Paris air show: business is business. (Shows & Exhibitions).

While there was little new to write home about in terms of defence aircraft taking part in the daily flight displays, this year's Paris Air Show confirmed the need for new equipment already perceived at earlier defence shows and exhibitions.

Indeed, it had been quite some time since reporters received such an enormous amount of invitations to press conferences and events during the few months that prelude the Paris Air Show. As we shall see, there are a number of projects underway; but most had to be found on the ground, at the stands and in the chalets.

Aircraft

Although the Antonov An-70 had recommenced flying in early June following its January accident, and the Aviant production facility has finally received a contract for five aircraft for the Ukraine Air Force, this four-propfan transport was not present at Le Bourget. Assuming that its development is completed successfully, Russia is expected to order an initial five, but it was noteworthy that Tupolev was showing at Le Bourget a model of the rival twin-jet Tu-330. Company representatives said that a mock-up already exists, and that (presumably if the An-70 self-destructs) development will be quick and inexpensive, since the wings and engines (which include R-R and P&W options) come straight from the Tu-204. Alternatively, the Tu-330 could be developed in cooperation with China or India.

Lower down the scale, new Eads exhibits included the Casa C-295MPA Persuader maritime patrol aircraft, which has a fully integrated tactical system (Fits) based on that for the Spanish P-3 upgrade, and was in March selected for the United Arab Emirates' Shaheen 1 MPA requirement. The UAE plans to buy four.

Alenia and Lockheed brought their C-27J Spartan to celebrate the aircraft's recently awarded civilian type certification, which Alenia officials said was "quite a revolution" and "becoming almost a requirement for [military] airlifters" in the current joint operations carried out today. Certification was awarded by Italy's civilian Enac authorities and comply with the current Jar 21 standards.

Turning to trainers, Pilatus is reported to have flown the largely-new PC-21 (powered by a P&WC PT6A-68) in May, but the company declines to release information until later in the year.

Upgraded helicopters were a feature of the show. They included the IAI `Peak 17' (an upgraded Mi-17), a Rostvertol Mi-35M, a Sagem Mi-24 Uzbek, and the Elbit/IAR Puma with a Socat avionics/armament system. Elbit also marketed its `Andor' upgrade for the Mi-8/17 series. The largest model on the Hindustan Aeronautics stand was of an attack helicopter based on the engines and rotor system of the company's ALH. Whether the world currently needs another attack helicopter may be open to question.

The Eurocopter Tiger, which showed its high agility over Le Bourget every day, has entered production stage, the very unit first being a UHT version slated for delivery in 2002 (the first Tiger squadron is scheduled to be operational by 2007). Eurocopter has a firm order for 160 Tigers from Germany and France (80 units each). All helicopters are due to be delivered to those nations by 2010, but Spain and Australia are new potential markets for the attack helicopter.

Missiles

One of the most important changes of names at this Paris Air Show affected French industry, particularly with Aerospatiale Matra Missiles disappearing to become MBDA, a new logogram which stands for Matra BAe Dynamics Alenia (the latter name has not disappeared entirely from the aerospace scene since only the missiles activity of Alenia -- Alenia Marconi Systems -- was merged into the new corporation). Although it already had a chalet and display bearing the new name, the company was not yet entirely set up and still needs paperwork to be pushed around before formal finalisation by the end of the year. However, calling itself "MBDA in formation", it already positioned itself as the leading missile house in Europe and second worldwide behind Raytheon. At a press conference, MBDA Chief Executive Officer Fabrice Bregier spoke of future integration: "we are also engaged in discussions to strengthen our partnership with Germany's missile industry [...] We hope to announce plans next year for either the full integration of LFK or, possibly to develop a strategic partnership with Diehl".

The day preceding this conference, the defence ministers of Britain, France and Sweden had signed an intergovernmental memorandum of understanding through which they formally committed themselves to the full-scale development of the Meteor missile, for which MBDA has leadership responsibilities.

Armament developments evidenced more novelties than in the case of aircraft. It was the first `Paris outing' for the Textron Systems CBU-97/B Sensor-Fuzed Weapon in combination with the Leigh Aerosystems LongShot swing-wing range-extension kit seen earlier at Idex. Raytheon promoted its Low Cost Precision Kill (LCPK) laser-homing kit for the 70 mm rocket (e.g. Hydra 70), and spoke of a market for 300 000 units. In recent conflicts the vast majority of expensive anti-tank missiles fired against targets did not require their full armour-piercing performance, hence a cheap-but-accurate air-ground weapon is desired. Production of the LCKP is expected to start in 2003.

Drones

Developments in the field of reconnaissance UAVs are discussed in Armada's special "Complete Guide" supplied with this current issue. A small note should nevertheless be made here concerning the disappearance of yet another name, Cac Systemes, which is now part of Eads. Sagem, on the other hand, displayed two new drones which now enables Sperwer to become a drone family name (more on these in the Complete Guide). Other new UAVs on show included a one-third scale model of the Denel/Kentron Seraph stealth technology demonstrator. New targets were exemplified by the twin piston-engined Eads Fox AT3, and the new Meggitt Voodoo, which provides a low-cost propeller-driven system capable of 600 km/hr.

RELATED ARTICLE: A few days before the opening of the show a land-launched Aster 30 performed a particularly harsh task in downing one of two C-20 targets.

A few days before the opening of the show a land-launched Aster 30 performed a particularly harsh task in downing one of two C-20 targets flying in close formation and carrying what was termed `special new-technology, jammers'. As the French Ministry of defence puts it, the missile with the two targets approaching at 15 km, headed to the designated target and destroyed it, without being disturbed by the jamming sources". This picture from MBDA shows the missile being launched on 31 May. Talking of Samp T Block 1, which will be able to cope with Scud-type missiles with a range of 500 km and slated for service in 2005, Mario di Donato, MBDA Chief Operating Officer, said that this would be the "biggest programme handled by Occar". Speaking of procurements in the region of 1700 missiles he added, "it's almost US quantities". A Block 2 able to counter ballistic missiles with a range of up to 2000 km is under study.

RELATED ARTICLE: Extended range now on tap.

The Sukhoi stand offered (equipment non-specific) upgrades for the Su-25, but an upgraded Su-25MK `Scorpion' was jointly exhibited by Elbit Systems and Tam (its original manufacturer), with a mix of Russian and Western weapons. Over 800 Su-25s are in service, and this Israeli-Georgian team hopes to modernise a substantial number of them. In the upgrade context, it was noteworthy that both the Dassault Rafale and Lockheed Martin F-16 were shown statically with conformal fuel tanks over the wing roots. Although this location is undesirable in terms of wing bending moments, such a modification may suit air forces with no in-flight refuelling capability but with high range/endurance demands. (Armada/RB)

RELATED ARTICLE: Jstars reconfiguration & upgrade.

The Northrop Grumman Jstars programme is probably undergoing the most significant mutation since its inception. The type, and to be precise aircraft No. 11, is being fully equipped with commercial computers and signal processors. Smaller electronics have enabled all processors to be relocated into the cabin of the B.707, which deleted some 2000 connectors. This particular aircraft should be delivered by the time these lines are printed. Northrop Grumman is working on other types of upgrades, and one includes communications with satcom facilities, which necessitates a dome-mounted spine dome as seen on this drawing of the proposed Nato Airborne Ground Surveillance A321. In a phase called 2A, the Jstars will also be able to download target data directly to Apache helicopters. Northrop Grumman went as far as telling Armada that ultimately the aircraft would be able to directly update `tailkit bombs'. It is difficult to see what could slow the evolution of this aircraft except money. Indeed, a phase 2B (proposals for which should be with Darpa by now) would see yet another capability that would enable Jdams to be dropped on moving targets. (Northrop Grumman)

RELATED ARTICLE: As anticipated in Armada 3/2001, a nine-nation memorandum of understanding on the airbus military A400M was signed at the air show.

As anticipated in Armada 3/2001, a nine-nation memorandum of understanding on the Airbus Military A400M was signed at the air show. However, the initial production total has been reduced from the expected 229 to 212, as the result of Portugal requesting three rather than four aircraft, and of Turkey reducing its requirement from 26 to ten units. The German need for 73 aircraft was sustained by a joint-user agreement with the Netherlands. It is still hoped that the actual launch contract will be signed before the end of this year. Failing this, the A400M programme could unravel, as it will be unable to meet the delivery time-frames necessary for some countries.

RELATED ARTICLE: Hisar 2K in the global hawk.

As with "NorthGrum", Raytheon Electronics Systems was definitely worth a visit to keep abreast of developments in the field of synthetic aperture radars. Of course neither of the two companies revealed all the intimate details of their latest developments, but the fusion of the information they both convey provides a pretty high-definition view of the state of the art. Raytheon has scored quite neatly in recent months, having sold ten Hisar systems in the Asia Pacific and Middle East areas as well as to Germany where, installed in a Grob Egret, it will be used to monitor traffic.

The latest development of the Hisar -- or at least the latest the firm will talk about -- is the Hisar 2K, which is in fact the sensor used in the Global Hawk. Space constraints prevent us from expanding on the matter here, but just to illustrate the improvement, suffice to say that `spot mode' resolution increases from 1.8 metres to 0.33. Covered area is reduced to 2 X 2 km instead of 4.8 X 4.8 km whilst range to achieve this leaps from 110 km to 200. In other words, where rail or road bridges could be previously detected, the 2K will reveal the presence of a missile on the launcher of an SA-2 launch revetment.

This 33 cm resolution radar `picture' taken from a range of 80 km shows that simple concealment of vehicles under foliage (circled in yellow) has become a rather futile exercise; for comparison, vehicles in the white squares are out in the open. Interestingly, and because the possibilities offered by infrared and Sar imagery seem to be endless, Raytheon is setting up a specialised education/information institute.

RELATED ARTICLE: Back to basics.

Basic jet trainers have virtually disappeared, following the success of high-powered turboprops such as the Pilatus PC-9 and Embraer Tucano series. Nevertheless, as seen here, Hindustan Aeronautics showed a model of its HJT-36 intermediate jet trainer, which will be powered by a single Snecma Larzac engine. Construction has started, and the prototype is due to fly next year. However, as illustrated by the limited sales of the Aermacchi S.211, the role of such aircraft has largely been taken over by less expensive, high-powered turboprops. Lockheed Martin Aircraft Argentina, for its part, is to start production of the AT-63, effectively an IA-63 Pampa with a Honeywell TFE731-2C turbofan and Elbit Systems avionics. (Armada/RB)

RELATED ARTICLE: Design work is continuing at MBDA on the Trigan.

Design work is continuing at MBDA on the Trigan (see full description in Armanda 6/2000). The two pictures show that the idea is to have totally interchangeable missile cradles that simply click into position on the launch unit. The project of using the Trigat missile on the Milan launcher emerged in summer 2000 shortly after the Trigat programme was terminated. MBDA has agreed to increase its own funding and was, during the show, working out an offer for a first batch for the French Army. The mere fact that the French Government asked for a new bid is regarded as an encouraging factor. If a positive decision emerges by the time these lines are printed, manufacture of kits could begin before the end of 2001. Modifications can be carried out in Army workshops. No doubt that if this materialises, and given the number of Milan systems exported around the world, the potential of the kit is more than substantial. In an ironical twist of events, MBDA is now also involved in the European marketing of the Rafael Gill/Spike missile, which was partly responsible for the Trigat's demise. (MBDA)