Farnborough 2008 Show News - July 16, 2008 - (Page 20)

FA R N B O R O U G H 2 0 0 8 EADS Wins Spanish Harrier Upgrade Contract One for Show And One for Spare Earlier heavy rain having forced abandonment of last weekend’s Royal International Air Tattoo at Fairford, it was by default that Farnborough gained the honor on Monday of being the venue for Europe’s first air show appearance by a Lockheed Martin F-22A Raptor—albeit operating from Fairford and back for a purely airborne presence. While showgoers were enjoying their view of the aircraft’s agility, observers in the southwest may F-22A Raptor. have been passing ribald comments about “the Americans not finding the airfield again.” In truth, it was “Raptor 02” that was orbiting near Lasham, the USAF obviously being determined that airborne unserviceability should not steal its thunder. —Paul Jackson EADS Defense & Security (Hall 4, Stand G15) has received an 11.5 million euro three-year contract to modernize four Spanish Navy AV-8B Harriers. The award, intended to bring the aircraft to a standard approaching that of the Harrier II Plus, will feature new Pegasus 408A engines, new avionics, and structural and component upgrades. The upgraded avionics fit will include night-vision-compatible controls, displays and lighting, and a wide-field-of-view HUD. MPC Products Goes Full Throttle Illinois-based MPC Products (Hall 2, Stand B13) has come to Farnborough to announce several contracts for its aircraft autothrottles—notably to go into the new G650 business jet, perpetuating a relationship with Grumman begun in 1991. India’s ADA/HAL Tejas light combat aircraft will be another user of MPC technology under a new contract for initial development and production. The new Hondajet will rely extensively on the company’s expertise, employing throttle control, flap system and landing gear lever from MPC. Eurocopter Boosts Polish Emergency Services Replacing its fleet of aging Mil Mi-2s, the Polish Ministry of Health has signed a contract for 23 Eurocopter EC135 helicopters to serve its nationwide Emergency Medical Services (EMS) network. Selected after an international tender, the aircraft will be delivered between 2009 and 2010 and will enable Polish EMS to become fully compliant with European JAR OPS-3 standards. The fleet of 23 helicopters will serve bases throughout Poland, operated by the Ministry’s Lotnicze Pogotowie Ratunkowe (LPR) organization. A380—Say Again That Rate of Climb On Monday during the Airbus A380’s magnificent display of aerial cavorting, consternation erupted at Swanwick, the regional air traffic control center, as a “pop-up” target appeared in the busy airways tens of thousands of feet above Farnborough. The problem, however, was quickly resolved: the A380’s transponder was set to predictive mode and so broadcast its altitude based on momentary rate of climb which was, at times, quite impressive. “Please don’t do it again,” Farnborough Ground Control said as the leviathan taxied in. —Paul Jackson CAE Won’t Drop You in the Brown CAE Simulation Products and Military Training & Services has been working on a solution to helicopters’ brownout/whiteout problems called the Augmented Visionics System (AVS). This fuses IR and LIDAR sensor data with a terrain database in real-time to give the pilot a clear view of the landing zone. This AVS solution, says CAE, goes beyond the enhanced synthetic systems found in some business aircraft. The company recently signed a small contract with a helicopter manufacturer to do some more extensive development, specifically for a Low Visibility Landing study for a defense customer. CAE is at Chalet A27. Red Flag’s Green Light for RAF Typhoons Following participation in the U.S. Air Force’s Exercise Green Flag, the Royal Air Force is effectively declaring the Eurofighter Typhoon operational in the air-to-surface role. Seven aircraft from XI Squadron were deployed to Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, for the exercise. Demonstrating the aircraft’s initial air-to-surface capability clears the way for potential combat deployment. However, the immediate priority is likely to remain providing quick reaction alert for the UK air defense system. L-3 Special Mission Processor for C-130J L-3 Communications (Hall H4, Stand A15) has won a contract to supply the Special Mission Display Processor (SMDP) for the Lockheed Martin C-130J Block 7.0 upgrade program. The SMDP is a high-speed computer that will communicate and exchange missioncritical information to enhance situational awareness. The C-130J SMDP will adopt L-3 Display Systems’ latest F-35 JSF and PRISM avionics architecture and technologies to provide affordable special mission Link 16 processing. Link 16 is a NATO military intercomputer data exchange format that enables military aircraft, ships and land units to exchange tactical pictures in near real-time. 20 July 16, 2008 www.aviationweek.com/shownews http://www.aviationweek.com/shownews

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Bombardier, Shenyang $5 Billion for Composites 787 and Seven V-22s for Export Sale? Saving Fuel at SFO Raytheon Roars Into UAVs Bell Eyes ARH-70A Costs All According to Plan We Fly the PC-12NG Russia’s T-50 PAK-FA Optimistic in Israel ICAO Sim Classifications Pratt to Power New Drone Russian Conglomerate

Farnborough 2008 Show News - July 16, 2008

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