’s Mattis Pushes Light IW Aircraft



The quest for a low-cost, low-tech, irregular warfare aircraft to provide ground pounders with long loitering, on-call recon and strike got a big boost recently when Joint Forces Command’s Gen. James Mattis threw his support behind the Navy and Air Force “Imminent Fury” effort.

Mattis told the Senate Armed Services Committee last week that he was taking a personal interest in the classified project, being run chiefly out of the Navy’s Irregular Warfare Office, that is looking at small turboprop aircraft for ground support. The sought after design falls somewhere between the Vietnam era OV-10 Bronco and A-1 Skyraider. It must stay aloft for a long time for surveillance needs but also have the punch to provide precise fire support when needed; a true “over the shoulder” aircraft for small ground units doing distributed operations in remote locations.

Mattis thinks using top-line fighter jets for close air support to troops patrolling rural villages in Afghanistan is overkill. As he diplomatically puts it: “Today’s approach of loitering multi-million dollar aircraft and using a system of systems procedure for the approval and employment of airpower is not the most effective use of aviation fires in this irregular fight,” he told the SASC. A light irregular warfare aircraft could also help build partnerships with foreign air fleets that operate large numbers of such aircraft.

Last summer, the Air Force requested aircraft manufacturers provide designs for a Light Attack Armed Reconnaissance (LAAR) aircraft, a low-tech and low-cost design that must be currently flying as they want it fielded within the next couple of years. Two early entrants are Brazilian manufacturer Embraer’s Super Tucano (pictured) and Hawker Beechcraft’s AT-6. Air Force chief Gen. Norton Schwartz has talked about possibly creating an irregular warfare wing that would operate the aircraft.

“A LAAR aircraft capability has the potential to shift air support from a reactive threat response, to a more proactive approach that reduces sensor to shooter timelines, with immediate and accurate fires, providing surveillance and reconnaissance throughout a mission, while providing communication and navigation support to troops on the ground,” said Mattis.

Here again is another example of Mattis pushing the services to work together on low cost, vitally needed programs that support troops in the field fighting today’s wars.

[buglerbilly]

Socom Refines AC-130J Gunship Plans

Mar 26, 2010



By Amy Butler
Tampa, Fla.

U.S. Special Operations Command (Socom) is planning to base its future AC-130J gunship on the modular “Precision Strike Package” that it is quietly and quickly fielding on the MC-130W.

This is a major departure from today’s AC-130H/U configuration, which wields the characteristic side-mounted 105-mm. howitzer and a 40-mm. gun. The decision also reflects a shift in the command’s approach to purchasing new weapons, indicating a bent toward a rapidly achievable, low-cost program using a joint task force for purchasing.

At one point, Air Force Special Operations Command officials were hoping for a stealthy gunship capable of deploying high-energy weapons. And last year, they were eyeing a C-27J-based gunship, which would have been a smaller cousin to the large C-130 based designs, but that effort was dashed by Congress.

The Quadrennial Defense Review released in February, however, mandates the replacement of eight legacy AC-130H Spectre gunships with eight new AC‑130Js. Another eight will be purchased to grow the fleet, bringing the total new buy to 16. The Air Force will retain the 17 AC-130Us now in operation, so the future gunship fleet will number 33.

Gunships are in very high demand to support ground troops with day/night precision fires in Iraq, Afghanistan and other operations abroad; the increased pace of operations has resulted in high wear and tear on the fleet, prompting the need for additional airframes.

Socom’s new approach to a gunship design is part of its attempt to standardize platforms in order to ease procurement, cost of maintenance and logistics, and operations. Today’s fleet consists of few numbers of varied platforms.

Officials also hope a modular design will allow for fast addition of new capabilities for precise close air support and upgrades in the future, Socom Deputy Acquisition Director James Geurts tells Aviation Week. “Instead of having a family of airplanes now, think of it as having a family of precision strike capabilities that we can port onto different [Special Operations Forces] platforms,” he says. “I can just pick it up and put it on an [MC-130W], and we are going to put it on the [AC-130]J. So that is a mind-set change from a couple of years ago.”

Socom is in the midst of preparing what it calls the Precision Strike Package, a rapidly reconfigurable collection of sensors, communications and weapons, for fielding soon, Geurts says. A specific date was not provided due to mission security. The package includes electro-optical and infrared targeting systems, the 35-50-lb. Special Oper*ations Precision Guided Munitions (Sopgms) and a side-mounted 30-mm. gun. The Sopgms—Northrop Grumman’s Viper Strike and Raytheon’s Griffin weapons—will be launched through tubes mounted on the MC-130W’s ramp. The gun will be bolted to the floor and hang through the side of the fuselage; it will be removable depending on mission requirements.

This configuration differs from the U.S. Marine Corps’ palletized, roll-on/roll-off weaponization kit for its KC‑130J refuelers. Testing of this so-called Harvest Hawk system will wrap up this month, and it will deploy to Afghanistan shortly thereafter, according to Maj. J.P. Pellegrino, KC-130 requirements officer for the Marine Corps. The second and third kits are slated for operations in the fall, and nine will be purchased by the service. This kit was developed to provide suppressive fire, while Socom’s work is aimed at precision.

Socom’s Dragon Spear, the marriage of the MC-130W and the Precision Strike Package, grew out of an urgent requirement passed down by Defense Secretary Robert Gates for the rapid deployment of more armed overwatch assets. The MC-130W Combat Spear is designed to provide covert infiltration and exfiltration of elite forces, and it was selected as the first platform to carry this new precision strike capability.

“It was an existing [Special Operations Forces (SOF)]-modified airplane. We already had crews for it and it had a number of the capabilities needed—air-to-air refueling and some of the SOF communications—so it was then just a matter of taking the pieces of this Precision Strike Package and rehosting it on the MC-130W,” Geurts says.

To field the system quickly, Socom quietly established in June its first Joint Acquisition Task Force, a small group of specialized designers and acquisition experts. The group will continue its work until the Dragon Spear is “deployed and stabilized,” Geurts says. Command officials are considering the use of this approach in the future for fast development and fielding of technologies.

Socom hopes to avoid a lengthy and expensive integration project for the forthcoming AC-130J gunships. The Dragon Spear configuration will be the departure point for the new gunship design.

“We expect a large portion of it will port over, and then we just integrate it to the specifics of the [AC-130]J that are different from the MC-130W,” Geurts says. “We can take that same package and pick it up and adapt it and put it onto the C-130J so that way we get speed to battle. We get reduced technical risk, reduced operational risk and reduced planning.”

The Precision Strike Package software was developed and is owned by the government, reducing the need to procure expensive data rights from a major contractor. This is also attractive for the AC-130J, Geurts says, to keep the door open for a different suite of weapons. However, he says the Sopgm is likely to be included, though existing H and U models do not employ it.

“The software is modular in the sense that it is not limited to one gun,” says Col. Duke Richardson, Socom program executive officer for fixed-wing aircraft. “It is written in such a way that we can add a second gun pretty easily.” Geurts says the Precision Strike Package was designed to be scalable and could be added to other platforms, including rotary wing aircraft, in the future.

Building from this software will limit the opportunities for industry to compete and design programs for the gunship.

Specific requirements for the AC‑130J are not yet firm. Advanced procurement funding of $9.9 million is included in the Fiscal 2011 spending request for the first airframe. Geurts says the first significant funding will come in Fiscal 2012.

Lockheed Martin is continuing work on the first of 37 MC-130Js in Marietta, Ga., that are needed to replace MC-130E/P aircraft from the Vietnam War era.

While the C-27J gunship proposal has been shuttered for now, it could eventually re-emerge. “The U models are 20-some-odd years old themselves and at some point we will look to recap them as well,” Richardson says. “I wouldn’t say it is dead necessarily, but for now the decision has been made to go with the 130.”

The smaller twin-engine transport made by Italian manufacturer Alenia Aeronautica was seen as attractive because it could get in and out of smaller airfields, and it was viewed as a lower-profile offensive weapon.

Photo: SOCOM

[buglerbilly]

Ares

A Defense Technology Blog

Tougher Texan

Posted by Guy Norris at 4/5/2010 9:19 PM CDT

Hawker Beechcraft has flown the first AT-6 Texan II production representative test vehicle (PRTV) powered by the 1,600 shp Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-68D engine – packing 500 shp more than the standard engine. The structurally beefed-up variant of the T-6A/B trainer is aimed at the USAF’s Light Attack and Armed Reconnaissance (LAAR) role, the acquisition phase for which is expected to be launched this year.


Hawker Beechcraft

The initial PRTV aircraft, fitted with Lockheed Martin’s A-10 based mission avionics upgrade, has been developed concurrently. Dubbed AT-1, this is being used to integrate the mission system with the Texan’s CMC Electronics digital cockpit avionics and displays.

Embraer’s EMB-314 Super Tucano is competing for the 100-aircraft LAAR contest – aimed at finding an aircraft for irregular warfare operations. Both will be flown by the Air National Guard in an operational evaluation this coming summer. The aircraft will be fitted with an L-3 Wescam MX-15Di electro-optical/IR sensor under the fuselage, data links, countermeasures and weapons on six hardpoints.

[buglerbilly]

This paper is from RAND so I publish the link in the interests of discussion.................

http://www.rand.org/pubs/monographs/2010/RAND_MG913.pdf

Title: "Courses of Actions for Enhancing U.S.Airforce "Irregular Warfare" Capabilities"

[buglerbilly]

New AF gunship similar to current Spectres

Staff report, US Air Force Times

Posted : Monday Apr 5, 2010 5:52:02 EDT

The new gunship for the Air Force and U.S. Special Operations Command will look a lot like the old one, despite earlier, more ambitious visions that included a stealth plane equipped with a laser cannon.

The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have forced the Air Force to set more realistic expectations to speed things up, and the C-130J cargo plane fits the bill, according to the Air Force’s 2011 budget request.

The service plans to buy 16 C-130Js to replace the last eight of its Vietnam-era gunships — converted C-130Hs called AC-130H Spectres.

The decision to go with the C-130J comes after two decades of debate over the performance requirements for the next-generation gunship.

The Air Force plans to set aside $1.6 billion through 2015 to buy the 16 C-130Js, according to the Air Force’s proposed budget, submitted Feb. 1 to Congress. U.S. Special Operations Command would pay for the cargo planes to be equipped with targeting sensors and ground attack weapons. The conversion cost could surpass the price of buying the basic cargo planes.

The C-130Js would boost the gunship fleet to 33, adding to 17 AC-130U Spooky gunships that were introduced into the force 16 years ago. Delivery of the new gunships is planned for 2017.

Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz, who oversaw AC-130 gunship operations as a wing commander in the mid-1990s, said the new gunship should have a single cannon and a new capability to launch precision-guided munitions. Today’s gunships have two cannons — 105mm and 40mm — but cannot fire guided missiles or drop bombs. Sensors onboard the new gunship will allow the crew to find and track targets night and day, the same as existing gunships, Schwartz said.

While the C-130J looks like the older C-130s, the J-model’s glass cockpit and digital avionics mean gunship engineers must create new software to merge control of the cannon and guided weapons with the gunship’s sensors and flight controls.

Plans also are underway to equip special operations MC-130W Combat Spear aircraft with a package that could include a 30mm gun, targeting sensors and the ability to release guided weapons like the Hellfire missile. The Marine Corps is pursuing a similar package for its KC-130Js.

[buglerbilly]

Beechcraft AT-6 Demonstrates Irregular Warfare Capabilities in Joint Expeditionary Force Experiment

(Source: Hawker Beechcraft Corporation; issued April 19, 2010)

WICHITA, Kan. --- Hawker Beechcraft Corporation (HBC) and team members Lockheed Martin, L3 WESCAM and CMC Esterline are demonstrating the capabilities of the Beechcraft AT-6 Light Attack and Armed Reconnaissance (LAAR) aircraft to the U.S. Air Force (USAF) in scenarios that showcase its support for irregular warfare operations.

From April 12-23, HBC is conducting flights from Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., as part of the Air Force’s Joint Expeditionary Force Experiment (JEFX). The JEFX objective is to take identified gaps in current combat capabilities and to demonstrate and assess possible innovations to fill those gaps. The involvement of the AT-6 in the exercise is sponsored by the Air National Guard and the Air Force Reserve Command Test Center.

“The JEFX evaluations provide an outstanding opportunity for the AT-6 to demonstrate its versatility and performance and we’re confident it will do so in an impressive fashion,” said Jim Maslowski, president, U.S. and International Government Business. “The HBC team continues to respond to military mission requirements. We’re able to do so because we’re working with a platform that is extremely versatile and with partners who share the vision and resourcefulness to create a system that meets diverse mission needs.”

The AT-6 is a structurally strengthened derivative of the highly successful USAF and U.S. Navy (USN) T-6A/B trainer – the world’s most proven military trainer aircraft. HBC flew the AT-6 in its present avionics configuration after only nine months by working with leading defense companies to integrate the aircraft with advanced technologies.

Borrowing heavily from technologies it recently integrated into the Air Force’s A-10 Thunderbolt II aircraft, Lockheed Martin integrated into the AT-6 a new mission computer controlled by A-10/F-16 based stick and throttle controls, an EO/IR sensor that serves as a targeting pod, data links to communicate with ground and airborne forces, anti-jam and secure communications radios, and full motion video transmission capability. The AT-6 also features fully integrated L3 WESCAM optical and infrared sensors, as well as sophisticated laser capabilities. The aircraft is equipped with the same CMC Esterline primary flight avionics and navigation system found in the USN T-6B and Moroccan T-6C.

Hawker Beechcraft Corporation is a world-leading manufacturer of business, special mission and trainer aircraft – designing, marketing and supporting aviation products and services for businesses, governments and individuals worldwide. The company’s headquarters and major facilities are located in Wichita, Kan., with operations in Salina, Kan.; Little Rock, Ark.; Chester, England, U.K.; and Chihuahua, Mexico. The company leads the industry with a global network of more than 100 factory-owned and authorized service centers.

-ends-

[buglerbilly]

Schwartz Shoots Down COIN Plane



By Greg Grant Thursday, May 6th, 2010 2:48 pm

The Air Force Chief of Staff, Gen. Norton Schwartz, shot down his own idea of a light attack aircraft for irregular wars today, saying existing aircraft can perform any and all close air support missions that a new, light strike fighter could. On top of that, he averred there is no need for a smaller cargo lifter either, he said.

“There is a not a need, in my view, for large numbers of light strike or light lift aircraft in our Air Force to do general purpose force missions,” Schwartz said, speaking at a Center for National Policy sponsored event in Washington, D.C. “With the platforms that we already have in our force structure, and our capabilities, we can service any close air support requirement. It’s as simple as that.” He could not envision replacing existing F-15, F-16 and A-10 aircraft with a light strike aircraft.

Schwartz did identify an existing capability gap: an aircraft that can be used to train nascent foreign air arms. It should be something in the U.S. Air Force inventory, so that foreign pilots become familiar with it and then foreign nations are encouraged to buy the same aircraft in some quantities.

To that end, in 2012, the Air Force will hold a competition to buy 15 light strike and surveillance aircraft, probably propeller driven, he said. But these aircraft would be used as trainers, to build “partner capacity” with foreign air forces, specifically those in Iraq and Afghanistan. “The idea is a modest cost platform, one that can perform the light strike mission or surveillance, as the case may be, and do so that can be readily assimilated and operated within the means of our army air corps counterparts.”

Last summer, the Air Force requested aircraft manufacturers provide designs for a Light Attack Armed Reconnaissance (LAAR) aircraft. Many had speculated this meant the Air Force would be adding a LAAR air wing. Schwartz made clear that is not the case. The LAAR aircraft will be used as trainers, owned and operated by the Air Force, to train foreign pilots in low end missions.

In March, Joint Forces Command’s Gen. James Mattis, told the Senate Armed Services Committee, that the military needs a light fighter for irregular warfare. “Today’s approach of loitering multi-million dollar aircraft and using a system of systems procedure for the approval and employment of airpower is not the most effective use of aviation fires in this irregular fight,” he said.

A recent RAND report, titled “Courses of Action for Enhancing U.S. Air Force Irregular Warfare Capabilities,” said the service should stand up a dedicated COIN air wing equipped with about 100 of the currently undefined “OA-X” light attack aircraft. Such an aircraft would greatly facilitate partnering with Iraqi and Afghan aviators, while lowering the costs and reducing excessive flying hour demands for high-performance aircraft such as the F-16.

Additionally, as “partners are more likely to want aircraft that U.S. forces are flying to great effect,” building and operating a COIN aircraft would simultaneously boost support for ground troops while “whetting the appetite of partners who are prematurely looking to acquire high-performance jet aircraft such as the F-16.”

The U.S. Navy’s new Irregular Warfare office, under its “Imminent Fury” project, has been eyeing the Brazilian Super Tucano turboprop to provide close air support to special operations forces.

Read more: http://www.dodbuzz.com/2010/05/06/schwartz-shoots-down-light-fighter/#ixzz0nCbdse6u

[buglerbilly]

DATE:03/06/10

SOURCE:Flight International

Ecuador looks to trim Super Tucano purchase

Ecuador intends to reduce its order for the Embraer EMB-314 Super Tucano from 24 to 18 aircraft to release funds to buy 12 ex-South African Air Force Denel Cheetah C fighters.

The Ecuadorian air force recently received its sixth Super Tucano from a 2008 contract worth $270 million.

By cutting its order for the type, the defence ministry says the accrued savings would allow it to purchase the secondhand Cheetahs, and bolster the air force's flagging air defence component.

The service last year acquired six Dassault Mirage 50s donated by Venezuela, but its commander, Gen Leonardo Barreiro, says the procurement of new fighters remains of "utmost importance".

Reducing the Super Tucano buy to 18 aircraft would allow it to maintain a credible light strike force, he adds.

Separately, the Peruvian defence ministry is believed to have entered final negotiations with Embraer over the purchase of 12 Super Tucanos.


© Embraer
Brazil's air force flies the Super Tucano as a trainer and light strike aircraft

Peru's air force has been flirting with buying the light strike aircraft since 2000, but budgetary constraints have repeatedly prevented the country from signing an order.

However, the low availability rate of its Sukhoi Su-25 ground-attack aircraft has placed a Super Tucano purchase in the fast track. Local sources say the air force has asked for the delivery of three or four airframes within six months of a contract signature to support counter-drug operations.

[buglerbilly]

USAF opts for trainer over AT-802U

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Air Tractor, Inc., the number one manufacturer of agricultural and fire fighting aircraft in the world, expressed disappointment with the latest Air Force decision to tailor their Afghan Light Attack requirement toward small acrobatic trainer aircraft.

Air Tractor recently adapted its versatile AT-802U to include ISR capability, equipping it with sophisticated sensor devices combined with modern weapons systems in hopes of winning this contract and aiding the U.S. effort in Afghanistan.

“The Air Force has decided to choose a small trainer rather than to hold a real competition for a light attack aircraft for the Afghan Air Corps,” Leland Snow, founder and president of Air Tractor stated.

[buglerbilly]

New Air Tractor 802U Surveillance Aircraft Flies Across the Atlantic to Farnborough Airshow

(Source: Combined Air Ventures LLC; issued July 15, 2010)



BELGRADE, Mont. --- The Air Tractor AT-802U today completed its transatlantic flight, from Newfoundland to the Azores to England, to display its new capabilities at the 2010 Farnborough Air Show. Air Tractor and Air Tractor Military Dealer CAV (Combined Air Ventures LLC) will display the aircraft and demonstrate its new electronics, sensors and weapons. Visit us at Farnborough on the flight line, section F3.

The Air Tractor 802 is the largest agricultural aircraft in production and the most successful single-engine firefighting aircraft. The Air Tractor 802 “U” version at Farnborough displays military capabilities previously only available in aircraft that cost 5-10 times more. We know of no other aircraft that delivers so much capability and costs so little.

Air Tractor Military Dealer CAV specializes in creating customized, low-cost, turnkey utility aircraft solutions for border and coastal patrol, surveillance, counter-insurgency, oil spill clean-up, and a wide variety of other applications.

Unlike other surveillance aircraft, the Air Tractor was built to be operated from farm fields and dirt roads, and maintained out of the back of a truck. It has the capability to reduce the cost and footprint of military operations while bringing state-of-the-art sensors and weapons to remote and austere locations. The exceptional 10-hour time on station of the Air Tractor and the massive 8,000-pound useful load allow the aircraft to carry a wide range of sensors and weapons.

The highlight of the AT-802U surveillance package is the L3 Wescam MX-15Di sensor turret and laser target designator. The MX-15 is integrated with large HD displays and the all-new glass cockpit. Real-time video can be transmitted directly to ground units using the L3 Rover datalink.

The aircraft weapons include the precision Mini Talon GPS-INS guided weapon, dual GAU-19 .50 caliber Gatling guns with over 2,900 rounds, Hellfire missiles, laser-guided 2.75-inch rocket pods, and 500- or 1,000-pound laser-guided bombs.

Backed by a half-century of agricultural, fire fighting, and armored aircraft experience, the team at Air Tractor has a proven record of producing durable, uncomplicated, purpose-built, affordable aircraft. Their rugged aircraft design and manufacturing expertise is demonstrated by 2,500+ aircraft sales and exports to more than 30 countries.

-ends-

[buglerbilly]

Who’s That Foreign Customer?

By Colin Clark Monday, July 19th, 2010 5:59 pm



The Air Force may have decided it doesn’t want the Air Tractor as a counter-insurgency weapon but someone out there does.

Buzz readers will remember that the State Department bought some of the Air Tractor for counter-drug operations and that some Air Force and Special Operations elements had expressed keen interest in the planes. For a while it looked as if Gen. Norton Schwartz’s vision of a counter-insurgency air wing might be built on the wings of Air Tractors — or its competitor, the AT-6.

Then the Pentagon put out an RFP for Light Air Support “for use by the Afghanistan National Army Air Corps (ANAAC) and other future customers” for up to 20 aircraft. The RFP went on to say that, “The LAS aircraft will be a single-engine, turbo-prop, tandem– and ejection-seat cockpit, pressurized aircraft with retractable, tricycle gear capable of operations from austere airfields with semi-improved (dirt, grass, gravel) landing surfaces.”

Add up the ejection seat and the retractable landing gear and you have eliminated the Air Tractor which is an aircraft truly built for austere conditions. It possesses very simple, non-retractable landing gear which are designed for unimproved strips. They are removed when they need replacing in a simple operation that requires a few tools and a replacement set.

But Schwartz recently knocked down his own idea of a COIN air wing and it looks now as if the AT-6 is the plane that best meets the LAS requirements, according to close observers of the competition.

But Air Tractor tells us that, in spite of this, they have landed a deal with a foreign customer they are not allowed to identify. We couldn’t get numbers, prices or even region out of the Air Tractor folks. Stay tuned for more on all this.

Read more: http://www.dodbuzz.com/2010/07/19/whos-that-foreign-customer/#ixzz0uBAysWdN

[buglerbilly]

DATE:20/07/10

SOURCE:Flight Daily News

FARNBOROUGH: Hawker Beechcraft flies in armed AT-6 testbed

By Craig Hoyle

What do you get when you cross a basic trainer with one of the world's most potent ground-attack aircraft? Hawker Beechcraft believes it has the answer, and today will fly in an AT-6 for the type's Farnborough debut.

Developed from the company's T-6B/C turboprop trainer by adding the Lockheed Martin mission system from the US Air Force's Fairchild A-10C "Warthog" upgrade, the AT-6 offers a low-cost option for the increasingly popular close air support and irregular warfare roles.

First flown one year ago, the first AT-6 testbed in April demonstrated its capabilities during the US Air Force's joint expeditionary force experiment. The aircraft flew nine sorties from Nellis AFB, Nevada, including operating in tandem with A-10s. A T-6C demonstrator made a further 15 flights in support of the Air National Guard-sponsored project.


© Billypix

The aircraft features numerous changes from the trainer variant, but "from a parts-count perspective they are 90-95% common, with the same logistics base", says Derek Hess, director of AT-6 programmes.

Key differences include a turret-housed L-3 Wescam MX-15Di electro-optical/infrared sensor and the addition of seven external stores stations. The light attack and armed reconnaissance aircraft also has a Cockpit 4000 avionics suite from Esterline CMC Electronics.

Upcoming flight tests will assess the use of precision-guided air-to-surface weapons, laser-guided rockets and countermeasures equipment, plus a colour helmet-mounted sighting system. It will also have its new 1,600shp (1,194kW) Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-68D engine installed within the next month, ahead of undergoing an operational utility evaluation "in the fall".

Hawker Beechcraft says it has already received significant interest in the AT-6 from a number of countries, including Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon and Thailand. Hess says an export configuration has already been released for "half a dozen of them".

A second demonstrator joined the flight test fleet on 31 March, and Hess says initial development work on the AT-6 will conclude within the next six to nine months.

"It's going better than anyone could have imagined," he says, but adds: "It's about integration, not invention."

[buglerbilly]

DATE:23/07/10

SOURCE:Flight Daily News

FARNBOROUGH: Air Tractor sells anti-insurgent fighter to first customer

By Stephen Trimble

Texas-based Air Tractor has launched production of the AT-802U surveillance, precision strike and utility aircraft for an undisclosed foreign customer, chief designer Lee Jackson confirms.

Details about the order's size and identity remain secret at the request of the customer, Jackson says.

The converted cropduster parked on the static line also displayed a full array of weaponry, including an all-new precision glide bomb with 3m (10ft) circular error probable (CEP) accuracy in the 50kg (110lb)-class designed by Moog/FTS that is called the "border protection weapon" (BPW).

The AT-802 made its international debut last year at the Paris air show amid a global revival for aircraft optimised for counter-insurgency missions, which require low-speed envelope capability, long endurance and a mix of precision and standard weapons.

With the ability to carry a 4,000kg payload and 10h endurance, the AT-802U is able to carry a wide range of weapons and sensors, Jackson says.

On nine hard points, the static AT-802U carried two 50-cal GAU-19 Gatling guns, two BPWs, one AGM-114 Hellfire, four direct attack guided rockets (DAGR), two Mk82 (225kg-class) bombs and a launcher for unguided rockets.

In the fuselage beneath the nose, the AT-802 also carries a partially retractable targeting and surveillance sensor called the L-3 Communications Wescam MX-15Di.

Each GAU-19 is fed by a 2,900-round magazine stored in compartment between the cockpit and the forward fuel tank. The magazine can be removed to store extra sensors. Jackson says the space also could be used as a jump-seat for two people.

The forward fuel tank itself is an add-on since the AT-802U appeared in Paris, Jackson says. The 1,365 litres (360USgal) container nearly doubles the 1,440 litres fuel capacity in the wings.

Inside the two-seat cockpit, Air Tractor has integrated glass displays and sensor controls for both crewmembers. The MX-15Di imagery can be viewed in the back seat on a 17in display, while the pilot has a 6in screen. The imagery also can be transmitted by common datalink to the ground, a capability that Jackson says has been demonstrated for US special operations.

[buglerbilly]

DATE:24/07/10

SOURCE:Flight Daily News

FARNBOROUGH: Hawker Beechcraft confident of AT-6 sales

By Craig Hoyle

US manufacturer Hawker Beechcraft is here with a show debutant angled at the increasingly popular international market for light attack aircraft to support irregular warfare operations, and also with a proven trainer which it believes is ideally placed to meet the requirements of the UK Royal Air Force.

First flown one year ago, the AT-6 is the product of a company-funded effort to adapt the T-6B/C for the close air support role, and for a strengthening requirement to build partnerships with and re-equip the air forces of nations such as Afghanistan and Iraq.

The Lockheed Martin-supplied mission system and central integrated control unit from the US Air Force's upgraded Fairchild A-10C "Warthog" ground-attack aircraft are at the heart of the new variant.

Under an initiative sponsored by the US Air National Guard, the first AT-6 testbed in April participated in the US Air Force's Joint Expeditionary Force Experiment 10-3, flown from Nellis AFB, Nevada. The company's avionics testbed aircraft, AT-1, flew nine sorties, with these having included several flights conducted while operating in tandem with A-10s. A T-6C demonstrator made a further 15 flights in support of the effort.

"We did 24 sorties totalling 46h, but burned less fuel than one [Lockheed] F-16 flight," says Derek Hess, director of AT-6 programmes. Maintenance activity required during the 12-23 April commitment totalled "only a quart of oil for each engine", he adds.

Hawker Beechcraft showcased AT-6 mission equipment such as its situational awareness datalink, secure voice transmission capability and satellite communications fit, and its ability to work with Joint Terminal Attack Controllers (JTAC) on the ground, including by providing streaming colour video.

The work also involved landing the AT-6 on a dirt runway on the Nellis range and performing a dry hook-up with a USAF Lockheed MC-130 Combat Talon II transport, in an austere ground refuelling exercise. An experienced A-10C pilot also flew a successful sortie in the aircraft after receiving only 2.5h of ground instruction on the turboprop.

Although the AT-6 features several obvious changes from Hawker Beechcraft's successful military trainer, Hess stresses that "from a parts-count perspective they are 90-95% common, with the same logistics base". Key differences include the addition of a turret-housed L-3 Wescam MX-15Di electro-optical/infrared sensor and seven external stores stations, to carry air-launched weapons or additional fuel, and a Cockpit 4000 avionics suite from Esterline CMC Electronics. This adds two 5 x 5in (125 x 125mm) multifunction displays in the cockpit.

"We build a very robust trainer, but don't have a lot of experience in combat aircraft. Lockheed does," says Hess. AT-1 was ready to fly just 201 days after the companies signed a partnership agreement. "This is a capable, affordable and sustainable aircraft. It's about integration, not invention," he says.

Under current plans, development work will take a further six to nine months to complete, but so far is "going better than anyone could have imagined", according to Hess.

Forthcoming test activities will assess the use of precision-guided air-to-surface weapons, laser-guided rockets and the integration of a full suite of countermeasures equipment and a colour helmet-mounted sighting system. AT-1 will also be equipped with a new, 1,600shp (1,190kW) Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-68D engine within the next month, before undergoing an operational utility evaluation "in the fall". Free-fall bombs have already been released from the testbed during earlier trials.

The company also has a second testbed aircraft, which joined its active fleet on 31 March and is dedicated to assessing the performance of the proposed light attack and armed reconnaissance (LAAR) aircraft.

Hawker Beechcraft says it has received significant interest in the AT-6 from numerous countries, including Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon and Thailand. An export configuration has already been released for "half a dozen of them", says Russ Bartlett, director business development. "There is funding available for LAAR for the first 15 aircraft, and a draft has been submitted for the Afghan programme," he adds.

The T/AT-6 family has applications for roles including irregular warfare, basic and intermediate pilot training, and as a weapons and JTAC training platform, the company believes. More than 30 additional countries are listed as having a potential requirement for such an aircraft, throughout Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America and the Middle East. The type could replace legacy types including the CASA C-101, Northrop F-5 and Rockwell OV-10, and also be adapted for homeland security missions, it says.

Speaking at the show, company chief executive Bill Boisture said Hawker Beechcraft will continue to invest in irregular warfare platforms such as the AT-6 and the King Air 350ER special mission aircraft. The latter is in use with the US Air Force, export customers including Iraq and the UK and also mandated as the host aircraft for the US Army's enhanced medium-altitude reconnaissance and surveillance system.

"We're developing these aircraft at risk, and are prepared to fully demonstrate to the customer and deliver even sooner than they've said the need it. We're doing these things because we think we've got the right products. We're taking minimal technical risk to bring to the market the AT-6 and King Air responses."

[buglerbilly]

Will Mattis Push COIN Plane?

By Greg Grant Thursday, July 29th, 2010 2:59 pm



At his confirmation hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee earlier this week, newly nominated Central Command head Gen. James Mattis reaffirmed his support for a turboprop aircraft to provide ground pounders with long loitering time, on-call recon and strike. The project called “Imminent Fury” was run out of the Navy’s irregular warfare office.

Mattis described it as a test program to see if inexpensive turboprops could replace the much more costly jets currently used in counterinsurgency battles. As we’ve described it before, the sought after design falls somewhere between the Vietnam era OV-10 Bronco and A-1 Skyraider.

While the Navy’s request for additional funds for the program was recently denied, Mattis said he’s still trying to build support for the concept, to at least gather data that could inform future spending decisions.

He’s going to have his work cut out for him as sources from the Navy’s irregular warfare community recently told Defense Tech the program is as dead as Julius Caesar. Who killed it? The Air Force, we’re told, and its powerful fighter community, which was not at all interested in sticking their pilots in a low and slow ground support aircraft. The Air Force is still having trouble choking down the “drone driver” mission.

As we wrote a couple of months ago, Air Force Chief of Staff, Gen. Norton Schwartz, shot down his own idea for an irregular warfare wing, arguing that the current, and future, inventory of jet aircraft can perform any and all close air support missions that a new, light strike fighter could. He could not envision replacing existing F-15, F-16 and A-10, or future F-35s for that matter, with a light strike aircraft.

Mattis made an important point in front of the SASC earlier this year: “Today’s approach of loitering multi-million dollar aircraft and using a system of systems procedure for the approval and employment of airpower is not the most effective use of aviation fires in this irregular fight,”

Yet, without Air Force buy-in, it’s hard to see this effort goes anywhere. I’m not sure Mattis’ powers of persuasion will have much impact on the Air Force’s dominant constituency.

[buglerbilly]

Pilot Report: Hawker Beechcraft AT-6B

Jul 30, 2010

By Fred George fred_george@aviationweek.com
Wichita, Kas.

Hawker Beechcraft Corp. (HBC) is morphing its T-6B Texan II military training aircraft into the AT-6B, a welterweight contender in the U.S. Air Force’s upcoming Light Attack and Armed Reconnaissance (LAAR) competition. The attack variant utilizes a beefed-up T-6 airframe, capable of carrying 3,350 lb of external stores on six wing hard points. To help offset the combat version’s additional weight and drag, Pratt & Whitney Canada is developing a 1,600 shp version of the PT6A-68 turboprop engine for the AT-6, similar to the 1,600 shp -68 engines that power Pilatus PC-21 and EMB-314 Super Tucano.

For the aircraft’s role as a weapons delivery platform, the AT-6 is being fitted with the A-10C Thunderbolt II’s Central Interface Control Unit (CICU) mission computer that will tie the aircraft’s avionics suite into a net-centric combat environment and give it a MIL-STD-1760 “smart weapons” interface. The aircraft will feature a night vision-compatible cockpit, plus the HOTAS sensor and weapons controls carried over from the second-generation T-6B Texan II trainer. It also has an Enhanced Position Location Reporting System (EPLRS) and Situation Awareness Data Link (SADL). These functions integrate the aircraft into U.S. Department of Defense’s digital command and control battlefield network that links virtually all air and ground warfare assets.

The development roadmap for 2010 includes adding a helmet-mounted cueing system. An autopilot later will be added to reduce workload.

The U.S. Air Force has said that any LAAR candidate must have tandem seats with dual controls so that it can also function as an advanced trainer. The aircraft also must have zero / zero ejection seats. “Desired requirements” include a 30,000 ft service ceiling, implying that the aircraft should be pressurized, and the ability to cruise at 180 KTAS or faster at 10,000 ft. The AT-6B meets all those requirements.

Prototype versions of the aircraft also are being fitted with an L-3 Wescam MX-15Di electrical optical/infrared/laser designator system. Provisions to accommodate Raytheon’s Multi-Spectral Targeting System (MTS) also are being developed.

Self-protection features include addition of light armor to the crew and engine compartments, foam lining for the fuel cells to slow or seal leaks, along with AAR-47 IR missile detection and ALE-47 active counter-measures systems. More advanced electronic counter-measures may be offered in production aircraft, depending upon customer requirements.

The AT-6B will be able to operate autonomously from austere runways at forward operating bases. Line service personnel have demonstrated 11 minute turn-around times for the T-6 in the under-graduate pilot training environment. AT-6B should be capable of similar quick turns, except for loading or exchanging external stores.

The result is a Close Air Support (CAS) and Counter-Insurgency (COIN) aircraft that is priced under $10-million and that can be operated for less than $750 per hour, including engine reserves, HBC officials assert. The support burden is expected to be less than three maintenance staff hours per flight hour, particularly in light of fleet commonality with the more than 600 T-6 Texan II trainers in service around the world.

The airframe also has a basic 18,720-hour service life, assuming 4.5G to 5.5G limits are observed. After reaching the 18,720 hour benchmark, the aircraft is eligible for a service life extension program that potentially could double or triple its economic life.

Such cost considerations are critical to the U.S. military, which rapidly is wearing out its legacy combat aircraft, such as F-16, A-10 and F-15, in CAS and COIN operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. AT-6B, HBC officials claim, can perform many of the missions of legacy attack and fighter aircraft, thereby reducing wear on them. This will enable the service to extend the useful lives of its comparatively high-priced assets.

Structure and Systems

The AT-6B’s airframe is all high-strength aluminum and other metal alloys, except for composite landing gear doors and some fairings. Most airframe structures are built from formed and riveted sub-components. A few parts are single-piece machinings that are fabricated by computer-controlled mills. As a result, the design lends itself to field repairs necessitated by combat damage.

The aerodynamics of the 175 sq ft wing are identical to those of PC-9, an aircraft that uses Pilatus-modified NASA 64,000 series airfoils with reflexed trailing edges to move forward the center of pressure to reduce Mach-induced, nose-down pitching moments and high-speed roll control forces.

The wing spar caps and web of AT-6B are reinforced to accommodate a 10,500 lb MTOW, which is nearly one and one-half times the max weight of the T-6B. Raytheon Aircraft Co. (RAC), HBC’s predecessor, used most of the engineering data from the Pilatus PC-9, the aircraft from which the T-6 evolved, to make provisions for the wing hard points. There are six under-wing stations, the inboard and mid-board stations are plumbed to accommodate 461 lb-capacity external fuel tanks.

RAC contracted with Alkan, a French military aircraft equipment manufacturer, to develop a special external stores pylon for its first-generation AT-6A, essentially a weaponized version of the 6,500 lb MTOW T-6A Texan II trainer.

Various pylons and stores configurations were tested for flutter modes, aerodynamic loads and safe separation characteristics by USAF’s Seek Eagle office at Eglin AFB in Florida. RAC subsequently built a block of lightweight AT-6A weapons-capable aircraft in 2001 for the Hellenic Air Force.

The AT-6B, in contrast, is a considerably more capable aircraft than AT-6A. Structural reinforcements increase maximum zero fuel weight to 6,184 lb, which is 684 lb higher than T-6A and 334 lb more than T-6B. That’s an essential improvement, considering that estimated empty operating weight, with typical mission equipment, armor and sensors, will be 5,725 lb, or 500 lb heavier than the T-6B Texan II trainer.

HBC’s new LAAR aircraft will retain T-6B’s 6,900 lb MTOW, not including external stores. The firm’s engineers also are exploring a rough field modification kit for the aircraft that might use King Air C90GTx’s larger wheels, tires and brakes. However, a final decision has not been made.

The earlier AT-6A, similar to all trainer versions of the aircraft, is powered by an 1,732 shp PT6A-68 engine, flat-rated to 1,100 shp up to ISA+20C or 12,000 ft at ISA temperatures. But the AT-6B is powered by a 1,918 shp -68D, flat-rated to 1,600 shp, resulting in considerably narrower flat rating margins for operating at high density altitude airports such as those in Afghanistan. A wider chord, four-blade Hartzell prop is fitted to absorb the additional power. The new engine and prop are 73 lb heavier, but nose ballast will be removed, resulting in virtually no empty aircraft weight gain.

A single-channel digital Power Management Unit (PMU), running Do-178B Level A software, automatically limits maximum torque, internal temperature and gas generator rpm to provide care-free engine handling, including starting. A companion Propeller Interface Unit (PIU), linked to the PMU, controls prop rpm, pitch and feathering functions. For back-up, there are conventional hydro-mechanical fuel and prop governing functions controlled by the power control lever (PCL).

The aircraft is fitted with a Trim Aid Device (TAD) rudder bias system that compensates for prop-induced p-factor as a function of power setting, torque output and pitch attitude. The system works well for aircraft having a clean wing, but the AT-6B will have a yaw damper to compensate for the additional destabilizing effects of external stores.

Most aircraft systems are carried over from T-6B. The flight controls are manually actuated through single-channel push-pull rods and cables.

The electrical system is being upgraded from a 300 amp to a 400 amp starter-generator to handle the additional loads of net-centric command and control intelligence / surveillance / reconnaissance (C2ISR) equipment, plus sensors and aircraft self-protection equipment. The engine also has a permanent magnet alternator that assures electrical power for the PMU and PIU in the event of main generator failure. The 42 amp/hour sealed lead acid main battery and five amp/hour emergency battery are retained from T-6B. Internal wing fuel capacity will be reduced by 3% because of the tank sealing foam lining. HBC is exploiting unused storage areas in the wing to increase fuel capacity by 240 lb to increase total fuel to 1,307 lb using single-point pressure refueling. Over-the-wing refueling can increase capacity by 100 lb.

Fuel is transferred from the external wing tanks to the internal wet wing by electric pumps. Jet pumps, using motive flow supplied by the engine-driven pump, transfer internal wing fuel to the feeder tanks and to the engine.

A single 3,000 psi engine-drive hydraulic pump provides power to actuate the landing gear, gear doors, flaps, speed brake and nose wheel steering. A high-capacity accumulator provides pressure to extend the landing gear and flaps in the event of an engine-driven pump failure.

Cockpit pressurization, oxygen and air-conditioning systems are carried over to the AT-6B unchanged from the trainer version. The cockpit is unpressurized to a 7,500 ft cabin altitude, and maintains that cabin altitude until reaching a maximum 3.6 psi differential. An onboard oxygen generating system (OBOGS), using only P3 engine bleed air for power, supplies the crew masks. An emergency oxygen bottle can supply the crew in the event of an engine failure. A 22,000 BTU, vapor-cycle air-conditioning system provides cooling. Engine bleed air is used for cabin heating.

Martin-Baker Mk 16 zero/zero ejection seats are fitted to the aircraft, and are capable of handling crew weights of 138 lb to 271 lb. In the event of ejection, pyrotechnic cords fracture the canopy and the crew ejects through it.

Self-Protection and Smart Weapons

AT-6B’s LAAR design priorities are driven by the current realities of irregular warfare. Close Air Support (CAS) for troops on the ground and Counter Insurgency (COIN) against Al Qaeda and the Taliban have become top priorities. The doctrine assumes a “permissive environment” with virtual air supremacy and no hostile aircraft or enemy air defense system. Thus, the aircraft doesn’t require a high power to weight ratio, sustained high G maneuvering capability or high top speed while carrying external stores. LAAR aircraft are only designed to be protected from small arms fire and short-range, man-portable air-defense surface-to-air missiles (Manpads).

HBC plans to fit the crew and engine compartments with light armor, capable of protecting against small arms rounds up to 7.62 mm. Several types of armor are being evaluated for weight versus protection. A final choice has not yet been made.

To protect against Manpads, the aircraft also will have an AAR-47 missile warning system that can automatically trigger an ALE-47 chaff and flare dispenser.

The baseline T-6B has an open-architecture, dual-channel CMC Electronics Cockpit 4000 with two integrated avionics computers that link to various components using 1 MHz MIL-STD-1553 data bus, ARINC 429 and / or high-speed Ethernet. The main components include a GPS / inertial reference system, up front control panel, three 5 x 7-in. portrait configuration displays with line select keys, HOTAS controls and an F-14B Sparrow Hawk HUD with continuously computed impact point, continuously computed release point and dive toss ground air-to-ground modes, plus certain air-to-air targeting functions not needed for the LAAR mission.

Unlike those used in earlier conflicts, the new generation of CAS / COIN aircraft must have precision-guided munitions to minimize the risk of collateral damage to non-combatants and friendly troops. HBC teamed with Lockheed-Martin to adapt the A-10C’s MIL-STD-1760 precision guided weapons system to the AT-6B. The heart of the system is the CICU, mounted in the aft fuselage. This box ties into EPLRS- and SADL-compatible air-to-ground and satellite digital communications radios to link the aircraft to other team players in a net-centric C2ISR environment. The CICU is capable of supporting live video, real time digital targeting, a helmet mounting cueing system and remote laser illumination of targets. The CICU can be tied into a variety of onboard sensors, including a L-3 Wescam MX-15Di electro-optical / infra-red / laser range finder, illuminator and designator ball mounted on the bottom of the fuselage.

Such capabilities enable AT-6B crews to see the positions of targets in relation to friendly forces and non-combatants and to stream back video images to C2ISR decision makers to ensure they’ve positively identified and targeted the correct targets.

The aircraft’s smart weapons include Paveway II laser guided 250 lb and 500 lb bombs, laser guided 2.75-inch rockets and GPS guided munitions, plus Hellfire missiles. Conventional arms include twin .50 caliber RN Herstal HMP-400LC guns, Mk 81 250 lb and Mk. 82 500 lb bombs and LAU-68/131 rocket pods.

Flying Impressions

In mid-June, AVIATION WEEK had an opportunity to strap into the front seat of AT-1, the first AT-6B prototype, for a 1:40 hr demonstration of its handling qualities, performance potential and sensor suite, plus simulated weapons deliveries capabilities. Our IP for the flight was Derek “Turk” Hess, HBC’s director of AT-6 programs.

AT-1 was powered by the legacy 1,100 shp -68 engine of the Texan II trainer, rather than the 1,600 shp -68D that will be installed in production aircraft. At-1, though, was fitted with six under-wing pylons, two external fuel tanks and the EO/IR/laser ball, so its drag was representative of production AT-6B CAS/COIN aircraft. Performance, as a result, was significantly weaker than it will be in production aircraft.

In addition, the aircraft’s CICU was not yet fully integrated with all three cockpit displays. The C2ISR secure data-link radios were fully operational, but they were turned off because their functionality is classified. CICU data could be displayed on the left and right cockpit MFDs, including selected sensor of interest and sensor position of interest for remote targeting. Aircraft primary flight, aircraft systems, engine instrument and crew warning system data could be displayed on the center and right MFDs. EO/IR sensor imagery was displayed only on the right MFD. Production aircraft will have displays that can be configured for any combination of CMC Cockpit 4000 and CICU information.

AT-1’s empty weight was 5,325 lb, including EO/IR sensor ball, six pylons, two external fuel tanks and CICU. Zero fuel weight was 5,725 lb including crew and equipment. With 1,200 lb of internal fuel, ramp weight was 6,925 lb and computed takeoff weight was 6,875 lb. Beech Field’s elevation is 1,408 ft and the OAT was 98F / 37C that day. A clean T-6B would have had a 3,253 ft takeoff distance under such conditions, assuming a rotation speed of 93 KIAS and flaps 23 degree setting, according to the FAA AFM. To compensate for the additional weight and drag of the prototype aircraft, we planned a 105 KIAS rotation speed, thereby extending the takeoff distance to 4,981 ft, according to calculations by HBC flight test engineers.

After we strapped into the ejection seats, pre-start checks were straight forward. We checked fire warning, oxygen, standby instrument and fuel boost systems, among other items, and we were ready to start. We slowly advanced the power control lever (PCL) until a “start ready” CAS annunciation appeared on the MFD. Only then could we initiate the start sequence. Production versions of the aircraft will have a throttle detent for “start ready” to expedite the procedure. PCLs in those aircraft also will have a 1,400 shp mil power detent, in addition to the 1,600 shp max power stop, to reduce engine wear and fuel consumption.

At 60% N1 gas generator rpm, we moved the PCL to idle and turned on the generator, aux battery, avionics, air-conditioning, sensor and weapons systems. Air-conditioner cooling was impressive, providing a comfortable cockpit environment a few minutes after engine start.

Pre-taxi checks took less than two minutes. Using the upfront control panel, we selected comm frequencies and the transponder code. The aircraft’s hydraulically actuated nosewheel steering, controlled by the rudder pedals, provides easy and precise ground handling. Differential braking only is needed to maneuver in tight quarters.

It required light right rudder pressure to maintain directional control on takeoff roll, in spite of the TAD being operational. Acceleration was tame, about what one might expect from a turboprop with a 1:6 power-to-weight ratio. The 12 knot higher rotation speed produced a crisp liftoff. Gear retraction took only about six seconds. After flap retraction, we settled into a 140 KIAS climb to east, mainly using the HUD as the primary flight reference. Climb rate was 500 to 1,000 fpm.

Once level, we accelerated to 200 to 210 KIAS at full power, noting that airframe rumble was appreciable because of disrupted airflow around the EO/IR ball and external stores. A clean-wing T-6B, in contrast, will cruise at 250 KIAS under the same conditions with 1,100 shp.

Hess then simulated a target assignment from a secure, digital data link C2ISR network. Target position was displayed on the left Tactical Awareness Display (TAD) as a “sensor point of interest” (SPI). SPIs can also be designated to indicate the locations of friendly forces and non-combatants. AT-6B can use the designated SPI to slew its EO/IR ball to the selected position, thereby enabling both its crew and other C2ISR team members to see images of the target, non-combatants and / or friendly forces. Topographical charts, a digital terrain elevation database and other base maps are available as underlays on the TAD.

As we flew east over El Dorado lake, Hess made a quick transition from simulation to real-time targeting. He slewed the EO/IR ball to lock onto a spillway tower at the dam and designated it as an SPI. On the right hand MFD, we could see EO video of the tower in color, and as black-on-white or white-on-black IR images. Such imagery could have been relayed to a C2ISR network, had we been operating with other net-centric team members in an irregular combat environment.

After the demonstration, we climbed to 10,000 ft and commenced a series of aerobatic maneuvers to evaluate the handling and performance characteristics of the aircraft. As the aircraft could only reach 210 KIAS in level flight because of the external stores drag, we had to gently dive the aircraft to accelerate to the desired 250 KIAS entry speed to commence a loop. Using a 3.5G pull, the aircraft quickly decelerated to 120 KIAS over the top and we had to relax stick pressure at the onset of pre-stall buffet. Clearly, the aircraft will benefit from its upcoming 1,600 shp -68D upgrade that will help offset drag.

Roll rates with external stores, even with empty external tanks, are modest if only ailerons are used. Higher roll rates may be achieved by augmenting the movement with plenty of rudder, but the aircraft only returns to balanced flight on its own after a prolonged period with the TAD engaged. A yaw damper function is being developed that should help keep the aircraft in balance flight during robust maneuvering.

We also stalled the aircraft in both clean and approach flap configurations. High angle of attack maneuvers are one of the aircraft’s strong suits. In both maneuvers, we held back the stick throughout the stall break, at about 90 KIAS clean and 85 KIAS flaps approach. There was no loss of roll control or wing drop tendency.

Upon completion of the air work, we headed to Beaumont, Kan., for a simulated laser-guided rocket attack on enemy combatants holding up at a building in the vicinity. Hess designated the site as an SPI and locked on the EO/IR ball. We circled the simulated target at a five mile radius, thereby reducing risks of small arms fire and Manpads, as though we were operating in a combat environment. It also was apparent that using even small bank angles causes the bottom of the wing to mask the view of the EO/IR ball at such ranges. Consequently, we flew the aircraft in a polygon pattern with straight-and-level segments, separated by small, sharp turns, to maximize EO/IR viewing time. We also could have used flat, rudder turns to keep the target in view of the EO/IR ball.

We flew south of Beaumont about ten miles to commence our attack run. Using HUD guidance, we began a shallow dive and simulated weapons release. We pulled off the run and banked sharply away from the target. The laser designator on the EO/IR ball remained locked on the simulated target as we maneuvered out of the area. This would have enabled the precision guided munitions to reach their mark.

Returning toward Beech Field, we simulated an engine failure as we neared El Dorado Airport (KEQA). We set 6% torque to simulate a fully feathered prop, slowed to the best glide speed of 125 KIAS and flew to a high key position, 3,500 ft AGL above Runway 15. We extended the landing gear, maintained 125 KIAS and flew to a low key position, downwind and abeam the intended landing spot, descending to 1,500 ft AGL. At low key, we extended the flaps to approach and continued the turn to final. Once landing was assured, we extended full flaps, slowed to 120 KIAS and aimed for the runway numbers. We flared just above the pavement, but initiated a go-around and climbed back to pattern altitude for touch-and-goes.

The AT-6B proved to have landing pattern speeds and characteristics similar to those of an entry level, light business jet. We adjusted technique for the typical tight race-track pattern and steep glide path needed to minimize exposure to small arms fire when landing at a forward operating base in a combat environment. Using 45 degree turns and ten to 15 degree nose down pitch attitudes, we could hold approach speeds of 125 to 130 KIAS, descending from 1,500 ft AGL abeam to short final with little or no power.

The aircraft is easy to land and it has virtually no tendency to float, if the crew maintains desired angle of attack to touchdown. This results in landing speeds of 100 to 106 KIAS at typical operating weights. Notably, the landing gear is stressed to absorb descent rates up to 780 fpm, so only a slight flare is needed to check a steep approach to touch down.

We returned to Beech Field and landed with 600 lb of fuel.

“Imminent Fury” – Jumpstart for the Competition

In 2007, the U.S. Navy determined it needed find, fix and finish, exploit and analyze (F3EA) aircraft platform, fitted with a full intelligence / surveillance / reconnaissance (ISR) package that could operate with U.S. special forces in Afghanistan. Similar to USAF’s LAAR requirements, the aircraft would have to have to be survivable against small arms and Manpads.

Navy Special Warfare, acting under orders from the undersecretary of the Navy, launched the Imminent Fury (IF) program, a classified concept demonstration operating mainly in the restricted areas near NAS Fallon and Nellis AFB, among other locations.

Sources close to the IF program told AVIATION WEEK that the IF team, being “platform agnostic,” initially looked at a number of candidate aircraft, including Hawker Beechcraft’s proposed AT-6. But at the time, a prototype AT-6 was at least 18 months away from first flight. The Vietnam-era OV-10 Bronco also was under consideration, but none could be found in time to participate in the program.

Serendipitously, EP Aviation, a unit of Blackwater Worldwide, had purchased an Embraer EMB-314 Super Tucano that was due to be delivered in the U.S. in second quarter 2008. When the IF team learned of this, it arranged to lease the Brazilian aircraft to participate in Phase I of the IF program. The IF team still wanted to evaluate other candidate aircraft, especially if they were to become available during Phase I. As it happened, the Super Tucano was the only candidate F3EA aircraft to participate in the IF program.

Using a federated design approach, the IF team left intact the Super Tucano’s stock avionics package, including its mission computer. It added a completely separate, U.S.-spec ISR package, including an ARC-210 secure, multi-spectral, voice and data link radios, a Remotely Operated Video Enhanced Receiver (ROVER) full-motion video system and Link 16-compatible LCD kneeboard displays, along with a Star Safire FLIR and later a Brite Star II FLIR. The goal was to outfit the aircraft with F3EA / ISR capabilities as quickly as possible.

In first quarter 2009, the Brite Star II FLIR was removed and replaced with an L3 Wescam MX-15 EO/IR/ Laser designator ball to check for compatibility.

During IF, Super Tucano met all objectives, according to the same sources. The twin .50 caliber FN Herstal machine guns, mounted internally in the wings, along with 2.75-inch rocket pods and laser guided and unguided Mk 81 / Mk 82 were qualified aboard the aircraft during IF. The aircraft also flew 5+ hr surveillance missions with two external tanks installed.

USAF officials subsequently were briefed on the IF program, which then sent its own Air Combat Command pilots to fly and evaluate the aircraft. As a result, USAF requested to participate in the $44-million Phase II of the Navy IF program, if it were funded and launched. However, in May 2010 the Senate Appropriations Committee’s Subcommittee on Defense turned down the funding request.

The delay of IF Phase II gave the AT-6B time to catch up with Super Tucano. The USAF issued its own irregular warfare LAAR acquisition program with a Capability Request for Information (CRFI) in July 2009. The CRFI sought to “explore cost-effective acquisition options” for LAAR aircraft, with first deliveries to begin in FY 12 and an initial operating capability in FY 13. Up to 100 LAAR aircraft could be procured, depending upon Department of Defense budgets.

As noted, the CRFI preliminary specifications for LAAR require that each competitor have a zero / zero ejection seats, OBOGS, NVG-compatible cockpit, HUD and ISR systems, among other requirements. The LAAR specification’s “desired requirements” also include a 30,000 ft operational altitude that virtually requires retractable landing gear and cockpit pressurization and a cruise speed of at least 180 KTAS at 10,000 ft with typical external stores.

HBC’s AT-6B and Embraer’s EMB-314 Super Tucano are the only aircraft in the $10-million price range in development or production that meet the LAAR specifications. Boeing tendered a upgraded OV-10(X) as a potential LAAR aircraft and Air Tractor put forward the AT-802U CAS / COIN aircraft. Even though the EMB-314 Super Tucano has proven its capabilities during IF Phase I, Embraer doesn’t have a U.S. defense contractor with which to partner and, as a foreign firm, it cannot enter the LAAR competition.

The company still claims its aircraft is superior because it was designed from scratch as a CAS platform, not as a derivative of a trainer. Compared to AT-6B, Super Tucano has a larger aft fuselage to accommodate additional avionics, 19% more wing area and a 13% higher MTOW with external stores. And Embraer officials note that the Super Tucano already is in service with Brazil, Chile, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador and in Colombia where they say it has proven its ISR and combat capabilities.

Meanwhile, HBC officials counter that AT-6B’s being a close derivative of the T-6 Texan II trainer is one of its strengths, not a shortcoming. More than 620 T-6 trainers have been delivered in the last decade, the aircraft is in service with the U.S., Canada, Greece, Israel and Iraqi militaries and the fleet has logged more than 1.2-million flight hours. The officials assert that the firm has a well-established, world-wide logistics network that supports the T-6 and other special missions aircraft, including the ISR King Air 350 in Iraq and Afghanistan, and thus the AT-6B would have broad-based factory support.

This year, the prototype AT-6B, along with a T-6C, was given a chance to demonstrate its capabilities at the biennial Joint Expeditionary Forces Experiment (JEFX 10) at Nellis, the ninth such event conducted by the U.S. Air Force. C2ISR aircraft, fighters and tankers, plus CAS airplanes and helicopters, participated in JFEX 10, which focused on irregular warfare.

The overall objectives for JEFX ’10 were to increase the effectiveness of ground and air forces to track and engage several, mobile targets in an urban setting, decrease the time required to locate, positively identify and destroy hostile forces, minimize collateral damage and share multiple sources of data between friendly air and ground forces in a near real-time Link 16 SADL net-centric environment.

The Air National Guard and Air Reserve Command Test Center at Tucson sponsored the participation of the AT-6 at JEFX 10. The top level goals for the aircraft were to demonstrate its capabilities to stream live video of targets and position data to friendly forces in real time, engage simulated targets using digital data links in a net-centric environment and to operate from an unimproved 6,000 ft runway at an improvised forward area refueling point (FARP) established at Delamar Lake, 65 miles north of Nellis. AT-1 was operated at weights up to 8,500 lb from the improvised strip. Dry FARP hook-up tests, using an MC-130 Talon II, were successfully conducted.

Detailed results of JEFX 10 remain classified, but HBC officials claim that the firm’s AT-6B and T-6C prototypes completed 100% of assigned missions and that the AT-6B demonstrated the C2ISR capabilities with EO/IR/Laser ball streaming near real-time video to other team members in a Link 16 / EPLRS / SADL network. It also flew simulated attack missions on both fixed and moving targets.

This was a milestone for the AT-6B. JEFX 10, according to USAF, strictly was a pay-to-participate endeavor. Since Embraer had no U.S. defense contractor or military organization to sponsor the participation of Super Tucano in the exercise, there could be no competitive fly-off between the two arch-rivals.

And so, in spite of its demonstrated strengths during Phase I of the U.S. Navy’s IF program, Super Tucano has yet to prove to the USAF that it has equivalent C2ISR net-centric irregular warfare capabilities. LAAR is an USAF competition, and the AT-6B’s apparent success in JEFX 10 thus puts it in the lead among potential competitors. Meanwhile, the clock is ticking and not much time remains before USAF selects a winner.

[buglerbilly]

Northcom Eyes Light Attack For Interdiction

Sep 10, 2010

By Amy Butler

A requirement for a low-flying, slow attack aircraft is emerging to support homeland defense missions, the commander of U.S. Northern Command says.

At issue is a “gap” in the ability to properly interdict low-flying, slow threats, such as general aviation aircraft, small unmanned aerial systems or helicopters, says Adm. James Winnefeld, Northcom chief. He spoke to reporters during a Sept. 9 Defense Writers Group breakfast in Washington.

Candidates could include but are not limited to a fast helicopter or slow-flying, fixed-wing aircraft, he says.

This threat was underscored Aug. 2 when a Navy MQ-8 Fire Scout lost communications with its ground station during a test flight at NAS Patuxent River, Md. Though the unmanned rotorcraft, made by Northrop Grumman, was preprogrammed to return to base under these conditions, a software glitch prompted it to continue on its heading. This took it 23 mi. north, northwest of the base into restricted airspace about 40 mi. from Washington (Aerospace DAILY, Aug. 26, 27).

“I was in the command center [at Northcom] the whole time” during the incident, Winnefeld says. He was also “about to” scramble fighters for an intercept. But the Navy re-established control of the aircraft and commanded it to return to base.

Navy and FAA officials were coordinating during the incident with Northern Command, but Winnefeld notes that it was “headed straight to the heart of the National Capital region” and would eventually have lost fuel.

Though he says an F-16 could have downed the MQ-8 if required, he notes that had the aircraft’s intent been unknown, a fast, high-flying fighter would have been ill-equipped to determine it.

For interdictions, pilots typically fly close to the target, attempting to make contact with radios and hand gestures. This ability is lacking for small, slow-flying targets like helicopters, because a fighter is unable to maintain low speed for the time required to fully execute an interdiction, Winnefeld says.

A formal requirement isn’t yet fleshed out, but the admiral says he would like to have a firm need articulated next year. It is possible this requirement could merge with that of the Air Force, which is seeking a light attack aircraft for use with international partners. Air Force officials hope to field inexpensive, easy-to-maintain attack aircraft that allies can use to protect their borders and maintain internal sovereignty.

This light attack aircraft eventually could form the “low-end” element of a high/low force structure mix required for homeland defense. Winnefeld says he remains watchful of the Air Force’s progress in determining whether the F-16 can undergo an additional life extension program. And he is also mindful that further delays in the Joint Strike Fighter could hamper his ability to handle the mission in the future. For now, however, he says he is confident of the path ahead in supplying the type and number of fighters needed for the air sovereignty mission in the United States.

Photo: USAF

Photo Credit: U.S. Navy

[buglerbilly]

DATE:14/09/10

SOURCE:Flight International

Hawker Beechcraft proposes F-35 cannon for AT-6

By Stephen Trimble

Hawker Beechcraft has revealed new details about its plans for the AT-6 light attack and armed reconnaissance (LAAR) fighter, including the possibility of integrating a 25mm cannon.

A derivative of the General Dynamics GAU-12 Equalizer, a five-barrel cannon developed for the Lockheed Martin F-35, is among the weapons in consideration for the turboprop-powered aircraft, says Derek Hess, Hawker Beechcraft's director of AT-6 development programmes.

A French 20mm gun is another option under review to either replace or augment the .50cal gun pod that is integrated on the twin-seat fighter, Hess says.

Integrating either cannon is an indication of an ongoing debate about how such an aircraft could be operated in service by the US Air Force, which plans to award a contract next year for a LAAR fleet.


© Jamie Hunter/Aviacom

Hawker Beechcraft is teamed with Lockheed Martin to offer the AT-6 to the USAF for the LAAR programme. Embraer is expected to also challenge with its EMB-314 Super Tucano.

While the AT-6 is equipped with wing-mounted .50cal gun pods, the Super Tucano has integrated .50cal guns stored in the wings.

Hawker Beechcraft considers the pod-mounted option as an advantage should the USAF decide to upgrade the LAAR's armament, as pods can be easily replaced.

However, if the LAAR aircraft is employed in close air support situations, it is not clear whether the .50cal gun will be adequate. The USAF operates the 30mm GAU-8 Avenger, a seven-barrel Gatling gun, on its Fairchild A-10 fleet.

The core role of the LAAR fleet is expected to be counter-insurgency, a mission also at odds with the short-range and relatively imprecise machine gun. For this mission, the AT-6 would employ a new class of precision-guided, small munitions that are lethal at long ranges, Hess says.

[buglerbilly]

Test Center Fuses Old, New Technology for Light Attack

(Source: U.S Air Force; issued October 14, 2010)


A Hawker Beechcraft AT-6C light attack variant on the ramp at Davis-Monthan AFB, Ariz. after completing a test of its ability to perform a combat SAR mission. (USAF photo)

DAVIS-MONTHAN AIR FORCE BASE, Ariz. --- Test pilots and engineers here are learning what happens when high-tech systems are combined with low-tech airframes for a new, cost effective, light-attack aircraft.

Light attack, a revitalized concept in the Air Force, addresses the need for an airplane that offers surveillance as well as strike capabilities and walks the line between remotely piloted aircraft and high-performance fighters.

In appearance, Hawker Beechcraft AT-6Cs resemble the fighters of yesteryear with single engine propellers and shark-face nose art. They are, in actuality, one possible candidate for Air Force light attack aircraft and the latest project for Air National Guard Air Force Reserve Command Test Center officials based at Tucson International Airport.

Lt. Col. Keith Colmer, a developmental test pilot and director of engineering for AATC, deployed to Iraq in early 2008, where he flew numerous close air support missions in F-16 Fighting Falcons.

During more than 100 combat hours, he served as an eye in the sky for Army elements but he said he rarely engaged the enemy on their behalf.

"Right now we are paying a high cost to fly an F-16 in terms of fuel and wear and tear for missions that don't require the full capabilities of the airplane," said Colonel Colmer, who leads AATC's light-attack program. "With fourth generation fighters nearing the end of their service life, a light-attack platform could take on these kinds of missions and lighten the load."

The test center, which conducts operational tests on behalf of the Reserve, is manned by a team of active-duty, Guard, Reserve, civilian and contractor members who field low-cost, low-risk, off-the-shelf improvements for aircraft and weapons systems.

Officials said the center's unique efficiency is perfect for building and evaluating a light-attack aircraft.

"In keeping with our '80 percent of the capability for 20 percent of the cost' motto, we took existing technology from the A-10 (Thunderbolt II) and F-16 and inserted it in the AT-6," Colonel Colmer said.

Mounted next to the AT-6's manual flight controls, levers, cables and pulleys are mission computers, situational awareness data links, radios, helmet-mounted cueing systems, hands-on stick and throttles, threat countermeasures and armament pylons typically found on current fighter and attack aircraft.

"We learned a lot from initial testing earlier this year and made several adjustments," Colonel Colmer said. "The testing this month is about bringing in testers from around the Air Force; A-10 and F-16 pilots from Edwards (Air Force Base, Calif.), Nellis (AFB, Nev.), and Eglin (AFB, Fla.)"

"Overall, pilots are coming back after flying it excited about light attack," Colonel Colmer said. "They're enjoying the sorties and the aircraft's capabilities. Almost everyone has a list of things they would like to change, but that's what we expected. Now we'll take their input and make it a better aircraft."

Maj. Jesse Smith, an A-10 pilot from the 422nd Test and Evaluation Squadron at Nellis AFB, flew the modified AT-6 during a simulated combat search and rescue sortie Oct. 7.

"It's easy to handle," Major Smith said. "They took some of the systems and avionics from the A-10, so that made it easier for me to step in. Based on the scenario we had today, we were able to go out and execute."

"It's not the answer for everything, but if you look at what's going on in Iraq and Afghanistan, it's a good concept that can save money."

To buy and operate a light-attack aircraft costs pennies on the dollar compared to an A-10 or F-16.

For the A-10 or F-16, the cost per flying hour is around 15,000 to 17,000 dollars for fuel and maintenance.

Test center officials say the AT-6 is currently running at about 600 dollars per hour.

Though light attack is not viewed as a replacement for jets, Airmen here are finding out that the two-seat turboprop can fill a number of roles.

Pilots are examining the AT-6 as a companion trainer to give them a firsthand look at close air support from the air.

Combat controllers and tactical air control party members are also evaluating the aircraft as a possible trainer.

"Right now in the (joint terminal attack control) community, there are not enough sorties to keep them trained," Colonel Colmer said. "One thought is that this type of aircraft could be based with their units so they could get more practice with controlling an aircraft that adequately replicates an A-10 or F-16. They could even fly more often to gain a sense of a pilot's perspective."

In domestic operations it could support border security, counter drug and homeland defense.

For state missions, during fires, floods or other disasters, it could use sensors to map out an area for responders.

Additionally, officials believe a light-attack platform can help build partner nation air forces that lack the funding and the need for jet-powered aircraft.

"It's exciting to be a proponent for light attack in this early stage when the possibilities seem endless and we can demonstrate what one of these airplanes could do," said Colonel Colmer, who emphasized that light attack is not yet a procurement program.

Usually, testing occurs after an aircraft is purchased. In this case, Colonel Colmer and his team have a unique opportunity to help develop and refine a set of technologies and weapons for a light-attack airplane and give decision makers a clear picture before they buy a platform.

"For the last 18 months, we've been working on requirements and technologies to integrate on the aircraft," Colonel Colmer said. "Future iterations of tests will integrate Hellfire missiles, Aim 9 Sidewinders and various other weapons."

-ends-

[buglerbilly]

DATE:26/10/10

SOURCE:Flight International

Irregular warfare offers new role for propeller driven aircraft

By Stephen Trimble

Bringing back the propeller-driven fighter in the age of counterinsurgency may seem to some a belated no-brainer or to others a wasteful diversion with potentially suicidal risk to the pilot.

As late as early 2008, the leadership of the US Air Force sided firmly with the sceptics. Lt Gen Donald Hoffman, then the USAF's top-ranking acquisition official, implied to a group of reporters in April of that year that the idea of deploying propeller-driven aircraft in modern combat is too risky.

"We can rebuild the [North American] P-51 - great airplane," said Hoffman, citing the propeller-driven Second World War fighter. Then, however, the former Lockheed Martin F-16 pilot pointed at each of the journalists. "All we need is you, you, you and you to go fly it into the threat zone," he said.


The Second World War P-51: a template for a modern-day propeller-driven fighter? Picture: Staff Sgt Jeremy Smith/US Air Force

Propeller-driven aircraft fly lower and slower than fast jets such as the F-16, and carry less cockpit armour than the "titanium bathtubs" surrounding pilots in the Fairchild A-10 or the Boeing AH-64 Apache.

It is this combination that drove the type out of the USAF inventory immediately after the Vietnam war, with the retirements of the Douglas A-1 Skyraider, the Cessna O-2 Skymaster and the de Havilland C-7 Caribou.

Paradoxically, however, the propeller-driven aircraft's ability to fly low and slow for long periods is responsible for a rebirth of enthusiasm within the USAF since shortly after Hoffman made his remarks about reintroducing the P-51.

The USAF leadership's position on the light attack mission would quickly evolve in 2008, even as the service's top leadership was fired - partly for moving too slowly to support a counterinsurgency campaign in Afghanistan.

One year after Hoffman's remarks, new USAF chief of staff Gen Norton Schwartz struck a different tone while addressing the same topic during a 24 April 2009 lecture at the Brookings Institution think-tank.

"There is a legitimate need to talk about the light strike role and building partner capacity role," Schwartz said. "And we intend to have that discussion in the coming months."

From outright derision to open-minded interest, USAF policy on propeller-driven warplanes continues to evolve. Reintroducing a modern-day version of the A-1 Skyraider into the USAF combat fleet is still not a priority.

But the USAF is moving forward to begin acquiring propeller-driven aircraft for a variety of roles related to counter-insurgency.

Industry officials expect the USAF to soon issue requests for proposals for a "light air support" (LAS) aircraft that will be donated to the Afghan air force, and a light mobility aircraft that will join the USAF's airlift fleet.

By the end of 2013, a squadron of 15 propeller-driven trainers should become operational to prepare USAF advisers to train foreign pilots on similar aircraft. The contract is called the light attack and armed reconnaissance (LAAR) fleet, but USAF officials are clear the aircraft will not be designed or equipped for combat missions.

"The LAAR squadron will be training our aircraft pilots. It will not be deploying. While operated by the Air Combat Command, it will be operated in a training environment," says Steven "Gringo" Peak, a requirements chief for Air Combat Command.

The definition of LAAR as a training squadron with 15 aircraft may seem like a step forward for the cause of fielding a propeller-driven aircraft, but is actually a steep downgrade from the original vision.

A capabilities request for information published by the USAF in July 2009 called for a combat-coded wing with 100 aircraft that could enter service within three years. The document sparked a strong industry response.

Hawker Beechcraft teamed with Lockheed Martin to propose integrating the latter's digital cockpit for the A-10C with the airframe of the AT-6 Texan II. Embraer proposed the EMB-314 Super Tucano that was already being tested for the counterinsurgency role by the US Navy.

Meanwhile, Boeing proposed a new version of the OV-10 Bronco, which was retired nearly 20 years ago. More exotic concepts also appeared, including a proposed revival of the PA-48, which itself is a turboprop-powered version of the P-51 Mustang.

The concept for an irregular warfare wing, however, soon fell victim to a change of priorities driven by "fiscal realities", says Lt Col Jeffrey "Homer" Godfrey, an A-10 pilot and operations planner for Air Combat Command's requirements branch.

The requirement for LAAR was refocused on a single squadron charged with training USAF pilots on the tactics that they, in turn, can share with foreign pilots. Separately, the USAF defined a new capability for an OA-X platform, a light attack fighter that is not yet an approved requirement and has no funding.


Crew protection on the Super Tucano is from Kevlar and ceramic plates. Picture: Embraer

CONCEPT

"It is a concept and there are no current plans to pursue a fleet of OA-X aircraft," Peak says. "That was the genesis of what we were looking at last year."

He adds: "There may be some development down the road pending the success of the LAAR programme that makes the OA-X programme something that wants to be looked at in the future."

The new strategy follows the policy of the new chief of staff, Schwartz, who spoke of favouring the training role to the combat role at the Brookings speech in 2009.

"If we had a primary trainer that is for basic pilot training, that could be easily reconfigured into a light strike platform, and then you would have a cadre of instructors organic to those machines who not only did primary training for our air force but can sort of make that transition quickly to a building partner capacity role in the same airplane, same crew, perhaps folks who we have arranged to have language skills and so on as part of their repertoire, that is a very attractive way to approach solving this problem," Schwartz said last year.

The current strategy is closely aligned with Scwhartz's statement in 2009. A small group of pilots will be trained to serve as advisers, and a selected group of allies - starting with Afghanistan - will be encouraged to buy a US-built, propeller-driven fighter.

"The time is right for increasing the scope of this mission," Godfrey says.

If fiscal realities led to the postponement of launching the OA-X programme, the same issue could force the USAF to re-examine the decision. As options for a propeller-driven fighter were still being discussed, the Air Combat Command produced a 20-page document on 23 December 2008 called "OA-X Enabling Concept".


Industry analysts are sceptical about the sales potential for counter-insurgency aircraft. Picture: Embraer

FUEL SAVING

The paper cited a study earlier that year that said replacing one and a half squadrons of deployed fighters with an OA-X fleet would save $300 million a year in fuel operations costs.

More recently, an ongoing demonstration of the AT-6 by the USAF, which was ordered by Congress, produced similar savings figures, with USAF officials saying the AT-6 costs $600 an hour to operate.

The same mission flown by an F-16 costs $17,000 in fuel and maintenance, the USAF says. Those figures have persuaded both major competitors for the LAAR trainer contract and the Afghan LAS contract that the market for OA-X still exists.

"We have not taken our eye off of that OA-X enabling concept," says Derek Hess, Hawker Beechcraft's director for AT-6 programmes.

When Hess thinks of the potential of the AT-6, he looks far beyond the immediate opportunities to win the LAS contract for 20 aircraft and the LAAR contract for 15 aircraft. Instead, Hess recalls, surprisingly, the Northrop F-5, a lightweight, affordable fighter that was designed to be exported to US allies around the world.

Hess adds that the scale of the export market for propeller-driven aircraft may never equal the scale of the F-5 programme, which delivered more than 2,000 fighters from 1964 to 1989. The goal of the light attack fighter concept, however, is similar: provide allies with an affordable aircraft for the counter-insurgency mission.

But aerospace industry analysts are more sceptical about the potential of sales in this market. Forecast International, a Connecticut-based firm specialising in market analysis, predicts a demand for about 650 aircraft over the next 10 years between the Super Tucano and AT-6. "It's not a huge market," says Raymond Jaworowski, a senior aerospace analyst at Forecast.

On the other hand, Forecast has not factored in potential sales in the US market beyond about 250 T-6A Texan IIs on order as primary trainers for the USAF and US Navy.

But the need for tactical aircraft is growing even as the numbers in the USAF inventory are declining. By the end of the decade, both the USAF and USN project shortfalls of hundreds of fighters beneath even the reduced requirements. If funding is not available to buy more Lockheed Martin F-35s, which are projected to cost at least $60 million on average by the end of the decade, investing in a propeller-driven aircraft may become a more attractive option.

In addition to fighting insurgents, propeller-driven aircraft also could be used to support the USAF air sovereignty mission, patrolling the skies over major cities and critical infrastructure.

That explains the Lockheed/Hawker Beechcraft team's pursuit of more powerful armament for the AT-6, which would not be necessary for the LAAR trainer. In a briefing at the Air Force Association convention in September, Hess disclosed the AT-6 could be armed with a single-barrel version of the 25mm General Dynamics GAU-6 Avenger gatling gun in development for the F-35. The current area suppression weapons for the AT-6 are two .50cal gun pods mounted under the wing.

Embraer, meanwhile, has had discussions with French industry about a 20mm gatling gun for the Super Tucano, although it has no firm plans to supplement both .50cal guns installed inside the aircraft's wings.


Protecting the crew from small arms fire is crucial: the AT-6's ceramic plates would stop a 7.62mm armour piercing incendiary round. Picture: Maj Gabe Johnson/US Air Force

STRAFING RUNS

Interest in a cannon-like weapon for both aircraft speaks to the emerging mission profile for the OA-X. In addition to providing armed overwatch of patrols, convoys and infiltration operations, the USAF's enabling concept proposes the OA-X should be called upon for strafing runs during the close air support of troops in contract and to protect downed pilots waiting to be rescued.

Both competing teams are also interested in equipping their aircraft with precision-guided, small munitions. With the combination of precision weapons and an on-board targeting sensor, such as the L-3 Wescam MX-15 electro-optical/infrared camera, the OA-X aircraft could supplement the role currently provided by armed unmanned aircraft systems. Unlike jet-powered fighters, a propeller-driven OA-X could loiter near a target for several hours without needing to refuel.

In the same "enabling concept" document drafted by the Air Combat Command, a combination of about 36 F-16s and F-15Es consume 190,500kg (420,000lb) of fuel provided by six tankers per day, and the tankers themselves require another 245,000kg.

The OA-X requirement, if moved forward, will look beyond new armament. It will be critical for the manufacturer to protect the crew from a range of small arms fire.

While infantry patrol wearing body armour and ride in blast-shielded vehicles, pilots in A-10s and AH-64s are enclosed in an armoured bubble.


Boeing has talked of a possible OV-10X revival of the Bronco airframe. Picture: Boeing

FLIGHTCREW PROTECTION

Any aircraft the USAF selects for OA-X would need similar protection for flightcrew. "It's going to have to work in our normal requirement for any other aircraft that's going to go down-range," Peak says.

Embraer has equipped the Super Tucano with Kevlar and ceramic plates that protect the pilots from .50cal bullets, says Acir Padilha, vice-president of marketing and sales at Embraer Defense. The AT-6, by contrast, is protected with ceramic plates designed to stop a 7.62mm armour piercing incendiary round, Hess says.

The USAF has left open the option of pursuing an all-new aircraft that could be designed specifically for the OA-X, perhaps with heavier armour for the pilot. The USAF is clear that even if an acquisition process is launched for OA-X, it will not be a follow-on order to the winner of the LAS or LAAR contracts. "It would be a truly new-start programme," Peak says.

The focus is now on the pending contract awards. Schwartz signalled in his 2009 remarks that the ideal LAAR candidate would be based on an aircraft already performing a basic trainer role, which would seem to favour the AT-6 derivative of the USAF's existing primary trainer.

The USAF instead wants a "fair and open competition strategy to get the very best solution", Godfrey says.

Embraer's Padilha concedes that the Super Tucano may face political pressure in the LAS and LAAR contracts. The navy planned to deploy a leased Super Tucano to Afghanistan this year to conduct an operational assessment, but the project - called Imminent Fury phase 2 - was cancelled by Congress.

"It caught our attention," Padilha says. "We know that we have the best product. A fair competition must be in place."

[buglerbilly]

Anything else from the Vietnam War to be re-cycled?!! :shakehead

AUSA2010: OV-1D Mohawk revived as modern gunship

By Stephen Trimble on October 28, 2010 12:11 AM

A host of aircraft have been pitched for counter-insurgency. Revive the OV-10? Check. Convert the AirTractor cropduster into the AT-802U? Yep. Remake the T-6A into the AT-6? That too. Here's a new one:



ATK has teamed up with Mohawk Technologies and Broadbay to revive the OV-1D Mohawk for the counter-insurgency market.

The new version adds the ATK 30mm chain gun from the Boeing AH-64 Apache, plus a glass cockpit and integrated targeting system with electro-optical/infrared sensor turret.

Mohawk owns six decommissioned OV-1Ds that are available for conversion, with dozens more of the aircraft available on the used market, says JT Young, of Broadbay, which supplies the crews to operate the OV-1Ds.

The second-generation OV-1D is being pitched as a live-fire training aid for the US military's schools for joint terminal attack controllers, says ATK's Clay Bringhurst. The schools could operate the OV-1Ds on a fee-for-service basis, or buy the aircraft outright. If someone decides to push the armed reconnaissance trainers into a combat zone, so much the better. "Why not?" says Bringhurst.

But the ultimate goal is to sell the aircraft on the foreign market. The US State Department last week approved ATK's license application to market the aircraft to approved foreign customers. The OV-1D team is targeting potential military and government buyers in the Middle East and South America.

[buglerbilly]

DATE:23/12/10

SOURCE:Flight International

VIDEO: Precision strike AT-802U demonstrator runway crash

By John Croft

Flightglobal has obtained a slow-motion video taken by a ground observer as Air Tractor's AT-802U surveillance and precision strike demonstrator aircraft experienced a landing accident at a military airstrip in California on 21 October.

Investigators say a pilot and a flight test engineer in the two-seat modified agricultural single at the time were testing maximum performance takeoffs and landings on the 1,829m (6,000ft) hard clay Schoonover runway at Fort Hunter Liggett when the accident occurred. Neither was injured.

"The pilot was attempting a short field landing and had full flaps deployed," the accident report states.

"Upon landing, the tail wheel of N4247U struck a berm of dirt at the west end of the strip. The berm of dirt was approximately 10-12ft tall. The nose pitched down and the prop struck the runway. The two front tires also struck the runway. The aircraft bounced back in the air. The pilot added power to avoid a stall and slow the rate of descent back on to the runway. The left wing dropped and the tip skidded along the runway."

The AT-802U is designed to fly for 10h and carry munitions on 11 hard points under the wings and fuselage, including Gatling guns, Hellfire missiles, laser-guided rockets and laser-guided bombs.

The company in July announced that it had launched production of the counter-insurgency aircraft to an undisclosed customer.

[buglerbilly]

DATE:25/01/11

SOURCE:Flight International

PICTURE: AirTractor delivers UAE's first AT-802Us

By Stephen Trimble

The first two of 10 AirTractor AT-802Us ordered by the United Arab Emirates air force have been spotted by alert photographers.

The counter-insurgency aircraft - each powered by a Pratt & Whitney Canada PT-6A turboprop engine - arrived at Luqa airport in Malta in late December while en route to their final destination in the UAE.

Abu Dhabi ordered the adapted cropdusters last year, when it became the first acknowledged military buyer for the counter-insurgency version.

The AT-802U is fitted with a turret-housed electro-optical/infrared sensor to identify targets on the ground. AirTractor has integrated a variety of armaments with the type, including guided weapons and a .50cal machine gun pod.


© Malcolm Bezzina

Images show the first pair of aircraft carrying their US delivery registrations N6008Q and N60066.

[buglerbilly]

DATE:02/02/11

SOURCE:Flight International

Sierra Nevada leads Super Tucano bid for USAF deal

By Stephen Trimble

Embraer has announced it is teaming with Sierra Nevada to build the Super Tucano in Jacksonville, Florida, if the partners can win a US Air Force contract that is scheduled to be awarded in June.

Sierra Nevada's role as the US-based prime contractor in Embraer's bid was revealed after both competitors - also including the Lockheed Martin/Hawker Beechcraft AT-6 - completed flight trials in the evaluation process for the light air support (LAS) contract.

The programme will supply up to 20 aircraft to serve as counter-insurgency trainers and fighters for Afghan pilots. The USAF also plans to buy 15 aircraft to serve as trainers for its own pilots, who could then be assigned to foreign "partners" fighting insurgents or terrorists.

Both competitors think the contract may ultimately be worth more than 35 aircraft, however.


©Embraer

In a 31 January briefing, Acir Padilha, vice-president of marketing and sales for Embraer's defence and security unit, predicted that overall sales could rise to 55 aircraft. Derek Hess, Hawker Beechcraft's director for AT-6 programmes, believes the market could be even larger.

The USAF launched the LAS contract in response to an emerging need to train pilots for counter-insurgency missions, which involve supporting friendly troops at close range, escorting convoys and providing armed reconnaissance over a wide area.

It follows the USAF's acquisition of the MC-12 Liberty - a Hawker Beechcraft King Air 350ER modified as a medium-altitude intelligence-gathering platform. The idea for "Project Liberty" came from the US Army's medium-altitude reconnaissance and surveillance system (MARSS), which supplied the King Air to the Iraqi air force.

Sierra Nevada was the army's contractor for the MARSS programme, and has now switched sides by teaming up with Embraer to offer the Super Tucano to the USAF.

The Super Tucano faces tough competition. Hawker Beechcraft is widely perceived as a US-based manufacturer, and is delivering hundreds of unarmed T-6As to the USAF and US Navy under the joint primary aircraft training system contract.

Sierra Nevada notes that USAF officials did not allow it to demonstrate the Super Tucano's ability to manoeuvre aerobatically with an unbalanced weapons load, which it considers to be a key performance advantage over the AT-6.

Meanwhile, Hawker Beechcraft is preparing for the next step in a separate AT-6 demonstration for the Air National Guard funded by the US Congress. The type will soon demonstrate delivering precision weapons for the first time, following tests of its combat sensors performed last October, Hess says.

Embraer touts the Super Tucano's flexibility with precision weapon load-outs as another key advantage, with 133 stores configurations already qualified, Padilha says.

[buglerbilly]

thedewline | February 02, 2011

Sierra Nevada test pilot Chris Brayman tells reporters on 31 January about why the US Air Force should buy the Embraer Super Tucano as a trainer for the light strike mission. Sierra Nevada is competing against the Lockheed Martin/Hawker Beechcraft AT-6 for the light air support (LAS) contract scheduled to be awarded in June.

[buglerbilly]

FAB Supports Embraer’s A-29 Super Tucano Presentation to US Air Force

(Source: Brazilian Air Force; issued Feb. 7, 2011)

(Issued in Portuguese only; unofficial translation by defense-aerospace.com)

On January 25-28, the Embraer A-29 Super Tucano light attack aircraft was demonstrated to the US Air Force at Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico, as part of the Light Air Support System Demonstration LASSD program.

This is an open competition organized by the U.S. government for the purchase of lightweight combat aircraft for incorporation into the USAF’s light attack inventory.

Brazil’s Força Aerea Bralileira supported the event and provided an A-29 aircraft (registration FAB 5951) belonging to the 3°/3° GAV Arrow Squadron, accompanied by a C-130 transport aircraft (FAB 2475) belonging to the the 1st Transport Wing, WG, and mixed team of mechanics and pilots belonging to the three A-29 squadrons under the command of III FAE.

The aircraft left Brazil on January 21, flying out of Boa Vista Air Base, and flew more than 6,800 nautical miles (round trip) in a single-engine aircraft.

This required various technical stopovers in Piarco (Trinidad and Tobago), Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic) and Fort Lauderdale (United States). The next day, the aircraft flew to Albuquerque (New Mexico) by way of New Orleans (Louisiana) and San Antonio (Texas).

The effort in planning and executing the mission, as well as the high level of professionalism and involvement demonstrated by the FAB personnel greatly contributed to the remarkable success of the presentation held in conjunction with Embraer, on foreign territory.

-ends-

[buglerbilly]

Jordan's King Abdullah II Design and Development Bureau (KADDB) Awards Contract to ATK to Modify Two CASA-235 Military Transport Aircraft

ATK Introduces New Light Gunship Special Mission Aircraft Capabilities Package

Feb 19, 2011


This is a Spanish one...........

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates, Feb. 19, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- ATK (NYSE: ATK) announced it has received a contract from the King Abdullah II Design and Development Bureau (KADDB) of the Kingdom of Jordan to modify two of the country's CASA-235 transport aircraft into highly-capable and cost-effective special mission aircraft, according to the combined modification designs of both KADDB and ATK. Subject to U.S. government export licensing approval, the modified aircraft are expected to be delivered by the late spring of 2013. Terms of the contract were not announced.

ATK's special mission aircraft offerings integrate intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) sensors, fire control equipment, and a LW30mm link-fed gun system. These capabilities are controlled by ATK's STAR Mission System which provides both day and night reconnaissance and fire control capabilities, and the ability to acquire, monitor and track items of interest. The CASA-235 gunship provides customers an enhanced capability to conduct responsive defense, counterinsurgency, and border surveillance and security missions.

"Weaponized aircraft is an emerging international opportunity specifically tailored for ATK's unique capabilities," said Mike Kahn, President of ATK Missile Products Group. "Our expertise in mission systems architecture and design, and aircraft integration and certification of complex subsystems positions us well for growth in this area."

"Since its inception, KADDB has established itself as the preferred global partner in the Middle East for the defence industry, initially in land systems, and most recently in aircraft modification. KADDB is well situated and experienced with all the required technical knowledge and infrastructure to move into this field," said "Shadi Ramzi" Majali, KADDB Chairman and CEO. "We are proud to embark with our well recognized and esteemed partner ATK to modify aircraft for the Jordan Armed Forces and the MENA region, and look forward to establishing this capability in Jordan."

"We are pleased to partner with the King Abdullah II Design and Development Bureau of Jordan to develop and enhance the military aircraft capability for the Jordan Armed Forces," said Robert Faille, ATK Director of International Business Development for the Middle East & Africa region.

For the KADDB on behalf of the Jordan Armed Forces, ATK will install and integrate electro-optical targeting systems, a laser designator, aircraft self-protection equipment, and an armaments capability that includes Hellfire laser-guided missiles, 2.75-inch rockets, and a M230 link-fed 30mm chain gun. ATK's M230 family of guns serves on the Apache helicopter.

ATK's scope of work includes development, systems integration, aircraft modification, and testing. Work will be performed in Jordan and at ATK facilities in Fort Worth, TX, Mesa, AZ and Pelham, AL.

Although the light gunship represents KADDB's first endeavor in aircraft modification, it lays the foundation for further potential growth with experienced partners to accommodate Jordan and the MENA region's requirements.

The light gunship capability package is the latest addition to ATK's Special Mission Aircraft product portfolio, which provides affordable, responsive and advanced capabilities to customer-preferred platforms. ATK's expertise includes outfitting various aircraft -- including Cessna Caravans, Lockheed Martin C-130s, Bombardier Dash-8s, Hawker Beechcraft King Airs and others -- with integrated intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities.

[Unicorn]

Yes, cause Jordan has such a need for mini-gunships too...

[buglerbilly]

Litle pic............now a big pic!

[Gubler, A.]

Yes, cause Jordan has such a need for mini-gunships too...

Well I bet Gaddafi wished he had a few right now...

[buglerbilly]

Super Tucano Dirt Runway Take-Off



I’ve just returned from a visit to Embraer’s headquarters and aircraft manufacturing facilities in Brazil where the company was, among other things, pitching the features of its Super Tucano light attack/trainer aircraft. Yup, the same bird that’s currently in the USAF’s light attack contest that’s set to wrap up in June. That effort calls for a maneuverable, armored, twin ejection seat turboprop capable of operating from austere, dirt runways. Here’s a clip of the Super Tucano doing just that during a USAF fly off for the competitors in the light attack contest that was recently held in Truth or Consequences, N.M.

The Air Force wants to buy a handful of this class of plane so that its pilots can train allies with nascent Air Force’s such as Afghanistan how to use them in fighting insurgencies. The Super T is a cool bird, with twin .50 caliber machine guns mounted in the wings and the ability to carry a variety of bombs, rockets and sensor pods all on a plane that’s cheap and easy to operate.

Read more: http://defensetech.org/#ixzz1Eq1LJhHm
Defense.org

[buglerbilly]

DATE:23/02/11

SOURCE:Flight International

ATK eyes modified gunship market

By Siva Govindasamy

ATK, a US armaments and missile components firm, plans to move into the business of modifying military aircraft into cost-effective gunships after signing a contract with Jordan.

The company is working with Jordan's King Abdullah II Design and Development Bureau (KADDB) to modify two of the country's Airbus Military CN-235-series transports and deliver them by late spring 2013. Work will be performed at KADDB's facilities in Amman, Jordan and ATK facilities in the USA.

The company will install and integrate electro-optical targeting systems, a laser designator, aircraft self-protection equipment, and an armaments capability that includes Lockheed Martin AGM-114 Hellfire laser-guided missiles, 2.75in rocket launchers and an M230 link-fed 30mm chain gun. The M230 family of guns is also used on Boeing's AH-64 Apache attack helicopter.

The Royal Jordanian Air Force operates two C-295s, says Flightglobal's MiliCAS database.

"Although the light gunship represents KADDB's first endeavour in aircraft modification, it lays the foundation for further potential growth with experienced partners to accommodate Jordan and the Middle East and North Africa region's requirements," says ATK.


© Billypix/Tim Bicheno-Brown

"The CN-235 gunship provides customers an enhanced capability to conduct responsive defence, counter-insurgency, and border surveillance and security missions."

The light gunship capability package is the latest addition to ATK's special mission aircraft product portfolio. The company has previously outfitted aircraft including Lockheed C-130s, Bombardier Dash 8s, Beechcraft King Airs and others with integrated intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities. Two years ago, it also integrated two Cessna Caravans with light attack capabilities for the Iraqi air force.

"Weaponised aircraft is an emerging international opportunity specifically tailored for ATK's unique capabilities," says Mike Kahn, president of ATK Missile Products Group. "Our expertise in mission systems architecture and design, and aircraft integration and certification of complex subsystems positions us well for growth in this area."

The company says that apart from the Middle East and Africa, it sees opportunities in Asia and Latin America for similar capabilities. It has had some initial discussions, but the contract with Jordan will be the stepping stone for securing additional business, believes vice-president David Wise.

"This is really the first step. Countries without a big budget but with a need for some light attack capability on either their existing aircraft, or to modify aircraft that they are buying, will have the option with our package. It is a cost-competitive option as we can work with a wide variety of aircraft. If a customer wants a particular capability or weapon, we can do it," Wise says.

Meanwhile, KADDB has taken delivery of two Camcopter S-100 vertical take-off and landing unmanned air vehicles from Austrian manufacturer Schiebel. Equipped with an L-3 Wescam MX-10 electro-optical/infrared payload, the type will enter service with the Jordanian army's reconnaissance squadron.

[Deks]

Well I bet Gaddafi wished he had a few right now...

They'd probably just end up in Malta.

[buglerbilly]

Ares

A Defense Technology Blog

Iraq: Still Working on Fielding Combat Caravan

Posted by Robert Wall at 3/24/2011 7:38 AM CDT

With all eyes now on Libya, and Afghanistan having been at the center of attention in terms of military operations prior to that, it’s time for a brief update on what is going on in Iraq and the efforts to build up the country’s air force.

Things are moving, but they are moving slowly.

The U.S. Air Force points out that the Iraqi air force recently conducted another test of its AC-208 Combat Caravan, the aircraft capable of firing Hellfire missiles. But more than a year and a half since the first firing of a Hellfire from the aircraft, only three test shots have taken place, with only a few months to go before Iraq wants to fully take over responsibility for security.

At least the latest trial, on March 23 at the Aziziyah Training Range, seems to have real operational relevance. Iraqi special forces personnel were inserted using an Mi-17 and then directed the strike carried out by aircraft and crew belonging to Squadron 3 from Kirkuk air base. It was an all Iraqi affair, the U.S. says (click here for a video of an earlier test shot).

Meanwhile, the Iraqi Army Aviation Command has seen its fleet of Mi-17 and Mi-171Es grow to 30 units. The U.S. says eight more Mi-171Es are due for delivery in the coming months.

[buglerbilly]

KC-130J Harvest Hawk: Marine Corps Teaches Old Plane New Tricks in Afghanistan

(Source: U.S Marine Corps News; issued April 1, 2011)

CAMP DWYER, Afghanistan --- One of the U.S. military’s most seasoned aircraft has found a new purpose as a one-of-a-kind weapon for the Marine Corps in support of troops on the ground in Afghanistan.

The U.S. military has relied on the C-130 Hercules platform for a variety of tasks including air-to-air refueling, and cargo and troop transportation for more than 50 years. But the Marine Corps, in partnership with Lockheed-Martin, has recently created a unique variant of its KC-130J by outfitting an existing plane with what has been dubbed the Harvest Hawk weapons system.

“It’s a brand new capability for the Marine Corps and it’s proving itself very well,” said Capt. Joel D. Dunivant, a KC-130J aircraft commander with Marine Aerial Refueler Transport Squadron 352 out of Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, Calif., who is currently deployed to Afghanistan. “I’ve been a KC-130 pilot my whole time in the Marine Corps, but this is a new capability for us to support the Marines on the ground.”

The Harvest Hawk system includes a version of the target sight sensor used on the AH-1Z Cobra attack helicopter as well as a complement of four AGM-114 Hellfire and 10 Griffin missiles, a modular, precision-guided missile system typically employed on unmanned aerial vehicles. The system expands the role of the KC-130J for 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing (Forward) beyond its traditional level of support to include close air support against enemy positions and providing surveillance to disrupt improvised explosive device emplacements.

“Harvest Hawk, for me, is an opportunity to help the guys on the ground,” said Capt. Bradley C. Stadelmeier, with VMGR-352, a co-pilot for the Harvest Hawk equipped KC-130J.

Even with its expanded capabilities, Harvest Hawk crewmembers said the aircraft retains its original capabilities in refueling and transportation. Crewmembers said the Harvest Hawk KC-130J has been used to refuel other coalition aircraft in Afghanistan, and that the entire system can be removed in less than a day if necessary.

The Harvest Hawk first saw service in the Afghan skies in late 2010. Nearly six months since its inception, the aircraft has spent hundreds of hours in the air supporting coalition troops.

“I was highly skeptical of this program until I was on the ground side,” said Capt. Christopher Klempay, the air officer for 3rd Battalion, 9th Marine Regiment. “Now, my opinion is that this is one of the best missions the Hercules can provide the ground force commander.”

Supporting Marine Corps ground forces and coalition partners is one of the primary missions for the Harvest Hawk equipped KC-130J, and both aircrew and Marines on the ground said its ability to stay in the air for long periods of time, providing both surveillance and close-air support is a primary reason for its success.

“It’s great to be a part of something that helps Marines get home safely at night,” said Cpl. Jessica M. Egan, a crew chief with VMGR-352, who serves with the Harvest Hawk detachment.

Additionally, the aircraft’s laser-guided weapons allow for pinpoint accuracy, helping to ensure insurgents are neutralized with minimal impact on the Afghan people and their property.

“The Harvest Hawk is the close air support platform of choice for counter insurgency in Marjah, where collateral damage is a major concern,” said Klempay. “The fire control officers, who sit in the back of the Hercules, are the best in town because they have the ability to devote 100 percent of their attention looking for the enemy on their video imagery and talking to the forward air controllers.”

In addition to its standard complement of officer and enlisted crew, the Harvest Hawk equipped KC-130J is manned by two fire control officers to monitor and control the weapons and surveillance systems. These Marines, either AV-8B Harrier pilots or F/A-18 Hornet weapon systems officers, bring their expertise in close air support and serve as a vital link between the Marines on the ground and the aircraft supporting them.

“The tools are a little different, but the job is similar,” said Maj. Marc E. Blankenbicker with VMGR-352, the lead fire control officer for the Harvest Hawk detachment, whose primary duty in the Marine Corps is as an F/A-18 weapon systems officer. “It’s very rewarding to take a skill set from one aircraft and translate it to another aircraft.”

Both Marines in the air and Marines on the ground have cited a recent mission as a hallmark of the Harvest Hawk equipped KC-130J’s effectiveness. On March 14, the aircraft stayed airborne approximately 10 hours, expending its entire complement of Hellfire missiles providing close air support for multiple Marine Corps units operating across Regional Command Southwest.

“That Harvest Hawk was on a general scan for IED emplacers. They found four individuals digging in the road, saw them drop something heavy into a hole in the road, and the battalion determined these individuals to be hostile,” said Klempay of one of the requests the Harvest Hawk KC-130J supported that day. “The Harvest Hawk launched a Hellfire, neutralizing the enemy threat.”

Blankenbicker explained the KC-130J supported two other Marine battalions operating the same day, eliminating a number of enemy fighters.

“The Harvest Hawk is a great platform. I can talk directly to the pilot and we can improve each other's situational awareness on the spot,” said 1st Lt. Charles Broun, a platoon commander with Kilo Company, 3rd Bn., 5th Marine Regiment. “Throw in the precision ordnance it carries and it is an outstanding combat multiplier.”

“Being in the aviation community, as an aircrew, gives you a unique perspective as what the infantry battalions do every day,” said Blankenbicker. “You see where they live; you see the villages where they work. We see firsthand the efforts of the units that we’re here to support.

“Whenever you are enabling a Marine battalion to better do their job,” added Blankenbicker. “That’s a good feeling.”

-ends-

[buglerbilly]

U.S. Wants COIN Aircraft For Foreign Training

Apr 19, 2011

By Graham Warwick, Bill Sweetman
Washington, Washington



For a time it looked as if the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan might spark demand for dedicated counterinsurgency (COIN) aircraft, the way Vietnam gave new life to the A-1 Skyraider and spurred development of the OV-10 Bronco.

A little more than two years ago, the U.S. Air Force envisioned operating a fleet of 100 light-attack/armed reconnaissance aircraft as part of a specialized irregular-warfare wing, and the Navy was evaluating an organic light-attack platform for its special operations forces. Now it looks unlikely that U.S. forces will use COIN aircraft in combat, instead acquiring small fleets with which to train and equip other nations.

History will likely blame the decline in U.S. interest in dedicated light-attack platforms on shifting requirements, inter-service rivalry and pork-barrel politics. But for manufacturers with aircraft to offer, even reduced fleets mean significant business and an inroad to export orders.

When USAF released the original “capability request for information” for the Light Attack Armed Reconnaissance (LAAR) program in July 2009, it drew responses ranging from an armed Air Tractor AT-802U to a modernized OV-10(X) proposed by Boeing. LAAR has since been subsumed into the Light Air Support (LAS) program.

As outlined in the October 2010 request for proposals, the more modest LAS covers the procurement of 20 aircraft for delivery to the Afghan air force beginning in 2013, plus another 15 to meet USAF’s scaled-down LAAR requirement for aircraft with which to “build partner capability”—i.e., train less-capable air forces.

With a ceiling of 55 aircraft and $950 million, LAS is to be an indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract, suggesting more orders could follow. Declared bidders are Hawker Beechcraft (HBC) of Wichita with the AT-6 and Sierra Nevada Corp., acting as U.S. prime for Brazilian manufacturer Embraer’s offer of Super Tucanos assembled in Jacksonville, Fla.

Bidders must offer turnkey training and logistics support: HBC plans to provide AT-6 training for Afghan instructors and U.S. advisers at Salina, Kan. Sierra Nevada would perform Super Tucano training at Clovis, N.M., adjacent to Cannon AFB, while Embraer plans to supply the training devices.

The LAS competition brings together two aircraft with similar capabilities but different histories. The AT-6 is a development of the T-6 Texan II turboprop trainer produced for the Air Force and Navy. HBC previously delivered armed versions of the T-6, but the AT-6 has an integrated surveillance/attack mission system supplied by Lockheed Martin and derived from its avionics package in the upgraded A-10C attack aircraft.

The Super Tucano, although related to the earlier Tucano turboprop trainer, was a new design developed to meet a Brazilian air force light-attack/advanced-trainer requirement. “The Super Tucano was built for COIN, to operate in an austere environment, with a comfortable cockpit for long flight duration and an open avionics architecture to integrate new systems and weapons,” says Acir Padilha, Embraer’s vice president of military marketing. The Super Tucano carries two .50-cal machine guns in the wing, has five hardpoints under the wing and one under the fuselage for a FLIR turret.

Embraer has delivered 152 Super Tucanos, with a backlog of 28 orders that will continue production through 2012. The Brazilian air force has received 89 of 99 on order, the Super Tucano equipping one training squadron and three operational units charged with protecting resources in the Amazon and policing the borders with Bolivia and Paraguay.

Aircraft have been sold to Chile (12), Colombia (25), the Dominican Republic (eight), Ecuador (18), Indonesia (eight for delivery in 2012) and an undisclosed African customer (nine). Only the Chilean aircraft are solely for training. The Colombian, Dominican and Ecuadorean air forces use theirs for counter-narcotics and close air support missions, with the Colombian aircraft flown primarily at night.

The AT-6’s capability has been developed over a couple of spirals and demonstrated with congressional funding support from the U.S. Air National Guard (ANG). The AT-6 flew with its uprated Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-68D engine in April 2010 and the complete mission-system capability, including full-motion video sensor, secure communications, helmet-mounted cueing, missile warning and infrared (IR) countermeasures, was demonstrated late last year. “The system for the ANG demo was more sophisticated than that required for LAS,” says Derek Hess, HBC director for light attack.

In addition to flying close air support, forward air control and other missions for the ANG, the two company-funded AT-6 prototypes have demonstrated the slow-speed intercept role, including flying in a U.S. Northern Command exercise in the Washington area. The AT-6 intercepted slow-flying targets using remote radar data fed to the aircraft.

The Navy, meanwhile, selected the Super Tucano to demonstrate an organic “find/fix/finish” capability for its special forces using a maneuverable, long-endurance, low-heat-signature platform. Imminent Fury was a classified program under which the Navy in 2008 leased a Super Tucano owned by EP Aviation, part of the former Blackwater security company, to develop tactics, techniques and procedures.

The plan was to follow the single-aircraft demonstration at NAS Fallon, Nev., with the deployment of four Super Tucanos leased from Embraer to validate the concept operationally, but Congress refused to fund the program. Lawmakers criticized the Navy and Air Force for not working jointly. Then-Sen. Samuel Brownback (R-Kan.) and then-Rep. Todd Tiarht (R‑Kan.) also worked to block the four-aircraft lease, fearing the 100-aircraft LAAR program would go to Embraer because the AT-6, manufactured in their home state, would not be ready.

Despite a plea for funding from then-commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan Gen. Stanley McChrystal, Imminent Fury stalled. But Padilha says it “demonstrated field commanders needed the capability urgently,” and paved the way for the LAS program to equip the Afghan air force. USAF, meanwhile, is seeking funding for the first nine LAAR aircraft in fiscal 2012, to be purchased as part of the LAS contract.

A competitive fly-off between the AT-6 and Super Tucano was conducted at Kirtland AFB, N.M., in January, one of each aircraft flying three sorties: one to demonstrate the sensor capability and simulated weapon deployment, one to show operation from an unprepared runway and one in an aerobatic sortie to validate suitability for training. The LAS contract is to be awarded in June or July.

There is a wider resurgence of interest in light attack and armed reconnaissance platforms for several reasons. One is that the ratio of cost to performance for surveillance and targeting systems continues to improve, to the point where they now make sense on a small aircraft.

Another is that many militaries are interested in the “armed overwatch” capability provided by unmanned aircraft like the Predator and Reaper, but cannot acquire them because the Missile Technology Control Regime bans their export in most cases. This has generated demand for sensor- and weapon-equipped versions of relatively low-cost aircraft ranging from Hellfire-armed Cessna Caravans to EADS CN-235 light gunships.

The main beneficiary so far is Alliant Techsystems (ATK), which entered the light attack field in 2008 when its Texas-based aircraft modification unit—the former Mission Research Corp., acquired in 2004—delivered Cessna AC-208B Combat Caravans to USAF for use by the Iraqi air force. The Caravans are equipped with IR/laser-designator turrets and missile-approach warning systems and have a single-rail Hellfire missile launcher under each wing.

ATK’s newest project is a joint venture with Jordan’s King Abdullah II Design and Development Bureau (KADDB) to modify a pair of EADS CN-235 military transports into “light gunships.” The aircraft will be armed with a trainable 30-mm M230 gun (as used on the AH-64 Apache) and equipped with ATK’s STAR mission system—a big-screen operator console combining surveillance, communications and weapon functions—self-defense systems and an L-3 Wescam MX-15D sensor and designator turret. Stub wings above the landing gear sponsons can carry quadruple Hellfire launchers and 70-mm rocket pods—the latter potentially laser-guided—and the aircraft will have local armor.

The main role of the gunships will be border surveillance. Advantages of the platform include persistence, the ability to use small airfields and the fact that the Jordanian air force already uses the CN-235. (The first two aircraft, due to be delivered in 2013, were acquired from the Spanish air force.) ATK hopes there will be more demand for the modification package, and KADDB sees future aircraft being modified in Jordan.

Beyond the CN-235, ATK is also involved with Mohawk Technologies of Florida in a venture to return the Grumman OV-1D Mohawk—a COIN aircraft produced for the Army in the 1960s—to operational use. A demonstrator has been equipped with a FLIR Star Safire turret and a ventral, trainable M230 gun.

Photo: USAF

[buglerbilly]

Light Attack Gathers Steam

Apr 29, 2011

By David A. Fulghum



For the Hawker Beechcraft/Lockheed Martin AT-6 light attack aircraft team, the mantra is to produce the right weapon effects.

“If you are talking about counterinsurgency target sets, you want to be able to pick the right weapon and precisely place it where and when it needs to be there,” says Dan Hinson, AT-6 demonstration and test manager and chief test pilot for the team. “That requires persistence and network-centric command and control.”

The team is competing against Embraer with the Super Tucano to supply 20 Light Support Aircraft to Afghanistan and potentially 15 aircraft to the U.S. Air Force for use in training foreign air forces.

For more endurance, the team is looking at ways to add fuel without diminishing capability.

“We are working on putting 325 pounds of extra internal fuel in the wings, which would give another 45 minutes to an hour of flight,” Hinson says. “I flew four to six hours and still had 400 pounds of gas. That was with the EO/IR [electro-optic/infrared] turret and external fuel tanks, but not weapons.

“If the mission is ISR , we can stand out there a long time,” Hinson continues. “Five hours is very doable and four is a pretty good standard. Being able to hang out in the battle with the same guys on station without having to cycle out for inflight refueling provides an amazing [amount of continuity] for an airborne mission.”

Another imperative for the AT-6 program is to leverage prior Defense Department investments in people, programs, logistics, platforms and training systems.

“We’ve taken the EO/IR sensor capability out of the MC-12W ISR aircraft, and we have integrated all of those capabilities,” Hinson says. “That means the Defense Department is familiar with every part we’re putting on the aircraft.”

For actual combat use, the AT-6 is considered to be in the right altitude band to give the best trade-off between avoiding threats while staying close enough to the fight to conduct precision targeting.

“We’re networked into the land battle with the A-10s and F-16s,” says Derek Hess, Hawker Beechcraft’s director of light attack programs. “We will have the ability to exchange still images, nine-line messages and streaming video as well as the flexibility of a helmet-mounted cuing system.”

“Right now the focus on the interaction of this aircraft and its capabilities [is being explored in] training missions that include joint terminal attack controller training, intelligence processing, exploitation and dissemination training while serving as a surrogate [unmanned aerial system] platform for U.S. peacetime training missions,” Hinson says. “The mission set lends itself to homeland defense and security missions like border and port security, counter-narcoterrorism, maritime patrol, disaster area imagery or search and rescue.”

Several key pieces are receiving particularly intense scrutiny, including the defensive survival equipment (missile warning and countermeasures systems) and the Scorpion helmet-mounted cueing system (HMCS).

“When you tie it into a network-centric weapons-delivery platform, the package becomes a significant force multiplier,” Hinson says. “When you talk about having Forward Air Controller-Airborne [capabilities] in both [front and rear] cockpits, it is huge. We are A-10-centric, so a second cockpit is something that continues the evolution of capabilities as new tactics, techniques and procedures emerge.”

[I]Photo: US Navy

[buglerbilly]

AT-6 Seen As Versatile Combat Aircraft

May 18, 2011

By David Fulghum
Washington



The turboprop-powered T-6 Texan II began life as a trainer and then morphed into the AT-6 light attack aircraft for the Greek air force. Now, as the AT-6B/C, it is promising to become an inexpensive path to network-centric operations, precision strike and advanced surveillance for other air forces.

Nor is there a foreseeable end to the development potential envisioned for the two-seater. It offers 1,600 shp, 5-6-hr. endurance and an A-10C cockpit—a combination that’s being created by the team of Hawker Beechcraft and Lockheed Martin.

As for what a light attack platform should be, the debate is over, declares Daniel Hinson, AT-6 demonstration and test manager and chief test pilot. The answer, he contends, is an affordable manned platform that is toughened to the demands of pilot training and that lends itself to integrating niche features that include precision weapons as well as advanced intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities.

“The next great debate will be to define light attack weapons,” Hinson says. “There are weapons in the inventory but they don’t take advantage of the platform’s long persistence, ISR sensors or the ability to stay overhead and deliver ordnance over and over.”

Producing the right weapons effects is the cornerstone of light attack.

“If you are talking about counter-insurgency target sets, you want to be able to pick the right weapon and place it precisely where and when it needs to be there,” Hinson says. “That requires persistence and network-centric command and control. Users also can take advantage of the turboprop’s low cost, austere-field operations and its ability to use small weapons that produce the needed lethality.”

To increase endurance, the team is looking at ways to add fuel without penalizing the aircraft’s aerodynamics.

“We’re working on putting 325 lb. of extra internal fuel in the wings, which would give another 45 min. to an hour of flight,” says Hinson. “I flew 4.6 hr. and still had 400 lb. of gas. That was with the IR/EO turret and external fuel tanks, but not weapons. If the mission is ISR, we can stand out there a long time. Five hours is very doable and four is a pretty good standard. Being able to hang out in the battle with the same guys on station without having to cycle out for inflight refueling provides an amazing [amount of continuity] for an airborne mission.

A second imperative for the AT-6 program is to leverage prior Defense Department spending on people, programs, logistics, platforms and training systems.

“We’ve taken the EO/IR sensor [feature] out of the MC-12W ISR aircraft and we have integrated all of those capabilities,” Hinson says. “That means the Defense Department is familiar with every part we’re putting on the aircraft.”

For actual combat use, the AT-6 is considered to be in the right altitude band to give the best tradeoff between avoiding threats and staying close enough to see the fight.

“We’re networked into the land battle with the A-10s and F-16s,” says Derek Hess, director of the AT-6 light attack program. “We will have the ability to exchange still images, nine-line messages and streaming video as well as the flexibility of a helmet-mounted cueing system,” he adds.

“Right now specialized missions are the focus of the interaction of this aircraft and its capabilities. They include joint terminal attack controller training, intelligence processing and dissemination training while serving as a surrogate [unmanned] platform for U.S. peacetime training missions,” says Hinson. “The mission set lends itself to homeland defense missions like border and port security, counter-narcoterrorism, maritime patrol, disaster area imagery or search and rescue.”

Several key pieces—defensive survival equipment (missile warning and countermeasures systems) and the Scorpion helmet-mounted cueing system—are drawing particularly intense scrutiny.

“When you tie it into a network-centric, weapons-delivery platform, the package becomes a significant force multiplier,” Hinson says. “When you talk about having Forward Air Controller-Airborne [FAC-A capabilities] in both [front and rear] cockpits, it is huge. We are A-10-centric, so a second cockpit is something that continues the evolution of capabilities as new tactics, techniques and procedures emerge.”

Another part of the AT-6 concept involves introducing advanced communications. The AT-6 program was able to fly as part of intercept missions using a classified situational awareness data-link network (SADL). As a participant in an air-sovereignty alert, the aircraft detected and intercepted contacts.

“We locked up tracks and intercepted unknown aircraft using the [SADL] network . . . over Washington with air defense pilots on board,” Hinson says. “We can also exercise the full-motion video capability with a digital common multi-band data link. The SADL radio functioned as an A-10 would; therefore any message upgrade that would be integrated into the A-10 could also be integrated into the AT-6.”

Of particular interest is the Link-16 and SADL J16.0, a J-series message carrying an image. The idea is to send images and streaming video via a Rover-compatible system, which is important for ISR and FAC-A missions. Other possible roles include network analysis and long-term electronic surveillance.

“With the J-series messaging on the AT-6, [data] lends itself to exportability throughout the entire fielded infrastructure in any theater you could imagine to include special operations forces on the ground without a lot of support,” Hinson says. “We can establish and make those nodes in the network come to life and immediately distribute intelligence and targeting information beyond the local network.”

Electronic warfare and network attack also become possible with the networked, A-10C cockpit’s installation in the AT-6.

“We are a node by virtue of the fact that we are in the network, whether it is distributed by a ground station or a King Air or any of the other systems that are out there,” Hess says. “We have the flexibility to use that node in the network in a variety of ways. That includes using future systems that increase the number and size of antennas or using distributed antennas as nodes in an electronic battle management network. We look forward to a future where we can take advantage of a small aircraft with full network capability, because the potential is enormous.”

There are also interesting matches in the combat arena, particularly when the AT-6B is paired with additional sensors on a larger, standoff support aircraft.

“Light attack aircraft and a King Air-based platform using off-the-shelf data links [offer the ability] to rapidly work data between platforms to generate and prosecute target sets in the irregular warfare environment,” says Hinson.

Moreover, the aircraft’s long endurance at low speeds allows it to move closer to the target and monitor its emissions longer.

The ability to get close increases operational flexibility, “particularly since we are not dependent on satellites or external data links or [unmanned aerial system] support vehicles,” Hess says. “We also have self-defenses and armor so that we can afford to take some risk. You also have a man in the back who can step in. There’s loads of potential there.”

That brings up the possibility of arming the AT-6 with air-to-air missiles.

“The AIM-120 [medium-range air-to-air missile] would be a stretch, but we certainly have plans for the AIM-9X,” Hinson says. “It’s certainly possible.”

[I]Photo: Jim Haseltine

[buglerbilly]

DATE:27/05/11

SOURCE:Flight International

Cessna Caravan wins USAF counter-insurgency contract

By Stephen Trimble

Wichita-based Cessna has beat several foreign competitors for a contract to supply dozens of "light lift" aircraft as the US Air Force (USAF) arms itself and certain partner countries for irregular warfare.

The USAF awarded an $88.5 million contract on 26 May for six Cessna T-128T and 26 Cessna 208B Caravans to be delivered the Afghanistan air force.

Cessna, a Textron subsidiary, beat rival offers from New Zealand-based Pacific Aerospace P-750, which was teamed with DynCorp, and the EADS North America CASA C-212.

The award is part of a two-year-old initiative launched by USAF chief of staff Gen Norton Schwartz to equip both his own service and certain partner countries with aircraft suited to irregular warfare campaigns.


Photo courtesy of US Air Force

After donating the 32 total aircraft to the Afghanistan air force, the light lift contract includes an option to deliver 15 more aircraft to McGuire AFB, New Jersey, to start training an air advisory corps within the USAF.

The contract also includes options for buying another 24 Caravans in two lots, which may be passed on to other countries which have partnered with the USAF in battles against insurgents and terrorists.

The light lift contract award comes as the air force continues to evaluate bids for a turboprop-powered light strike fighter.

A Hawker Beechcraft/Lockheed Martin team has offered the AT-6B against an Embraer/Sierra Nevada team proposing the A-26 Super Tucano. Embraer is based in Brazil, but intends to install a second final assembly plant in Jacksonville, Florida.

The USAF source selection process does not usually consider whether the aircraft is sourced from another country, but political supporters of the Hawker/Lockheed team has raised concerns about buying combat aircraft from Brazil.

[buglerbilly]

Harvest Hawk proving itself to commanders

June 03, 2011



Aircrews flying the US Marine Corps’ latest aerial platform say it has more than proven itself in combat.

The KC-130J Harvest HAWK (Hercules Airborne Weapons Kit) may look like any other Hercules but Lockheed Martin and the USMC have turned the aircraft into an extremely capable close air support aircraft with the ability to spend hours over the battlefield and deliver ordnance to where it’s needed.

The Harvest Hawk went into operation in October 2010 and since then has flown around 1,300 flight hours, expending nearly around 40 Hellfires and 10 Griffin missiles against enemy combatants in Southern Afghanistan.

The weapons are aimed using an EO/IR and laser designator fitted to a modified fuel tank under the port wing. The system is controlled by a pair of fire control operators sat in the rear of the aircraft.

'Ground commanders were apprehensive at first,' said Maj Marc Blankenbicker, fire control officer and OC of the Harvest Hawk flight at Camp Dwyer.

'It was new, and traditional Marine Corps concepts of the C-130 are not kinetic. There may have been misconceptions and miscommunications, but we quickly dispelled them, and it did not take long before we had a close relationship with the ground commanders.

'Today, there are a lot of units that prefer to have us overhead,' added Blankenbicker.

The aircraft is unique in the USMC in being able to provide long endurance close air support over the battlefield. The marines current rely heavily on overhead cover from 'fast air' platforms such as Harriers and Hornets, but these aircraft are limited to short stints over the battlefield before they have to head for a tanker or another airfield for fuel. The Hawk on the other hand can remain up for seven or eight hours; the longest mission so far is 10.2 hours.

Just the one Harvest Hawk is flying on operations at the moment, but Lockheed Martin is currently preparing the second in Palmdale, California, and that aircraft is set to arrive in theatre later this year. The ultimate aim for the marines is to have three aircraft in each of the three KC-130J squadrons.

There will be more on the Harvest Hawk in a future edition of Digital Battlespace magazine.

Tony Osborne, Camp Dwyer, Afghanistan

[buglerbilly]

PAS 2011: ATK targets next-generation weapons for Combat Caravan

June 22, 2011

ATK Missile Systems has revealed plans to integrate a series of 2.75-inch (70 mm) guided rockets onto its AC-208 Combat Caravan irregular warfare platform, company officials have told Shephard.

According to ATK's Defense Electronics Systems VP and GM William Kasting, the company is considering the integration of both the Direct Attack Guided Rocket (DAGR) and Guided Advanced Tactical Rocket (GATR) munitions onto the Cessna 208 platform.

The move will significantly boost the firepower of the aircraft in its existing configuration. The Iraqi Air Force for example, is operating 11 AC-208 Combat Caravans, three of which are armed with Lockheed Martin AGM-114M/K Hellfire missiles.

Kasting told Shephard that ATK was looking to go-ahead with a demonstration of Lockheed Martin's DAGR for the US Air Force later in the year but said financial issues could potentially hamper plans. Although the initiative is internally funded by ATK, Kasting did admit that a possible development contract could also be agreed with the air force.

At the same time, ATK is also considering integrating the GATR weapon which it has developed in collaboration with Elbit Systems. As with DAGR, the semi-active laser guidance munition is designed for fixed, rotary-wing and UAS platforms, according to Kasting. However, he conceded that there were no existing plans to test fire the munition from the Combat Caravan.

The Combat Caravan was primarily designed as an ISR platform and is fitted with L-3 Wescam's MX-15D EO/IR payload with integrated laser designator; AAR-47/ALE-47 Defensive Countermeasures System; VHF/UHF communications; full-motion video; and ATK's STAR mission system. In addition, Kasting said ATK was also considering the Thales I-Master SAR/GMTI payload.

Andrew White, Paris

[buglerbilly]

Air Tractor Near Deal For More 802U Orders

Jun 22, 2011

By Amy Butler abutler@aviationweek.com
WASHINGTON



Air Tractor is planning to showcase the armed version of its crop duster at this week’s Paris air show and possibly announce more orders, says Lee Jackson, a project engineer on the program.

The company has already secured its first order for the 802U.

Jackson declines to identify its first customer, which is foreign, owing to the customer’s request. Air Tractor is providing the platform and a U.S. company is handling integration of the system — also not identified — including a Moog integrated stores and management system, and a fuselage-mounted electro-optical and infrared camera including laser illuminator/designator.

Mike Brunner, director of business development for Moog, says the customer is a strong U.S. ally in the Middle East; the initial order is for 10 units.

Jackson says the agreement with a U.S. integrator is not exclusive, and the company can seek other agreements for potential orders. The company has recently produced about 100 of its varying aircraft annually from its Olney, Texas, facility. This year, orders are near 130, he says. The 802 aircraft was originally designed for crop dusting and use against fires.

The “U” designation denotes the military version, including hard points for weapons and sensors. It can carry 8,000 lb. of payload, including rail-launched and ejected weapons as well as sensors.

The 802U was on display at the 2009 Paris air show and last year’s Farnborough Air Show near London. The aircraft on display this year will include the Moog stores management system, as well as a newly integrated Wescam MX-15Di. This is a sensor widely used by the U.S. Air Force. And, this is the first time the Moog integrated stores management and delivery system will be displayed at the Paris air show.

Jackson says the company is working to get approval by the FAA for use of the Wescam. Moog also has a version of the stores management system that can function with the FLIR Systems Brite Star II sensor, says Brunner.

[buglerbilly]

Alenia Plans C-27J Gunship

Posted by Bradley Peniston | June 22nd, 2011 | Paris Air Show 2011


U.S. Air Force C-27J / Air Force Times file photo

By TOM KINGTON • PARIS — Alenia Aeronautica has been asked by the Italian military to study ways to convert Italian Air Force C-27J tactical transports into gunships and special forces aircraft.

Under the Praetorian program, Alenia will plan to place weapons and integrated weapon systems on the aircraft, as well as communications intelligence and EO/IR sensor systems on the aircraft.

Announcing the initiative June 22 at the Paris Air Show, Alenia CEO Giuseppe Giordo said the firm would seek export markets for the new version as well as international partners.

Giordo said the weapon would be a pallet-based, flexible add-on to the aircraft rather that fully integrated in order to keep costs down. As an example of pallet-based loads now being added to the C-27J, he pointed to the aircraft on display here, which features a palletized, two-console command-and-control unit.

A source at the firm added that a gun would likely be positioned to fire from the side door of the aircraft when opened.

Giordo has recently traveled to Afghanistan to see Italy’s C-27J aircraft in action.

On Wednesday, Giordo also announced that Alenia expected three new C-27J customers in Africa and South America to order a total of 11 aircraft imminently for a combined value of 500 million euros ($722 million).

To date a total of 79 aircraft have been ordered by Italy, Greece, Bulgaria, Lithuania, Romania, Morocco and the U.S.

[buglerbilly]

DATE:22/06/11

SOURCE:Flight Daily News

PARIS: In the Moog for fighting

By Greg Waldron

Among the slick fighters and large airliners on static display it would be easy to overlook the unglamorous Air Tractor AT-802U single-engined turboprop.

Nonetheless, light attack aircraft such as the Air Tractor are receiving growing interest from air forces, which increasingly require aircraft with punch and endurance for counterinsurgency missions.

US firm Moog has capitalised on this trend with its Integrated Stores Management and Deliver System (ISMDS). The company recently supplied "a significant number" of ISMDS units to a US contractor that integrated the systems for a nation operating Air Tractors in a border patrol mission.


© Billypix

Moog's offering comprises several components: a stores management/mission computer, an armament control panel, an airborne mapping system, and a targeting pod housing assembly. It also includes a pylon launch and rail launch capability.

During missions ISMDS communicates what is attached to each pylon to the cockpit through the armament control panel. Its targeting pod can acquire objects and send co-ordinates to the stores management computer. "The ISMDS is very modular," said Michael Brunner, business development manager for Moog's space and defence group.

"The baseline design can manage one to seven weapon stations and the electric ejector racks in the pylon can accommodate any standard 14in [355mm] NATO lug. A rocket or rail launch system can be integrate if desired. Several weapons have already been integrated with the Moog system."

[buglerbilly]

Marine Corps Considers New Cannon for Airborne Gunship

September 2011 edition

By David C. Ake



Less than a year after it successfully fielded an “off-the-shelf” gunship to improve its close-air support capabilities, the Marine Corps is already considering upgrades for its newest aircraft.

The service in 2010 took KC-130J airborne tankers and outfitted them with a kit comprising already developed intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance packages and weapon systems. The Harvest Hawk, like the Air Force Special Operations Command’s AC-130 gunships, can loiter for long periods at night, peer down at enemies and engage them when called upon.

The program has proven successful enough for the service to consider an upgrade, the addition of a 30mm GAU-23 cannon to Harvest Hawk’s weapons configuration, said Maj. Richard Roberts, a KC-130/Operational Support Airlift requirements officer at headquarters Marine Corps aviation.

The GAU-23 is considered a low-risk choice because the Navy and Marine Corps already use it. The Marine Corps deferred adding the cannon in June 2009 because “the 30mm cannon integration technology was not sufficiently mature to allow inclusion,” Roberts said. In the future, if technology permits, the Marine Corps may bolt the 30mm cannon to the cargo floor in an arrangement that allows it to fire out of the left side paratrooper door and still remain true to the modular concept of the aircraft.

The “hawk” part of the name is an acronym for the C-130 “Hercules airborne weapons kit.”

The Marine Corps will have a contract for the sixth Harvest Hawk by the end of the year, but it awaits a decision from aviation leadership to purchase additional units beyond that, Roberts said. The first three kits have been acquired and delivered. The second will soon replace the Harvest Hawk currently operating in Afghanistan so it can be rotated into training for other crews.

The Harvest Hawk fills a gap in Marine air power, officials said. At the behest of Marine Corps Central Command, the service began developing the Harvest Hawk in 2009 when commanders put in an urgent universal needs statement requesting a weapons platform that could perform ISR with a long-loiter capability for close-air support. The first Harvest Hawk was deployed to Afghanistan in October 2010.

Unlike the fixed-wing Harrier jump jet and Cobra attack helicopter — the air-support workhorses of marines — the Harvest Hawk can remain on station for more than seven hours. It has a weapon load similar to a Cobra, giving marines support on the ground via an ISR pod mounted on the left external fuel tank. It employs Hellfire and Griffin missiles.

Along with the cannon, the Corps is considering adding Viper Strike missiles.

As of July, the one Harvest Hawk deployed in Afghanistan has fired 42 Hellfire and 11 Griffin missiles and identified eight improvised explosive devices. The total number of enemy combatants engaged and destroyed by the Harvest Hawk is classified, but a Marine Corps journalist reported in November 2010 that it killed five enemy combatants with a single Hellfire during its first weapons engagement in Afghanistan, which came less than a month after its deployment.

The operating altitude of a KC-130J Harvest Hawk is another advantage of the system, Roberts said. It is certified to engage enemies up to 25,000 feet above sea level. At that altitude it’s difficult for enemies to see or hear, he added.

“The low noise signature of the KC-130J, combined with night operations, allows Harvest Hawk crews to remain virtually undetected and employ weapons on unsuspecting enemy combatants,” Roberts said.

The Marine Corps has touted the low “fly away” cost of the system. The KC-130J is $69.5 million. Adding the weapons and IRS kits is estimated at about $10 million, keeping the price of the aircraft well below the $190 million unit cost of an AC-130. It uses the same AN/AAQ-30 targeting system as the Cobra.

“The primary role of the Harvest Hawk system is conducting multi-sensor imagery reconnaissance and close-air support, but the crew and system is flexible enough to allow re-tasking in flight,” Roberts said.

Roberts attributed the rapid fielding success of the Harvest Hawk to the urgent requests by the Marine Corps when commanders on the battlefield identified a critical operational need. If Harvest Hawk had gone through the normal procurement process of the Joint Capabilities Integration Development System, it might have taken two to three more years to deliver the weapon system to marines in Afghanistan, he said.

“Thanks to government and industry partners and the support of Congress, the Marine Corps fielded a relevant capability that meets the urgent needs of Marines in the shortest possible time. Maintaining a limber acquisition process like the existing urgent universal needs system is essential to continued acquisition success,” Roberts said.

David Ake served in the Army from 2001 to 2005 as an M1A1 armor crewman and deployed to Iraq in February 2004. He was a summer intern at National Defense Magazine.

[buglerbilly]

Report: AF light aircraft decision could be soon

By Philip Ewing Tuesday, August 23rd, 2011 11:26 am



For awhile there, everybody was talking about the U.S. Air Force buying not another super-advanced mega-jet, but a slow, low-flying propeller-powered airplane that wouldn’t even need to be “low observable.” The Air Force wants to buy a batch of Light Air Support planes for Afghan pilots to use as trainers and in counter-insurgency missions, and it also considered buying some for itself, to provide air support and armed overwatch for American ground troops. But the urgency seemed to go out of both halves of this effort, with missed deadlines and radio silence about how or whether it would go forward.

That was until Tuesday’s Daily Report from Air Force Magazine, which said a decision on the Afghan side, the Light Air Support competition, could be announced in September. Here’s how the newsletter broke it down:


“With respect to when the government might announce that, we still don’t have any definitive answer,” Derek Hess, director of Hawker-Beechcraft’s light attack program recently told the Daily Report. A decision on a ground support aircraft to provide the Afghan Air Force with a duel-role counter-insurgency training platform was expected in June, but is now slated for September, said Air Force spokesman Lt. Col. Jack Miller. The Air Force expects to field 20 aircraft as arms assistance to the Afghan government under the LAS program, said Miller. Hawker-Beechcraft is partnered with Lockheed offering the AT-6 against the Embraer Super Tucano, offered in partnership with US contractor Sierra Nevada. “We believe, because it is past their published deadline [for LAS] and that has not been updated, that they are working diligently to make the source selection announcement and we’re ready to get on with it,” said Hess.

As for a potential U.S. Air Force light attack aircraft, the jury seems to be out. Commanders’ original hopes were that a new armed plane would be flying in Afghanistan by 2013, but it’s possible the Air Force brass could be worried about an MRAP problem: The U.S. is slated to transfer responsibility to the Afghans the following year, and Air Force officials may not want to spend the money and effort on custom aircraft they’d just be stuck with after a few months of service. Especially if getting the birds requires another tiff with Congress.

Read more: http://www.dodbuzz.com/2011/08/23/report-af-light-aircraft-decision-could-be-soon/#ixzz1VtGwlD3R
DoDBuzz.com

[buglerbilly]

USAF Light Attack Decision in November?



A U.S. Army general today dropped a bit of interesting news about a U.S. Air Force program today. The air service will make a decision on what type of plane it wants for the Light Air Support contest in November, Army Maj. Gen. Peter Fuller told bloggers this morning.

For years now, the Air Force has been looking to buy a handful of light, turboprop-driven planes that can be used to train foreign pilots and carry out light attack missions. Embraer’s Super Tucano, already used throughout Latin America for these missions is a perfect example of this type of plane.

The Super T has been pitted against Hawker Beechcraft’s AT-6 (shown above) in the competition for up to 20 birds to help train the nascent Afghan National Army Air Force.

However, the program has been scaled back considerably since early 2010 and seemed stalled out when original the June 2011 contract award date came and went without a peep from the air service. Then, last month, news surfaced that the Air Force was to choose a winning plane in September.

Here’s what Fuller, deputy commander of programs for NATO’s effort to build the Afghan military and police, said today when DT asked for an update on the Afghan air force:


They have asked for a fighter jet, the F-16 specifically. Instead, we’re going to provide them a close air support, turboprop aircraft and it’s in source selection right now with the U.S. Air Force. The U.S Air Force is going to buy that same aircraft and when the U.S. Air Force decides what aircraft they’re going to procure, we’ll buy the same aircraft. So, sometime in November they should complete that source selection and we’ll start fielding them in about the 2014–2015 time-frame.

(I’ll let you know what the Air Force says about this when we hear back from them.)

Fuller was explaining how the U.S. is guiding the Afghan air force toward buy the right, aka cost effective airplanes such as the light attack fighter and 20 of the twin-engine C-27A Spartan transport despite the fact that local officials sometimes want to buy expensive hardware like F-16s or brand new C-130Js. “They have asked for the C-130 and we said, you can’t afford a very expensive aircraft,” said Fuller.

The same goes for ISR gear, according to the two-star.


They couldn’t afford it; there’s a big infrastructure associated with ISR. That goes back to Afghan-right, Afghan-first, Afghan-like. This is Afghan-right. This is where they have to negotiate with the U.S. government and other countries to say, ‘I still need some additional capability can you provide that for me?’ Instead of buying jet aircraft why don’t they negotiate with us and other countries to have us provide some air support that’s located here on a temporary basis or a rotational basis.

The whole premise behind Fuller’s Afghan-right concept is to give the nation equipment that will meet its security needs but won’t brake the bank — especially important given the fact that the country is trying to build its civil infrastructure.


Every now and then I’ll hear the comment when I’m talking to a senior leader here [where they] say they need tanks and jets. I said, ‘you can’t afford that and what we need to think about is how do you afford this because, in the future, I don’t believe the U.S. government is going to be interested in paying a really high sustainment cost because we gave you tanks and jets and they’re very expensive to operate.’ So, they’re starting to understand what’s appropriate for this country because if you have to spend all your cash just to sustain your military force then what about the schools?

If we have them spend all of their available cash on maintaining this big force that we could potentially put here, they’re not going to be able to afford schools, they’re not going to be able to afford medical care. So we’re trying to be very good stewards of your tax dollars and my tax dollars and ensure that we do the right thing for Afghanistan and give them the capability that they need.

Read more: http://defensetech.org/2011/09/07/usaf-light-attack-decision-in-november/#ixzz1XKHjPbLv
Defense.org

[buglerbilly]

Raytheon Aims to Integrate Griffin on AT-6 Light Attack Aircraft

(Source: Raytheon Company; issued September 14, 2011)

LONDON --- Raytheon Company is seeking to integrate the combat-proven Griffin missile onto the Hawker AT-6 light attack aircraft.

Griffin weighs 44 pounds with its launch tube, is 43 inches long and is an air- and ground-launched, precision-guided missile designed for rapid integration onto rotary- and fixed-wing aircraft and ground-launch applications.

"Integrating Griffin on the AT-6 aircraft gives the warfighter a cost-effective solution to provide persistent surveillance and low-collateral damage in counterinsurgency and irregular warfare operations," said Harry Schulte, vice president of Raytheon Missile Systems' Air Warfare Systems. "The integration of precision weapons onto versatile light-attack, reconnaissance platforms enables customers to take off-the-shelf capabilities and rapidly field a solution that meets their needs."

Griffin enables the warfighter to engage targets via a user-friendly graphic interface and guide the weapon to the target using GPS coordinates or laser designation. To maximize lethality, the user can choose to engage the target with height of burst, point detonation or fuze delay.

The Griffin missile is in production and integrated on the C-130 Harvest Hawk. Griffin A is an aft-eject missile designed for employment from non-conventional platforms such as the C-130 aircraft. Griffin B is a forward-firing missile that launches from rotary- and fixed-wing aircraft and ground-launch applications.

Raytheon Company, with 2010 sales of $25 billion, is a technology and innovation leader specializing in defense, homeland security and other government markets throughout the world. With headquarters in Waltham, Mass., Raytheon employs 72,000 people worldwide.

-ends-

[buglerbilly]

Light-Attack Plane Seeks New Life In Navy

By Carlo Munoz

Published: September 20, 2011



National Harbor: A light-attack aircraft may yet find its way into the hands of U.S. aviators, but not with the service that some may have thought.

Lockheed Martin and Hawker-Beechcraft have formally pitched their AT-6B light-attack counterinsurgency plane for the upcoming Navy-led Combat Dragon II program, according to sources familiar with the effort.

The Navy recently shifted over $17 million into the Combat Dragon II program, designed to prove that a small, turboprop-driven aircraft can be used for "high end/special aviation" missions in Afghanistan.

The program was driven by the need coming out of from Central Command to have aircraft do close air support missions that larger fighters and bombers could not do, specifically in support of Naval Special Warfare units.

The Navy tried to fill that requirement through the Imminent Fury program, using the Brazilian-built Embraer Super Tucano. But that program fizzled out shortly before the planes headed out to Afghanistan for operational tests.

Combat Dragon II, which is set to kick off in Afghanistan by next spring, will use modified, Vietnam-era OV-10 Broncos, sources say. But the Lockheed Martin-Hawker Beechcraft team are pushing the Navy to include their plane in that mix.

While no decision has been made on whether to roll the AT-6B into Combat Dragon II, its inclusion could breath some new life into the program.

To date, the only firm commitment to buy the AT-6B has come from the Afghan Ministry of Defense to support the country's fledgling air forces.

The Air Force was looking at the AT-6B, along with the Super Tucano, to build a fleet of aircraft specifically to train partner nations in counterinsurgency and counterterrorism operations. But to date, the Air Force has yet to formally solicit proposals from industry for that international training effort.

Moreover, Air Force leaders -- including Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz -- have said the service will never field a light-attack aircraft of its own, despite the fact the Joint Requirements Oversight Council and Joint Requirements Board validated the need for the plane, sources say.

But since the AT-6B already uses the same fire controls as the venerable A-10 Warthog, and that it can be fitted with key sensor and communication systems needed for counterinsurgency missions, makes the plane a good fit for the Navy or whoever needs a light-attack airplane, Lockheed Martin Business Development chief Bob Silva said.

[Unicorn]

The Bronco would be a superb aircraft for the COIN role, it was designed for that role, rather than strapping pods on a trainer and sending it to war.

I have spoken to someone who has flown one several times and he thinks it's one of the best planes ever.

His comment was if he could personally own one warbird, the Bronco would be it, because its eminently practical, cheap to operate and uses a lot of components that are readily available.

.

[Gubler, A.]

The Bronco didn't do so well in VietNam as a FAC bird replacement for the O-2. It was capable of light strike but for FAC which is really the mission behind this push for a new aircraft its too loud, can't turn as fast, too hard to maintain and doesn't have good enough downwards visibility. Something like the Cessna O-2TT Skymaster that the FAC community wanted as their new aircraft (a tandem seat O-2A with better cockpit and turbine engines replacing the pistons). If you were to make it today you would want to incorporate some YO-3 tech for silent engines and props to make an ideal C2 recce bird for COIN. Can still carry more than enough weapons for self defence but isn't going to be a psuedo bomb truck.

[buglerbilly]

AT-6 Tested for Light Air Defense Missions



Here’s an interesting little nugget of info that came out of this week’s Air Force Association conference in National Harbor, Md:

Hawker Beechcraft and Lockheed Martin’s AT-6 entry into the Air Force’s light attack competition has been tested by the Air National Guard in the Air Sovereignty Alert (ASA) mission that defends U.S. airspace.

The turboprop plane flew in one of U.S. Northern Command’s Falcon Virgo ASA exercises out of Andrews Air Force Base, Md., last November where it intercepted a slow, Cessna-style propeller plane four times in the skies above Washington DC, said Derek Hess, Hawker Beechcraft’s director of AT-6 development, yesterday during a briefing at the conference.

The AT-6 zeroed in on the Cessna-like plane using radar information that was sent to it via the ubiquitous Link-16 datalink and exchanged text messages with ground controllers and a pair of F-16 fighters. The AT-6 being offered to the USAF comes equipped with a glass cockpit based on the A-10C Warthog’s.

“We successfully completed all four of the intercepts, we had been on station for a little more than two hours, the F-16s had departed, the didn’t have a tanker so they had gone back to land and they asked ups, ‘Ok, are you guys ready to land?’ We said, ‘well, we still have an hour and a half of fuel left… We were able to text both ground controllers as well as the F-16. We traded tracks with the F-16s that showed where we were locked to, we could see their radar information piped into the aircraft as well.”

While we usually hear about the AT-6 being proposed for a light ground attack and recon role, it can carry .50 caliber machine guns and will even conduct live-fire tests with the AIM-9X Sidewinder air-to-air missile in 2012, according to Hess.

The plane participated in the exercise as part of a multiyear evaluation by the Air National Guard aimed at testing the turboprop in a number of simulated combat simulations.

It’s common knowledge that Air Force (ANG and Reserve) F-16s and F-15s have been flying ASA patrols around major U.S. cities since 9/11. Less known is that the skies around DC are also patrolled by U.S. Coast Guard HH-65 Dolphin choppers tasked with intercepting small, slow targets like the Cessna intercepted by the AT-6. Kinda weird since the Dolphin’s primary mission with the Coasties is search-and-rescue.

This test comes after years of warnings by Air National Guard leaders that the ASA mission is being threatened by the fact that many ANG F-16s and F-15s are rapidly approaching the end of their service lives.

However, don’t expect the Guard to start replacing F-16s with AT-6s. The Air Force has recently committed to extending the lives of many of the “legacy” fighters and giving the jets new radars and avionics to keep them flying until they can be replaced by the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. In a time of very tight budgets balanced against some very high profile acquisition projects, I don’t see a high likelihood of the service buying the AT-6 to fly ASA.

Meanwhile, remember that the Air Force has apparently pushed back the contract award date for the light attack contest until November (if it goes through with the effort, at all).

The light attack competition pits the AT-6 against Embraer’s Super Tucano and is meant to equip the Air Force with roughly 20 turboprop planes that will be used to help train nascent air forces around the world on how to operate a similar fleet of cheap and easy-to-use light attack craft.

While the Air Force might scale cut spending on all but its most important new weapons programs ( and light attack is not on of those programs), there are still plenty of opportunities to sell the plane to foreign air forces, said Lockheed’s Mike Silva during the same briefing.

“We know that around the world there are significant opportunities for light attack. There are hundreds of light attack aircraft out there today, from A-37s to F-5s, that are obsolete and unsupportable. These countries are going to have to buy something high-end or they’re going to have to buy something that’s more affordable … either jet or turboprop because they’re not going to be able to sustain what they have today.”

Read more: http://defensetech.org/2011/09/21/at-6-tested-for-light-air-defense-missions/#ixzz1Ye6t0ugx
Defense.org

[Unicorn]

The Bronco didn't do so well in VietNam as a FAC bird replacement for the O-2. It was capable of light strike but for FAC which is really the mission behind this push for a new aircraft its too loud, can't turn as fast, too hard to maintain and doesn't have good enough downwards visibility. Something like the Cessna O-2TT Skymaster that the FAC community wanted as their new aircraft (a tandem seat O-2A with better cockpit and turbine engines replacing the pistons). If you were to make it today you would want to incorporate some YO-3 tech for silent engines and props to make an ideal C2 recce bird for COIN. Can still carry more than enough weapons for self defence but isn't going to be a psuedo bomb truck.

Not good enough downwards vision?

WTF The cockpit is bulged so that you can look directly downwards while flying in level flight. It was designed that way for precisely that reason.

The Bronco was designed to operate against insurgents either through its own weaponry, or via marking the target for strike by fast movers.

It's also designed to be a lot more survivable than a single-engined bird, lose one and the second will get you home.

.

[Gubler, A.]

Not good enough downwards vision?

WTF The cockpit is bulged so that you can look directly downwards while flying in level flight. It was designed that way for precisely that reason.

Which is fine if you are flying nicely along at 5,000-10,000 feet and you want to look down. But that is not what a FAC aircraft does. It is manoeuvring at low level and the ability to look down is mostly about looking down and back as the aircraft banks. The Bronco is even worse than a low wing aircraft in this regard because it has the engine and the prop disc and some sponsons blocking most view backwards and under each wing.

The Bronco was first and foremost designed to takeoff and land in short distances. This was the primary design requirement of the LARA competition that it was the ‘winner’ of. It was not designed as a FAC aircraft. The LARA had to do a range of missions but all of them from short road runways. Bulging windows does not help much when you can’t look past aircraft structure.


The Bronco was designed to operate against insurgents either through its own weaponry, or via marking the target for strike by fast movers.

It's also designed to be a lot more survivable than a single-engined bird, lose one and the second will get you home.

The Bronco was designed to be attached to an infantry battalion HQ in 1960 and compensate for a range of things that are now redundant. It was even designed to ferry orders back and forth because radios of the time couldn’t handle the flow of information.

It is not an ideal FAC aircraft. It wasn’t in VietNam and things now won’t make it better. Sure its probably better at the role than a converted advanced trainer but it is not ideal.

[buglerbilly]

Ares

A Defense Technology Blog

South Africa's Light Attack, Recce Ambitions

Posted by Robert Wall at 9/27/2011 5:53 AM CDT

Looks VERY Bronco-ish to me.................:g7

Despite long-running funding problems, South Africa's aerospace industry has managed to survive, albeit in slightly smaller shape than it once way. But the appetite to do more has never gone away.

Now, two local companies are hoping the hot light attack and reconnaissance market may change those fortunes. The Paramount Group and Aerosud have announced plans to build the Advanced High-Performance Reconnaissance Light Aircraft (AHRLAC), a 300 knot maximum cruise speed, 800 kg. payload, 1,150 naut. mi. range two-person aircraft able to operate from unimproved and short runways.

For the light attack role, the aircraft with four to six hardpoints under the wing could be equipped with a 20 mm cannon, rocket pods and beyond visual range air-to-air and air-to-ground missiles.


(Photo: Aerosud/Paramount Group)

Aerosud managing director, Paul Potgieter, sees the aircraft being used for a broad range of missions from basic visual reconnaissance to advanced electronic surveillance, and intelligence, to armed patrol. The high-wing design is aimed at improving visibility.
Potgieter adds that “we believe that the pilot remains core to conducting effective air operations. In AHRLAC we have produced an aircraft that is, unlike most UAVs, both autonomously capable and offers high survivability, with none of the sub-systems costs related to the operation of UAVs.”

Aircraft production would be centered around the Centurion Aerospace Village (CAV) near the Waterkloof Air Force Base.

[buglerbilly]

More on this.............

SEPTEMBER 27, 2011.

South Africa Firms Build Niche Plane

By PATRICK MCGROARTY in Centurion, South Africa and DANIEL MICHAELS in Brussels

Two South African companies are attempting to elbow their way into the global defense market with an unusual new aircraft developed on home soil.

Paramount Group and Aerosud Holdings Ltd. on Tuesday will unveil the Ahrlac, a compact plane that they say merges the capabilities of a drone, an attack helicopter and surveillance aircraft.


Paramount Group
Paramount Group and Aerosud Holdings will unveil their Ahrlac attack-and-surveillance plane, above, in South Africa on Tuesday.

"There's nothing like it in the marketplace," says Paul Potgieter, managing director of closely held Aerosud.

The Ahrlac—short for Advanced High Performance Reconnaissance Light Aircraft—aims to fill a niche left by less-versatile and more-expensive rivals. Most countries on the continent rely on modified cargo planes or turboprop fighters for surveillance work, but the Ahrlac is a multipurpose alternative that's marketed for perform military and civilian reconnaissance. It will cater to African governments involved in combat, peacekeeping and humanitarian work, he says.

Aerosud and Paramount executives decline to reveal the Ahrlac's price but say it will be one-third to one-half the cost of Boeing Co.'s Apache attack helicopter. The Apache sells for about $20 million, according to the U.S. Congressional Budget Office.

The project will test whether a relatively small player such as South Africa can join a market with the likes of the U.S. and China. To revive a moribund industry, South African defense companies say they are pitching products that are simpler and less expensive than those built in the West.

Paramount Group Chairman Ivor Ichikowitz envisioned the Ahrlac after decades as a motorcycle distributor and arms salesman. The burly 45-year-old, born in South Africa to Lithuanian parents, says he realized "the future of peacekeeping and defense in Africa was going to be airborne."

Paramount and Aerosud say the Ahrlac's is designed for police, border patrols and forestry agencies—not just defense ministries. They also see potential sales in Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe. Paramount and Aerosud say they have received interest from potential customers but decline to say from whom.

Governments in Africa contend with huge distances, unsecured borders and bad roads. Most lack funding for advanced Western jet and helicopter technology. So Paramount aimed to create an aircraft "that would do 80% of what a helicopter did but at a fraction of the cost," Mr. Ichikowitz says.

.The two-person Ahrlac has a bulbous cockpit and a simple propeller mounted at the rear, allowing an unobstructed view for reconnaissance. The plane can fly fast or slow and stay airborne for up to seven hours on a tank of fuel. It will be manufactured just outside Johannesburg at Aerosud's complex of low brick buildings in Centurion, where the company also makes wing components, seats and galleys for Boeing and the Airbus unit of European Aeronautic Defence & Space Co. Test flights are scheduled to begin in six months and production, as early as 2013. The budget for development and certification was $200 million, Mr. Ichikowitz says.

Once it rolls out, the Ahrlac will become one of the first aircraft to be produced in Africa since South Africa's Armscor Defence Institutes (Pty.) Ltd. developed the Roivaalk attack helicopter in the 1980s.

Under an apartheid regime that lasted into the 1990s, South Africa built a muscular arms industry to survive United Nations sanctions. As South Africa went to war in neighboring Namibia and Angola, South African defense companies developed blast-resistant trucks and a precursor to the armored vehicles that carried U.S. troops in Afghanistan and Iraq.

But under President Nelson Mandela, a democratic South Africa slashed defense spending, sending the domestic arms industry into decline. The defense budget plummeted to $2.66 billion in 1997 from $5.1 billion in 1990, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. Many of South Africa's best engineers emigrated and joined foreign manufacturers.

South Africa's defense industry could be poised for resurgence. The country's defense minister is lobbying to overhaul the armed forces, in part by buying new equipment aimed at border security and piracy rather than ground wars. Defense Minister Lindiwe Sisul says she expects to seek an increase to the roughly $4 billion spent in the fiscal year that ended in March.

Seeking customers among African governments will allow Paramount and Aerosud to sidestep some competition from Western arms contractors, who largely steer clear of the smaller African markets.

"We have adapted," says Shane George, an export manager at the state-owned Armaments Corporation of South Africa Ltd., which is in charge of purchasing for the government and for selling surplus government arms abroad.

Paramount started by outfitting peacekeeping missions in Africa. In 2005 the company joined with Aerosud to refurbish and service fleets of Dassault Aviation SA's Mirage III and F-1 jets for Gabon and Republic of Congo. In 2008, Paramount bought a 19% stake in Aerosud. Work on the Ahrlac began a year later.

Paramount's Mr. Ichikowitz has also persuaded a group of émigrés to return and work for him. "We've made this as much a South African project as possible," Mr. Ichikowitz says. Designing vehicles and aircraft from scratch, he says, helped ensure that "the remaining skill and expertise we had on the continent wasn't eroded."

Write to Patrick McGroarty at patrick.mcgroarty@dowjones.com and Daniel Michaels at daniel.michaels@wsj.com

[buglerbilly]

Full side-on shot...............

[buglerbilly]

You know I have a look at this little whiz-bang and I ponder whether or not this is also along the lines of an anti-UAV/anti-helicopter combat aeroplane, cheap to own and operate, very agile and capable of carrying a reasonable air-to-air warload plus a .50cal or two.

Even with the air-to-air load I'd want to go for something less than an AIM-9X/ASRAAM and have another category of El Cheapo, simple missile along the lines of QinteQ's COUGAR (a GBAD system but easily modified to air-to-air?) Replace the prop with a modeller's style scramjet............?

Just a thought..............:razz

[Gubler, A.]

When I see this I see a 35 year wait for the culmination of the Rhodesian Air Force’s COIN strategy. This airplane is effectively a customised Lynx (Cessna Skymaster) for the light attack and recce aircraft role. Excellent visibility from the cockpit and high manoeuvrability. The South Africans tried to acquire something like this in the 70s under advice from the Rhodesians and all they could get is some Canadian plane that had great pilot visibility but couldn’t fly for shit. But with fixed gear and low aspect ratio wings it won’t be a very quiet aircraft. A whisper compared to a OV-10 but low audio sig is important for this role.

Also it was the use of such light aircraft in Africa (T-28s by France, Lynx by Rhodesia, Mini-Cons by Biafra) and similar in Indo-China (including Turbo Porters by US and Aust.) which inspired the whole short-lived British idea of a SABA – small agile battlefield aircraft. Which they were to use to destroy Soviet helos and tanks. One version of which was even going to carry 100 or so 81mm Merlin mortar rounds on its back and fire them into Soviet tank formations…

[buglerbilly]

Image of SABA for those that don't know...............

[buglerbilly]

Guatemala close to concluding Super Tucano purchase

8 hours ago

Source:

The Guatemalan government has confirmed that it is finalising negotiations with Brazilian and Spanish banks to finance the planned purchase of a defence package to include six Embraer EMB-314 Super Tucanos.

Local officials said the Guatemalan air force is likely to initiate negotiations for the Super Tucanos later this year, once the financing arrangements have been settled. The service hopes to receive its first examples in late 2012.


© Embraer

Guatemala first selected the Super Tucano in late 2009 to replace its current two Cessna A-37B Dragonflys in countering drug-related illegal flights. At that time, the air force had intended to buy 10 of the aircraft, but persistent funding problems have, until now, precluded an acquisition from being completed.

Also included in the planned $166 million package are a new surveillance radar and air traffic control radars to be manufactured by São Paulo-based Atech.

[buglerbilly]

Companies Seek Market for Light Attack Aircraft

By DAVE MAJUMDAR

Published: 5 Oct 2011 10:32

A growing number of companies are offering relatively inexpensive light attack aircraft that might be used against insurgents or other lightly armed groups.

It's a market born of unconventional threats faced by an increasing number of militaries around the world, said Loren Thompson, an analyst at the Lexington Institute in Arlington, Va.

But others deride the concept as basically suicidal. Such aircraft are little more than flying coffins when facing anything other than small arms, said Peter Singer at the Brookings Institution.

"Nostalgia can't rescue a bad idea," Singer said.

Richard Aboulafia, an analyst at the Teal Group in Fairfax, Va., said only a country with no other options would pursue such planes.

"There is a small, unfilled niche at the bottom of the market - something that can do basic, very basic, airpower and reconnaissance missions," Aboulafia said. "If you can afford a more capable aircraft, you also care about your pilots."

If he were flying one, he said, "I would hope my opponent wasn't armed."

Aboulafia said the aerospace market resembles an inverted pyramid. "The lower down you get, the smaller the market becomes," he said. "So you're kind of scraping the bottom of the pyramid."

Aboulafia said the bottom-end light-attack market was probably a subset of the up-to-$1.8 billion trainer market. The light attack craft at most would be worth about $600 million of that market, but in some years it could be zero. "But if you've got the right product to do the job, why not chase it?" he said.

Thompson said unconventional threats are drawing unconventional suppliers to the market. While the U.S. military would never operate such craft, such hardware might serve less sophisticated allies.

"When you're dealing with relatively low-end threats, there's all sorts of possibilities for marketing to militaries that wouldn't have existed in the past," Thompson said.

The ready availability of high*technology items in global commerce and the miniaturization of surveillance equipment reduce the barriers to competing in the military market, Thompson said.

"So many dual-use technologies can be applied to the counterinsurgency mission," he said.

Among the military and paramilitary groups that already fly such aircraft is the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, whose Bavar 2s are small armed flying boats that are no more sophisticated than general aviation aircraft. The Iranian concept is to use those machines in swarms to potentially attack enemy warships, said Seth Cropsey, an analyst at the Hudson Institute. Swarming is a traditional type of attack for a weaker combatant to engage a stronger force by using sheer numbers.

However, Cropsey said he wasn't particularly impressed with the Iranian effort.

"Fanaticism will get you so far, but it won't sink a ship," he said.

Retired U.S. Air Force Maj. Gen. Charles Dunlap said even poorer nations would be better off buying the ever-more-ubiquitous UAVs because pilots would not want to fly such vulnerable light aircraft except in the most benign of threat environments. And poorer countries want not want to risk putting a trained, educated pilot in such machines.

"In a defended environment, those airplanes wouldn't be something you'd want to put your relatively limited number of officers with sufficient education to fly an airplane in," he said.

Even a light machine gun would be a danger to these aircraft, Dunlap said.

"It would seem to me that the trend would be more with a UAV as opposed to trying to get some*one into one of these things," he said.

But Phil Finnegan, another Teal Group analyst, said that outside of the United States, pilotless aircraft have not progressed much beyond the experimental stage.

"There definitely will be a market for cheap unmanned systems," Finnegan said.

But for many less-developed nations, he said, a human pilot is cheaper and less technically challenging.

"Unmanned aircraft require a different way of thinking," Finnegan said.

Aboulafia noted that "these countries don't have the kind of command-and-control networks that you need to make effective use of UAVs." He added that reports of nonstate actors like Hezbollah using cheap unmanned aircraft offensively don't accurately reflect the problem because such groups use the machines much like an improvised cruise missile.

"Those are one-way missions, and they are offensive rather than defensive," he said.

At the higher end of the scale are purpose-built military aircraft such as Hawker-Beechcraft's AT-6 and Embraer's Tucano.

Even the U.S. Air Force has considered buying almost 100 such aircraft, although that proposal was soon withdrawn. Instead, the service is planning to buy only 20 aircraft to train partner nation air services. However, even that truncated program is now endangered as U.S. defense outlays shrink and the Air Force focuses on its core programs.

While the Tucano has found some success, especially in South America, Africa and Southeast Asia, more recent market entrants more closely resemble general aviation aircraft than true warplanes. These include Air Tractor, which along with its partner, Moog, has adapted agricultural aircraft into counterinsurgency machines.

The AT-802Us, an armed version of its popular single-engine crop-dusting turboprops, costs $2 million to $5 million, depending on options, said Lee Jackson, Air Tractor's design engineer. Most of the purchase price covers sensors, weapons and the Pratt and Whitney PT-6 turboprop, Jackson said.

The company says it has sold 10 to a Middle Eastern customer - likely the United Arab Emirates. Company officials said that they have other customers but wouldn't disclose their names.

Jackson said that his company's relationship with Moog isn't exclusive and that Air Tractor is working with other companies as well to adapt their agricultural de*signs as warplanes depending on customer needs.

The AT-802U is Air Tractor's largest plane, but customers have expressed interest in the company's smaller and less costly aircraft types as potential counterinsurgency aircraft. Jackson declined to identify which ones. Jackson said the company is focused on the AT-802U and would only consider adapting its lower-end airframes if there was sufficient demand.

Another recent entrant is two South African companies, Paramount Group and Aerosud Holdings, which announced Sept. 27 that they are building a light attack aircraft called the AHRLAC, for Advanced High Performance Reconnaissance Light Aircraft.

The AHRLAC uses a pusher propeller and has a maximum cruise speed of 272 knots. It carries a payload of 1,764 pounds with a two-man crew and has a range of 1,150 nautical miles. The aircraft can be armed with a 20mm cannon, rocket pods, and missiles on four or six underwing hard points, depending on the configuration. It is powered by a Pratt and Whitney PT-6 turboprop.

South African press reports say the contactors have an initial order for 50 of the $10 million aircraft.

At the Paris Air Show in June, French companies LH Aviation and ATE showed off their prospective light attack planes. The two European airframes each cost less than $65,000, but the weapons and sensors would add to the cost and likely are worth much more than the aircraft themselves.

LH Aviation, which is known for its light kit planes, announced that it had sold Benin two of its LH-10 Grand Duc aircraft equipped for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance. The single-piston engine aircraft is derived from the company's Ellipse kit plane, but built in a factory.

ATE's offering, the Pulsatrix, is based on another kit aircraft: the Dyn'Aero MCR01. In Paris, the company displayed the single 180*horsepower piston engine aircraft armed with two seven-round 2.75*inch rocket pods. There were also .50-caliber gun pods displayed alongside the plane.

Eventually, the company envisions the aircraft equipped with an electro-optical/infrared sensor ball and armed with 20mm guns or even anti-tank missiles. In Paris, a company representative said there had been some interest in the aircraft, but he didn't say from whom.

By comparison, a plain T-6 trainer costs about $6 million or $7 million, but adding weapons and sensors would increase that sum substantially. Aboulafia estimates that an armed version would cost between $8 million and $10 million.

[buglerbilly]

Light Attack AT-6 Successfully Deploys Precision-Guided Munitions

(Source: HBDC; issued Oct. 11, 2011)



TUCSON --- Hawker Beechcraft Defense Company (HBDC) today announced the completion of a series of successful deliveries of precision-guided munitions from the AT-6 Light Attack and Armed Reconnaissance (LAAR) aircraft.

During weapons tests at the Barry M. Goldwater Range in Southern Ariz., HBDC pilots in the AT-6 dropped four USAF GBU-12 500 lb Paveway II laser guided bombs and four of Raytheon’s GBU-58 250 lb Paveway II laser guided bombs. All eight weapons scored hits on their intended targets.

The weapons delivery events, which were conducted between Sept. 28 and Oct. 5, were part of an ongoing operational assessment by the Air National Guard Air Force Reserve Test Center (AATC).

“The weapons deployment was a huge success thanks to the teamwork of Hawker Beechcraft, Lockheed Martin, CMC Electronics, L-3 WESCAM, Raytheon Missile Systems and, of course, the Air National Guard,” said Jim Maslowski, president, Hawker Beechcraft Defense Company. “This testing is another major step in the evolution of the AT-6 and we couldn’t be more pleased with the results. The 100 percent precision weapon hit rate was no surprise to anyone who has watched the AT-6 team in action. The aircraft continues to perform as well or better than we anticipated and is ready for production.”

During the two week deployment, the AT-6 typically flew three sorties per day employing approximately 60 BDU-33, BDU-50, GBU-12, and GBU-58 general purpose and precision munitions. The AT-6 also successfully performed .50 caliber machine gun air-to-air gunnery using its integrated lead computing gun sight against a towed target. Lockheed Martin Mission Systems & Sensors integrated the mission capabilities into the AT-6 using only minor modifications to the combat proven A-10C mission system. The AT-6 leverages prior DoD investment by integrating proven capabilities from the T-6A/B/C, A-10C and MC-12W to achieve efficiencies in mission capability, training and logistics that no other competitor can match.

Building on its successes as a supplier to militaries around the globe, HBDC has developed the AT-6 Light Attack and Armed Reconnaissance aircraft to be purpose-built to provide advanced training, light attack and armed reconnaissance capabilities required to meet the Department of Defense’s Building Partnership Capacity needs. The AT-6 is outfitted with state-of-the-art equipment such as the powerful Pratt and Whitney Canada PTA-68D turboprop engine, CMC Esterline’s mission-modified Cockpit 4000, Lockheed Martin’s A-10C-based mission system and L-3 WESCAM’s MX-15Di day/night-capable sensor pod.

The aircraft is also equipped with an ALQ-213 Electronic Warfare Management System, advanced ARC-210 radios with secure voice/data and SATCOM capabilities, a variety of air and ground datalinks and the weapons capability required to excel in meeting irregular warfare mission requirements.

Hawker Beechcraft Corporation is a world-leading manufacturer of business, special mission, light attack and trainer aircraft – designing, marketing and supporting aviation products and services for businesses, governments and individuals worldwide. The company’s headquarters and major facilities are located in Wichita, Kan., with operations in Salina, Kan.; Little Rock, Ark.; Chester, England, U.K.; and Chihuahua, Mexico.

-ends-

[buglerbilly]

More on the AT-6 weapons trials....................

Small Weapons for Light Fighters


In the recent weapon test campaign AT-6 completed firing of 2.75” unguided rockets, conducted captive carry test with guided 2.75" rockets and dropped general purpose bombs, four GBU-12, and four GBU-58 laser guided bombs (LGB - above), all LGBs scored direct hits. Additional tests are planned with other weapon types including Raytheon Griffin 35-lb. GPS/laser-guided bomb and Hellfire guided missile from Lockheed martin..

Under the U.S. Air National Guard evaluation of a future Light Attack and Armed Reconnaissance (LAAR) to be operated by the U.S. and Afghan air forces, the Air Force is seeking a low cost, light fighter capable of flying at altitudes up to 30,000 ft. above sea level, with a range up to 900 nautical miles, and mission endurance of six hours.

LAAR is positioned as an affordable, advanced training, light attack and armed reconnaissance aircraft that could meet the U.S. government plans to equip under-developed governments with effective aerial recce and attack capabilities necessary for combatting insurgency and drug trafficking. While providing effective, precision attack and real-time recce, the aircraft should affordable to own and operate and be able to operate from austere fields. Deliveries of such aircraft would often be considered as ‘training aircraft’, while combat operations could be flown by local trainees or,when necessary, by their foreign ‘trainers’, assisting government counter-insurgency operations.


The Super T's advanced avionics & guided munitions capabilities include an all-glass cockpit, certified to withstand bird strikes, with design and technology similar to fourth-generation fighters. Photo: Embraer

As part of these evaluations the Brazilian Embraer A-29 Super Tucano and Hawker Beechcraft Defense Company (HBDC) AT-6 are undergoing weapon qualification and operational evaluation Currently undergoing operational assessment by the Air National Guard/Air Force Reserve Test Center (AATC), toward a final selection next month. Embraer has prepared its position in the U.S. by teaming with the California based Sierra Nevada company and establishing a production and support facility for its aircraft in Florida.

Evaluations currently underway focus on weapon qualification; while the A-29 team has maintained radio silence since June, HBDC provides regular updates about the program progress. In recent months the AT-6 completed firing of 2.75” unguided rockets and carried out precision guided weapons test campaign dropping eight laser guided bombs (LGB). During the two week deployment, the AT-6 typically flew three sorties per day employing approximately 60 BDU-33, BDU-50, GBU-12, and GBU-58 general purpose and precision munitions. All eight LGBs scored direct hits.


Two Griffin missiles attached to the AT-6 underwing pylon. The aircraft is scheduled to test fly with the griffins in the coming weeks. Photo: Hawker beechcraft

Additional tests are planned with other weapon types including Raytheon Paveway II bombs, captive carry of different types of 2.75” guided rockets, the Griffin 35-lb. GPS/laser-guided bomb. In follow-up testing the aircraft will fire laser-guided rockets, and Lockheed-Martin’s AGM-114 Hellfire missiles.

The aircraft also performed air-to-air gunnery, employing .5 Cal machine-guns, assisted by integrated lead computing gun sight. This capability could be of value for the Air Sovereignty Alert (ASA), which the U.S. Air National Guard performs defending U.S. airspace. Similar mission, currently flown by F-16s, could be performed by gun and missile-armed AT-6s. Hawker Beechcraft is offering the National Guard a version of AT-6 equipped with a glass cockpit based on the A-10C modernized Warthog. To further demonstrate this role the AT-6 will conduct a live-fire tests with the AIM-9X Sidewinder air-to-air missile in 2012.


The AT-6 also performed air-to-air gunnery, employing .5 Cal machine-guns, assisted by integrated lead computing gun sight derived from the A-10C Modernized warthog. Photo: Hawker Beechcraft.

Raytheon Company is seeking to integrate its 12 pound Small Tactical Munition (STM) onto a wide variety of light-attack aircraft. Two of these 22 inch long missiles are stacked in a canister carried by manned or unmanned aircraft. STM is the smallest air-launched weapon in Raytheon’s portfolio. According to Bob Francois, vice president of Advanced Missiles and Unmanned Systems for Raytheon Missile Systems, the small size of this new missile enables the warfighter to carry dozens of STMs on a multitude of light attack aircraft. “Instead of using an expensive system to destroy a target such as a lightly armored vehicle, the warfighter could use an STM, which costs roughly the same as a pickup truck and reduces collateral damage.” The STM weapon uses foldable fins and wings, it incorporates a purpose-built warhead designed by Nammo-Talley and features a Kaman Aerospace electronic safe arm and fire device. The weapon is employed from the U.S. military’s common launch tube.


The outfit the AT-6 is offered includes the Pratt and Whitney Canada PTA-68D turboprop engine, CMC Esterline’s mission modified Cockpit 4000, Lockheed Martin’s A-10C-based mission system and L-3 WESCAM’s MX-15Di day/night-capable sensor pod. The aircraft is also equipped with an ALQ-213 Electronic Warfare Management System, advanced ARC-210 radios with secure voice/data and SATCOM capabilities, a variety of air and ground datalinks and the weapons capability required to excel in meeting irregular warfare mission requirement. Phopto: Hawker Beechcraft

[buglerbilly]

U.S. Lawmakers Nix Light-Attack Aircraft Proposal

By MARCUS WEISGERBER

Published: 14 Oct 2011 05:31

I'm completely bemused as to why these Muppets think this is not a good idea? :dunno

Weapons drop trials have just been successfully completed (see earlier posts above) and most poeple think this is a potentially-good idea, possibly a great idea AND its far more cost effective than using a F-16 or similar....................

U.S. lawmakers continue to reject the Pentagon's attempts to deploy light-attack aircraft to Afghanistan as part of a combat experiment.

The House Appropriations and Armed Services committees and Senate Armed Services Committee rejected a $17 million U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) request for the Combat Dragon II program, according to a Pentagon reprogramming document.

For more than a year, the Pentagon has wanted to test propeller-driven planes outfitted with reconnaissance sensors and precision-guided weapons in combat to see if they can improve coordination between ground troops and aircraft.

But, lawmakers have not been receptive.

Last year, the House Armed Services Committee and House and Senate Appropriations committees rejected a $22 million DoD reprogramming request to deploy light-attack aircraft to combat as part of the Navy-initiated Imminent Fury program.

During the first phase of the Imminent Fury program, the Navy -- and eventually Air Force - tested an Embraer Super Tucano, which featured integrated intelligence sensors and guided-weapons.

The services wanted to deploy four light-attack aircraft for six months as part of the second phase of Imminent Fury.

CENTCOM initiated the Combat Dragon II initiative late last year. Both Embraer and Hawker Beechcraft - which builds the AT-6 attack plane -- had expressed interest in the Imminent Fury II program.

Military officials have been considering using 1960s-era OV-10 Broncos for the Combat Dragon II demonstration, according to sources.

[buglerbilly]

ATK’s Light Gunship Package



A few years ago I helped break the story that Air Force Special Operations Command wanted to turn twin-engine, C-27J cargo planes into a “gunship lite” to bolster the command’s fleet of aging AC-130 gunships. AFSOC was all about the idea for a while until budgeteers nixed the gunship lite proposal in FY 2010 and the command opted to recapitalize its AC-130 fleet with new C-130Js.

Imagine my surprise last week when I came across a “light gunship” display at ATK’s booth at the Association of the U.S. Army’s annual conference here in Washington. The aircraft appears to be a CASA CN-295 — instead of a C-27J — and it’s shown bristling with missiles, rockets and a 30mm cannon.

While no one from ATK was available to tell me more about the airplane, a marketing sheet I took from the display describes the plane as a “robust day/night ISR solution now available with precision strike/close air support capabilities.” From the brochure, I deduced that ATK is marketing this as an equipment package that can turn any medium-size transport into a gunship — the CN-295 is simply being used to show off the concept.

According to the fact sheet, the proposed gunship would be equipped with:

■ an electro-optical/infrared sensors and a laser target designator
■ fuselage-mounted weapons pylons capable of carrying both AGM-114M/K Hellfire missiles and 70mm rockets
■ a side firing M230LF 30mm cannon
■ a sythetic aperture radar
■ countermeasures
■ cockpit and passenger armor
■ datalinks that can transmit full motion video taken by the plane’s sensors
■ beyond line of sight communications gear

It may be that ATK smells a global opportunity to provide light gunships to air forces around the globe who can’t afford to buy dedicated aircraft for the mission. Remember, while AFSOC didn’t move ahead with the AC-27J concept, AFSOC and the Marine Corps have both installed roll-on light gunship kits on some of their MC-130W and KC-130 tankers/cargo haulers. These modified tankers — called Dragon Spears and Harvest Hawks, respectively — have proven to be very useful.

Here’s a model of the light gunship that was on display at ATK’s booth below the giant picture shown above:



Read more: http://defensetech.org/2011/10/19/atks-light-gunship-package/#ixzz1bHexhgie
Defense.org

Good comment to this article....................


Logan Hartke · 4 hours ago

Neat story, but the writer didn't really do their homework, here. First things first, there's no such thing as an "CN-295". Does not exist. There's a "CN-235" and a "C-295". I assume that "C-295" was meant, but it is, in fact, a CN-235. If you can't tell by looking at the fuselage length, just count the prop blades. Four=235, six=295.

This is also a bit of an old story. See DID's article on it from 8 months ago.

Jordan’s Pocket Gunships: Converted CN-235s http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/Jordans-Pocket-Gunships-CN-235s-Converting-06778/

The only thing new here is that ATK polished the model from the last trade show they were at, printed off a few more brochures, set up a stand at AUSA, then went to the food court for a pretzel because they know that the Army's not buying right now. They're just showing they can do it for less money so that they are competing when (if) the money does become available again.

The REALLY optimistic folks at ATK are hoping they can get the Pentagon to free up a few million dollars and convert the sole USAF CN-235 into an "AC-235" or even add a couple to the inventory, but that's pretty unlikely, which is why they're probably in the food court, instead.

427th's CN-235 http://www.airliners.net/photo/USA---Air/Airtech-CN-235-100M-QC/1367442/L/

[buglerbilly]

ATK’s AC-208 Combat Caravan Gunship



No, it’s not brand new but it’s still cool. This little model on display at ATK’s booth during the Association of the U.S. Army’s annual convention in DC a couple of years ago represents the company’s AC-208 Combat Caravan. Now, air force’s around the world use the already use the Cessna Caravan for light cargo and ISR duties. Two years ago, ATK began turning the Iraqi air force’s caravans into very light gunships (well, missile ships to be specific) by arming them with Hellfire missiles, electro-optical/IR sensors, laser target designators, datalinks and countermeasures. This turned the little cargo planes into cheap counter-insurgency (COIN) aircraft.

As you all know, the U.S. military has been trying to field (high performance) prop-driven COIN planes, for years. While this plane would likely be based on a trainer aircraft, it would receive significant upgrades — making it almost purpose built for the role. Congress keeps fighting the idea, saying the military needs to justify the expense of such aircraft.

Adding weapons to the Air Force’s MC-12 Liberty ISR birds could be a fast and cheap way around this. The planes are already in service downrange with trained pilots who are used to working closely with ground troops — adding weapons wouldn’t be a huge stretch. (Heck, Hawker Beechcraft has already modified the MC-12’s wings to accept weapons). Critics of the COIN plane idea claim that even the relatively quick and nimble AT-6 and Super Tucano already being considered may be too vulnerable to ground fire. You can imagine what they’d say about a modified cargo plane performing this role.



http://www.scribd.com/doc/70385148/Armed-Caravan-AC-208-Combat-Caravan

Read more: http://defensetech.org/2011/10/26/atks-ac-208-combat-caravan-gunship/#ixzz1bwlBy8Jx
Defense.org

[buglerbilly]

Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-62 Engine Chosen for Argentine Air Force Pucara Aircraft Powerplant Upgrade Program

(Source: Pratt & Whitney Canada; issued November 1, 2011)



LONGUEUIL, QUEBEC --- Pratt & Whitney Canada (P&WC) announced today that its PT6A-62 engine has been selected by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) for the powerplant upgrade of the twin-engine Pucara aircraft program for the Argentine Air Force.

Manufactured in the 1970s and 1980s by Fabrica Militar de Aviones (a predecessor company to FAdeA), the Pucara is a counter-insurgency (COIN) aircraft. The Argentine military currently has approximately 30 of the Pucara aircraft in service.

"The PT6A-62 is the only off-the-shelf engine that is able to meet the stringent requirements of FAdeA," said Michael Perodeau, vice president, corporate aviation and military programs, P&WC. "With the PT6A-62's proven performance and reliability and its aerobatic capability and electronic engine control, the engine upgrades can take place quickly and with less program risk for FAdeA, which were important considerations for the Argentine military."

"FAdeA is confident in the choice and we believe this announcement will ensure our program's success," stated Emilio Maligno, business development manager, FAdeA. "P&WC paid close attention to our needs and the PT6A-62 engine fulfils all requirements of maintainability, reliability and availability; key features for our customers."

"PT6 engines are used by 7,000 operators around the globe and stand as a testament to how P&WC reinvents its products to meet emerging customer needs," said Perodeau. "Although other engine OEMs have tried, none have come close to matching the versatility and reliability of the PT6. We have consistently taken advantage of aerodynamic and material technology advancements to enhance the performance of the PT6 without significantly increasing its size."

There are currently some 27,000 PT6 engines in operation today and it has booked a remarkable 350 million hours of flight. From flying in the Antarctic at 75 degrees below zero to supporting environmental efforts in reforestation programs, the adaptability of the PT6 engine continues to earn the respect and loyalty of pilots worldwide.

Founded in 1928, and a global leader in aerospace, Pratt & Whitney Canada is shaping the future of business aviation with dependable, high-technology engines. Based in Longueuil, Quebec (Canada), P&WC is a United Technologies Corp. company.

-ends-

[Ecky]

This is a big surprise...


WICHITA, Kan., Nov. 18, 2011 -- /PRNewswire/ -- Hawker Beechcraft Corporation (HBC) issued the following statement today after receiving official notification from the United States Air Force that the Beechcraft AT-6 has been excluded from continuing in the Light Air Support (LAS) bidding process.

"We have been notified by the United States Air Force in a letter that the Beechcraft AT-6 has been excluded from the Light Air Support competition. The letter provides no basis for the exclusion. We are both confounded and troubled by this decision, as we have been working closely with the Air Force for two years and, with our partners, have invested more than $100 million preparing to meet the Air Force's specific requirements. Additionally, the AT-6 has been evaluated and proven capable through a multi-year, Congressionally-funded demonstration program led by the Air National Guard. We have followed the Air Force's guidance closely and, based on what we have seen, we continue to believe that we submitted the most capable, affordable and sustainable light attack aircraft as measured against the Air Force's Request for Proposal. We have requested a debriefing from the Air Force and will be exploring all potential options in the coming days."

Hawker Beechcraft Corporation is a world-leading manufacturer of business, special mission, light attack and trainer aircraft – designing, marketing and supporting aviation products and services for businesses, governments and individuals worldwide. The company's headquarters and major facilities are located in Wichita, Kan., with operations in Salina, Kan.; Little Rock, Ark.; Chester, England, U.K.; and Chihuahua, Mexico. The company leads the industry with a global network of more than 100 factory-owned and authorized service centers. For more information, visit www.hawkerbeechcraft.com.


Source: http://www.sacbee.com/2011/11/18/4065324/hawker-beechcraft-to-request-review.html

[buglerbilly]

Wow! That is a surprise, one wonders what is behind this?

[buglerbilly]

Hawker Beechcraft protests over USAF decision to dismiss AT-6 bid

By: Stephen Trimble Washington DC

2 hours ago

Source:

Hawker Beechcraft will take action against the US Air Force for dismissing the AT-6 Texan II from a selection process only days before the scheduled award of the light air support (LAS) contract.

The company will "request [a] review" after being informed in a letter of the AT-6's elimination, according to a statement issued by the US-based airframer. As of 20 November, the company was still considering its legal options.


© Hawker Beechcraft

The statement is a shocking turn in a two-year-old competition between the AT-6 and the Embraer/Sierra Nevada EMB-314 Super Tucano, which are competing to win the first in a series of contract awards for counter-insurgency fighters. These fighters would be donated to the USAF's partners, starting with Afghanistan.

Beechcraft claims its six-member industry team, including engine manufacturer Pratt & Whitney Canada and US-based Lockheed Martin and L-3 Communications, spent more than $100 million preparing the AT-6 to meet the USAF's requirements for the LAS contract.

"We are both confounded and troubled by [the] decision", Beechcraft said.

The USAF declined to comment on the company's statement or confirm the status of its proposal for the LAS contract. New information will be released after the selection process is completed and a contract awarded in late November or early December.

Beechcraft's statement also appeared to take the Embraer team by surprise. The Brazil-based company said it had not received any new information from the USAF about the status of its bid.


© Embraer

Embraer has also invested heavily to win the prized LAS order from the USAF. The company has already leased a manufacturing facility in Jacksonville, Florida, in anticipation of an order.

The USAF plans to award the LAS contract to acquire 15 counter-insurgency aircraft, which will be transferred to the Afghan air force. Other "partner countries" could receive similar deals if the USAF's funding for counter-insurgency aircraft is preserved.

The programme was also designed to include a follow-on order for 20 aircraft that would be used as trainers by the USAF, preparing the instructors that would be sent to train the partner air forces.

But the US Senate armed services committee raised new objections to those proposals earlier this year, proposing to eliminate funding for the air force's standalone counter-insurgency trainer squadron.

Embraer has described the total market for the winner of the LAS contract as being worth $1.5 billion.

[buglerbilly]

Light Attack Aircraft Is No Blue-sky Project

Nov 22, 2011

By Bill Sweetman
Washington



Few people,” says Ivor Ichikowitz, executive chairman of South Africa’s Paramount Group, “understand what we’re doing.” In September, the company unveiled the full-scale mockup of a unique aircraft, the Advanced High-Performance Reconnaissance Light Aircraft (Ahrlac), and announced it was well along with development and fabrication of a prototype. However, little if any of the media coverage dealt with what makes Ahrlac unusual and better-founded than most startup aviation projects.

Paramount, says Ichikowitz, is not in the business of selling technology. “We’re in the business of providing customers with turnkey services.” The company was founded in the aftermath of South Africa’s turn away from apartheid, initially marketing surplus equipment on the world market.

For example, one Paramount line of business involves ex-South African Air Force Dassault Mirage F1AZs. Through Aerosud (its partner in Ahrlac, in which Paramount has a 19% stake), Paramount refurbishes and updates the French fighters and has supplied them to the Congo Republic (Brazzaville) and Gabon, together with a turnkey training, maintenance and spares package. Paramount has “the world’s largest supersonic private air force,” CEO John Craig says.

Much of the company’s business is in supporting peacekeeping operations (PKO) manned by forces working under contract to the United Nations and African Union (AU). Mostly from African states, these forces often lack the equipment and logistics to deploy outside their home countries. Paramount arranges financing for the new equipment, and gets paid back from U.N. and AU payments to the participating country.

“We went in [to these operations] using other people’s land platforms,” Ichikowitz says, “but realized that if you don’t own the platform, you’re not in control.” Also, no vehicle on the market, in Paramount’s view, was tailored to the needs of PKOs. With South Africa’s extensive land-vehicle experience behind it, Paramount invested “a lot of money” in its vehicle designs, with a few principles given priority—principles carried forward to Ahrlac.

The high-value engineering resides in South Africa, but the vehicles are designed for global manufacture. The mine/blast-resistant Marauder and the Matador personnel carrier are in production in Baku, Azerbaijan (a follow-on order was announced in May), and the company is collaborating with the United Arab Emirates to set up a plant there for the Middle East. The bigger 6 X 6 Mbombe is likely to be marketed the same way.

Another principle is to design vehicles that are affordable but can be customized to meet higher-end requirements. Under an agreement with India’s Ashok Leyland, Paramount is chasing the Indian market—with Paramount-designed vehicles tailored to local defense and security requirements—and offering a low-cost Marauder option with Ashok Leyland running gear. You can also, Craig says, get the up-market Marauder with a MAN diesel and ZF transmission, or a Cummins/Allison version for commonality with U.S. vehicles.

Ichikowitz points to another feature of Paramount’s vehicles. “They all have the largest glass real estate of any vehicle in their class.” This is no accident. “We know what goes right in PKOs and what goes wrong, and what goes wrong is often a decision made from inside a vehicle, or by a commander looking at a remote camera.” Giving the commander a better view was one of the starting points for Ahrlac.

When Paramount started to look at what was needed to provide air support to PKOs, says Ichikowitz, the company realized there was nothing suitable on the market. What was needed was something that would operate alongside ground forces and use similar systems and weapons, while providing persistent surveillance.

The Paramount/Aerosud team includes veterans of South Africa’s Rooivalk attack helicopter program. “At first, we sat down and said we wanted to make a Rooivalk-lite, but it took us 25 min. to realize that was a stupid idea.” Helicopters don’t have the range and endurance needed, and are not cost-effective for the large areas that PKOs often cover, says Ichikowitz.

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) cost too much for PKOs, once support systems are factored in, and only the largest types carry the payload that Paramount considers necessary. Moreover, you need “a pilot in the loop, to assess the situation in three dimensions and react accordingly.”

However, the configuration that emerged from the design process resembles the offspring of a dalliance between a scout/attack helicopter and a large UAV. The Ahrlac has a high wing—swept slightly forward for center-of-gravity considerations—and twin tailbooms. A central nacelle has stepped seating for the crew in front, helicopter-style, and the engine in the back.

Compared with a trainer-based design like the Hawker Beechcraft AT-6 or Embraer Super Tucano, it gives the crew a better, helicopter-like view, uninterrupted by the engine or the wing. Ahrlac can pack a fuselage-mounted 20-mm cannon. Space for the gun is provided on the lower left side of the fuselage with ammunition storage and feeds behind the cockpit. A thermal-imaging and laser-designation turret is mounted under the rear seat. The rough-field levered-suspension main landing gear is mounted on sponsons for a wide track and stability, retracting inward into blisters.

Ichikowitz says that people don’t appreciate the size of Ahrlac, which may be because the canopy is huge—the biggest one-piece blown canopy in the world, covering a cockpit large enough to accommodate Martin-Baker Mk16 ejection seats. (The canopy is produced in-house, and Ichikowitz says “the project nearly came to an unpleasant end” before the development challenge was solved.)

The aircraft is in fact in the same size class as the Super Tucano and AT-6. With a maximum takeoff weight of 8,400 lb., a Pratt & Whitney PT6A-66 engine flat-rated to 950 shp (driving a five-blade propeller) and 270 kt. maximum speed, the aircraft is not much smaller than its trainer-based competition, although it uses a less powerful engine. Its bigger wing, spanning 40 ft., should give it better short-takeoff performance and endurance. It carries 1,760 lb. of payload with full fuel and two fully equipped crew members, has a range of 1,100 nm, and 7-hr. endurance.

Vulnerability to ground fire and manportable air-defense systems (Manpads) is a problem with light attack aircraft, but a more manageable challenge than a decade ago. Paramount is not talking about any specific features in this area, but “even a little fabric designed to shrug off a 7.62 round is likely to make a huge difference in survivability at low altitude,” comments a USAF officer familiar with light attack aircraft. The characteristic “mouse ear” PT6 exhausts appear to be shrouded in the fairings behind the engine inlets, probably to reduce their infrared signature. Unlike a front-engine PT6-powered aircraft, the exhaust flow does not heat the structure and the plume is quickly dissipated by the propeller.

Paramount’s documentation shows the Ahrlac being armed with Denel Dynamics’ Mokopa laser-guided missile, as well as bombs and 70-mm rockets, on four underwing hardpoints. For overwater missions, the aircraft carries small search radar in addition to the electro-optical turret.

Paramount waited until the Ahrlac was at a relatively advanced stage before revealing it. The aircraft is planned to fly at the end of the second quarter of 2012, and the company is hoping for a public debut at the Africa Aerospace & Defense show in September, with the first production aircraft due to roll out in mid-2013.

This apparently ambitious schedule relies on a good amount of previous work. Wind-tunnel testing is complete, and the Paramount/Aerosud team accomplished 100 hr. of flight testing on an instrumented one-quarter-scale flying mock-up. Ichikowitz says that Aerosud is building the first aircraft using the same computer-aided-design files and machine tools that will be used in production. (Aerosud is a sole-source provider of structural parts to Boeing, Airbus and other manufacturers.)

Paramount has customers lined up, though not enough to launch the program, Ichikowitz says. More orders are expected in coming months.

The aircraft is aimed at military and paramilitary markets, but is being designed to commercial standards, and Paramount aims to seek civil certification, allowing the aircraft to be used for missions such as pipeline security or surveying. On the military side, Paramount sees roles ranging from basic training to maritime security. The engine location even makes a turbofan-powered development a possibility.

Those developments are in the future. For now, the team is focusing on the basic program. Ichikowitz sums up the development: “It’s 100% demand-driven, not technology-driven. Few organizations have the luxury of a clean-sheet design.”

Photo: Paramount

[buglerbilly]

AT-6 Is Out of the Light Air Support Contest, Award Imminent



The Air Force has apparently booted Hawker-Beechcraft’s AT-6B from its light attack competition.

Hawker says it has no idea yet why its plane was disqualified from the contest a few weeks ago and is requesting a formal review of the matter from the Government Accountability Office.

The AT-6B was competing with Embraer’s Super Tucano for a U.S. Air Force contract to supply up to 20 light air support — or counterinsurgency planes — to the fledgling Afghan air force. A couple of months ago we reported that the service was supposed to decide this month on which plane it would supply the Afghans with.

Here’s a statement that Hawker released on the matter today:

Following the notification last week that Hawker Beechcraft Corporation (HBC) was excluded from the Light Air Support (LAS) bidding process, the company has requested that the Government Accountability Office (GAO) review the Air Force’s decision. The company issued the following statement on this action:


“Yesterday, we received notification that the United States Air Force formally denied our second request for a debriefing. As a result, we still have no information on why the Beechcraft AT-6 was excluded from the Light Air Support competition. We continue to believe that we offered the most capable, affordable and sustainable light attack aircraft as measured against the Air Force’s Request for Proposal. HBC’s exclusion from competing for this important contract appears at this point to have been made without basis in process or fact. We are very interested in learning more about the decision and look forward to the results of the GAO’s review.”

The Air Force is being fairly tight lipped on the issue besides confirming that a contract award will happen in late November or early December. (That’s pretty big news in and of itself)

Here’s what Air Force spokeswoman Jennifer Cassidy just told DT:


“The Air Force continues to be in close contact with all offerors of the LAS competition. Due to the ongoing source selection, we cannot comment on the status of any of the proposals. We anticipate awarding the contract late November/ early December. We will have more information once all offerors have been debriefed following contract award.

The picture above shows an AT-6 participating in one of the Air Force’s Joint Expeditionary Force Experiment (JEFX) events where it has flown a variety of ISR and light attack missions at the hands of A-10 pilots.

Read more: http://defensetech.org/#ixzz1eU8rCETG
Defense.org

[buglerbilly]

Alenia nears decision on armed version of C-27J

By: Luca Peruzzi

4 hours ago

Source:

Alenia Aeronautica is poised to decide on the weapons fit for a proposed armed version of its C-27J Spartan tactical transport being considered by the Italian defence ministry.

First details of the so-called "Praetorian" variant of the twin-turboprop were revealed during the Paris air show in July, with the airframer offering the development to support "typical commando missions".


Credit Alenia Aeronautica

A choice will be made soon on whether to equip the C-27J with a 20mm or 30mm cannon, the airframer said, with the configuration to also incorporate an electro-optical/infrared sensor for target acquisition and tracking applications. The new variant would also be fitted with an enhanced self-protection suite, including directional infrared countermeasures equipment from Elettronica.

The Praetorian product has been developed by a combined company and defence ministry team, with the aim of satisfying Italian and export requirements. Other key elements of the design include Selex Sistemi Integrati's "FlexMis" roll-on/roll-off command, control, communication and intelligence module, plus multiple data links, satellite communications equipment and secure radios.

Alenia Aeronautica is seeking new buyers for its C-27J, which has already entered operational use in Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, Lithuania, Mexico, Morocco, Romania and the USA.

[buglerbilly]

Hawker Beechcraft Files Suit Over Air Force Contract

December 27, 2011

Wichita Eagle, Kan.|by Molly McMillin

Hawker Beechcraft Corp. filed suit this morning with the U.S. Court of Federal Claims questioning the Air Force's decision to exclude its AT-6 aircraft from a light air support contract.

The action comes after the company was notified that the General Accountability Office had dismissed its protest.

"We think we were wrongfully excluded from the competition," said Hawker Beechcraft CEO Bill Boisture. "We don't understand the basis for the exclusion, and frankly, we think we've got the best airplane.

"So we're going to take every avenue available to us to make sure our product is fully evaluated and recognized for what it is. ... There are several issues here that just, frankly, don't make sense."

For the past year, Hawker Beechcraft has competed with Brazil-based Embraer to supply 20 aircraft to two air bases in Afghanistan and another 15 for "building partner capacity," the Air Force has said. That number could grow to 55 and be worth up to $950 million. Deliveries were to begin in 2013.

The contract would preserve 1,400 U.S. jobs at 181 companies in 39 states, the company said. That includes 800 at Hawker Beechcraft, including 300 Machinists-union represented jobs, Boisture said.

In November, the Air Force informed Hawker Beechcraft that it had been excluded from the competition in what is called a "pre-award exclusion." The company has been trying to learn the reason for the action.

"We do not know why we were excluded," Boisture said.

The company filed an inquiry with the GAO for a review of the exclusion and a protest.

In its dismissal of Hawker Beechcraft's protest, the Air Force said the company missed a three-day deadline to file a request for a debriefing and a 10-day deadline to file a protest, the GAO's report said.

"That's what the Air Force is alleging," Boisture said. "There comes a point, though, where the facts of the matter would seem to be more important than the procedural correctness."

The Department of Defense, he said, "has a very wide, strong and long interest in the T-6, the predecessor to the AT-6. Every fixed-wing pilot in the United States military today is trained on this airplane."

Hawker's exclusion in the competition leaves Embraer's Super Tucano as the lone contender.

The GAO said in its report that the Air Force found the company's offer "technically unacceptable," one that would result in an "unacceptable mission capability risk." It did not give more detail. That wording was in the Air Force's letter to Hawker Beechcraft notifying the company that it had been excluded from the competition, Boisture said.

Boisture gave these reasons that the decision must have been based on a minor problem.

First, the AT-6 has been evaluated and proven capable through a multi-year program led by the Air National Guard. Hawker Beechcraft and its partners have worked with the Air Force for two years to develop parameters for the light air support competition and invested more than $100 million preparing to meet the Air Force's requirements, he said.

(c)2011 The Wichita Eagle (Wichita, Kan.)

© Copyright 2011 Wichita Eagle, Kan.. All rights reserved.

[buglerbilly]

A bit more on this...........I find it astonishing that Hawker has been expelled from the competition..........the numerous "deficiencies" are jaw-dropping considering this aircraft is the PRIME training aircraft of the USAF and others, and is based on a well-known Pilatus design...........smacks of petty & pedantic nit-picking to me as opposed to fundamental problems?

Hawker Sues USAF After Losing Protest

Dec 28, 2011

By Joseph C. Anselmo janselmo@aviationweek.com, Michael Bruno michael_bruno@aviationweek.com
WASHINGTON,



Days after its bid protest was dismissed by congressional auditors, Hawker Beechcraft is turning to the courts to try to force a reinstatement of its aircraft in the U.S. Air Force’s Light Air Support (LAS) competition.

The company filed suit against the Air Force on Dec. 27 in the Washington-based U.S. Court of Federal Claims, seeking to negate a November decision to exclude the Beechcraft AT-6 from the competition to provide 20 light-attack/advanced-trainer aircraft to the Afghan air force (Aerospace DAILY, Nov. 23, Dec. 26).

The downselect appears to leave the Brazilian Embraer Super Tucano as the only offering for the LAS contract, which is expected to be worth nearly $1 billion.

“I’m interesting in making sure the AT-6 is properly understood by the U.S. Air Force,” Hawker Beechcraft Chairman and CEO Bill Boisture said in an interview, asserting that the aircraft would be less costly than the Super Tucano and offer equal or better capabilities. “We’re filing the suit to press the issue.”

The exclusion of the AT-6 from the LAS was a big blow for Hawker Beechcraft, a struggling company that has counted on the military market to help offset a brutal downturn in sales of its business jets. The company’s initial protest with the Government Accountability Office (GAO) — the investigative arm of Congress — was dismissed on Dec. 22.

GAO’s ruling did shed some light on the rationale behind the Air Force’s rejection of the AT-6 after the service declined to provide an explanation to the company. According to the GAO, the Air Force concluded that Hawker had not adequately corrected deficiencies in its proposal and that “multiple deficiencies and significant weaknesses found in the proposal make it technically unacceptable and results in unacceptable mission capability risk.”

At the time, Hawker said it was “disappointed” in the GAO’s ruling and reiterated its charge that the bidding process was filled with “inconsistent, irregular and constantly changing requirements.”

The Air Force plans to purchase the aircraft with money from the U.S.-bankrolled Afghan Security Forces Fund. The service also was looking to buy more aircraft for itself to use to train allied forces, although that move might be delayed or canceled by Congress as Washington wrestles with tight budgets. Though other companies showed interest in the light-attack requirement when it first emerged, only the AT-6 and Super Tucano were evaluated by the Air Force in a flyoff conducted in January.

Boisture says it is unclear whether the Air Force will hold off awarding the LAS contract while Hawker Beechcraft’s suit is pending. But he vows to keep fighting. “I don’t think this is near over.”

Jim Haseltine

[buglerbilly]

USAF selects A-29 Super Tucano for Light Air Support program

Posted in Air Force on January 1st, 2012

Sierra Nevada and Embraer have been officially selected as winners of the U.S. Air Force’s Light Air Support program.

http://www.builtforthemission.com/downloads/Sierra%20Nevada-Embraer%20USAF%20LAS%20Press%20Release%20FINAL%201 2-30-11.pdf

[buglerbilly]

Air Force Buys Light Attack Planes For Afghans -- Not U.S.

By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.

Published: January 3, 2012



Just before the New Year, the U.S. Air Force finally selected a new Light Air Support plane for ground attack in counterinsurgency, picking the Brazilian Super Tucano over the American AT-6– whose manufacturer, Wichita, Kan.-based Hawker Beechcraft, is filing suit over the decision. But just as important as what the Pentagon is buying is how many and for whom: just 20 aircraft, with an option for another 15, which will go not to equip regular U.S. Air Force units but to train the embryonic air force of Afghanistan.

The Air Force Light Air Support program and a smaller Navy effort called "Combat Dragon" have been closely watched as a leading indicator of whether the U.S. military was willing to invest in the kind of low-cost, low-altitude, low-tech airplanes best suited for close air support in counterinsurgency. The answer is, not much.

At $355 million for 20 aircraft – just under $18 million apiece – the Super Tucano buy is peanuts by Pentagon standards. Combat Dragon is even smaller, a $20 million proof-of-concept with leased planes (though Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz, has still denounced it as pork). By contrast, despite tightening budgets, the military has fought off attempts to cut Lockheed Martin's $382 billion Joint Strike Fighter program to develop and build stealthy fighter-bombers for the Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps – a planned 2,457 aircraft at a cost per plane that has risen above $150 million. Four Joint Strike Fighters cost as much as the entire Light Air Support contract.

To be clear, the Air Force has real reasons for prioritizing the higher-tech plane. The JSF is a supersonic, radar-evading jet with advanced electronics; the LAS is a propeller plane that looks like something out of World War II. (One early contender for the LAS program was a modified crop-duster built by Air Tractor. They got knocked out of the competition when the Air Force required retractable landing gear). In an air-to-air duel, there'd be no competition. In airstrikes against ground targets, the JSF can take on a much wider range of missions because its stealth, speed, and avionics allow it to evade anti-aircraft defenses that would simply smack the LAS out of the sky.

Conversely, there are some things the LAS can do that a higher-performance airplane can't. It can take off and land from dirt runways with minimal maintenance, for example, allowing more responsive and intimate cooperation with frontline ground troops. Once aloft, a propeller plane can fly slow circles in the sky for hours waiting for insurgents to show themselves, a waiting game that fuel-hungry jet fighters cannot play. But those LAS advantages apply primarily to places like Colombia – where the Super Tucano has been battle-tested – or to Afghanistan, where the enemy is short on firepower to threaten low-flying airplanes or the forward bases they fly from. You would need a higher-performance aircraft against a nation-state military or even a more sophisticated guerrilla force, like Lebanon's Hezbollah – which used long-range rockets, anti-tank missiles, and an anti-ship cruise missile against Israel in 2006 – or for that matter the Afghan mujaheddin of the 1990s, with their CIA-provided Stinger anti-aircraft missiles.

So no one's suggesting replacing the JSF with LAS, or jets in general with propeller planes. Props are definitely a niche capability in modern warfare. But the Air Force refuses to even let them have that niche. Even assuming the Air Force exercises all its options, the Defense Department will spend less than $1 billion on just 35 Super Tucanos – some or all of which will be given to the Afghans – compared to $380 billion on 2,457 Joint Strike Fighters. The JSF is relevant to many more missions, but not to 380 times as many. The U.S. is finally out of Iraq and eying the exits in Afghanistan, but for good or ill the United States has a long history of involvement in ugly little wars around the world where it could use a plane like the LAS.

[buglerbilly]

USAF Orders Work to Stop on Afghan A-29 Aircraft

By DAVE MAJUMDAR and KATE BRANNEN

Published: 4 Jan 2012 18:18

The U.S. Air Force has ordered work to stop on the Light Support Aircraft (LAS) contract for the Afghan Air Force, officials announced Jan. 4.

The service last month awarded the $355 million fixed-price contract to Sierra Nevada Corp. and partner Embraer for 20 A-29 Super Tucano light turboprop training and attack aircraft.

"Due to litigation currently pending before the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, the Air Force today has issued a temporary stop work order for the Light Air Support Contract … " Air Force spokesman Lt. Col. Jack Miller said in a statement. "The competition and source selection evaluation were fair, open and transparent. The Air Force is confident in the merits of its contract award decision and anticipates that the litigation will be quickly resolved."

Hawker Beechcraft Corp., based in Wichita, Kan., has filed a lawsuit against the U.S. government after the company's AT-6 light attack turboprop, an armed variant of the T-6 Texan II primary trainer, was ejected from the competition for submitting a "technically unacceptable" bid.

Hawker Beecher said that the Air Force has not explained why the bid was disqualified.

Rep. Mike Pompeo, R-Kan., said that the service needs to explain why the AT-6 was thrown out of the competition.

"It wasn't just the case that they awarded to Embraer and chose a different bidder," he said. "They kicked Beechcraft out of the competition after years of working on it, with literally no explanation."

Pompeo said the Air Force may have legitimate reasons to exclude the Hawker aircraft. "They simply have to let America in on that secret, and the company."

The U.S. Air Force wants the aircraft delivered by April 30, 2014.

A spokeswoman for Embraer said she was not aware of the stop-work order, while Sierra Nevada representatives didn't return calls for comment as of late Jan. 4. Hawker-Beechcraft did not respond as of late Jan. 4.

[buglerbilly]

USAF orders 2nd armed Cessna Caravan for Lebanon

By: Stephen Trimble Washington DC

11 hours ago

Source:

Alliant Techsystems (ATK) will deliver a second AC-208 Combat Caravan to the Lebanese air force under a contract worth nearly $14.7 million awarded on 12 January.

The contract was signed by the US Air Force, which is donating equipment for Lebanon to use in operations against insurgent forces.

The new aircraft will join a first AC-208 delivered to Lebanon nearly three years ago, according to the Lebanese military's website. Delivery of the second aircraft is scheduled in 2013.


© US Air Force
The Iraqi air force has received 11 C-208 turboprops modified by ATK

The AC-208, a militarised version of the Cessna Caravan utility aircraft, is modified with sensors, defensive countermeasures and at least the Lockheed Martin AGM-114M/K Hellfire air-to-surface missile. ATK's marketing materials indicate more "weapons [are] coming soon", but does not identify them.

ATK equips the Combat Caravan with an L-3 Wescam MX-15D electro-optical/infrared sensor. An ATK-developed STAR fire control system allows an onboard operator to attack targets identified on the MX-15D.

Lebanon is the second acknowledged customer for ATK's AC-208. The Iraqi air force has received 11 C-208 turboprops modified by ATK. Three serve as reconnaissance aircraft and five are assigned as trainers, and three other AC-208Bs are armed.

ATK launched the Combat Caravan programme in 2008, and delivered the first aircraft to Iraq within 11 months of contract award.

[buglerbilly]

Hawker Beechcraft Issues Statement on 2012 State of the Union Address

(Source: Hawker Beechcraft; issued January 25, 2012)

I'll give them full marks for effort BUT I'm not sure it'll make a rat's difference!

WICHITA, Kan. --- Hawker Beechcraft today issued the following statement in response to President Obama's 2012 State of the Union Address.

"The actions of the current administration do not align with the comments made by President Obama in his State of the Union address. He made very convincing statements that he wants to protect American manufacturing jobs and called for more highly skilled jobs in the U.S. and for more products to be made in America.

"If this is true, then the actions of the U.S. Air Force are in direct conflict with those objectives. The Air Force recently excluded the Hawker Beechcraft AT-6 from a competition for a Light Air Support (LAS) aircraft. This decision is counter to the President's address in several ways:

• The AT-6 is the best airplane for the LAS mission and it is made in America.
• Awarding this contract to a foreign company jeopardizes 800 jobs in Kansas and Arkansas and more than 600 jobs in 38 other states.
• The U.S airplane is estimated to be about 25 percent less expensive to acquire and dramatically more cost effective to maintain.
"The decision by the Air Force to send defense dollars overseas for the LAS program should receive an impartial review before the Air Force purchases an inferior airplane and sends U.S. tax dollars and U.S. jobs overseas and places our national security in the hands of a foreign country.

"The President also spoke of rewarding innovation and hard work, as well as maintaining a strong manufacturing base and military infrastructure. Yet the administration's decision to outsource this contract to a foreign company defeats those goals.

• The U.S. Air Force says it will refuse to purchase an airplane that is still being developed. Our nation's superiority in the air and on the ground was built on investments in developmental technologies like drone aircraft and smart bombs. Hampering that development will be detrimental to our continued military dominance.
• Outsourcing the manufacture of our defense equipment and technology weakens our long-term national security. Awarding this contract to a non-U.S. company could idle one of the last manufacturing facilities capable of building a propeller-driven U.S. military aircraft.

"Eliminating jobs and capabilities in the U.S. industrial and military base is not consistent with the priorities that the President presented in his address or the strategy recently unveiled by the Department of Defense. The LAS contract and others like it are essential to maintaining our country's leadership in aerospace engineering and innovation, and keeping national security manufacturing in the United States is critical to maintaining our military manufacturing infrastructure.

"We hope that the aspirations the President set forth in the State of the Union guide future defense decisions and lead us to the answers we have been seeking on this one.

"Concerned Americans, members of the flying military, and anyone else dedicated to the success of U.S. manufacturing, preservation of the aerospace industrial base and U.S. tactical air power should take action to ensure the AT-6 gets proper consideration for this Air Force contract."

The AT-6 is a world-class, light attack aircraft that has been evaluated and proven capable through a multi-year, Congressionally-funded program led by the Air National Guard. The benefits of the AT-6 far outweigh that of the competition's offering, including the following important factors:

--The AT-6 is designed and manufactured in the U.S. to be used by the U.S and its allies.
--Keeping this contract in the U.S. will help preserve 1,400 domestic jobs at 181 companies in 39 states.
--The AT-6 draws its heritage from the airframe of the number-one training aircraft in the world, the Beechcraft T-6. The company has built more than 725 T-6 aircraft, which are used to train every fixed-wing military pilot in the United States and are successfully operated by six allied air forces around the world. The graduation to the AT-6 light attack airplane would be a natural progression.
--The AT-6 is the sum of the Air Force's proven T-6, A-10C mission system and MC-12W sensor suite, which offers the Department of Defense logistics and cost efficiencies that no other aircraft in the competition can match.
--The weapons and avionics systems included on the AT-6 are familiar to NATO allies and have been proven effective on many continents and in other NATO aircraft.

Hawker Beechcraft is a world-leading manufacturer of business, special mission, light attack and trainer aircraft – designing, marketing and supporting aviation products and services for businesses, governments and individuals worldwide. The company's headquarters and major facilities are located in Wichita, Kan., with operations in Salina, Kan.; Little Rock, Ark.; Chester, England, U.K.; and Chihuahua, Mexico. The company leads the industry with a global network of more than 100 factory-owned and authorized service centers.

-ends-

[buglerbilly]

Nasty Battle Deepens Over Air Force Super Tucano Deal; Foreigners, Buy American, George Soros All In Play

By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.

Published: February 3, 2012



If you thought the Republican primaries had turned ugly, wait till you see what it takes to win an Air Force contract nowadays. The feud between Hawker Beechcraft and Sierra Nevada Corporation over the Light Air Support contract has escalated from the usual appeals to the GAO up to a lawsuit, a freeze on the program, an online battle between the competitors websites, a write-your-Congressman campaign, all of it leavened lately by online conspiracy theories involving international financier George Soros.

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At stake? A $355 million contract for 20 small planes, with options for 15 more. The U.S. is buying the planes to train and equip the infant Afghan Air Force with a rugged, easy-to-operate ground attack plane to use against the Taliban, Haqqani Network and any other insurgents they might encounter. While puny by Pentagon standards, the Light Air Support program has always attracted outsize attention as a litmus test for the Air Force's willingness to invest in counterinsurgency. Now it's rapidly becoming a case study in the larger dysfunctions of defense procurement.

Powering the passions is the fact that the Air Force chose a Brazilian plane, the Embraer Super Tucano. As usual, when a foreign arms makers sells to the U.S., Embraer is offering its plane through a U.S. partner, Sierra Nevada Corp., which says that while it will follow the Brazilian blueprints, it will put the planes together at a new facility in Jacksonville, Fla., with 88 percent (by value) U.S. parts. But the prospect of sending any taxpayer dollars abroad is attracting considerable negative comment, not surprising during a recession. So Hawker Beechcraft has set up a website touting the all-American-ness of its airplane, complete with a "take action" tab where you can click to send a pre-written letter of protest to your congressman. Sierra Nevada countered Thursday with a point-by-point rebuttal that counter-slams Hawker Beechcraft as insufficiently American for, among other things, moving jobs to Mexico and being co-owned by Canadians and the much-reviled Goldman Sachs. It is a rich stew of xenophobia and raw populism.

This is where George Soros comes in -- or rather the specter of George Soros as he is imagined in certain circles. The Hungarian-born Jewish billionaire, Democratic donor, and Obama supporter happens to be a big investor in Brazil, with a $1 billion stake in the government-owned oil company Petrobras, which Glenn Beck accused Obama of favoring as a pay-off to Soros -- a charge refuted by none other than Forbes, hardly a liberal-loving publication. Soros also owns stock in Chinaís Hainan Airlines Group, which bought airliners from Embraer, which is enough of a connection for the online rumor mill to recycle the Glenn Beck accusation with a different Brazilian beneficiary. As far as anyone can tell, however, Soros has no stake in Embraer itself, and Hawker Beechcraft's hometown paper, the Wichita Eagle, has dismissed the rumor.

Setting aside any imaginary Elders of Zion, the real issue here is how broken the military procurement system has become. The Air Force has run aground before on a contract dispute with protectionist overtones, namely the KC-46 tanker program that ultimately went to Boeing. Another dispute claimed the Air Force Combat Search and Rescue helicopter contract. More recently, the Army's Ground Combat Vehicle program was delayed a year to deal with protests by a rejected bidder. But those are all much bigger programs. If even modest military procurements can turn this ugly, can anyone get anything done?

[Gubler, A.]

This is where George Soros comes in -- or rather the specter of George Soros as he is imagined in certain circles. The Hungarian-born Jewish billionaire, Democratic donor, and Obama supporter happens to be a big investor in Brazil, with a $1 billion stake in the government-owned oil company Petrobras, which Glenn Beck accused Obama of favoring as a pay-off to Soros -- a charge refuted by none other than Forbes, hardly a liberal-loving publication. Soros also owns stock in Chinaís Hainan Airlines Group, which bought airliners from Embraer, which is enough of a connection for the online rumor mill to recycle the Glenn Beck accusation with a different Brazilian beneficiary. As far as anyone can tell, however, Soros has no stake in Embraer itself, and Hawker Beechcraft's hometown paper, the Wichita Eagle, has dismissed the rumor.

Setting aside any imaginary Elders of Zion, the real issue here is how broken the military procurement system has become. The Air Force has run aground before on a contract dispute with protectionist overtones, namely the KC-46 tanker program that ultimately went to Boeing. Another dispute claimed the Air Force Combat Search and Rescue helicopter contract. More recently, the Army's Ground Combat Vehicle program was delayed a year to deal with protests by a rejected bidder. But those are all much bigger programs. If even modest military procurements can turn this ugly, can anyone get anything done?

Don't they know that Hawker Beechcraft is owned by Goldman Sachs? You can't beat an anti-semite, anti-banker bush in one direction only.