Farnborough Show News - July 14, 2008 - (Page 42)

FA R N B O R O U G H 2 0 0 8 Sidewinder Graduates to Block 2 The U. S. government plans later this year to shift from buying the Block 1 variant of the AIM-9X The AIM-9X is a “revolutionary” improvement in warfighting capability for several reasons, according to White. Among other things, it has a staring focal plane array seeker head to increase the ability to detect a target. The seeker is a high-off-boresight type that gives a pilot first-shot, first-kill capability, while thrustvectoring gives the missile a tight turn radius. The AIM-9X comes fully assembled in a container, but since it’s a digital missile, it can be checked by computer from outside the container. It’s also designed to take new software, so it can be quickly updated. AIM-9X Block 2 has these features, as well as a new, more capable fuse and a data link to the launching aircraft’s radar to allow in-flight updates, and an even greater chance of hitting a target. AIM-9X Block 2 is entering developmental testing, with the first captive carry flight slated this month at the China Lake, Calif., Naval Weapons Center. It must be qualified on all the jets that will carry it, including the F-15, F-16 and F/A-18. —Rich Tuttle Raytheon AIM-9X Sidewinder short-range air-to-air missile to the latest Block 2 model, according to Jeffrey White, Raytheon’s AIM-9X business development manager. His company has built 3,000 Block 1s since about 2000—it marked the milestone with a celebration in early July—and is under contract to build a total of 10,000 AIM-9Xs. 110,000 earliermodel Sidewinders, including the AIM-9M which preceded the AIM-9X, have been built since production of the heat-seeking dogfight weapon began in the mid-1950s. AIM-9X Block 1 is in service with the U.S. Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force, and is being exported to eight international customers—Australia, South Korea, Singapore, Turkey, Denmark, Poland, Switzerland and Finland. Selex Wins Chinese ATC Support Deal Italy’s Selex Sistemi Integrati has signed a 1.5 million euro contract with the Air Traffic Management Bureau of the Civil Aviation Administration of China (ATMB-CAAC) for the supply of logistic support on air traffic control systems. It will deliver spare parts for most of the systems the company delivered in past years and which cover a substantial area of China. The contract also includes training courses, site inspections and technical support during next month’s Olympic Games in Beijing. Selex has supplied 34 radar sites to China. thinking without limits Helicopters that can ﬂy eurocopter.com http://eurocopter.com http://eurocopter.com

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Farnborough Show News - July 14, 2008 Contents Thirty More Years CFM Reveals New Engine Boeing Reduces Forecast UAVs’ Quiet Revolution Finmeccanica: U.S. Success A Plethora of AESAs BAE North America Plus L-3 Becomes a Prime Better Late Than Never A Peek Behind the Curtain China’s J-10 Revealed Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner Breaking LM’s Hegemony

Farnborough Show News - July 14, 2008

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