Gulfstream Aerospace weighs G550 replacement for special missions

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  30 décembre 2024 | International, Terrestre

  US Army unit in Poland the first to field new rocket system

  The brigade is the first in the Army fully equipped with the upgraded rocket system.

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  22 mai 2020 | International, Sécurité

  Coulson’s CU-47 is ready for the fire fight

  Posted on May 22, 2020 by Howard Slutsken Leveraging its experience with fixed-wing air tankers, Coulson Aviation has unveiled its latest aerial firefighting conversion, based on the Boeing CH-47D Chinook heavy-lift helicopter. In early March, the first Coulson-Unical CU-47 was flown from the company's Port Alberni, B.C., base to the Aerial Firefighting North American 2020 conference in Sacramento, Calif. Featuring a 3,000 gallon roll-on/roll-off internal tank and an advanced Garmin avionics suite, up to 12 CH-47Ds will be converted into next-generation heli-tankers, in a partnership with Unical Aviation that was announced a year ago. “Unical provides us with the aircraft and a vast supply of parts,” explained Britt Coulson, president and COO, in an interview with Skies. “They bought the entire Canadian Forces CH-47 parts inventory and were the largest purchaser of CH-47Ds from the U.S. Army.” The twin-rotor Chinook is well known for its speed, size and payload. While the helicopter is often deployed on fire attack missions carrying a water bucket as an external load, Coulson wanted to give the CU-47 more flexibility and capability. The company's engineers had already developed a 4,000 gallon Retardant Aerial Delivery System RADS-XXL for its Lockheed C-130 Hercules tanker conversions, and that tank was shrunk to create a 3,000 gallon RADS-L for the CH-47D conversion. “It's the same overall design as the C-130. It shares most of the same hydraulic components, the same doors and the same design of a roll-in, roll-out tank,” said Coulson. Other CH-47 internal tank systems utilize the small hook well in the centre of the helicopter as the water and retardant delivery port, but according to Coulson, that has its limitations. “The other tank designs are plagued with flow rate issues, which means they don't pack enough punch to really get through [forest] canopies or drop in heavy timber – the hook well opening just isn't big enough. “The lower the flow rate you have out of your tank, the slower and lower you have to fly. The problem with a big helicopter like a Chinook is if you fly too slow and low, your downwash is going to negatively affect the ground fire conditions and your drop is going to be ineffective.” To increase and optimize the flow rate for the RADS-L, the belly of the CH-47D was modified by cutting the helicopter's lower skin and adding structure below the floor to accommodate the tank installation and a pair of drop doors, controlled by the pilots through a state-of-the-art touchscreen controller. From the same touch panel, the pilots also control the CU-47's newly-developed retractable snorkel system to refill the RADS-L tank from water sources close to a fire's location. Installed internally, the snorkel head sits flush with the belly when retracted, so that with no additional external drag, the helicopter can maintain its fast 140-knot cruise speed. In a hover, the snorkel takes just four seconds to deploy and six seconds to retract, and the pilots and flight engineer can monitor the system's operation via a high-definition belly-mounted camera feed, displayed on the touchscreen controller. “The snorkel system has exceeded our expectations and we're filling the entire tank in under two minutes,” said Coulson. With the advanced capabilities of the Garmin avionics, the relocation of the flight engineer's panel, and the new RADS-L tank, Coulson originally believed that the CU-47 could be crewed solely by two pilots, without a flight engineer. But recent operational experience led the company to rethink that strategy. “We realized that with a helicopter of this size, going into some of the smaller dip sites, to have an additional set of eyes looking out the side or back is valuable to the pilots. So we've de-modified the helicopter and gone back to a full-time flight engineer to provide that increased safety and situational awareness.” Like Coulson's C-130 conversions, the CU-47 can also be tasked with night-time firefighting missions, thanks to the Night Vision System (NVS) certification of the helicopter's avionics suite. Wearing NVS googles, the CU-47's crew work in tandem with a fire attack “Intel” helicopter's pilots. The Intel crew uses a thermal camera to evaluate the behaviour of a fire, and if a drop is required, they take a page from military ground-attack operations. Using a laser, the Intel crew designates the target for the tanker. “With a geo-referenced lock, the Intel helicopter can orbit, and the laser beam will stay on the same spot. It illuminates an area on the ground about the size of a car,” said Coulson. The first CU-47 will soon be joined by a second RADS-L equipped helicopter, two CU-47's with upgraded avionics that will fly “bucket” missions, and a fifth, tank-equipped CU-47 that will deploy as a spare. “All of our FAA testing [on RADS-L] has finished, we're just waiting for the final Supplemental Type Certificate signature,” said Coulson. “We're doing some minor cleanup to the helicopter to make sure that it's ready to go fight fires this summer.” Howard Slutsken's lifelong passion for aviation began when he was a kid, watching TCA Super Connies, Viscounts, and early jets at Montreal's Dorval Airport. He's a pilot who loves to fly gliders and pretty much anything else with wings. Howard is based in Vancouver, B.C. https://www.skiesmag.com/features/coulsons-cu-47-fire-fight

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  5 octobre 2020 | International, Aérospatial

  La France pourrait commander des Rafale en urgence

  JÉRÉMY JOLY Le ministère des Armées pourrait passer une commande "à court terme" et de façon "simultanée" à celle de la Grèce. L'heure tourne pour l'armée de l'air française. Selon les informations de La Tribune, l'Hôtel de Brienne pourrait passer très rapidement une commande pour des avions Rafale à l'avionneur Dassault. Une commande en urgence liée aux besoins opérationnels directs des militaires français. En effet, les calculs actuels font apparaître un déficit de 18 avions d'ici à l'horizon 2022. Une situation qui pourrait mener à une accélération de la cadence de production chez Dassault Aviation. Mi-août, on a appris que la Grèce faisait l'acquisition de 18 avions de combat français Rafale. Six d'entre eux seront neufs, les autres seront des modèles d'occasion. Or, ceux-ci seront pris directement dans la flotte de l'armée de l'air et sur les chaînes de production. Autant d'avions qui manqueront donc aux forces opérationnelles. La Grèce souhaite en effet les premiers appareils dès la mi-2021 et les derniers débuts 2022. Or, il faut 36 mois pour fabriquer un Rafale. Vers une hausse des cadences de production ? Selon La Tribune, les aviateurs français feraient donc face à un déficit de 18 appareils à la fin de l'année 2022. Dans le même temps, 55 Mirage 2000D sont en rénovation. Les derniers Rafale ont été livrés en 2018 à la France. Un sentiment d'urgence qui pourrait donc pousser la France à passer commande de façon simultanée avec la Grèce. "Dassault Aviation devra augmenter ses cadences de production", insiste une source au sein de l'armée de l'air. Une situation à même de s'aggraver si la Croatie décide d'investir dans des Rafale d'occasion. >> A lire aussi - Florence Parly cherche à rassurer sur les prélèvements de Rafale pour la Grèce Le carnet de commandes de Dassault Aviation affiche déjà 96 commandes jusqu'en 2022, entre l'Inde et le Qatar. En France, l'objectif à l'horizon 2030 est de compter sur une flotte de 225 Rafale (185 pour l'armée de l'air et 40 pour la marine). Dans le même temps, comme le souligne l'Usine Nouvelle, Dassault Aviation espère inciter la Finlande ou encore la Suisse à passer aussi des commandes. Un impératif alors que selon les projections actuelles les chaînes de production ne seront pas remplies après 2024. https://www.capital.fr/entreprises-marches/la-france-pourrait-commander-des-rafale-en-urgence-1382074