SP's Aviation November 2010 - SP's Aviation - Civil Aviation

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November • 2010

News Flies. We Gather Intelligence. Every Month. From India.

SP’s an sP GuIde PublIcatIon

FinallyF414for

Infocus: President Barack

Obama’s Visit Business Aviation in

Middle East E-Jets Programme NBAA Show Report

Interview: Honeywell India’s

Pritam Bhavnani

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Continuing a powerful partnership with unmatched F-16 AESA radar capabilities.

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MMRCA Good fortune and protection for India. With the operationally proven APG-80 AESA radar aboard the F-16IN Super Viper, the Indian Air Force will attain and sustain unprecedented air combat capability for the future. The Indian Air Force, Northrop Grumman, and Lockheed Martin: continuing a powerful partnership with unmatched potential.

Issue 11 • 2010 SP’S AVIATION 1

FIrST

6 Sail & Fly

Civil

12 Business Aviation Soaring Sky high

19 regional Aviation A Class Apart

mIlITAry

22 Training Modern & Tech-savvy

23 maintenance Aiming for Excellence

24 Air Force Day Celebrating 78 Years...

30 Joint Exercise Exercise Indradhanush

32 F-16IN F-16IN APT for MMRCA:

Lockheed Martin

Finally F414 The GE F414 incorporates advanced technology with

the proven design base of its predecessor. It is a durable,

reliable and esay to maintain engine.

Cover Image: An F414-GE-400 jet engine is tested aboard the

aircraft carrier USS Enterprise.Cover Illustration: US Navy Photo

•

35 Industry Independent choice is our

strength: SAAB

ShOw rEPOrT

26 NBAA Sales Sparse, But Mood Buoyant

OEm

31 Interview ‘Northrop Grumman AESA is

relevant in the modern battlefield’

33 Interview ‘Honeywell sees India as a key

global location’

hAll OF FAmE

34 Scott Crossfield

rEgulAr DEPArTmENTS

5 A word from Editor

7 NewswithViews

– Chinese unmanned lunar search

– Flying Saucers for Earthlings

9 InFocus Paradigm Shift

10 Forum

Burgeoning Friendship

35 NewsDigest

40 lastword Consolidating Partnership

Table of ConTenTsIssue 11 • 2010

AviationSP’s

news Flies. We Gather intelligence. Every Month. From india.

An SP Guide PublicAtion

nExt issuE: Year-End Special

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NOVEMBER • 2010


SP’s AN SP GUIDE PUBLICATION

FINALLYF414for


Obama visit Business Aviation in

Middle East E-jets Programme

NBAA Show Report Interview:

Honeywell India’sPritam Bhavnani

Cover Story

selection of GE F414 has put an end to the ensuing delay in the light combat aircraft tejas MK ii programme

16

2 SP’S AVIATION Issue 11 • 2010 www.spsaviation.net

PuBLISHER ANd EdIToR-IN-CHIEF

Jayant Baranwal

ASSISTANT GRouP EdIToR

R. Chandrakanth

SENIoR VISITING EdIToR

Air Marshal (Retd) V.K. Bhatia

SENIoR TECHNICAL GRouP EdIToRS

Air Marshal (Retd) B.K. Pandey

Lt General (Retd) Naresh Chand

SENIoR CoPY EdIToR &

CoRRESPoNdENT

Sucheta das Mohapatra

ASSISTANT CoRRESPoNdENT

Abhay Singh Thapa

ASSISTANT PHoTo EdIToR

Abhishek Singh

CoNTRIBuToRS

INdIA

Air Marshal (Retd) N. Menon

Group Captain (Retd) A.K. Sachdev

Group Captain (Retd) Joseph Noronha

EuRoPE

Alan Peaford

uSA & CANAdA

LeRoy Cook

CHAIRMAN & MANAGING dIRECToR

Jayant Baranwal

AdMIN & CooRdINATIoN

Bharti Sharma

Survi Massey

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CIVIL BUSINESS AVIATION

Issue 11 • 2010 SP’S AVIATION 13 12 SP’S AVIATION Issue 11 • 2010 www.spsaviation.net

CIVIL BUSINESS AVIATION

During the 2007 Dubai Air Show, Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal casually signed a cheque for an undisclosed amount to privately own an A380 superjumbo jet dubbed as the “Flying Palace”. Such is the money power in the Mid-dle East. Three years down the line, the Middle

East continues to wield the “money clout”, although some of the countries were taken in by the sweep of global recession.

Year 2010 has a different story. The Middle East is bounc-ing back. The aviation sector is looking up. The Middle East Business Aviation (MEBA) 2010 event held from December 7 to 9 is expected to be bigger than ever with about 70 busi-ness aircraft to be on static display. Excited about a Frost and Sullivan report that the business jets market is poised for steady growth, with over 200 units expected to be delivered to the region by 2015, the Managing Director of F&E Aero-

By R. Chandrakanth

Business in the Middle East, indeed, is looking up. There

is a growing demand for private charter flights as the

responsibilities of top executives based in the region involve quick

and frequent trips abroad.

Soaring Sky high

BOOMING DEMAND: THE QATAR EXECUTIVE FLEET COMPRISES TWO BOMBARDIER CHALLENGER 605 JETS FEATURING 11 SEATS AND THE EIGHT-SEAT CHALLENGER 300 AIRCRAFT. QATAR’S FLOURISHING NATURAL-GAS INDUSTRY IS A MAJOR DRIVING FACTOR IN SPURRING INTEREST IN AVIATION-ON-DEMAND.

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NOVEMBER • 2010


SP’s

AN SP GUIDE PUBLICATIONFINALLYF414for Infocus:

President Barack Obama visit

Business Aviation in Middle East E-jets Programme

NBAA Show Report Interview: Honeywell India’sPritam Bhavnani

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NOVEMBER • 2010


SP’s AN SP GUIDE PUBLICATION

FINALLYF414for


Obama visit Business Aviation in

Middle East E-jets Programme

NBAA Show Report Interview:

Honeywell India’sPritam Bhavnani

best of Air Force day

A Word from Editor


Acknowledging how India had emerged as a world power, Obama sought to enhance the partnership

on many counts. The takeaways included deals

worth $10 billion including selection of GE F414 for the

Tejas Mk II programme

Jayant Baranwal

Publisher & Editor-in-Chief

NOVember’S hIghPOINT hAS beeN the visit of the US President Barack Obama. The three-day visit further strengthened Indo-US alliance and Obama termed it as “one of the defining partnerships of the 21st century”. Acknowledging that India had emerged as a

world power, Obama sought to enhance the partnership on many counts. The takeaways from his visit included deals worth $10 billion designed to create 50,000 Ameri-can jobs; closer cooperation in the areas of security; backing India’s bid for permanent seat in the UN Security Council; removing India’s defence and space-related es-tablishment from the US ‘Entity List’, etc.

From the aviation perspective, the only deal which got formalised during the visit was the SpiceJet purchase of 30 Next-Generation Boeing 737-800 aircraft. All the pre-arrival talk about the US clinching the multi-medium role combat aircraft (MMRCA) deal during the President’s visit, howev-er, did not crystallise. The preliminary agreement between India and the US for 10 C-17 Globemaster III heavy transport aircraft for the Indian Air Force, would result in more strate-gic sourcing activities by Boeing, Pratt & Whitney and other companies involved in the C-17 Globemaster III programme. This issue’s In Focus and Forum highlight on the new dimen-sions to the Indo-US relationship post-Obama visit.

In this issue, there are articles on IAF’s Maintenance and Training Commands, highlighting their efforts in keeping the force prim and proper.

The cover story of this issue gives an insight into the journey of GE with Tejas, the light combat aircraft (LCA). Air Marshal (Retd) B.K. Pandey takes us through various devel-opments, post-selection of F414 to power the aircraft. Inter-estingly, this selection was concretised just before the visit of President Obama to the country. The selection of GE has put an end to the debate and the uncertainty on the progress of the Tejas Mk II programme.

Technology development is something amazing and we have an Australian firm that is developing a heavy lift air-ship known as the “Skylifter”, a novel dirigible gas balloon system intended for transporting bulky cargo which con-

ventional aircraft and helicopters cannot carry. The Skylifter team is aiming for a payload capacity of up to 150 tonnes, even to remote areas. News with Views also highlights Chi-na’s second unmanned lunar probe, Chang’E 2, as part of the first stage of a three-step moon mission, which in the next stage will culminate in a soft-landing on the moon.

In the civil aviation sector, R. Chandrakanth, who has been in the Middle East for about three years, writes on how the Middle Eastern countries are competing to become the region’s aviation hub. In the article on what is driving busi-ness jets in the region, there are astounding figures of high net worth individuals and their spending spree.

Giving an overview of the annual meeting of the Nation-al Business Aviation Association (NBAA), LeRoy Cook from Atlanta states how unlike last year’s gloom-infested NBAA convention, this year was filled with hope and the mood was upbeat, even though sales were still sparse.

We are going through exciting times and we do hope ev-eryone benefits from what is legitimately deserved…


FF

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EVer ImAgINed A yAchT could fly? French cabin designer Yelken Octuri has made this possible and Masqat Airways is its first patron. The model was manufactured at the Aerocoché plant in the water

sports facilities of Salles sur Cérou, in the Tarn french de-partement.

The sailing aircraft has been designed for the corporate executives of the Masqat Airways’ air transport company and allows them to enjoy sailing along the Omani coastline with its 600-km range in the plane version.

The sailing yacht can transform into a plane with its four mobile masts. The sails are retracted and the four masts are lowered to become wings.

The propulsion is provided by the sails of the four masts in boat mode. The surface of the sails is 1,302 sq m. Each mast can be individually oriented through a double-jack sys-tem that ensures an optimal positioning regardless of the wind direction.

In order to transform into wings, the masts must be low-ered in horizontal position. The sails will then go to storage compartments located inside each mast. The four masts are lifted and lowered by a set of four shrouds set up on two central masts.

The yacht is said to have two main decks, a half-deck in the aft and another half-deck in the fore for the cockpit. Ac-cess inside the boat is through two doors located above the aft floats. The lower deck features a main room, a kitchen,

a toilet and a storage room. The main room’s floor is above the sea level, so that the windows can be just above the boat’s waterline. The upper deck features three rooms and a bathroom. SP

—SP’s Aviation News Desk

E-mail your comments to: [email protected]

CharaCteristiCs:

Boat mode• Length: 46.2 metres• Width: 27 metres• Rigging: 4 masts• Height: 50.7 metres• Height of masts: 40.6 metres• Surface of the sails: 1302 m² (sails + masts surface)

Plane mode• Wingspan: 90.4 metres• Height: 27.6 metres• Engines: Nissen & Brasseur• Engine power: 4 x 5400 ch• Maximum speed: 390 km/h

Sail &FlyThe seaplane-convertible trimaran is now a reality

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ChINA’S INTereST IN luNAr exploration pro-gramme is believed to have been ignited by an incident in 1978 when the U.S. National Security Advisor Brzezinski gave Chairman Hua Guofeng,

Mao’s successor, a one-gram moon rock sample brought back from the moon by the Apollo astronauts. China has come a long way since then.

The launch on October 1, 2010 of a Long March (LM) 3C rocket carrying the lunar orbiter Chang’E 2, the second lunar probe, was particularly symbolic as it marked the 61st anniversary of the foundation of the People’s Republic which is celebrated as China’s National Day. The spacecraft successfully entered the initial 117-minute lunar orbit at 100 km above the surface of the moon and will re-main in orbit for around nine months exploring and mapping the lunar surface with its cam-eras providing a maximum im-aging resolution of 10 metres or nearly 40 feet. The first Chinese lunar probe Chang’E 1, which was launched in October 2007, provided a peak resolution of 400 feet and remained in orbit till the end of 2008. Higher reso-lution available with Chang’E 2 is attributable to its compara-tively lower orbit and the sig-nificantly better quality of sen-sors employed. The plan is to manoeuvre the satellite into an elliptical orbit with an apogee of 100 km and a perigee of 15 km. But beyond the symbolism, the lunar probe with the help of on board sophisticated cameras, will capture 3-D images that will help select a landing site paving the way for the launch of the Chang’E 3. This satellite which is designed to carry out the first unmanned soft landing on the surface of the moon is scheduled for launch in 2013.

The Chinese unmanned lunar exploration programme has been planned to be conducted in three phases. The Phase-I which involves collection of data with the help of lunar orbiters will conclude with the end of the Chang’E 2 mission. The second phase beginning with Chang’E 3 will

involve robotic probes landing on the moon to collect and analyse lunar soil samples and transmit the data back to the earth. In Phase III, the robotic probe will come back to earth with samples of rocks and soil collected from the lunar surface for analysis by Chinese laboratories. Although no clear timeframes have yet been defined, reports state that the third phase of the programme should be completed by 2020.

However, there are some imponderables that may im-pinge on the estimated timeframe for the programme. Mis-

sions in Phases II and III involve much heavier payloads and as such would require a more pow-erful launch vehicle than the LM-3. Designated as LM-5, the new launch vehicle which re-ported to be under development, is expected to be operational by 2012. Also, a new launch site for the LM-5 is under construction on Hainan Island.

The second lunar mission by China is being seen by some as a response to India’s Chan-drayaan-I which scored over the Chang’E 1, delivering a lunar impactor that crashed into the surface of the moon near the South Pole. Coming after the US, Russia and Japan, India is the fourth nation to have left a foot-print on the moon. As it stands, India’s Chandrayaan-II mission which will include a Lander and Rover to explore the surface of the moon is slated for 2012-13.

However, in the domain of manned exploration of space, at

this point in time, China appears to be a few steps ahead of India having sent a man into space in 2003 and credited with a space walk in 2008. India is yet to send its first astro-naut into space tentatively by 2015 and land on the moon by 2025. China too has plans to put its first astronaut (in Chinese “Taikonaut”) on the moon by 2025.

At this point in time, it appears that both the Asian giants will finally end up in a neck-on-neck race to con-quer space. SP

—Air Marshal (Retd) B.K. Pandey

Chinese unmanned lunar searChChina launched its second unmanned lunar probe, Chang’E 2, on October 1, 2010, as part of the first stage of a three-step moon mission, which in the next stage will culminate in a soft-landing on the moon. The satellite blasted off on a Long March (LM) carrier rocket from the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre in Southwest China’s Sichuan Province. “Chang’E 2 lays the foundation for the soft-landing on the moon and further exploration of outer space,” said Wu Weiren, Chief Designer of China’s lunar orbiter project. Chang’E 2, named after a legendary Chinese Goddess of moon, will orbit 100 km above the moon, compared with 200 km for Chang’E 1.

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DecAdeS AfTer The hOrrIble Hindenburg’s fiery disaster and the scuttling of the German diri-gibles by the victorious ‘Allies’ in the aftermath of World War II, when the industry began to revital-

ise, fans of airships have been hoping for a large-scale re-vival of the majestic floating aircraft. Since then, every few years lighter/heavier than air flying concepts have come along to raise those hopes, such as Northrop Grumman’s long endurance multi-intelligence vehicle, Skyhook’s JHL-40, and Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s (DARPA) Walrus, which led to the current Aeroscraft ML866 project. Now, there appears to be another contender vying for a niche in this field—Australia’s Skylifter, but with a unique de-sign of its own.

So, what is different? Rather than use either a spherical or a cigar-shaped aerostat, as the gas-filled envelope of lighter-than-aircraft is known, the Skylifter team has developed a discus-shaped one like a flying saucer. This means that like a traditional, round balloon and unlike the elongated dirigible blimps, the craft is ‘direction-less’ i.e. it is totally oblivious of where the wind might be blow-ing from. Because of its saucer like round design, it always re-mains aligned to the wind. The Skylifter is being developed to use aerostatic lift to remain airborne and uses paddle type propellers to direct its flight. There is no requirement for any wings, fins or control surfaces. In other words, it com-bines the advantages of both the spherical balloons and the cigar-shaped dirigibles to give it a revolutionary capa-bility—that of a giant helicopter. The biggest helicopter in the world today boasts of a 20-tonne payload capability, whereas the makers of the Skylifter are hoping to have a 150-tonne lifting capability as a starter, an increase by 700 per cent.

The Skylifter’s design is said to consist of three main sec-tions. Floating at the top would be the symmetrical discus

aerostat, permanently filled with lighter-than-air (LTA) gas like Helium. Hanging on suspension lines below it would be the cylindrical control pod, with the two-pilot flight deck mounted at the bottom. The cargo would hang from cables below the control pod (see illustration). Biodiesel engines, augmented by solar panels on top of the saucer, would gen-erate electricity to power three cycloidal propellers, with horizontally arranged blades, mounted on the sides of the control pod. The main advantage of such propellers is that they can be easily controlled via a helicopter-style collec-

tive. This would come in handy for the precise manoeuvring in-volved in collecting and deposit-ing of cargo but without the un-settling downwash of a hovering helicopter.

As stated earlier, Skylifter’s main bragging points would be its lifting capabilities like other lighter-than-air vehicles. But unlike traditional blimp-shaped airships, it wouldn’t be lim-ited to landing at airfields with masts; instead, the pod and bal-loon would be moored to the ground and the balloon could be lowered down close to the pod to minimise the effects of wind when moored. This means that the Skylifter would never really land as it would remain airborne throughout its life.

The company claims that the Skylifter would be able to lift extremely heavy and awk-ward loads with the precision of a helicopter and transport them safely in an under-slung fashion

to the remotest of areas—a revolutionary design indeed. However, the makers of the Skylifter have not specified its operational ceiling. If it could go to the high-altitude areas such as in Ladakh and if it was operationally available in India, imagine the speed with which Leh inhabitants, whose dwellings were totally destroyed in the wake of the recent cloud burst and the resulting mud-slide, could be re-instated with prefabricated homes carried by the Skylifter—a most useful ‘Flying Saucer for the Earthlings’. SP

—Air Marshal (Retd) V.K. Bhatia

Flying sauCer For earthlingsIn a cross between blimps for freight and flying robots for disaster relief, comes word of a new heavy lifting airship proposal by an Australian company that could potentially transport heavy and awkward loads to remote areas. Known as the ‘Skylifter’, the novel dirigible gas balloon system is intended for transporting cargo too heavy or bulky for conventional aircraft and helicopters. The Skylifter development team is aiming for a payload capacity of up to 150 tonnes. While the company’s immediate plans are for traditional payloads, down the road, it would be interested in developing prefabricated buildings that could reach the remote areas.

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The US PreSIdeNT BArAck OBAmA’S three-day-long visit to India, the longest ever to any country in his Presidential tenure, was a positive move against global terrorism and increased defence and security coopera-

tion between India and the US. The President declared India-US alliance as “one of the defining partnerships of the 21st cen-tury”. Deals worth $10 billion (Rs 44,800 crore) including two profitable defence deals worth $5 billion (Rs 22,400 crore), which would help America battle the economic downturn, were unveiled.

America’s first citizen announced that the US would sup-port India’s entry into the world’s most elite technology clubs including the Nuclear Suppliers Group. He also declared the lifting of sanctions against Defence Research and Develop-ment Organisation (DRDO). The removal of the sanctions against DRDO, as well as state-owned defence firm Bharat Dynamics from the “entities list” opened the door for coop-eration in high-technology areas such as satellite develop-ment, missile defence, etc.

For the first time the US head of the state backed India’s de-mand for a permanent seat in the UN Security Council, though his subsequent statements made it clear that everything comes for a price and the cost this time would be the support to the US in its stand against Iran and Myanmar. The US President said, “In the years ahead, I look forward to a reformed UN Security Council that includes India as a permanent member.”

Soon after President Barack Obama landed in Mumbai, the commercial capital of India, a White House statement declared that India and the US have reached agreements on two lucra-tive defence deals worth nearly $5 billion that will give em-ployment to nearly 26,500 people in America. The report said that the Boeing Company and the Indian Air Force (IAF) are in the final stage of concluding a deal on purchase of 10 C-17 Globemaster III military transport aircraft. According to media reports, the IAF may order for another six C-17 after evaluat-ing the performance of the 10 already ordered. With this, it is said that the IAF will be the owner of the second largest fleet of C-17 military transport aircraft in the world after the US. The

statement also stated that India has selected General Electric Company for a contract to provide the Aeronautical Develop-ment Agency with 107 F414 engines to be installed on the light combat aircraft, Tejas. Nonetheless, all these deals were final-ised ahead of the President’s arrival and came as no surprise. Many more job opportunities ahead. The Boeing C-17 military aircraft is powered by four Pratt & Whitney engines and it is expected that India would purchase approximately 45 engines. Good prospects for yet another US company. Boeing also de-clared SpiceJet’s order for 30 next generation Boeing 737-800 airplanes worth $2.7 billion Rs 12,000 crore). The deal will help the airline penetrate further into the low cost market.

But that was not all. The US President hinted at a future of great cooperation between India and the US. Addressing the joint session of the Parliament, Obama said, “The future that the United States seeks in an interconnected world; why I be-lieve that India is indispensable to this vision; and how we can forge a truly global partnership—not in just one or two areas, but across many; not just for our mutual benefit, but for the world. I stand before you today because I am convinced that the interests of the United States—and the interests we share with India—are best advanced in partnership.”

Despite several criticisms on the US President’s deport-ment on Pakistan, his visit has raised hopes of a partnership on an equal footing between the two countries. “India and America are indispensable partners in meeting the chal-lenges of our time,” he said. These words were as delightful to the Indian ears as were the Hindi words he uttered— Bahut Dhanyavad (many thanks) and Jai Hind. Turn to Fo-rum to know how industry leaders and opinion makers view the emerging relationship between the two democracies. SP

—Sucheta Das Mohapatra

Paradigm

ShiftUS President Barack Obama’s

visit has raised hopes of a partnership on an equal footing

between the two countries

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a New chAPTer IN The hISTOry of Indo-US relationship has begun, or at least this is what industry leaders, trade analysts and opinion makers of both the countries believe, post US President Barack Obama’s visit to India from November 6 to 9. “It was a talk among equals.

For the first time, we have been treated as an equal,” says former Chief of Air staff Air Chief Marshal S.P. Tyagi and adds, “A strategic partnership between the two countries is in the interest of both the US and India, and also in the global interest. The economic gains may take a while, but strategic gains have been immense.”

Vivek Lal, Vice President, Boeing Defense, Space & Securi-ty-India says, “The US President’s visit to India has solidified the foundation of the association between the two countries laid in the last few years. The visit was a catalyst in moving forward the relationship. It has given a tremendous momen-tum to the partnership.” Agrees Former Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal F.H. Major and says, “President Obama’s visit has brought a breakthrough in the Indo-US relationship.”

Obama’s visit seems to have made it clear that a well-calculated partnership between the two countries is in the

interest of free flow of trade and energy globally. The balance of power is shifting towards the East. Nevertheless, the US cannot overlook the growing role of India and China in shap-ing the new world economy. India also cannot ignore the role of the US in world stability. Tyagi says, “The US sees India as an emerging power, transparent and democratic. Japan’s economy is stagnating for the last two decades and it is un-likely that China will provide an open transparent system for the US. So it is in the core interest of both the countries that India and the US have a strategic partnership. The rise of India is good for the region and this is what they said during the Obama visit. India is a peaceful nation. It is such a match-ing of interest that whatever follows from here is natural.” He adds, “What India was looking for was a partnership in which both partners would seek each other’s assistance in world affairs. What clearly emerged was that the US said that we will not only consult India on regional issues, but also issues related to East Asia and other global issues. The message also came that in shaping the new world order, the US will always consult India.”

While the lifting of sanctions against Indian Space Re-search Organisations has paved the path for development

Burgeoning FriendshipPresident Barack Obama’s visit has made it clear that a strategic partnership between India and the US is imperative not only for

both the countries, but is also in the global interest

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in satellite and missile technology, the decla-ration of several multibillion dollar deals has raised the hopes of the defence industry both in the US and India. “The lifting of sanctions from the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) shows the relationship between the two countries is maturing and it will certainly help expand the scope of coop-eration in various fields,” says Lal.

India has co-developed missiles and mili-tary aircraft with Russia and Israel. But be-cause of American sanctions, DRDO has never developed weaponry with the US. President Obama’s hint at relaxation of sanctions has thrown the doors open for possible collabora-tion with high-tech defence industries in the United States for India. “The lifting of sanc-tions from the DRDO will lead to several in-novations,” says Major. India has some of the best brains and an expertise in IT—computer simulation, virtual reality, and robotics. Hopes are high that America’s advanced technology and India’s best brains can together create breakthroughs in command and control, and communications software. But only time will tell how relaxed would the American laws be in providing a platform to Indian scientists on application oriented research.

The US President backed India for perma-nent membership in the Security Council and assured assistance in entering the world’s elite technology clubs including the Nuclear Suppliers Group. But Tyagi questions, “Wasn’t all this al-ready on our plate.” He says, “Many would argue that Obama did not properly endorse the Secu-rity Council membership to India. But I believe it was a positive step for a strategic partnership between the two countries. It was a long-term partnership effort.”

The $10 billion (`44,800 crore) Indo-US deal that came in the wake of Obama’s visit will create 50,000 jobs in America. A White House statement declared that the GE F414 engines contract likely to be final-ised with the Aeronautical Development Agency, and valued at $822 million, will create 4,440 jobs in the US. Likewise, the 10 C-17 likely to be procured by the Indian Air Force (IAF) will support Boeing’s C-17 production facility in Long Beach, Cali-fornia for a year. Valued at $4.1 billion (`18,300 crore), it will support 22,160 jobs in the US. What’s on Indian platter then?

“It was India’s decision to purchase the C-17s or the GE en-gines. When an American machine is bought, doesn’t the plant make money from it?,” questions Tyagi. Major says, “If you look at some of the major programmes today, you can see the amal-gamation of technological advancements of many countries. Absolute self-sufficiency is not a reality for any country. Joint ventures can bring in better technological development. And this will definitely lead to employment. Even if it does not mean transfer of core technology from the US to India, we will have access to advanced technology. Joint ventures are a necessity today and cooperation with other countries is a must.”

Lal says, “For the last several years, we are building in-

dustrial partnership. Now with the US Gov-ernment lifting sanctions, it will help build-ing more industrial collaborations in India. You can see increased level partnership, in-creased confidence.” He further adds, “The US President’s visit to India, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to the US, the civil-nuclear deal—all this has given a momentum to the trade relationship. The oldest and the largest democracies are coming together and we expect we will have more valuable partnerships in future.”

Boeing is also looking forward to many more joint ventures in India and is eyeing the homeland security and cyber security market as well. “Keeping in view the cyber security market, we have recently acquired Narus, a US company based in Bangalore. We also look at the homeland security market with great interest and potential collaborations in India with the opening up of the space sector. Be-sides new procurements, we can be a part of the ongoing modernisation drive of the IAF and Navy. So besides new deals, we are also concentrating on after sales services that will take prominence as new platforms come into the country. There is a big market for after sales support, not only in terms of training, but also in terms of maintenance of platforms, training of personnel, maintenance training, pilot training, etc,” informs Lal.

Besides the Boeing C-17 Globemaster III and GE F414 engines deals, which are on the verge of finalisation, both countries are looking ahead to many more deals in the near future. Apart from the medium multi role combat aircraft (MMRCA) deal likely to be finalised in 2011, in which US Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornets and Lockheed Martin F-16IN are strong contenders, India is plan-ning to buy 145 Howitzers worth $8 billion

for the Army. The Indian Army also plans to buy sensor-fused weapons or cluster bombs. IAF and Navy are also looking for AWACS and mid-air refuellers worth $2 billion (`8,900 crore).

Tyagi says, “With regard to many defence deals, we do not know whether there were any discussions during the Obama visit. We all know there will be differences, but that does not mean the partnership will collapse. Sometimes we will just agree to disagree. We will work on our respective national in-terest. It is known that in the defence front, India has never allied militarily with any other country and will never, but our military to military relationships will continue.”

Obama’s visit was unable to eradicate the discomfort in India with regard to the US military relationship with Paki-stan, and with criticisms coming from several quarters with regard to the US President’s demeanour on Pakistan, the ‘ifs and buts’ on the Indo-US relationship seems to continue. However, Tyagi says, “Both the countries have their own res-ervations,” and adds optimistically, “We are friends now and friends can talk”. SP


Air Chief MArshAl (retd)

s.P. tyAgi

Air Chief MArshAl (retd)

fAli hoMi MAjor

dr ViVek lAllViCe President, boeing defense,

sPACe & seCurity - indiA


Civil Business AviAtion

DurINg The 2007 DubAI AIr ShOw, Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal casually signed a cheque for an undisclosed amount to privately own an A380 superjumbo jet dubbed as the “Flying Palace”. Such is the money power in the Mid-

dle East. Three years down the line, the Middle East continues to wield the “money clout”, al-though some of the countries were taken in by the sweep of global recession.

Year 2010 has a different story. The Middle East is bounc-ing back. The aviation sector is looking up. The Middle East Business Aviation (MEBA) 2010 event to be held from De-

By r. Chandrakanth

Business in the Middle East, indeed, is looking up. There

is a growing demand for private charter flights as the

responsibilities of top executives based in the region involve quick

and frequent trips abroad

Soaring Sky high

luxury redefined: The QaTar execuTive fleeT comprises Two BomBardier challenger 605 jeTs feaTuring 11 seaTs and The eighT-seaT challenger 300 aircrafT; exTerior and inTerior of BomBardier challenger 605.

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cember 7 to 9 is expected to be bigger than ever with about 70 business aircraft on static display. Excited about a Frost and Sullivan report that the business jets market is poised for steady growth, with over 200 units expected to be delivered to the region by 2015, the Managing Director of F&E Aero-space (organisers of MEBA 2010), Alison Weller said busi-ness aviation companies from across the globe are evincing “strong interest” in MEBA 2010.

“With a recent report predicting an annual growth rate for the Middle East business aviation market by over six per cent the next 10 years, the region will surely see an in-crease in business aviation service providers to cater to this demand,” said Weller. MEBA 2008 reportedly struck deals worth $1.5 billion (`6,700 crore).

Frost & Sullivan report is encouraging and it mentions that business aircraft movements would reach 1,60,000 by 2018, a compound annual growth rate of about 6.21 per cent. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the report said, held about 37 per cent of the market potential followed by the UAE with nearly 24 per cent. The Middle East in all is ex-pected to get deliveries of nearly 460 aircraft by 2018, of which Saudi Arabia alone will account for 154. Private jet operations are on the rise in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait and Bahrain. Enthused by such market potential, the governing body of the International Business Aviation Council (IBAC) will meet in Dubai for the first time outside the US or Europe.

There is a big spurt in demand for private jets from corporations, high net worth individuals (HNWI) and other agencies. The Middle East, especially the UAE, has been wit-nessing a growing demand for private charter flights as the responsibilities of top executives based in the region involve quick and frequent trips abroad. Ali Al Naqbi, the founding chairman of MEBA, said the number of registered Middle Eastern business jets has risen by 30-40 per cent over the last couple of years to around 500 aircraft, of which 114 are based in Saudi Arabia, with 78 registered in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). From 1975 to 1998, there was only one business jet operator, now there are over 25.

Royal stRidesPropelled by growing de-mand for business jets, Abu Dhabi-based Royal Jet has benefited the most. It has emerged as the largest business jet operator in the Gulf with a 16 per cent market share. Its fleet has grown from two aircraft to 12 in less than four years and revenues by 30 per cent.

Royal Jet holds the distinction of being the only opera-tor in the Middle East region of having the world’s largest privately operated fleet of Boeing Business Jets (BBJ). It has six BBJs and its growing fleet of jets includes two mid-range Gulfstream 300s, a long-range Gulfstream IVSP and a Learjet 60. In addition to the new A6-DFR, Royal Jet’s multimillion dollar refurbished BBJ will return later this month, while an Embraer Lineage 1000 will arrive later in the year.

Royal Jet’s President and CEO, Shane O’Hare explained that there has been a steady growth in demand for large aircraft in both the VIP and the corporate jet sector in recent years. “The BBJ is the largest purpose-built VIP aircraft—nearly double the size of even the largest new long-range

luxury unlimited: (l-r) aBu dhaBi-Based royal jeT is The largesT

Business jeT operaTor in The gulf wiTh a 16 per cenT markeT share; on-Board BBj royal jeT;

QaTar execuTives’ plush inTeriors and exTerior of gulfsTream 300,

which is a hoT favouriTe among Business jeTs

HigH net woRtH individuals on tHe RiseIn the Middle East, the population of high net worth individu-als (HNWI) has been estimated at 4,00,000 controlling $1.5 tril-lion (`7,600,000 crore) of financial wealth, up from $1.4 trillion (`7,000,000 crore) in 2008, according to the annual World Wealth Report by Merrill Lynch Global Wealth Management and Capgemini.

Another report by Oliver Wyman, management consultancy firm, the wealth held by HNWI in the GCC—those with investable wealth of over $1 million (Rs 4.8 crore)—is expected to grow to about $3.8 trillion (`20,000,000 crore) by 2012.

The purchasing power of the Middle Eastern population un-doubtedly is high. In sync with their huge money spends, besides MEBA 2010, there is another event happening in February 2011 in Abu Dhabi, aptly called “Big Boy’s Toys” wherein ultra luxury cars, aircraft, yachts and the like will feature.



corporate jets, and as such is ideal for a VIP or business del-egation, as well as for a large or extended family,” he said.

“Each of our BBJs is uniquely configured, offering the choice of up to 52 seats, or, as in this case, having fewer seats but with an increase in lounge and bathroom space. It offers a truly private jet experience and is perfect for a small, intimate group of people, affording extreme levels of comfort and a great deal of living or working space, all com-bined with total intimacy and privacy. The aircraft provides the experience of a presidential suite in some of the world’s most luxurious hotels,” added O’Hare.

The new BBJ titled A6 DFR—is configured to accommo-date up to 18 guests. When entering this aircraft you walk first into a majlis (VIP lounge) area, which in turn leads through to two stylish lounges, a private office and state-room, as well as two bathrooms complete with showers.

Customers can charter a Royal Jet aircraft starting at about $3,500 (`1,56,000) per hour for a round trip flight on one of the company’s smallest planes. At the high end, travellers can expect to pay $12,000 (`5,36,000) per hour for a jet carrying up to 58 people. Each charter is totally bespoke, with amenities such as VIP terminals, executive chef, comfortable beds, and in-flight entertainment.

QataR aiRways foRays into business jetsAt the 2009 Paris Air Show, Qatar Airways launched the Qatar Executive as the business jet market has been in the nascent stage. “We launched Qatar Executive last year be-cause we had identified a huge gap in the market and are now well on the way to filling that void,” Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive Officer Akbar Al Baker has stat-ed. The Qatar Executive fleet comprises two Bombardier Challenger 605 jets featuring 11 seats and the eight-seat Challenger 300 aircraft. Qatar’s flourishing natural-gas industry is a major driving factor in spurring interest in aviation-on-demand.

Similar stories emanate from other countries in the Mid-dle East. Ammar Balkar of Elite Jets and former President and CEO of MEBA states, “In the next few years, business aviation sector in the Middle East will generate revenues worth $1 billion (`4,800 crore) a year and there will be around 600-650 private jets in the market.”

Players such as Arab Wings (Amman); Emerald Jet (Bei-rut); Saudia Private Aviation (Saudi Arabia); Empire Avia-tion, Prestige Jet, Al Jaber, Falcon Aviation, and a host of others have started reworking on their expansion plans, post the global recession, and signs of recovery is getting noticeable. The chunk of Middle East private jet operations is business-based and about 10-15 per cent of the total charter volume comes from leisure travel. Business in the Middle East, indeed, is looking up. SP

factoRs pRopelling business jet tRavel in tHe gulf Region• Secondary airports – growth of smaller airports, benefiting

oil and gas companies• HNWI – Over 4,00,000 high net worth individuals• Privacy – Top Arabs and executives prefer private jet travel

for its confidentiality• Quick business – Number of multi-national companies set-

ting up business in various locations• Fractional ownership/Jet Cards etc making executive travel

within reach.

“seven-staR” executive aiRpoRtAbu Dhabi is known for pulling out all stops when it comes to setting up facilities. Al Bateen Executive Airport is one such ex-ample. It is the Gulf region’s first and only dedicated private avi-ation airport and is working on providing “seven- star” facilities.

The one-stop shop business jet facility offers VVIP and VIP passenger terminals as well as maintenance, repair and over-haul (MRO), fuel handling, and all other fixed based operations services. It has found early success and has already notched up a 34.4 per cent increase in aircraft movements in the first six months of 2010, in comparison to the same period in 2009. Abu Dhabi Airports Company (ADAC) is investing $54.4 million in developing this facility.

The former military air base is a beehive of activity. The pri-vate operators based at Al Bateen include Al Jaber Aviation, Fal-con Aviation, Prestige Jet and XO Jet.


Military Procurement

oN OcTOber 1, 2010, General Electric Compa-ny (GE) of USA with its offer of the GE F414 af-terburning en-gine, emerged as the lowest of

the two bidders in the race for the selection of an engine to power the light combat aircraft (LCA) Tejas MK II. The company has now been invited to negotiate a contract to provide the Indian Aero-nautical Development Agency (ADA) with 107 F414 engines. Although trade deals worth billions of dollars signed during the US President Barack Obama’s recent visit to India has raised the hopes of GE to new heights, the final word on the con-tract is yet to be said.

Selection of GE for further negotiations has, however, put

an end to the prolonged debate and the ensuing uncertainty on the progress of the Tejas Mk II programme. But it could raise a few queries as well. Competing with GE for the $822 million (`3,700 crore) tender for a total of 107 engines floated by the In-dian Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), was the Eurojet

Turbo GmbH, a European consortium. It comprises four com-panies of Europe namely Avio of Italy, ITP of Spain, MTU of Germany and Rolls-Royce of UK.

BackgroundThe programme to design, develop and manufacture indig-enously a light weight fighter aircraft designated as the light combat aircraft (LCA) and subsequently rechristened as “Te-jas”, was launched in 1989 with a view to replace the ageing fleet of MiG-21 aircraft of the Indian Air Force (IAF). The In-dian aerospace industry at that time did not have the capability to produce an aero engine to power the LCA and there was no option but to look for a solution abroad. The choice fell on the GE F404 after burning turbofan engine of weight lower than other contemporary engines. However, the GE F404 was capable of delivering dry thrust of only 53.9 kilonewtons (kN)

With the selection of GE F414 engine, it is clear now that the GTRE-Snecma proposal would in no way militate against the

selection of the engine for the Tejas Mk II

By Air Marshal (retd), b.K. Pandey

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and 82 kN with af-terburner, which was considerably lower than the 100 kN desired by the IAF. The decision to employ the GE F404 engine was regarded as an interim measure and was to be limited to the prototypes in the development phase. With the ultimate aim of total indi-genisation of the LCA, as a long-term solution, an ambitious programme to develop a fourth generation engine called the Kaveri was sanctioned in 1989 and was assigned to the Gas Turbine Research Establishment (GTRE), a facility under the DRDO. Intended to power the first batch of production models of the Tejas, the cost of the project was estimated at launch to be `382.81 crore and was to be completed by the end of 1996.

However, 14 years after the initially stipulated date of completion and investment of nearly `3,000 crore, the Ka-veri project was formally delinked from the LCA programme in September 2008. ADA, however, continued with the Tejas programme with the underpowered GE F404 and a some-what dissatisfied IAF rather reluctantly ordered 40 aircraft in the first batch to constitute the first two squadrons. There was an imperative need to find a new power plant close to the required level of performance to give the IAF sufficient con-fidence to place orders for another 100 aircraft that would meet the stipulated performance requirements. Thus began the search for a new engine.

The conTendersGE responded to the request for proposal (RFP) floated earlier this year for the new engine with the offer of the GE F414-400,

a derivative of the highly reputed and widely used GE F404. Employed on the Boeing F/A 18 Super Hornet and the Gripen from Saab of Sweden, the GE F414 has established a credible record of reliability. Incidentally, F/A 18 and the Gripen are both contenders for the mega deal for 126 medium multi role combat aircraft (MMRCA) tender for the IAF which is also ex-pected to be finalised in a year or so from now. The GE F414 engine is fitted on naval variants of combat aircraft.

Employing the latest technologies and featuring a dual channel full authority digital engine control (FADEC), the GE F414 operates at a pressure ratio of 30:1, which is signifi-cantly higher than the contemporary engines. While the high pressure ratio provides higher level of efficiency, it also pro-duces greater heat stress on the engine. To cope with this, the GE F414 employs single crystal low-density blades fused with disks. Called “blisks”, these are lighter but stronger compared to conventional blade designs. With reheat, the GE F414 is capable of delivering a maximum thrust of 98 kN which is only marginally short of the qualitative require-ments spelt out by the IAF. Heavier by 50 kg compared to the GE F404, the GE F414 has an identical maximum diam-

eter which is 35 inches and is of a similar length of 157 inches. However, its inlet diameter is 32 inches as against 31 inches of the GE F404.

The Eurojet EJ 200, the only other competitor in the race for the tender, is Europe’s fifth generation advanced

military turbofan engine developed on the Rolls-Royce XG 40 technology demonstrator and powers the Eurofighter Typhoon. It incorporates the latest in aero engine technology such as low-density single crystal blades, a unique engine control and health monitoring system integrating all sensor inputs into a single unit called the digital engine control and monitoring unit (DECMU), FADEC and “ac-

tive tip clearance control”, a feature that maintains the optimum clearance between the blade tip and

the turbine case for better engine efficiency. Eurojet EJ 200 has a modular design which facilitates maintenance activity making an engine replacement feasible in a mere 45 minutes.

Compared to the GE F414, though longer by three inches, the EJ 200 is lighter by about 112 kg and its maximum diam-eter is only 29 inches which is six inches less than that of its competitor. The EJ 200 is capable of delivering with reheat a thrust of 90 kN, but on account of its lower weight, it has a higher thrust to weight ratio compared to the GE F414.

selecTion of engineThere are a number of factors that either would have already been considered or perhaps would be considered before a fi-nal decision is taken. First, the selected engine should have a thrust rating close to that stipulated by the user. With a maxi-mum thrust rating of 98 kN, the GE F414 scores over its rival which is rated for a maximum thrust rating of only 90 kN. However, as claimed by Eurojet, the performance of the EJ 200 can be enhanced by 15 per cent through only “minor adjust-ments in the engine”. Eurojet also claims that the thrust can be increased by up to 30 per cent for which “few components would have to be replaced”. Another important consideration would have been an assessment and comparison of the vin-tage and the development potential of both the engines in the



race. But perhaps the most important factor is the extent of modification in the existing airframe that would be necessary before the engine can be integrated with the Tejas Mk II. The requirement of extensive re-engineering work or redesign of the airframe could lead to delay, which in the final analysis would translate into cost. It goes without saying that the fit-ment of a new engine on an existing platform would call for some changes in the airframe and this would be applicable to both the engines. In the instant case, as the GE F414 is heavier than the existing engine by 110 lbs, there would be the need to compensate for a shift in the position of the centre of gravity of the aircraft. So would perhaps be the case with the Eurojet EJ 200, which compared to the GE F404, is lighter by 135 lbs and longer by three inches.

Then there is the question of transfer of technology (ToT). Despite the various agreements in the regime of defence co-operation signed between India and the US, there are yet a number of roadblocks that impinge on India’s efforts to ac-quire sensitive and the latest defence technologies from the US. Quite recently, the US Government did not accord approv-al for the involvement of Lockheed Martin in the Indian LCA programme, leaving the door open for EADS. In the case of the GE F414, issues related to ToT would have to be negoti-ated clearly and carefully through the yet somewhat inflexible legal system in the US. Translation into reality of assurances

in this regard by President Obama may take time to fructify. As for Eurojet, although there has been no statement to the contrary, European companies could be reluctant to transfer sensitive and core technologies without 100 per cent control on their investments. Licence manufacture alone does not provide an environment conducive enough for the full trans-fer of technologies that have been developed by European companies at enormous cost in terms of time and resources. Nothing in this regard therefore can be taken for granted.

Finally, there is the element of ownership cost which would include initial outlay for acquisition, life cycle cost over the expected life span and the offset obligations if ap-plicable. The Indian system of procurement of hardware is price-sensitive and the decisions are often inclined to be overly influenced by the L 1 syndrome i.e. preference for the bidder with the lowest quote beaten down further through ruthless negotiations over the quoted price. In the tender in question, the initial commercial bids indicated GE F414 quote at $822 million (`3,700 crore) as against $666 million (`2,990 crore). However, it appears that detailed examination of the quotations revealed areas involving costs that were not taken into account and reflected in their bid documents by the two aerospace majors. On correction of the observed anomalies, it appears that the price quote for the GE F414 turned out to be lower than that of the competitor Eurojet EJ 200.

The decision-making process could at any stage come under the subtle influence of some intangible factors. These are essentially political in nature such as the mileage the government of the day may wish to derive at the political level from the deal and the possibility of sanctions at a later date that could seriously undermine the operational dis-position of the IAF. These factors are difficult to quantify but would need to be factored in. In this regard, President Obama’s visit would have been rather opportune for GE.

gTre-snecma engineEven as the process of selection in the tender for 107 engines for the Tejas Mk II is moving forward rapidly, GTRE has en-tered into an agreement with Snecma of France for the joint development of the Kaveri Mk II with the aim to ultimately replace the GE F414 or the EJ 200, which is finally selected under the ongoing tender. The IAF had opposed the proposal in the initial stages itself observing that the Snecma offer was not for developing the next generation engine but was based on the core of the existing M88 engine that powers the Ra-fale. In the opinion of the experts committee of the IAF, the GTRE-Snecma engine would not meet the requirements of the IAF. As per assessment by Snecma, it would take at least five years for the engine to be developed and that a minimum of 250 engines would have to be manufactured to render the project financially viable. Undoubtedly, the GTRE-Snecma en-gine project would in all likelihood, cater also for the medium combat aircraft proposed to be developed jointly by ADA and the Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL). Opposition to the pro-posal, initially by the IAF, was on account of apprehensions of delay in the project if the Kaveri Mk II programme was to be linked once again with the Tejas Mk II programme and the GE F414/ EJ 200 proposal called off. It is clear now that the GTRE-Snecma proposal would in no way militate against the selection of the engine for the Tejas Mk II through the ongoing tender with GE F414 and the Eurojet EJ 200. SP

Timeline1990 — LCA design finalised 1995 — Roll out of First Technology Demonstrator – TD11998 — Roll out of Second Technology Demonstrator – TD22001 — Maiden flight from National Flight Test Centre, Bangalore2003 — Supersonic flight2003 — Procure uprated F404-GE-IN20 engine for the eight pre-

production LSP aircraft and two naval prototypes2004 — Kaveri engine fails high altitude test in Russia2004 — GE awarded $105 million for development and produc-

tion of 17 GE-IN20 engines2007 — HAL orders 24 F404-IN20 afterburning engines to pow-

er the first operational squadron of Tejas fighter aircraft for the Indian Air Force

F404-Ge-IN20The F404-GE-IN20 succeeds F404-F2J3 development engines used for nearly 600 flights, cumulatively covering eight engines. Based on the F404-GE-402, the F404-GE-IN20 is the highest rat-ed F404 model and includes a higher-flow fan, increased thrust, a full authority digital electronic control (FADEC) system, single-crystal turbine blades and a variety of single-engine features.

F414-400 Advanced Fighter engineThe F414-400 is the most advanced jet engine in its class. Launched in 1998, the F414-GE-400 is the US Navy’s newest and most advanced technology production fighter engine. It in-corporates advanced technology with the proven design base of its F404 predecessor to provide the Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet with a durable, reliable and easy to maintain engine.


Civil Regional aviation

FrOm ITS fIrST flIghT in 2002, E-Jets from the Brazil-ian stable of Embraer have ruled the skies. Distinctively different, E-Jets have cap-tured the imagination of

the airline community, reflected by its impressive sales. As of October 2010, over 680 E-Jets are operational across the world and having accumulated 4.4 million flight hours, Embraer is expected to deliver 1,100 units by 2016. That’s phenomenal.

It indeed is. A lot of thought, hard work and passion have gone into the creation of E-Jets. The fact that Embraer met with 40-odd prospective airlines to find out what they needed in the next-generation 70- to 120-seat airplane family, is indicative of the manufacturer’s intent—of giving what the customer wants. The airlines had sought enhanced passenger comfort.

After enormous research and invest-ment, Embraer came up with the new aircraft aptly named E-Jets as it encom-passed a whole lot of striking features and all to do with the alphabet ‘E’—ef-ficiency, economics, ergonomics, en-gineering, environment and extended

range. The very essence of all this was Embraer’s E-philos-ophy of “embracing the rise of the empowered passenger”. E-Jets has been helping airlines to right size low load factor narrow-body routes, to replace older, inefficient aircraft, and to develop new markets with lower operating costs, greater efficiency, and outstanding passenger comfort.

“Tap The gap” approachEmbraer announced to the world that E-Jets was not a stretched version from smaller planes or shrunken from

E-Jets have been helping airlines to replace older, inefficient aircraft, and to develop new markets with lower operating costs,

greater efficiency, and outstanding passenger comfort

By r. Chandrakanth

A Class apart

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larger platforms. It was a clean design approach. The Embraer 170/190 family of E-Jets consists of four commercial jets with 70 to 122 seats. The four jets “tap the gap”, as the airline puts it, be-tween larger mainline aircraft and smaller re-gional jets. The absence of over wing exits gives airlines maximum con-figuration flexibility.

The E-Jets have a maximum cruising speed of Mach 0.82, can fly at 41,000 feet and have ranges of up to 2,400 nautical miles (4,448 km). The high degree of commonality among the four aircraft—Embraer 170; Embraer 175; Embraer 190 and Embraer 195—results in exceptional savings for carriers, in terms of crew training and costs of spare parts and maintenance.

FeaTures exTra-ordinaire EfficiencyThe optimised design of E-Jets are such that with the lowest possible aircraft operating empty weight, it can carry the highest revenue-generating payload. Since fuel consump-tion is proportional to aircraft weight, a lighter airplane translates directly into cost savings that go right to the bot-tom line. The structural design efficiency of the E-Jets fam-ily allows up to 30 per cent more payloads per pound/kilo of structural weight among aircraft of similar seat capacity.

Combine the E-170’s SDE with streamlined maintenance programmes, a high degree of parts commonality among the family and fast turnaround times, overall utilisation and efficiency increase while unit costs decrease.

EngineeringEmbraer has developed an innovative aircraft health, analy-sis and diagnostic system (AHeAD) on every E-Jet. It is a computational web-based platform that allows airlines to continuously monitor the performance of an E-Jet while in flight. It regularly transmits fault identification data for analysis by ground personnel so that they can plan mainte-nance remedies at a down line station. The system through continuous monitoring helps in the fleet to minimise ground time and maximise air time.

ErgonomicsAfter listening to prospective airlines, Embraer engineers designed a unique spacious cabin as per the double-bubble fuselage concept, a shape derived from vertically overlap-ping two circles, with a four-abreast cross section. The wid-est point of the upper circle, which forms the main cabin, is at elbow level when passengers are seated. This maximises personal space and allows the installation of wider seats and a wider aisle compared to larger jets. The width of the lower circle is greatest near the cabin floor which boosts the baggage and cargo capacity.

Adding to the sense of spaciousness is a two-metre high cabin, near-vertical sidewalls and large eye-level windows, almost 30 per cent larger than those on other aircraft that lets in lots of natural light. What’s more, under seat areas are free of support railings so that passengers can stretch out in greater comfort.

EconomicsThe E-Jets maintenance plan emphasises simplified proce-dures and longer check intervals to help keep costs low with routine checks coming every 120 flight hours or 14 days (whichever comes first). Basic checks are scheduled every 600 flight hours and are easily performed overnight. Heavy checks for aircraft structure occur every 20,000 flight cycles. As a result, E-Jets deliver 19 per cent to 23 per cent lower hourly direct maintenance costs compared to other similar capacity aircraft and up to 53 per cent lower cost than some out of production jets.

EnvironmentE-Jets produce an average of 50 per cent less CO2 than older aircraft like the B737-200, MD 87 and DC9 and 15-30 per cent less than previous generation jets such as the B737-300/500, Fokker 100 and RJ100. Due to their efficient design and new engine technology, E-Jets meet the latest, strictest ICAO noise limits.

General Electric’s CF34 engine is designed to be more effi-cient—CO, UHC, NOx and smoke emission margins range from 26 per cent to an impressive 98 per cent below ICAO limits for the E170/E175 and from 9 per cent to 77 per cent for the E190/E195. Another key feature of E-Jets is the state-of-the-art, fly-by-wire technology, which increases operational safety, while reducing pilot workload and fuel consumption.

Embraer’s Executive Vice President (Commercial) Paulo Cesar states, “I believe airlines in countries that never had jet aircraft with fewer than 120 seats have a unique opportunity to re-examine their approach to capacity and seized the un-tapped potential of that category. As many of our more than 50 E-Jets customers can attest, their fleet decision years ago helped them weather today’s economic turmoil.”

91- To 120-seaT caTegory expandingEmbraer forecasts a requirement of 6,875 new jets in the 30 to 120-seat capacity segment over the next 20 years with a total market value estimated around US $200 billion. The break-up is 30-60 seat category—475 aircraft; 61-90 seat – 2,515; and 91-120 seat category 3,885.

The 30- to 120-seat segment is an essential component of world aviation that supplies a range of capacity to low and medium-density markets. The value of its contribution is evi-dent when demand contracts as well as when carriers want to open new routes without adding a large number of seats.

Embraer said that the market for 50-seat regional jets had reached maturity. The aircraft will continue to feed hubs in the USA and Europe and will support regional aviation development in Russia/CIS, Mexico, Africa and South America. Aircraft in the 61- to 120-seat category are improving overall industry efficiency by right-sizing larger narrow-body jets, replacing old equipment, develop-ing new markets and helping airlines grow gradually from smaller regional jets. SP

‘E’ stands for efficiency,

economics, ergonomics, engineering,

environment and extended

range

*CFM, CFM56 and the CFM logo are all trademarks of CFM International, a 50/50 joint company of Snecma and General Electric Co.

The legendary CFM56* and LEAP-X. Famous reliability and fuel efficiency.Lower emissions, noise and costs. LEAP-X. Like father, like son. www.cfm56.com/xpower

CFM. Generation after generation.

SP_Aviation_Generations 267x210.indd 1 11/10/2010 17:30


Military Training

TrAININg COmmANd Of The Indian Air Force (IAF) is responsible essentially for foundation building and aims to groom the budding professionals on whose shoulders lie the responsibility of safeguarding the

country’s security, honour and sovereignty. Essentially, Training Command shapes the future of the IAF.

Despite the fact that the fleet of the basic trainer air-craft, HPT-32, remained grounded, the ab-initio pilot courses graduated on schedule. Achieving this without compromising standards and under such trying circum-stances speaks volumes about the workforce and lead-ership. During the year gone by, the Training Command was engaged in smooth changeover of Stage III fighter training on Hawk Mk132 aircraft and planning for the in-duction of intermediate jet trainer (IJT) and light combat aircraft (LCA) into the IAF.

Keeping pace with technology and trends in modern methodologies of training, Training Command has em-braced a simulator-based training philosophy. Simulators of various levels and capability have been integrated with the training curricula. Flying training devices (FTD) of Hawk, Do-228, An-32 aircraft navigation simulator (NAVSIM), ra-dar and visual tower observa-tion simulators (RADSIM and VITOSIM) to train ATC officers, Drona for armament training, are a few such systems. Most training programmes for devel-opment of air warriors are now conducted through distance learning programmes with min-imal contact duration. Similarly, CBT based e-learning packages and smart class rooms have re-placed the classical versions of training curricula.

Training Command has al-ways provided aid to civil au-thorities in times of crisis or natural calamities. Flood relief operations were undertaken on a large scale in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka during 2009, involving around 205 hours of flying and similar operations are at present continuing in various sectors this year as well. Salvage operations were undertaken after the crash of the helicopter of the govern-ment of Andhra Pradesh involving Chief Minister Yeduguri Sandinti Rajasekhara Reddy.

The Command Hospital Air Force Bangalore (CHAFB) won the Defence Minister’s Trophy for best Command Hospital dur-ing 2009-10. Their continued efforts towards providing quality

service in ECHS and HIV/AIDS palliative care is praiseworthy. The spatial disorientation simulator (DISO) was commissioned at AFA in December 2009. Till date, 47 aircrew and 44 Air Traf-fic Controllers (ATC) officers have been trained on it. The Air Force Technical College, the alma mater of technical officers, which was awarded the President’s Standards in November 2008 celebrated its Diamond Jubilee in July 2009.

A number of administrative initiatives with special fo-cus on infrastructure development have been undertaken to

enhance the quality of life. Some of the important activities undertaken by TC that would go a long way in ensuring bet-ter military preparedness and support to civil authorities in-clude regular counter-terrorism operations training by IAF Garuda personnel along with National Security Guard (NSG) and Para SF to secure major cities and installations against sub-conventional attacks. Issues related to ‘flexible use of airspace’ between civil and military airports are actively be-ing pursued by this Command. SP

Modern & tech-savvyTraining Command has always provided aid to civil authorities in

times of crisis or natural calamities

Air MArshAl V.r. iYErAir OfficEr cOMMAnding-

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Military Maintenance

Maintenance Command provides quality maintenance support to operational units of IAF

the VISION Of MAINTeNANce cOMMANd (MC) is to provide “efficient systems’ sustenance for air opera-tions”. The base repair depots (BRDs) under Mainte-nance Command provide total product support, main-

tenance, repair and overhaul of all variants of aircraft, radars and missiles, airborne communications systems and ground support equipment of the IAF. The equipment depots (EDs) look after receipt, storage, issue, packaging and transporta-tion functions. Liaison and assistance to Hindustan Aeronau-tics Limited (HAL) and Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) is provided through Air Force Liaison Establishments. The tra-ditional task of maintenance repair and overhaul (MRO) and supply chain has recently been enhanced to include sharing of responsibility with Air Headquarters (HQ) regarding pro-visioning and procurement of spares for a range of aircraft and systems. The recent approach on an integrated techno-logistic approach is bringing about a paradigm shift in the way IAF dealt with spares supply and maintenance as two distinct functions.

Air Marshal P.V. Athawale is at present the Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief (AOC-in-C). Projects initiated and steered by him such as Integrated Air Command and Con-trol Systems and Air Force Net (AFNET) have culminated recently into force multipliers. Air Marshal Athawale is also known for his pioneering initiatives in avionics software and IT in the IAF. He has vigorously initiated lean engineering and quality management system refinements for improv-ing productivity of BROs in MC. Information management, e-documentation and outsourcing initiatives are the other ventures under the current focus.

The BRDs and EDs have been successfully meeting the challenges of stocking and maintaining the legacy equipment while inducting high technology weapon systems to retain the ‘cutting edge’. Reduction in repair cycle time during overhaul, development of in-house repair schemes for life enhanced air-craft, adoption of newer manufacturing techniques/processes,

implementation of newer concepts such as ‘lean engineering’ and improved storage and warehousing to ensure greater availability of existing assets are some of the examples. Prag-matic and rational life extension programmes along with mid-life upgradation to ensure higher life cycle of assets are pur-sued as a rule at MC units rather than an exception.

Lean Engineering practices introduce efficiency intensive production procedures and minimise waste in production, repair, overhaul and logistics processes. Quality and flight safety enhancement have been the key result areas assigned to BRDs. Accordingly, a special drive was initiated by the Maintenance Command last year. All BRDs and major EDs, which are already ISO certified, took up the challenge of refining the quality management system (QMS) and the re-quirements perceived by top level in-house inspection teams.

The MC in recent times has focused on indigenisation of aircraft spares and sub-assemblies to achieve self-reliance. During the last financial year about 947 complex, high tech-nology items were indigenised at depots leading to financial saving to the tune of `56 crore. Today, the depots are geared up with requisite infrastructure and human resources for induction and assimilation of changing aviation technology. In order to enhance production capacities and the capability to undertake repair and overhaul of modern war machines a project for modernisation and upgradation of BRDs and EDs costing `375 crore has been initiated. To augment the quality standards, a 3D-CNC coordinate measuring machine with full programming function has been commissioned for inspection of aviation grade components.

Another major area of activity of MC is logistics manage-ment. This plays a dominant role in supporting the mainte-nance function. The logistics arm of MC meets its functions through EDs, air stores parks and movement control units. The material management functions in the IAF are all the more complicated due to geographical spread of the country and the variety of weapon systems with the IAF. SP

Aiming for Excellence

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military AIR FORCE DAY

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military AIR FORCE DAY

a power to reckon with:

1 Marshal of the air force arjan singh greeted by chiefs

2 the cas insPects the Parade 3 synchronised rifle drill 4 fully loaded su-30Mki on disPlay5 tricolour in the air 6 air Warriors Marching out 7 akash ganga teaM leader With

the iaf flag8 ajt haWk on disPlay9 Pechora saM systeM

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For more information and video, visit: www.spsaviation.net

www.spsaviation.net26 SP’S AVIATION Issue 11 • 2010

Show RepoRt NBAA

Sales Sparse, But Mood Buoyant

A total of 24,206 registrants were on hand, representing a five per cent increase over the 2009 figure, and 1,083 exhibitors packed the

Georgia World Congress Center in downtown Atlanta at the sixty-third NBAA convention

By LeRoy Cook Missouri, USA

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The NATIONAL BUSINeSS AVIA-TION ASSOCIATION’s (NBAA) annual meeting rotates among the few host cities with halls large enough to host the fourth largest American trade show. The 2010 edition of the show set up a camp in Atlanta, Georgia, after a gap of

three years. Unlike last year’s gloom-infested NBAA convention, the October 2010 gathering was filled with hope that the worst of business aviation’s de-pression was gone, and the attendance was strong.

A total of 24,206 registrants were on hand, representing a five per cent increase over the 2009 figure, and 1,083 exhibi-tors packed the Georgia World Congress Center in downtown Atlanta. The static display at Dekalb-Peachtree airport was jammed with 93 aircraft; it was all that could be accommo-dated, resulting in a waiting list for cancellations. As we said, the mood was upbeat, even though sales were still sparse.

Both Hawker Beechcraft Corporation and Cessna Aircraft returned to the exhibit hall, after reducing their presence to static displays at the airport last year. Builders of large, long-range equipment, such as Gulfstream, Embraer, Dassault, Bombardier, Boeing and Airbus, exhibited lavishly, benefiting from their continued strong sales. Boeing announced that it will deliver no less than eight 747-8I wide body business jets to completion centres in just over one year, starting late 2011.


Show RepoRt NBAA

News from the floorPiper Aircraft introduced an upgradation of its developmen-tal PA-47 PiperJet, the first single-engine business jet likely to be in the market. Now slated to deliver early in 2014, the renamed Altaire has abandoned the Malibu-based fuselage of the prototype to enable a wider, taller and longer cabin to be offered, with a three-foot wide entrance door, an enlarged wing and a reshaped tail. The high-mounted Williams FJ44-3A engine requires only Williams International’s EXACT passive thrust vectoring for proper trim and will produce a top cruise speed of 360 knots, with a ceiling of 35,000 feet. The expected maximum range is 1,300 nautical miles. Rather than the side-stick controls of the Physical Optics Corporation (POC) aircraft, the Altaire will feature conventional control yokes and a stick-pusher stall barrier system. Piper is pointedly targeting the Cessna Citation Mustang as the PiperJet’s main competition.

Daher Socata is evaluating the former Grob SPn twin-en-gine VLJ to possibly supplement its TMB 850 Very Fast Tur-boprop. Meanwhile, Diamond Aircraft’s single-engine D-Jet is under development, along with the Cirrus SF50 Vision. On

the other hand, Eclipse was at the show touting its ability to deliver an already-certified Total Eclipse 500 twin-jet VLJ. On the opening day, Eclipse proudly announced an investment by Sikorsky Aircraft in its company, which promises support capability as well as money. Honda Aircraft’s displays, both in the exhibit hall and under roof at the airport, showcased the company’s developmental aircraft and engine quite well. A conforming test model of the HondaJet was ready to fly at NBAA time and a target of Q3 2012 is set for certification.

Further up the ladder, Bombardier showed the mockup of its forthcoming LearJet 85 composite-airframe mid-size jet, and rocked the show with announcement of not one, but two, new members of the large-cabin Global series, a stretched-fuselage Global 7000 and 8000 based on the suc-cessful Global XRS. The aircraft were shown only as full-size rear-projection images on a huge screen at the static display. The Global 7000, 11 feet longer than the XRS, is expected to be available in 2016, offering a 7,300 nm range, with the two-foot longer, 7,900 nm range 8,000 coming in 2017.

As the show opened, Gulfstream flew one of its G650

Show RepoRt NBAA


test aircraft on a 10-hour, 5,000-mile closed-circuit proving run at Mach .9, to spotlight its newest airplane’s capability. Gulfstream also exhibited a finished G650 at the static dis-play. The G650 will be the first Gulfstream to feature a larger fuselage cross-section since the original turboprop model. Cessna’s Citation division is determined not to be outdone by Gulfstream’s challenge to the Mach .92 Citation X (historically pronounced “ten”) with a Mach .925 Vmo for the G650; Cess-na announced a slightly-stretched, upgraded Citation Ten at the NBAA convention, which promises to have an even-faster top speed. Rumours continue to surface about a single-turbo-prop version of the Citation Mustang in flight test at Cessna.

Dassault brought a “green” 900LX trijet to the show, sporting its new Aviation Partners winglets that help boost

long-range cruise to Mach .80, which it can hold to 4,500 nm with four passengers. With the current super-midsize 2000LX twin-jet replacing the 2000DX and 2000EX models, speculation is high that a replacement SMS aircraft is being developed.

Absent from the show was Emivest’s SJ-30 long-range light jet, which was still strug-gling to find its niche in the marketplace. Emivest filed for reorganisation bankruptcy protection in the week following NBAA, after delivering some three airplanes to customers.

Hawker Beechcraft shuffled its deck of airplanes with mul-tiple announcements at the NBAA show, including long-await-ed upgradation of the Beech Premier 1A light jet; what was to be the Premier II is now the Hawker 200, sharing the Pre-mier’s carbon-fibre fuselage but with winglets, a higher pres-surisation level, FL450 certificated altitude, increased takeoff weight, longer range, 15-knots more speed and new FJ44-3AP FADEC engines. The venerable King Air 200 will be replaced with a new King Air 250, which incorporates winglets, com-posite-blade propellers and ram air recovery cowlings, all of which improve the airplane’s high-and-hot capability.

In addition, Hawker Beechcraft announced a retrofit programme for the Hawker 400XP (once the Beechjet 400), which will replace the P&W JT15D-5R engines with Williams

FJ44-4A-32 fanjets, add winglets and upgrade avionics. In a totally unrelated programme, Nextant Aerospace showed its re-engined Beechjet 400A with Williams FJ44-3AP en-gines and a Collins ProLine 21 avionics suite, to be serially produced as the 400XT, rather than converted one at a time.

Conjoined in the static display were a Comlux Airbus A318 Elite in executive livery, wearing showy polished wing slats, and a Boeing Business Jets 737-700 with complete facilities for working and living on board. Although the big airplanes challenged the PDK airport’s 66,000-lb pavement strength, waivers were obtained for their landings and the 6,000-ft runway length required no special tech-niques. In the exhibit hall, Greenpoint Technologies showed a model of an Aerolift elevator installation that could be in-stalled in a BBJ 747, allowing a VIP’s party to descend to the ramp privately and without requiring stairs or jet bridge.

IN the paNelGarmin International announced its entry into transport cat-egory electronic flight instrumentation with a G5000 suite of integrated avionics. Almost universally accepted in the cock-pits of light business aircraft with its G3000 suite, Garmin had yet to crack the stricter requirements of the transport

shining stars: (toP) hondaJet on disPLay; (above L-r) statiC disPLay sCenes; MoCkuP of PiPer’s new PiPerJet aLtaire, with a Larger fuseLage and redesigned wing and taiL

Show RepoRt NBAA


world. However, Cessna has agreed to install the G5000 in its new Citation Ten, and the large displays and touch-activated controls were getting a workout on the display floor.

Rockwell Collins showed its new Pro Line Fusion inte-grated cockpit system, which has already been accepted by a host of new or updated aircraft. The launch customer will be Bombardier with a Global 5000 installation, followed by the Gulfstream 150. While Rockwell Collins relies heavily on HUD for SVS or EVS, Honeywell was exhibiting an enhanced SmartView system which offers SVS/EVS in a head-down display, using Kollsman infra-red cameras.

Datalink communications, for both the cabin workplace and transmitting ATC commands to the cockpit, was one of the major talking points at the show. By January 1, the new aircraft flying in Europe above FL285 must have VDLM2 data link capability, and all such operations will require it by February 5, 2015. VIP passengers are equally insistent about being able to keep in touch during flight. The compet-ing satellite communication systems, Iridium and Inmarsat, have exclusive strengths, leading airline datalink supplier ICG to join up with Cobham to offer a multi-level “Sora” communication system. Sora will allow business jet users in both the front and back of the aircraft to stay connected, even in mid-ocean. Many other firms were showing targeted satcom tools for business travel.

BusINess aNd awardsThe NBAA convention allows attendees to gather annually to renew acquaintances, participate in educational semi-nars and conduct the association’s business. For the first time, dual general session meetings were held, on the two principal days of the convention. At the opening session, speeches were given by Sonny Perdue, the outgoing Gover-nor of the State of Georgia who is also an active pilot, Tom Donahue, President of the US Chamber of Commerce, John Pistole, Head of the Transportation Safety Administration, and Randy Babbitt, Administrator, Federal Aviation Admin-istration. Jimmy Hayes of Atlanta-based Cox Enterprises spoke of the value delivered by his company’s business air-craft over the years.

During the historic second day session, the traditional hu-manitarian award, given to an individual exemplifying ser-vice to mankind in the past year, was deferred; instead, rec-ognition was given to the 600 NBAA member companies who participated in flying aid to the suffering country of Haiti after its massive earthquake disaster. Corporate aircraft landed on roads and outlying airfields to deliver supplies, evacuate in-jured persons and bring in relief workers.

FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt returned to the stage to award Wright Brothers Master Pilot designations to five noted individuals who have flown for more than 50 years. These were Arnold Palmer, noted professional golfer, Clay Lacy, re-tired airline pilot and entrepreneur, Russ Meyers, Chairman Emeritus of Cessna Aircraft, Eugene Cernan, US Apollo astro-naut who left the final footprints on the moon’s surface, and Neil Armstrong, astronaut and test pilot who was the first hu-man to set foot on the moon. Famous test pilot and air show performer Robert A. Hoover was unable to attend due to health problems. In addition, Arnold Palmer was given the NBAA’s Meritorious Service Award as special recognition for his strong support of the business aviation causes over the years.

The 2011 NBAA meeting will be held in Las Vegas, Ne-vada, from October 10 to 12. The entire global business avi-ation community hopes for continued easing of the financial crisis and an upswing in activity. SP

waiting to take off: statiC disPLay of 93

business airCraft at atLanta’s dekaLb-

PeaChtree airPort


Military joint exercise

INcreASed Number Of lAuNcheS and full-scale large force engagement (LFE) missions marked the Indo-UK Indradhanush joint air exercise between

the IAF and Royal Air Force (RAF) from October 18 to November 3, at Kalaikunda Airbase in West Midnapur dis-trict, West Bengal. While the Royal Air Force participated

with its Eurofighter Typhoons, the E-3D Sentry, and VC-10 mid-air refueller, the IAF fielded the Su-30 MKIs, Mirage 2000s, MiG-27s and its airborne warning and control sys-tem (AWACS) for the first time in a joint air exercise. Fly-ing missions aimed at enhancement of mutual operational understanding and refinement of procedures. SP

www.spsaviation.net30 SP’S AVIATION Issue 11 • 2010

Exercise Indradhanush

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OEM IntervIew

SP’s Aviation (SP’s): Is there a real difference between one AESA and another?John Fagnant (Fagnant): In recent years we’ve seen a ground swell of people thinking “AESA is good” and “all AESAs are equally good” – that they’ve become homogenous. Northrop Grumman gets batched into the competition in the same manner. And that’s not correct. There’s a different dis-cipline in the way we’ve approached our AESA developments which is significant for two reasons. First, it keeps us relevant in the modern battlefield. Second, it ties our engineering to our manufacturing through a generational-architecture mind-set that allows us to get efficiencies in manufacturing across all the domains of AESAs that we build. We’ve based our ap-proach on generational leaps in technology and capability, so we’re not piecemealing our architecture across the enterprise with separate, unique parts, which would make it more ex-pensive and less efficient from a manufacturing standpoint. It’s about generating an “electronically scanned” culture.

SP’s: What do you mean by developing an “electronically scanned” culture?Fagnant: Our AESA expertise actually goes back to the 1970s when we developed the AN/APG-66 with a mechanically scanned array for the F-16. We were up against competi-tors like Hughes and the concern from a purely engineer-ing standpoint was that we were dealing with a very tiny nose on the aircraft where we had to graft in very modern radar capabilities. The main problem for our engineers was physical space, but they worked with that. They did what they could with the single receiver channel, but more im-portantly, they worked with the elements and the subcom-ponents that made up the entire system to get the maximum efficiency out of that radar from a physics standpoint.

Next, we had to do the same thing with software, which had to work efficiently with what was happening at the phys-ics level—things like bandwidth purity or signal-to-noise ra-tio or swell intervals and other things you worry about in a

transmit and receive environment. This combination of hard-ware and software efficiencies became the cultural mindset of a whole generation of hardware, electrical design, and software engineers for a time during the 1970s and 1980s not only for the AN/APG-66, but also for the AWACS. Many of these engineers are still here today at the company.

At the same time, electrically scanned arrays (ESA) were being developed. One of these was AWACS, which is electri-cally scanned in the vertical, but not in the azimuth, where it spins. Also, when the B-1 ESA came out during the 1980s, we were bringing efficiencies learned in one programme to others in an electrically scanned aperture type of environ-ment. As all this was happening at the same time, it cre-ated an engineering culture that determined how Northrop Grumman approached developing AESA technology.

SP’s: How did this strong engineering culture affect the development of the F-22 with its stealth technology?Fagnant: Stealthy aircraft presented a difficult set of chal-lenges to our engineers. Now we had to go to a fighter that was bigger than an F-16, but had to have electronics, RF noise, and transmit/receive purity understood to a degree that had never been approached before in aircraft history. We had already brought up this whole group of engineers that had to deal with those types of issues on an F-16. They understood how to get the maximum amount of physical ef-ficiencies in electrical and RF environments, and how archi-tecture could be applied to get the most out of the hardware.

During the time period we spent developing the F-16 radar, we were worried about electronic countermeasures, which were a key part of our software suites. Those things also con-tribute nicely to stealth technology because stealth depends on control of the electronic environment. You have quietness built in. You want to be able to reside in a stealthy environment and not have to worry about people jamming you from an electron-ic warfare standpoint because you can deny those capabilities. From a software standpoint, that type of capability paid off.

Northrop Grumman AESA is relevant in the modern battlefieldIn an interview with John Fagnant, Director of ISR and Targeting

Strategy at the Northrop Grumman Electronic Systems sector, SP’s Aviation discovered some of the historical and cultural qualities that

have made the company a leader in AESA technology. The former US Air Force F-15 pilot describes how the corporation developed

unparalleled expertise as a radar house, citing how early radar developments aboard the F-16 contributed to present-day thought

leadership in one of the defence industry’s newest technologies.

Continued on page 32...


MIlItaRy F-16In

This approach led to the way we develop both hardware and software together—a culture that continues still today.

SP’s: AESA development is very expensive. What is Northrop Grumman doing about costs?Fagnant: Back then, our mindset wasn’t to build one thing and say, “We’re just going to add this and add that.” The custom-ers’ concern for diminishing manufacturing capabilities and expenses associated with hardware changeovers was a big deal to us. What we learned from the F-22 experience was, “Let’s continue that generational cycle.” Let’s make one major investment at a time to create a generational architecture of hardware and software modes that our entire customer base can take advantage of so that they’re not all paying the non-re-curring costs associated with successive singular programmes. And that’s worked out pretty well for us. We are seeing impor-tant engineering and manufacturing efficiencies that translate into time and costs efficiencies for our customers.

This generational architecture just doesn’t reside in one or two airborne types of AESAs. You can see it in our ground-based, maritime, and high/low altitude aircraft. As we move forward into future AESAs, you actually get to see examples of where our AESAs are better because of all these cultural factors at play.

Let me use software engineering as an example. We spent a lot of time developing good electronic protection modes for small and stealthy aircraft. What has happened in the electronic warfare environment in recent years is a huge explosion of robust capability. Our engineering community thought about that and stayed ahead of that. Our joint strike fighter sensor systems and the systems that have followed are in very good shape because of our background in electronic protection and electronic coun-termeasures modes. And we’re transitioning all that—in that same generational mindset—to everything else that we build. SP

tHE US AErOSPAcE mAJOr Lockheed Martin Corpo-ration claims that the F-16IN offered to the Indian Air Force (IAF) under the medium multi role combat air-

craft (MMRCA) programme is reliable, safe and cost-effec-tive. But besides keeping its fingers crossed for the MMRCA deal, the company is also looking forward to sell its F-35C, the fifth generation carrier aircraft to India.

Addressing a press conference on October 28 in New Delhi, Michael R. Griswold, Director, Advanced Develop-ment Programme, Lockheed Martin said that the fighter plane custom made for India is a step ahead of the F-16 series produced by the company. “The advanced version of the F-16 has been designed after long discussions between the IAF and Lockheed Martin,” he said and adding that it is apt for IAF requirements.

Griswold said that F-16 has a long history of operations and is a proven fourth generation fighter with active elec-tronically scanned radar (Northrop Grumman APG-80), net-centric warfare capability, advanced survivability features, enhanced high thrust engine (General Electric F110-132A), large weapon inventory, all-digital glass cockpit, etc.

Explaining the advantages of a single engine aircraft as in F-16 IN, he said that a transition from double engine to single engine aircraft can be seen in many countries today. Except the safety aspect which is on a par with a double engine aircraft, a single engine aircraft is better in all other aspects—life cycle cost, acquisition cost, survivability, physi-cal size, logistics, etc.

The official said that the F-16 has evolved from Block 30 manufactured in 1985, which transitioned to Block 50 in 1990 and F-16IN in 2003 and indicated that it is not the end of the road as the company will bring in many more innova-tions and technological developments in the years to come. “The F-16’s architecture itself enables growth and has the most powerful engine for MMRCA,” said Griswold.

The F-16 is now operational in 24 countries and a recent order has been placed by Oman, informed the officials. SP


for MMRCA: Lockheed MartinThe company officials claim that many countries are transitioning from double-engine to single-engine aircraft

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OEM IntervIew

SP’s Aviation (SP’s): As the President of Honeywell Aero-space in India, how do you perceive the prospects for the company in the Indian aerospace market?Pritam Bhavnani (Bhavnani): India is important to Honey-well Aerospace. From technology development to product manufacturing to customer service and support, our Indian organisation contributes to every part of our business for cus-tomers around the world. We see India as a key global loca-tion, export hub and centre of intellectual excellence, and have staffed appropriately with engineers to help us drive success throughout our business. Our aerospace solutions are flying on many Indian aircraft—airlines or private aircraft—and we are leading the way in air traffic modernisation and avia-tion safety. We are pursuing several opportunities in India

now, including the Jaguar’s re-engine and T-Hawk micro air vehicle use. Right now, we have five manufacturing locations, four technology centres and offices in more than 50 cities in India, exceeding `2,500 crore in annual revenue.

SP’s: Can you define the direction in which you propose to steer the company? Briefly outline the strategy that you propose to adopt to drive growth of business for the company in India and what would be the thrust areas?Bhavnani: Business growth and exports are the two critical areas of focus and both are linked to each other. Success in one drives the other making them interdependent. So the strategy is to drive both aspects of these opportunities. On specific programmes like Jaguar re-engine or MAV T-Hawk we typically follow the lead of the concerned agencies and support their timelines and strategy as defined.

SP’s: To what extent and in what way will Honeywell’s investments in India impact the growth of international business for the company?Bhavnani: Honeywell sets up global operational centres for technology development and product manufacturing to customer service and support, our Indian organisation contributes to every part of our business for customers around the world. As an example, our contract with HAL means the popular TPE331 engine is being built in India for our global customer base.

SP’s: In what way and to what extent would the Indian aerospace industry benefit from the association with Honeywell Aerospace?Bhavnani: Honeywell is a leader in air traffic modernisa-tion, safety and energy efficiency, and more than 10,000 em-ployees in India help contribute to our success. Honeywell is also a technological leader in multiple areas. As India builds the infrastructure for its aerospace industry to expand to meet the needs of India, Honeywell’s technology and solu-tions can help India leap frog to the latest technical advance-ments and result in safer and more efficient flying.

SP’s: The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has drawn up a plan to modernise and upgrade a number of civil airfields, construct Greenfield airports as also upgrade air traffic management systems. In which areas would Honeywell be involved in these programmes?Bhavnani: While Honeywell traditionally would provide avi-onics for the airlines to optimise their performance and ef-ficiency in such an initiative, in this case, we can also provide the modern precision approach and landing system for this airport modernisation effort—the SmartPath ground-based augmentation system (GBAS). The most attractive feature of installing GBAS in a modernisation programme is its flexibili-ty. The current generation precision approach system, instru-ment landing system (ILS) can only provide a single approach path at a single runway end. The SmartPath system can pro-vide multiple approach paths to every runway at an airport, allowing AAI to achieve optimal airspace efficiency. SP

Honeywell sees India as a key global locationPritam Bhavnani, who assumed

office as the President Honeywell Aerospace India in June this year, brings in both proven capability

and wealth of experience that should propel Honeywell’s

Aerospace business in India to new heights. Bhavnani had a candid conversation with Air Marshal (Retd) B.K. Pandey of

SP’s Aviation at Bengaluru

To read the complete interview log on to: www.spsaviation.net/interviews

Hall of Fame


WhAT cAN humAN INgeNuITy achieve in half a century? A great deal. The Wright Brothers’ famous first

flight was at a speed of 10.9 km/h. A few days before the 50th anniversary of that epochal feat, Albert Scott Cross-field piloted the Douglas D-558-2 Sky-rocket to Mach 2.005 (2,076 km/h). Crossfield was one of USA’s top test pilots—part of the celebrated team that later took the legendary X-15 to record altitudes and speeds. His flight on November 20, 1953, was the first time an aircraft ever ex-ceeded twice the speed of sound.

Albert Scott Crossfield was born in Berkeley, California, on Oc-tober 2, 1921. Soon after America entered the Second World War, he became a naval aviator and flew overseas as an instructor. Later, in June 1950, he joined the National Advisory Committee for Aeronau-tics (NACA) High Speed Flight Re-search as a test pilot. During the next five years, he notched up 99 rocket flights in the X-1 and D-558-II Skyrocket. The Skyrocket was a supersonic research aircraft built by the Douglas Aircraft Com-pany. It had wings of 35 degree sweep and horizontal stabilisers with 40 degree sweep. Its wings and empennage were fabricated from aluminium and the fuselage was primarily of magnesium. It was jet as well as rocket powered. For take-off, climb and landing, it had a Westinghouse J34-40 turbojet engine fed through side intakes. Alternatively, the plane could be carried aloft by a Boe-ing P2B Super Fortress ‘mother ship’. For high speed flight, a four-chamber Reaction Motors LR8-RM-6 engine was employed. Scott’s flight was part of a careful-ly conducted research programme that featured incremental increases in speed while sophisticated instrumen-tation recorded the flight data at each stage. For his record-setting mission, he was taken aloft in the Skyrocket by the mother ship. He dropped clear of the bomber at 32,000 feet and zoomed to 72,000 feet before diving to 62,000 feet where he became the first pilot to exceed twice the speed of sound. By the time he joined North American Avi-

ation in 1955, Crossfield was by far the most experienced rocket plane pilot in the world.

As chief engineering test pilot for North America, Crossfield played a ma-jor role in the design and development of the X-15. He was the first to pilot the advanced hypersonic aircraft and it was his job to demonstrate its airworthiness at speeds of up to Mach 3. Because the

X-15 and its systems were unproven, these tests were considered extremely risky. He piloted the plane on its first unpowered test flight on June 8, 1959. Later, he also flew the first powered flight. He flew 14 of the 199 total X-15 flight tests with most of his missions establishing and validating the ini-tial key parameters. Scott introduced many important innovations, including putting the rocket plane’s engine con-

trols into the cockpit. Previously, all en-gine adjustments were made by tech-nicians on the ground- based on data from previous flight tests. He reached a maximum speed of Mach 2.97 and 27 km altitude in the process. In all, 12 test pilots flew the X-15; among them was Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon. In 1967, an X-15 piloted by Pete Knight achieved its

fastest ever speed of Mach 6.72 (7,297 km/h).

Among his countless honours and awards, Crossfield received the Lawrence Sperry Award, Oc-tave Chanute Award, Harmon International Trophy and the Collier Trophy. He cheated death many times in an aviation career spanning 64 years. In Septem-ber 1954, following an engine flameout in the North American F-100 Super Sabre he was eval-uating, he decided to attempt a dead-stick landing. Other test pilots had doubted such a thing could be done as the F-100 had a rather high landing speed. Scott made a perfect approach and touchdown but was unable to bring the aircraft to a halt in a safe distance. After barely missing several parked aircraft, he was forced to use a wall as a makeshift brake. In June 1960, he narrowly escaped from the ground explosion of an X-15 while testing the engine.

What is remarkable is that Crossfield was still flying solo at the age of 84. The end came—as it so often does—due to bad weather. On April 19, 2006, he was piloting a Cessna 210 from Prattville, Alabama to Manassas, Virginia when the plane lost ra-dio contact. The next day his body was found in the wreckage of the aircraft, which was strewn over a wide area. Crash investigators

concluded that the aircraft had broken up in a severe thunderstorm. While he was renowned as a daring test pilot, Crossfield himself claimed, “I am an aeronautical engineer, an aerodynami-cist and a designer. My flying was only primarily because I felt that it was es-sential to designing and building better airplanes for the pilots to fly.” SP

—Group Captain (Retd) Joseph Noronha, Goa

ALBERT SCOTT CROSSFIELD (1921 - 2006)

He was an aeronautical engineer, an aerodynamicist

and a designer, who felt that his flying was

primarily because it was essential to designing and building better airplanes

for pilots to fly

newsDigest


MilitaryAsia-Pacific

Antony visits Vietnam

Defence Minister A.K. Antony arrived at Hanoi on October 10, for a four-day visit to Viet-nam to attend the first ASEAN Defence Ministers Meeting (ADMM)-Plus along with a high level delegation including the Defence Secretary Pradeep Kumar and representatives of the services. During the

Fourth ADMM held during last May, the ASEAN Defence Min-isters had decided to establish an ADMM-Plus forum com-prising of 10 ASEAN countries to include Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam; and eight non-ASEAN coun-tries namely, India, Australia, China, Japan, New Zealand, Republic of Korea, Russia and the US; with the aim to ad-dress the regional peace and security challenges. This was to be done by providing bal-anced and inclusive security architecture for the region as a whole and provide opportuni-ties to build mutual trust and confidence among the defence establishments of the ASEAN and the Plus countries. India

views its participation in the ADMM-Plus deliberations as an aspect of its Look–East Policy and the larger objective of integration with the region.

Tenth IRIGC-MTC meetingThe 10th meeting of the India-Russia Inter-Gov-ernmental Commission on Military Technical Coopera-tion (IRIGC-MTC) was held at Delhi on October 7, 2010. The Defence Minister A.K. Antony and the Russian Defence Min-ister A.E. Serdyukov headed the respective delegations. The Indian delegation includ-ed Defence Secretary Pradeep Kumar, Secretary (Defence Production) R.K. Singh, V.K. Saraswat, Scientific Adviser to Defence Minister and other senior officials of the

AgustAWestlAnd

• AgustaWestland, a Finmeccanica company, has announced that it has been awarded a contract by the Maryland State Police Aviation Command to provide six AW139 helicopters for their Medevac fleet program. The $71 million contract calls for the first AW139 to be delivered 18 months after contract has been awarded.

AkAer/sAAb

• Akaer has released to Saab the first 3D model and production drawings of the Gripen (next generation) NG in Sao Jose de Campos. This is as per the agreement signed between Akaer

QuickRoundUp

Upbeat about Indian defence market, Swedish company Saab has assured to provide complete transfer of tech-nology (ToT) to India for its programmes, no matter what

the foreign direct investment (FDI) limit is. Besides the medium multi role combat aircraft (MMRCA) deal, which it terms as the “mother of all businesses”, the company is also looking forward to many more business opportunities in India including the civil security market. Hasan Buske, Group CEO of Saab AB, during his recent visit to India said that unlike its competitors in the MMRCA race, Saab does not have any political advantage, but it has the full backing of the Swedish Government.

Addressing a press conference at New Delhi on October 29, Buske highlighted on the Indo-Sweden relationship and the similarities the two countries have. “Our strength lies in ‘inde-pendent choice’. We have the best technology and an open platform to integrate the weapon systems. We sell products in-dependently and our products are affordable,” claimed Buske.

“Established in 1937, Saab came up at a time when Swe-den was dependent on France for all defence equipment. To-day, it has already manufactured 6,000 aircraft. Besides air-craft and missiles, we also have units that integrate systems for land and naval forces,” he said.

On being asked about his views on the rules and regula-tions in India on defence procurement, Buske said that India

is an important market for Sweden and the company is fine with whatever the percentage of FDI is permitted in India. He clarified that despite integration of the US solutions in Gripen, transfer of technology to India will not be an issue.

Saab officials informed that the company’s association with India goes back to 1975 when it signed a licence agree-ment for manufacture of ammunition and parts of weapons with an Indian ordnance factory. Besides the Indian Air Force, Saab is also looking ahead to be a part of many more pro-grammes in India. It may be mentioned that Saab has recently signed a letter of intent to set up a research and development centre with Mahindra & Mahindra.

Buske was on a visit to India to discuss many potential joint ventures with Indian companies. “Engineering capacity in the Western world is shrinking and we are looking ahead to countries like India which has an extremely strong economy and technically skilled workforce. India is producing 6,00,000 engineers every year. We look forward to utilise Indian capabilities,” he said. SP


Independent choice is our strength: SAABBesides the MMRCA deal, which it terms as the “mother of all businesses”, the company is also looking forward to many more business opportunities in India

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newsDigest


Ministry of Defence and the armed forces. The Russian delegation included representatives from the Russian Ministry of defence and the Russian defence industry. The Commission took note of the progress on several major projects since its last meeting, which was held in October 2009.

Israeli Ministry of Defence selects Lockheed Martin F-35Following the Israeli Gov-ernment’s decision to select the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II as the Israel Air Force’s next-generation fight-er aircraft, Israeli Ministry of Defence Director General, Ma-jor General (Retd) Udi Shani signed the letter of offer and

acceptance for the procure-ment of the F-35 aircraft on October 7 in New York. Israel will be the first country to receive the F-35 through the United States Government’s foreign military sales process.

F-15SA aircraft in Saudi ArabiaThe Defense Security Coopera-tion Agency notified Congress of a possible foreign military sale to the Government of Saudi Arabia of 84 F-15SA Aircraft, 170 APG-63(v)3 active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar sets, 193 F-110-GE-129 improved performance engines and assorted equipment. Also included are the upgradation of the existing Royal Saudi Air Force fleet of 70 F-15S multi-role fighters to the F-15SA configuration, the provision for CONUS-based fighter training operations for a 12 F-15SA contingent, construc-tion, refurbishments and infrastructure improvements of several support facilities for the F-15SA in-kingdom includ-ing other support services.

Eurofighter committed to IndiaEurofighter, its partner compa-nies and the four-nation mem-bers of the European consor-tium Germany, the UK, Italy and Spain, are fully committed to deepening the strategic partnership with India. Paving the way for this long-term cooperation, the Supervisory Board of Eurofighter GmbH met in New Delhi for the first time from October 25 to 26. CEOs from Eurofighter partner companies (EADS, BAE Sys-tems and Alenia Aeronautica) attended the meeting.

Americas

Lockheed Martin submits proposal for Cargo UAS

Lockheed Martin and Kaman Aerospace Corporation, a sub-sidiary of Kaman Corporation, have formally offered

and Saab for participation in the Gripen NG development programme with the aim to support Saab’s devel-opment and production for the rear and intermediate fuselage sections, wings and landing gear doors.

bAe systems

• BAE Systems has unveiled the boldstroke directable infrared countermeasures suite, an inte-grated aircraft survivability system designed to protect aircraft from infrared-guided missiles and other evolving threats. Boldstroke is a modular, lightweight, highly reliable, and low-cost directable infrared countermeasure suite.

bombArdier

• The first phase of construction of the 6,00,000 sq ft (55,742 m2) facility in Belfast that will house the manufacture and assembly of the advanced composite wings for the all-new C Series commercial aircraft has been completed on schedule. Bombardier’s Belfast operation is responsible for the design, manufac-ture and integration of the advanced composite wings for the CSeries aircraft.

eAds

• EADS North America has an-nounced at the Association of the US Army annual convention that its Armed Aerial Scout 72X (AAS-72X) industry team is preparing for the first flight of one of three company-funded Technical Demonstration Aircraft in December. The EADS North America-led industry team, comprised of Lockheed Martin, Euro-copter and American Eurocopter, is developing three AAS-72X aircraft to demonstrate the total capability of the aircraft.

eurocopter

• Eurocopter and Kazakhstan Engineering have signed a framework agreement for a 50/50 joint venture to assemble and customise EC145s in Kazakhstan. The agreement also includes the development of local maintenance and training activities to support EC145 operations throughout the new customs union zone created this summer by Kazakhstan, Russia and Belarus and the entire Central Asian region.

QuickRoundUp PIAGGIOPiaggio Aero Industries has announced that its Board of Directors, under the direction of its Chairman Piero Ferrari, has appointed Eligio Trombetta as General Manager of Piag-gio Aero. With this key appointment, as part of its consolida-tion and expansion programme, Piaggio Aero has strength-ened its senior management team and its abilities to develop the company’s industrial growth, with the full backing of the majority shareholders and strategic partners, Mubadala Development and Tata Limited.

EMbRAEREmbraer has named Phil Krull as Managing Director of the Company’s first US aircraft assembly plant and customer center, at Melbourne International Airport (MLB), in Mel-bourne, Florida. Krull will head up the newly established facility dedicated to the Phenom executive jet family in the company’s largest market.

EUROPEAN AEROSPACE AND DEFENCE INDUSTRIES ASSOCIATIONAirbus Military Managing Director Domingo Ureña-Raso has been named President and Chairman of the Council of the European AeroSpace and Defence Industries Association (ASD). He will succeed PierFrancesco Guarguaglini, Chair-man and CEO of Finmeccanica. ASD represents the aeronau-tics, space, defence and security industries of Europe in all matters of common interest with the objective of promoting and supporting the competitive development of these sectors.

SAFRANPaul blue has been named Safran National Executive for USA, and Chairman and CEO of Safran USA. He joins the Group’s International Development Department and will report to Emeric d’Arcimoles, Executive Vice President, Inter-national Development. Cédric Goubet joins Safran as deputy to the Executive Vice President, Aerospace Propulsion branch, reporting to Marc Ventre. He replaces Benoit Gosset, who is moving to another position within the Group.Yves Charvin has been named Vice President, Legal Affairs at Morpho, the Safran Company that consolidates the Group’s security business.

DASSAULT AVIATIONStéphane Fort has been appointed Vice President, External Relations and Corporate Communication of Dassault Aviation. He takes over from Yves Robins.

HONEYwELLMike Madsen has been appointed President of Honeywell Aerospace’s defense and space business. Earlier, Madsen was Vice President of the Airlines Customer Business team within the air transport and regional (AT&R) actuation systems and aircraft pneumatic components.

appointMents

newsDigest


the K-MAX unmanned helicopter in response to a US Naval Air Systems Command request for a cargo unmanned aircraft system (UAS). Earlier this year, the K-MAX UAS successfully demonstrated its ability to resupply troops in a simulated environment similar to forward operating bases in Afghanistan. Under a contract with the Marine Corps Warfighting Labora-tory, Lockheed Martin and Kaman successfully flew the unmanned K-MAX at Dug-way Proving Ground in Utah, meeting or exceeding the requirements that were set.

boeing’s new P-8 facilityBoeing has opened a new P-8 aircraft production facility near Boeing Field in Seattle. The refurbished factory will give Boeing and its P-8 team-mates the space they need to install mission systems and conduct tests on aircraft for current and future customers.

DARPA takes big step in aircraft safetyMilitary aircraft today face many threats, including surface-to-air missiles, anti-aircraft guns and weapons fired from hostile aircraft. De-spite modern systems that help friendly aircraft evade these threats, sometimes damage oc-curs. To improve survivability

of damaged aircraft, DARPA’s damage tolerant controls (DTC) program is developing a soft-ware to compensate for dam-aged aircraft control surfaces and engines, allowing pilots to land their aircraft safely. This technology also applies to material failures that can degrade flight performance in an unpredictable manner.

US Air Force selects bELAC LLCChromalloy has revealed that its joint venture company, BELAC LLC, has been selected by the US Air Force to provide CFM56-3 parts manufacturer approval (PMA) first stage high pressure turbine (HPT) blades. The one-year contract is valued at $2.6 million. The equipment will replace worn and scrapped turbine engine blades during maintenance of the F108 aircraft engines that power the KC-135 tanker air-craft. The F108 engine is the military variant of the CFM56-2B commercial aircraft engine.

bAE Systems to support Silver Fox UASBAE Systems has received a US Air Force contract of $3.9 million to provide engineer-ing, training, and other services for the continued use of the company’s Silver Fox unmanned aircraft systems. The Silver Fox aircraft sup-

elbit systems

• Elbit Systems of America, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Elbit Systems Ltd., has been awarded a $45.5 million indefinite delivery indefinite quantity contract from the Naval Surface Warfare Center, for the supply of the night targeting system upgrade (NTSU) and associ-ated line items for the AH-1W Cobra helicopters. Work will be performed in Merrimack and is expected to be completed over the next five years.

HAWker beecHcrAft corporAtion

• Hawker Beechcraft Corporation has announced the recent deliveries of its Beechcraft King Air 350C turboprops, to the Colombian Air Force for use as air ambulances. The aircraft were sold to Colombia under a foreign military sales agreement. Five King Air 350 aircraft have been delivered to date, while a sixth is expected to be delivered later this year.

isrAel

• Elbit Systems Ltd has announced that its wholly-owned US subsidiary, Elbit Systems of America, LLC, has been awarded a five year, $68 million indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity (ID/IQ) contract to supply the US Army, Navy, Marines Corps and Coast Guard with AN/AVS-7 head-up display components including the latest Elbit Systems of America flat panel day and night head-up display units.

itAly

• Three Italian Navy EH-101 helicopters which will support NATO operations in Afghanistan as part of International Security and Assistance Force have arrived, after being airlifted by a C-17 transport aircraft belonging to the US Air Force. The helicopters, fitted with self protection systems and night-vision capabilities, are able to carry out surveillance missions, patrols, convoy escort, transport of sensitive personnel, medical evacuation and deterrence.

Italian Air Force’s Predator UAVs deployed in Heart, have crossed the milestone of 5,000 flight hours during which more than 600 operational missions were conducted from 2007 in Afghanistan.

QuickRoundUp show Calendar9–11 NovemberbUSINESS AVIATION SAFETY SEMINAR-ASIA 2010Singapore Aviation Academy, Singaporehttp://flightsafety.org

10–11 NovemberTHE FUTURE OF bUSINESS JETSMillennium Gloucester Hotel, London, UKwww.quaynote.com

16–18 NovemberHELI-POwER 2010Olympia Conference Centre, London, UKhttp://www.shephard.co.uk/

17–18 NovemberUNMANNED AIRCRAFT SYSTEMS 2010Millennium Gloucester Hotel in Kensington, Central Londonhttp://www.smi-online.co.uk

29–30 November THE FUTURE OF AIR TRANSPORTLe Méridien Piccadilly, Londonhttp://marketforce.eu.com/Conferences/airtransport10

30 November–1 December AIRbORNE COUNTER- INSURGENCY 2010CCT Smithfield, London, England, UK www.airbournecounterinsur-gency.com

30 November–2 DecemberITALY AIRSPACE ExPONew Rome Exhibition Centre, Italywww.expoairspace.it

7–9 DecemberMIDDLE EAST bUSINESS AVIATION (MEbA)Airport Expo Dubai, Dubai, UAE.www.meba.aero

12–14 DecemberATC GLObAL MIDDLE EAST 2010 Beach Rotana, Abu Dhabi, UAEwww.atcglobalme.com

15–16 DecemberENERGISING INDIAN AEROSPACE INDUSTRYDRDO Bhawan, New Delhi, Indiahttp://www.ciidefence.com

nishant trials at Kolar airfield

On October 28, ADE conducted Nishant trials at Kolar Airfield in which a technology breakthrough has been achieved. A new technology called the structural health monitoring has

been developed by Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE) and National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL) for the monitoring of structural health parameters while the UAV is in flight. The break-through enables the structural health of aeronautical structures to be monitored, so that online health can be monitored and online corrective action for the flight can be taken. This enables the air-craft to be flown without unnecessarily grounding them.

Analysis algorithms have been developed to predict onset of failures which would be perfected using the data obtained through the flight. Usage of such techniques will avoid periodic grounding of the aircraft and make the maintenance schedules to be more like ‘on condition maintenance’, the condition being detected even before the failure occurs. It will avoid unnecessary grounding of aircraft for inspection. Monitoring can be used for light combat aircraft, medium combat aircraft, fifth generation fighter aircraft and other unmanned aerial vehicles. These techniques are going to be extensively used in the future in order to cut down the op-erational costs of the aircraft and can also lead to reduction in air-fares. Such techniques can prevent ensuing danger of the flights by pre-warning the occurrence of failure. •

newsDigest


ports military operations during intelligence, surveil-lance, and reconnaissance missions.

Europe

The first female Gripen pilot is bornIn October 2010, the South African Air Force created aviation history. One of the four South African Air Force (SAAF) pilots to successfully complete the first operational conversion course (OCC) in-structed by local SAAF pilots, is a woman. Major Catherine Labuschagne made her solo Gripen flight at the South African airbase Makhado in the Limpopo province. This will give her a place in the re-cord books as the first female Gripen pilot. Major Labuscha-gne is one of several women serving as pilots in the SAAF and she previously flew the Impala jet before she qualified on the Hawk Lead-In-Fighter trainer to prepare her for the transition to South Africa’s frontline fighter. The South African government ordered 26 Gripen C/D fighter aircraft in 1999 as part of a ‘strategic defence package’.

Airbus Military A330 MRTT obtains military certification Airbus Military has obtained certification for the A330 multi role tanker transport from Spanish military certification authority Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Aerospacial (INTA). This paves the way for first delivery of the aircraft to the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) in the coming weeks. The A330 MRTT is now the only certified new-generation tanker and transport being of-fered to the world’s air forces. A total of 28 A330 MRTTs have been ordered by the Air forces of four nations (Austra-lia, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and the United Kingdom).

Finmeccanica wins contracts worth EUR 384 millionFinmeccanica has won contracts with a total value of more than EUR 384 million through it companies Selex Galileo, Alenia Aeronautica and Selex Sistemi Integrati.

Selex Galileo has won orders worth a total of approximately EUR 352 million. Specifically, a contract worth around EUR 242 million (over GBP 200 million) is for the supply of 88 Captor radar systems for the Eurofighter Typhoon Tranche 3A programme. Deliveries are due to commence in 2012 with manufacturing taking place in Italy, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom. Alenia Aeronautica, through its subsidiary Alenia North America, has signed a con-tract worth more than EUR 22 million (around $30 million) with the United States Air Force (USAF) to supply other two additional modernised and refurbished G.222 tactical transport aircraft for the use of the Afghan Air Force.

Civil aviationAmericas

Sixth boeing 787 makes first flight|

The final Boeing 787 Dream-liner to join the flight test fleet made its first flight on October 4 from Paine Field in Everett, Wash. The airplane,

ZA006, is the second 787 equipped with General Elec-tric GEnx engines to fly. In addition to achieving the first flight of ZA006, the Boeing test team has completed a number of flight test mile-stones in recent weeks.

A dramatic series of tests that stress the airplane’s brakes, called maximum brake energy testing, was completed in late September at Edwards Air Force Base, also in California. ZA001 conducted this testing as well as a series of extreme takeoff and landing condi-tions including minimum takeoff speed testing. As a result of these tests and oth-ers, all takeoff performance and handling characteristics testing is complete for the initial version of the 787. Additional testing will be required for 787s equipped with GE engines.

The 787 flight test pro-gramme has logged more than 1,900 hours over 620 flights and completed more than 65 per cent of the flight test conditions for 787s with Rolls-Royce engines.

industryAsia-Pacific

New ultra light MiniPOP payloadIsrael Aerospace Industries (IAI) is introducing the new-

atC seMinar

On World ATC Day on October 20, the Air Traffic Controllers’ Guild (India) organised a two-day semi-

nar on “Air Traffic Management, Airports & Airlines: India initiatives for infrastruc-ture” in New Delhi. While the Minister for Civil Aviation, Praful Patel inaugurated the seminar, it was a moment of pride for the guild as it hosted the President and CEO of the International Federation of Air Traffic Controllers Association (IF-ATCA), Alexis Brathwaite from Trinidad and Tobago.

The seminar highlighted the need for cooperation between the various stakeholders in the aviation community, underlining aviation safety, efficiency and optimal performance. The host of speakers gave different perspectives to the growing aviation sec-tor and how the challenges have to be met.

The ATC Guild also honoured two eminent scientists—Dr. G. Madhavan Nair, former Chairman of Indian Space Research Or-ganisation and Dr. K. Santhanam of DRDO. •

QuickRoundUp

pAkistAn

• Pakistan is closely collaborating with China to launch a joint space com-munications satellite next year in 2011 that will be a milestone in their friend-ship. The new satellite called Paksat-1R will bring immense economic benefits to Pakistan, said Pakistani Ambassador to China Masood Khan.

rAytHeon

• Raytheon Corporation has been awarded an $11.5 million contract for developing and testing critical high definition (HD) and target loca-tion accuracy enabling components, including multi-colour laser range-finder designator, HD slip rings, and twist capsules for the multi-spectral targeting system A/B for the predator and reaper systems.

rAytHeon/boeing

• Raytheon Company and the Boeing Company have completed flight testing of the joint air-to-ground mis-sile’s (JAGM) fixed-wing launcher and instrumented measurement vehicle (IMV) on the Boeing F/A-18 E/F Super Hornet fighter aircraft. IMV is the same size, shape and mass as an all-up JAGM round and the flight tests are a crucial first step toward qualifying JAGM for Super Hornet employment.

rolls-royce

• Rolls-Royce has won an order worth $390 million at list prices from Thai Air-ways International for Trent 700 engines to power an additional seven Airbus A330 aircraft. The order includes a long-term service agreement for the aircraft which will be delivered from 2011.

sAAb gripen

• Sweden’s FMV Test & Evaluation Department has recently conducted a so-called safe-separation firing from Gripen with the Meteor missile which is the first live-firing of the Integration programme. Gripen has also been the launch platform from the start of the development of the Meteor missile. The purpose of this test was to verify the model on separation of the mis-sile from the aircraft.

sikorsky

• Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation has been awarded a $37,8 million

newsDigest


contract to exercise of an option to purchase two UH-60M aircraft and one HH-60M aircraft for the Army. Work is to be completed by June 30, 2012.

Sikorsky Innovations, the technology development organization of Sikorsky Aircraft, has completed rig testing of a Hub Mounted Vibration Suppression system, designed to eliminate vibration and deliver a smoother helicopter ride. The effort is jointly funded by Sikorsky and the Aviation Applied Technology Directorate.

us Air force

• The US Air Force’s second geo-synchronous space-based infrared systems satellite has successfully completed the integration of its two equipment panels onto the space-craft core module which is a major milestone in the GEO-2 programme and represents the first instance of a fully assembled and integrated GEO-2 space vehicle. GEO-2 is scheduled for launch in 2012.

The US Air Force has selected Lockheed Martin as the winner of the 60 percent share of the Advanced Targeting Pod-Sensor Enhancement (ATP-SE) competition. Under the terms of this contract, the Govern-ment has options to buy up to 670 pods through 2017. If all options are exercised, Lockheed Martin’s share of the program will total more than $1 billion.

us Army

• Raytheon Company’s airborne multi-spectral targeting system, whose video imagery helps soldiers, intelligence analysts and com-manders in the field make critical operating decisions has exceeded one million flight hours.

us nAvy

• US Navy successfully conducted the first flight test of the Coastal Bat-tlefield Reconnaissance and Analysis (COBRA) Block I system on the MQ-8B Fire Scout vertical take-off UAV. The AN/DVS-1 COBRA system allows the MQ-8B to conduct unmanned aerial reconnaissance in littoral areas, detecting minefields and obstacles to prepare for amphibious assaults. The Block I upgrade was designed to specifically address the beach zone and inland areas.

QuickRoundUp est member of its MiniPOP (plug-in optronic payload) family, the ultra light Mini-POP. The new lightweight MiniPOP payload is manufac-tured using lightweight met-als, including magnesium and titanium. It is designed to be utilised by small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), which demand long endurance; and by Special Ground Forces for intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and targeting (ISTAR) missions. The system can be handled and operated by a single soldier.

Americas

Global aircraft family

Corporate aviation leader Bombardier Aerospace reaf-firmed its command of the large business jet category by introducing two new jets, the Global 7000 and Global 8000 aircraft. Bombardier’s flagship Global aircraft fam-ily now uniquely covers the large, ultra long-range cat-egory with four aircraft mod-els, the Global 5000,Global Express XRS, Global 7000 and Global 8000 jets.

Europe

P.180 Avanti aircraft world fleet

Piaggio Aero announced that their P.180 Avanti and Avanti II aircraft fleet has passed the significant landmark of 5,00,000 flight hours. The P.180 Avanti world fleet is composed of 203 aircraft (+ 4 prototypes). With its two ver-sions, the “Avanti”, certified in 1990, and the Avanti II, certified in 2005, the P.180s have flown more than half

a million flight hours as for September 2010.

Multi-role Ka-32A11bC at PortugalOn October 5, Russian Helicopters, a subsidiary of UIC Oboronprom, presented at the second international helicopter exhibition He-litech-2010, in a Lisbon suburb, its civil helicopter lineup. The holding company is offering European opera-tors the EASA-certified multi-role Ka-32A11BC, and the light Ansat, Ka-226/226T, the medium Ka-62, Mi-8/17, and the heavy transport Mi-25TS. Jointly with Tranzas, Rus-sian Helicopters is offering the international aviation market training solutions for pilots preparing to fly Russian-made rotorcraft.The Ka-32A11BC in par-ticular, plays an important role in forest fire fighting in various countries worldwide, including Western Europe and Portugal. Within the last three hazardous seasons in Portugal the effective use of the Ka-32A11BC helped extinguish thousands of for-est fires, saved thousands of hectares of farm ground, and prevented fires in a number of towns.

Eurocopter’s x3 high-speed hybrid helicopter

Eurocopter has begun test flights of the X3 demonstra-tor for its innovative high-speed, long-range Hybrid He-licopter (H3) concept, which combines excellent vertical takeoff and landing capabili-ties with fast cruise speeds of more than 220 kts. A wide range of utilisations are en-visaged for the H3 configura-tion, including long-distance search and rescue (SAR) missions, coast guard du-ties, border patol missions, passenger transport and inter-city shuttle services. It also may be well-suited for military missions in ‘Special

Forces’ operations, troop transport, combat SAR and medical evacuation—benefit-ting from the hybrid air-craft’s combination of higher cruise speeds with excellent vertical takeoff/landing per-formance.

Eurocopter’s India subsidiaryOn October 20, Eurocopter inaugurated its new Indian subsidiary. The new subsid-iary is headquartered in New Delhi and has an existing facility in Bangalore for the management of industrial ac-tivity. An engineering centre will be created in Bangalore next year, along with the opening of a new commercial office in Mumbai. Eurocopter India’s current headcount of 30 employees is expected to grow significantly during the coming years as the company evolves its commercial, indus-trial and services/support presence in the country.

Learjet 60 xR aircraft’s new speed recordOn October 19, Bombardier Aerospace confirmed that its high-performance Learjet 60 XR aircraft set a new speed record on August 8, 2010, flying 4,777 nm (8,847 km) from Wichita, Kansas to São Paulo, Brazil, with one stop in Cali, Colombia, in just 11 hours and 58 minutes. The flight was officially sanc-tioned by the National Aero-nautics Association (NAA) and the Fédération Aéronau-tique Internationale (FAI) on September 8, 2010.

spaCeAmericas

boeing ships mobile communications satelliteBoeing announced on Octo-ber 19 that it had shipped the LightSquared SkyTerra 1, a high-capacity mobile communications satellite, from the company’s integra-tion and test complex in El Segundo to the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The satellite is now undergo-ing final preparations for a November 14 launch aboard an International Launch Ser-vices Proton rocket. •


LastWord

Consolidating P a r t n e r s h i p

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The 44Th PreSIdeNT Of The United States of America and the sixth to visit India, Obama’s mis-sion undertaken during the first term of presidency was not only high profile and opportune for mutual

commercial and military interests; but more importantly, it flagged an important milestone in the history of develop-ment of strategic partnership between the largest and the oldest democracies in the world. India is one of the major power centres in the region and is regarded by the US as “the cornerstone of its Asia policy” and President Obama himself has described India as “an indispensable partner of the US”.

The President’s remarks in the recent past against out-sourcing to India and the steep hike in visa fees had raised serious apprehensions in the Indian industry. The fact that the 200-odd business delegates in the Presidential entou-rage included chief executives of major US firms and that the port of entry was Mumbai, the commercial capital of India, as also the elaborate interaction with the captains of the industry organised by the US-India Business Council there, should help dispel any doubts with regard to the eco-nomic undertone and commercial focus of the visit.

With a view to subdue expectations to obviate the possibil-ity of disappointment later on, a bulletin from the Ministry of External Affairs had warned against expectation of any earth shattering outcomes from the visit which covered broad po-litical, economic and security issues. As expected, the interac-tion between the leadership of the two nations was more of an exercise in the consolidation of relationships, elevation of levels of mutual trust and confidence as also enlargement of the stra-tegic framework of the part-nership. An important item on the agenda was the menace of terrorism. It is indeed symbolic that the visit was undertaken in November, a month in which Mumbai was traumatised with terrorist attacks on the two high profile star hotels—Taj and Tri-dent. President Obama stayed at the Taj—another highly sym-bolic gesture and a subtle mes-sage to the terrorist groups as also to Pakistan.

The other issues on the

agenda included common concerns on security, stability and prosperity in Asia, strategic consultations on regional and global issues as also enhanced cooperation in space tech-nology, clean energy, non-proliferation, dual use and high technology. Being an entirely bilateral issue between India and Pakistan, Kashmir was not on the agenda. President Obama’s explicit support for India’s bid for permanent mem-bership of the UN Security Council came as a pleasant sur-prise. But support for the membership will come at a price.

The visit was particularly significant for the military estab-lishment in India as there has been unprecedented military exchange and cooperation between the two nations in the re-cent past and a number of big ticket items such as the C-130J Super Hercules and P8-I maritime surveillance aircraft valued at $3.1 billion (`14,000 crore) are already on order. As an-nounced, deals worth $10 billion (`45,000 crore) concluded during the visit include a preliminary agreement for a $4.1 billion (`18,450 crore) to supply 10 C17 Globemaster III, ad-vanced strategic military transport aircraft and 107, GE F414 engines valued at $822 million (`3,7W00 crore) for Tejas light combat aircraft. And then there is the $10 billion (`45,000 crore) tender for which the two American aerospace majors Boeing and Lockheed Martin Corporation are in the race.

Behind the optimism and hype associated with the Obama visit is the haunting uncertain-ty of the economy back home which is in dire straits. The concern has been compounded further by the unfavourable results of the mid-term elec-tions that could create new dif-ficulties for the President in the regime of both domestic and foreign policy. Deals concluded during the visit should provide small but much needed relief to the President from pressures back home.

While both nations may have much to gain from the strategic partnership, a long-term durable relationship can be forged based not only on trade but through deep political understanding, an aspect that demands of the two nations congruent vision, clear focus, dedicated effort and continuity in foreign policy. SP

— Air Marshal (Retd) B.K. Pandey

a long-term durable relationship can be forged based not only on trade but through deep political understanding, an aspect that demands of the two nations congruent vision, clear focus, dedicated effort and continuity in foreign policy

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