Military Aviation News and Discussion

[ngatimozart]

Bell Helicopter have ruled out any further design work in conventional military helicopter configurations. They instead intend to concentrate on high speed rotary wing designs because that is where they believe that military rotary wing craft are heading. Hence, the UH1Y Venom and the AH1Z Viper are their final conventional military helicopter designs.

 

[ngatimozart]

It appears that the US DEA have modelled their military aviation procurement processes on the Canadian model. In 2008 they acquired an ATR42-500, costing US$22 million, for the express purpose of converting it into an ISR, or similar platform, as part of its effort in combating Afghanistan's drug trade. The aircraft was supposed to be FOC in 2012. A further US$65 million later, the aircraft has yet to leave the ground. This is apparently a joint project with the Pentagon.

 

[John Fedup]

This link details the extent of the A400M engine problem. Lucky for Airbus that most customers don't have any real options for cancelling.
A400M: Airbus Confirms That 48 Engines Have Cracks; GE, maker of reduction gear, confirms that all clockwise-turning engines are affected

 

[John Fedup]

As Airbus and Boeing struggle with the A400M and KC-46, perhaps both should have been scrapped. The US and Europe could then have negotiated a KC-45/C17 production swap.

 

[ngatimozart]

As Airbus and Boeing struggle with the A400M and KC-46, perhaps both should have been scrapped. The US and Europe could then have negotiated a KC-45/C17 production swap.

Never happen. US & Euro pork barrel politics. Euro govts also have to much invested in the A400M. Also the A400M and the C17 have different capability sets. Mind you if Boeing was to look at a baby C17, say around the 40 tonne mark

 

[ngatimozart]

The German govt are giving some thought to a limited joint C130 fleet with allies. This because they are having air lift problems due to A400M delays, Transall obsolescence, plus the Luftwaffe's push for a platform smaller than the A400M due to the A400m's shortcomings that have been highlighted in Mali, where the Bundswehr are currently operating alongside the French.

 

[swerve]

What shortcomings have shown up in Mali?

 

[ngatimozart]

What shortcomings have shown up in Mali?

I was paraphrasing the article and according to that it appears that the aircraft is heavy.

 

[John Fedup]

Never happen. US & Euro pork barrel politics. Euro govts also have to much invested in the A400M. Also the A400M and the C17 have different capability sets. Mind you if Boeing was to look at a baby C17, say around the 40 tonne mark

At some point epic fail may cancel out pork barrel politics (I'd like to think so anyway). Germany is getting close to this point. I agree that the C-17 needs a companion. Perhaps the KC390 and C-17 could have been that companion. Too late now.

 

[swerve]

I was paraphrasing the article and according to that it appears that the aircraft is heavy.

Ah, I see - this

The German air force is pushing for a transport aircraft smaller than the Airbus A400M for operations on small and poorly fortified airfields. The deployment of Bundeswehr troops in the North African country of Mali has shed light on the shortcomings of the relatively heavy A400M in adverse conditions.

So, it has the same shortcoming as the C-17, but to a lesser extent. It's a bigger & heavier aeroplane than a C-130 - which is bigger & heavier than a Transall, which is bigger & heavier than a C-27, which is bigger & heavier than . . . . & so on. So there are cases where a smaller aircraft would have advantages over each of these, just as there are cases where a smaller aircraft wouldn't be able to do the job.

That's an argument for not having just one size of transport aircraft. It's not an argument against the A400M, or anything else the same size such as the C-2, any more than the ability of the A400M to get into & out of airstrips that the C-17 can't means the C-17 is useless.

 

[gf0012-aust]

it gets back to the basics of "is the aircraft a dud because it doesn't do what it was designed to do" as opposed to "is the aircraft a dud because it doesn't do what we want it to do" which unhappily usually means that the engineering and design brief never considered the "new" requirements

unless the plane is a complete dud at the design level (ie inherent design flaws) they're all a legacy of being developed to meet the demands of the conops used to inform the engineers

its rarely the plane which is a dud - its usually an expectation centric issue wrapped around "additional requirements" which should have been factored in from the beginning if the development cycle had been done at qualified and considered pace

garbage in - garbage out across design, development, engineering, force and platform modelling, user input, service intent stages.....

 

[t68]

Ah, I see - this


That's an argument for not having just one size of transport aircraft. It's not an argument against the A400M, or anything else the same size such as the C-2, any more than the ability of the A400M to get into & out of airstrips that the C-17 can't means the C-17 is useless.

So it appears that the RAAF did there due diligence in this regards with a mixed fleet of,

Super King Air (light transport & cannot be deployed into combat areas)
C27
C130
C17

 

[vonnoobie]

Originally posted in RNZAF thread but figured more suitable located here.

Berlin Ties Airbus A400M Failures to Contracts Award By Country

A snippet from the article....

BERLIN --- German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen today blamed the failures accumulated by the Airbus A400M military transport aircraft on the award of contracts according to national quotas rather than to strict quality criteria at the beginning of the project.

I'm a bit on the fence over this view with it being an accepted and understandable concept that any nation that invest's in a project should get an appropriate share of the work.

Would be impossible to have garnered any funds from the respective nations involved had they not been allocated the work given with countries not being in the habit of investing to create job's for other advanced economies. Invest to create job's in a third world nation they would as that has positive effects for all, but no nation would invest there tax dollars to create job's in Germany or France etc etc.

I don't see it so much a failure in awarding contract's based on national quotas as a failure in Airbus and the partner nations failing to implement system's to award the work to the best companies in said nations.

 

[John Fedup]

The week's Aviation News site has an article about the delay in the KC-46 caused by the boom. From the article;


'The KC-46 did successfully pass fuel to a Lockheed Martin F-16 using the refueling boom back in January. But during more recent tests with the C-17, a much bigger aircraft, the turbulent “bow wave effect”—air disturbance generated by two large aircraft flying in line—proved too difficult for the refueling system to handle."

This would also be the case with a KC-10 and C-17 refueling I would think. Does anyone know if the KC-30 is used for refueling C-17s? How different are the booms on a KC-135 compared to a KC-30?

 

[ngatimozart]

The interim fix for the A400M engine gearbox problem has been certified by the European Aviation Safety Agency. This involves initial inspections of the planes after 650 flight hours, up from 100 hours, with follow-up inspections to be required every 150 hours.

 

[Oberon]

The week's Aviation News site has an article about the delay in the KC-46 caused by the boom. From the article;


'The KC-46 did successfully pass fuel to a Lockheed Martin F-16 using the refueling boom back in January. But during more recent tests with the C-17, a much bigger aircraft, the turbulent “bow wave effect”—air disturbance generated by two large aircraft flying in line—proved too difficult for the refueling system to handle."

This would also be the case with a KC-10 and C-17 refueling I would think. Does anyone know if the KC-30 is used for refueling C-17s? How different are the booms on a KC-135 compared to a KC-30?

Yes, the RAAF has successfully refuelled both RAAF and USAF C-17s using the KC-30's refuelling boom.

http://australianaviation.com.au/2016/05/raaf-kc-30-refuels-a-raaf-c-17-for-the-first-time/

 

[ngatimozart]

Embrear and Boeing have strengthened their KC390 support pact. The pact covers marketing and in-service support by Boeing for the KC390. This will be of benefit for potential sales of the airlifter to potential customers.

Leonardo have introduced a new dual role combat trainer variant of their M346 LIFT. This is the M346FT.

Boeing have stated that regardless of whether or not they win the upcoming USAF T-X competition, they will likely globally market the new LIFT that they are jointly developing with SAAB.

The US DOD is seeking "considerations" from Boeing regarding delays to delivery of the KC46. Whilst the US DOD is not liable for cost over runs, the extra time that the KC135s are having to stay in service is costing the USAF.

The latest armed variant of the Blackhawk. This one by Sikorsky.

The Gripen appears to be gaining interest in South America because of its lower acquisition and operating costs.

 

[John Fedup]

Here's a link on AI being developed for air-to-air combat. It will be interesting to see how long this will take to be ready for prime time.

Artificial Intelligence Drone Defeats Fighter Pilot: The Future? « Breaking Defense - Defense industry news, analysis and commentary

 

[colay1]

Here's a link on AI being developed for air-to-air combat. It will be interesting to see how long this will take to be ready for prime time.

Artificial Intelligence Drone Defeats Fighter Pilot: The Future? « Breaking Defense - Defense industry news, analysis and commentary

Yeah, that gathered a lot of attention. I think the intended benefit is in facilitating manned/unmanned teaming by allowing the latter greater autonomy.

Another area for AI having a major impact is in the EW arena. Smarter, faster EW systems that learn and adapt in real time to threats.

Next-Generation Electronic Warfare Development Targets Fully Adaptive Threat Response Technology | Georgia Tech Research Institute

 

[John Fedup]

Yeah, that gathered a lot of attention. I think the intended benefit is in facilitating manned/unmanned teaming by allowing the latter greater autonomy.

Another area for AI having a major impact is in the EW arena. Smarter, faster EW systems that learn and adapt in real time to threats.

Next-Generation Electronic Warfare Development Targets Fully Adaptive Threat Response Technology | Georgia Tech Research Institute

Very interesting technology. Haven't seen much lately about quantum computing, a possible means to confirm if DRFM jamming being applied against you. Angry Kitten is a strange name for this technology, I wonder what the story behind that is?