15 février 2021 | International, Aérospatial
PAR LAURENT LAGNEAU · 13 FÉVRIER 2021
Sur les 247 chasseurs-bombardiers PANAVIA Tornado qu'elle a reçus à la fin des années 1970, la Luftwaffe [force aérienne allemande] n'en aligne plus que 85. Ces appareils lui permettent de participer aux plans nucléaires de l'Otan [avec la capacité d'emporter la bombe tactique B61] ainsi que de mener des missions de frappes, de reconnaissance et de guerre électronique.
Étant donné leur 'ge, les Tornado allemands arriveront au bout de leur potentiel en 2025. D'où le projet de Berlin de se procurer 30 F/A-18 Super Hornet et 15 E/A-18 Growler auprès de Boeing, afin que la Luftwaffe puisse continuer à mener ses missions nucléaires et de guerre électronique visant à supprimer les défenses aériennes ennemies [SEAD] pour le compte de l'Otan.
Seulement, annoncé en 2020, ce choix mettra du temps à se concrétiser. En effet, la chambre basse du Parlement allemand [Bundestag] aura son mot à dire... mais pas avant 2022. Ce qui fait cet achat de F/A-18 et de E/A-18G dépendra des résultats des prochaines élections fédérales de septembre prochain et du gouvernement qui en sera issu. En un mot, il n'est pas encore acquis. Et quand bien même il le sera, il faudra du temps pour négocier le contrat, livrer les appareils et former les pilotes ainsi que les techniciens de la Luftwaffe.
D'où la décision de cette dernière de redonner du potentiel à ses Tornado pour les maintenir en service jusqu'en 2030 au moins. Ce qui est loin d'être simple étant donné que les pièces détachées sont désormais rares, voire introuvables pour certaines étant donné qu'elles ne sont plus fabriquées.
Quoi qu'il en soit, en partenariat avec Airbus Defence & Space [ADS], un premier Tornado du Luftwaffengeschwader 33 a vu son potentiel prolongé de 2.000 heures de vol supplémentaires après une lourde opération de maintenance effectué dans les installations d'Airbus à Manching.
Pour cela, il a donc fallu démonter entièrement l'appareil et vérifier chacun de ses composants. Une t'che dont s'est acquittée la société d'ingénierie et d'analyse Industrieanlagen-Betriebsgesellschaft [IABG] à Ottorbrunn. Au total, il a donc fallu de nouveau fabriquer 400 pièces structurelles qui n'étaient plus disponible sur le marché.
« Afin de pouvoir assembler à nouveau les parties centrale et avant [du Tornado], tous les trous des anciennes pièces ont dû être reproduits sur les nouvelles avec une précision de 0,001 millimètre », explique la Bundeswehr. « Nous travaillons ici comme des horlogers », a commenté un sous-officier mécanicien de la Luftwaffe.
19 novembre 2021 | International, Aérospatial
To fulfil this agreement, GAL signed another contract with a separate Edge subsidiary, AMMROC, to perform the maintenance at the latter's Al Ain facility, which was first unveiled at the 2019 Dubai Airshow.
22 mai 2020 | International, Sécurité
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
23 juin 2020 | International, Terrestre
By: Seth J. Frantzman JERUSALEM — Rafael Advanced Defense Systems has joined Poland's Ottokar-Brzoza tank-destroyer program, offering its line of anti-tank guided missiles for the country's ground forces. Rafael would co-produce the weapons with Polish conglomerate Polish Armaments Group. The Israeli company unveiled a new multi-missile launcher laid out in a configuration of eight Spike non-line-of-sight missiles, which Poland could incorporate onto its BWP-1, a 1960s Soviet-era tracked armored vehicle, or its KTO Rosomak, a Polish variant of the Patria eight-wheel drive armored vehicle. Poland has hundreds of these vehicles in different variants, and wants to replace some aging ones for its anti-tank regiments. Poland launched the competition to be prepared to confront a major threat, such as a mass amount of armored vehicles. The tender is potentially worth hundreds of millions of dollars if the country outfits a large number of its vehicles with launchers. Rafael's NLOS launcher has a standoff range of 32 kilometers and is part of the company's Spike family of weapons, which is on more than 45 different platforms globally, according to the company. Mounted on a fixed rail, the launcher's operator inside a vehicle uses a target consul and coordinates from a target bank or forward observer, such as a UAV. The missiles have a unique data link and do not need GPS to fly to their target. The passive surprise element of the missile (it does not use laser designators) makes it less likely the enemy will see the volley coming. Other missiles, such as the MBDA Brimstone and Lockheed Martin's Hellfire, are also reportedly under consideration, and a variety of vehicle concepts with these weapons are available. These may include a launch station by Wojskowe Zakłady Motoryzacyjne; a chassis by OBRUM; a K9P chassis by Huta Stalowa Wola; the Borsuk tracked future armored vehicle; AMZ-Kutno's Bobr-3 vehicle; or Rheinmetall Defence's armored multipurpose vehicles. Other Spike variants are already used by Poland, including the Spike LR and LR2. A 2015 order from Poland for 1,000 Spike missiles was estimated to be worth $150 million, and an earlier one in 2002 that was reportedly for thousands of missiles was worth about $250 million. The missile type is already produced in Poland by Mesko, which Rafael says provides an existing infrastructure “for the future Polish production of the SPIKE NLOS missile as well as the launchers.” “As part of the its general vision and particularly now at this time of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has had a dramatic effect on all industries and economies, Rafael is continuously working to leverage industrial cooperation by contributing and operating with local industries,” the company said. Poland wants to make a qualitative leap in tank-destroyer units, according to local reports, to put a stop to a potential invasion. This would likely require the country to buy the latest generation of armored vehicles, including those with active defense capabilities. https://www.defensenews.com/land/2020/06/22/rafael-offers-new-multi-missile-launcher-for-polands-tank-destroyer-program/