The show goes on.

Some 1300 exhibitors from 38 countries sustained the five halls at around their previous (2002) level, bet the small number of aircraft in the static park and the limited duration of the trade days' flying displays both suggested that Farnborough International will not survive in its present form. The 2006 show will take place at the same location, but its scale and duration are expected to be reduced.

Deeper into the future. the 2008 event could well see a move to some major exhibition hall closer to London's centre as indeed aerospace exhibitions are now arguably being used by people to discuss sales and new equipment and concepts, not for looking at the same old aircraft. Where have the good old days gone when the event was called the Farnborough Air Display?

The Big Ones

Starting this review at the upper end of the size scale, Boeing has recently suffered its share of programme cancellations and scandals, but used the venue to celebrate its selection as prime contractor for development of the US Navy MMA (Multi-mission Maritime Aircraft) to supersede the Lockheed Martin P-3C. Following a reassessment of fatigue life, the Navy's P-3C fleet has already been reduced from 225 to around 190 and will have sunk to 148 when the first 13 B737-800ERX-based MMAs become operational in 2013. The last of the planned 108 will be delivered in 2019. The US Navy has invited ten other countries to participate in the MMA programme, but the Joint Strike Fighter experience has left a bitter taste in many mouths.

It may be noted that the P-3 series, which is expected to remain in US Navy service for yet another 15 to 20 years (possibly retrofitted with MMA sensors), was represented at Farnborough by a Spanish Air Force P-3B, which had been upgraded with the Eads Fits (Fully-Integrated Tactical System).

There is an increasing global need for flight refuelling tankers, one of the potential buyers being the United Kingdom, which has in principle selected the A330-200 conversion proposed by the Eads-led Air Tanker team. However, there have been well-publicised difficulties in achieving the private-finance initiative (PFI) arrangement demanded by the British Ministry of Defence. Such reports presumably encouraged the Global Airtanker Service (Gas), teaming Omega Air with Evergreen Aviation, to show a DC-10-40 with a Boeing 'flying boom' under the rear fuselage and two Flight Refuelling hose-and-drogue pods under the wings. Gas is offering to provide up to ten 'KDC-10s' (half the planned fleet) by the start of 2006.

Combat Aircraft

The Lockheed Martin F/A-22 Raptor programme is now well advanced, with 19 due to be built this year, and a decision on high-rate production (around three per month) expected next year. When one will cross the Atlantic remains to be seen. In the absence of the real thing, the manufacturer arranged a satellite-linked press interview with pilots of the Air Warfare Center at Edwards AFB. In a typical engagement over an air combat range (we were told), two Raptors are pitted against eight F-16s of the Adversary Squadron, all of the latter being eliminated within four or five minutes (one may question the value of opposing designs that are 30 years and two categories apart--Ed). General 'Steve' Wood, commander of the AWC. stated that the US Air Force expects a 100:0 exchange ratio in beyond visual range combat.

One of the highlights of the short flying display was the Boeing F/A-18F Super Hornet, a relatively large and well-powered strike fighter with outstanding low-speed controllability. The diminutive Saab/BAE Systems Gripen gave its customary excellent demonstration, but the Eurofighter Typhoon. which is finally capable of a dramatic display, proved comparatively docile in the hands of a serving RAF pilot. Russian fighters were notably absent, on this occasion due not to fear of the bailiffs, but to that country's red tape.

Mid-life updates (MLU) for the Panavia Tornado IDS strike aircraft were exemplified by an Italian Air Force aircraft upgraded by Alenia Aeronautica. One of 18 now under contract for delivery by mid-2005, it represented the first MLU phase, covering avionics and clearance for the Boeing GBU-31 Jdam, Raytheon Enhanced Paveway III with Mk 84 and BLU-109 warheads and the MBDA Storm Shadow cruise missile.

Trainers

In the basic training category, the Raytheon/Beech T-6B development of the US Air Force and Navy T-6A Texan II was making its debut prior to a world tour. Combining the armament provisions of some Greek T-6As and Flight Visions avionics, including an FV-4000 mission computer, Sparrow-Hawk head-up display and three multi-function displays. The T-6B has a flyaway unit price of $ 6.2 million. compared to $ 5.0 million for a baseline T-6A. The manufacturer claims that the T-6B can usefully extend the basic flying training phase from 90 to nearly 180 hours. A full training package is offered, including FlightSafety International simulators.

The T-6 will have to compete with the all-new Pilatus PC-21, which is due to be fully certified by late 2006 and has a unit price of $ eight million. When Pilatus last went head-to-head with Beech, the PC-7 wiped the floor with the T-34C, so this should be an interesting contest.

Another basic trainer contender will be the Aermacchi M-311, an S.211 with a 30 per cent more powerful P&WC turbofan, new avionics and cockpit, and some structural modifications. Responding to Armada's suggestion that there is currently no evidence of a market for a turbofan basic trainer, Aermacchi's Carlo Logli (SVP Commercial) opined that Siai-Marchetti had simply been incapable of marketing the concept. Aermacchi assesses the basic trainer market as worth around $ ten billion over the next 20 years, and believes that the M-311 can compete well with turboprops.

Aermacchi's M-346 twin-turbofan derivative of the Yak-130 had made its first flight only on July 15, too late to appear at Farnborough. This Finmeccanica-owned company is hoping to establish an industry team from within the Eurotraining nations within the next six months to complete development of the M-346 and support it politically. The M-346 is characterised as the only candidate able to meet the Eurotraining requirement in terms of performance, safety (having twin engines) and the 2007 start-delivery timescale, to effectively provide pilot training from 2010.

Britain could not wait for the Eurotraining programme, but BAE Systems nevertheless remains confident that the long-running success of the Hawk will continue, with around 300 units to be sold over the next 15 years (out of an estimated global market for 1300 new advanced trainers and light combat aircraft). The Hawk Mk 128, which is due to enter RAF service in April 2008, is serving as the basis for all new proposals, combining the Rolls-Royce/Turbomeca Adour 951 of the South African Hawk Mk 120 with some new equipment. The list includes a refuelling probe, a centreline tank, an autopilot, a moving map display and provisions to simulate the use of a radar and defensive aids.

An increasingly serious rival to the subsonic Hawk is the Mach 1.5 Korea Aerospace Industries T-50, which enjoys Lockheed Martin support in both development and international marketing. The first T-50 for the Royal Korean Air Force will be delivered in August 2006, the planned total of 94 includes some dual-role aircraft. The makers predict international sales of around 600 units, including 200 as F-5 replacements. A US Air Force decision to reassess the fatigue life of the T-38 would clearly be a massive bonus. Interestingly, the Air Force training syllabus now includes no supersonic sorties with the T-38, but Lockheed Martin feels that transonic capability is essential if the aircraft is to demonstrate energy management. During the show Yakovlev had confirmed rumours that its staff have visited China to discuss possible co-operation on a new supersonic trainer, presumably the Hongdu L-15.

Rotary-Wing

Perhaps because it lacks a major Italian aerospace show, the Finmeccanica-owned AgustaWestland had a major presence at Farnborough, with exhibits that included the Super Lynx 300 in Royal Air Force of Oman and Royal Malaysian Navy forms, and a civil version of the Bell/Agusta Aerospace AB139.

Although termination of the Comanche programme appeared initially as yet another blow to Boeing, it is hoped to have freed up funds for other US Army programmes, including the company's AH-64D Apache and CH-47 Chinook series. The Army now plans to acquire, beginning in FY2007, a force of 501 AH-64D Block IIIs with T700-GE-701D engines, composite main rotor blades, and many other improvements, including drone connectivity. The Army also plans to remanufacture 400 Chinooks to CH-47F standard, and acquire, or new-build, around 52 CH-47Fs and 61 Special Operations MH-47Gs. The Osprey programme is meanwhile accelerating, with operational evaluation of the MV-22 to start next January, and 152 Ospreys to be acquired by FY2011, although the mix of US Navy/Marine Corps MV-22s and Special Operations Command CV-22s is yet to be determined.

Drones

Farnborough International 2004 may be remembered as the show at which drones finally came centre-stage, as contractors scrambled to sign collaborative agreements that would give them a foothold in a market that has been estimated as worth $ five billion over the next ten years.

The only drone sales news was that Thales Defence had been selected by the Ministry of Defence to provide the 800 million [pounds sterling] Watchkeeper system (see title picture), with initial capability in 2006. It will use the Elbit/Silver Arrow Hermes 180 and 450, to be licence-built in the United Kingdom under the designations WK180 and WK450.

Northrop Grumman announced an agreement with Aurora Flight Sciences (a member of the Global Hawk team) and Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI) covering drones in the 320 to 5500 kg category with endurances up to 30 hours. Aurora is to build IAI-designed drones while Northrop Grumman will act as systems integrator. One initial target is the US Army Extended-Range Multipurpose UAV programme. for which the team proposes the Strike Heron.

In the mini drone category, Elbit showed the 4.5 kg hand-launched Skylark IV, and IAI talked about both its Bird Eye mini-series and the Mosquito micro drone. Raytheon discussed its wide range of drone activities and exhibited the SitentEyes micro glider sensor platform, which is designed to be ejected from an ALE-50 countermeasures-dispenser carried by a General Atomics Predator-B.

In the rotary-wing field, Bell Helicopter Textron showed a mock-up of the tilt-rotor Eagle Eye, while Northrop Grumman presented both the three-blade RQ-8A and a mockup of the extensively redesigned four-blade RQ-8B Fire Scout.

Saab is working with Dassault on trans-European drone projects such as the Neuron Ucav (in which Greece is already a partner and Italy plans to join) and EuroMale, but some national programmes continue, such as the stealthy Filur, which is due to fly in 2005.

Armament

Debuts were made by various armaments, including the Raytheon TacTom (Block IV), with a stealthy nose-cap and flush Naca-type intake. Russia's Vympel exhibits included the passive radar-homing R-27P1 air-to-air missile, and the extended-range Kh-59MK anti-ship missile, which is now capable of 285 km.

The growing demand for lightweight precision munitions for drones, combined with the need to minimise collateral damage, has encouraged Textron Systems to develop the Selectively-Targeted Skeet (STS) from the warhead used in the BLU-108. An interesting feature is the use of a Samara Wing, providing a spinning descent like that of a maple leaf. However, the spin needs to be initiated by a motor on the dispenser or by a rocket motor in the Skeet. The STS benefits from the Skeet P3I programme, which adds a laser profilometer to the infrared sensor and a 19-fragment outer ring to the copper EFP warhead. To avoid the problem of unexploded ordnance, it will self-destruct at a height of 15 metres, or eight seconds after landing.

Raytheon presented its Block II Jsow (Joint Stand-Off Weapon), which combines reduced cost with an improved anti-jam GPS receiver. By early 2006 the company will have completed development of a new warload option for the Jsow-A, with a 225-kg BLU-111 penetrator in place of the present cluster munition. The result is referred to as the AGM-154A.

On the Air

In communications terms a number of companies demonstrated Cospas SarsatT 406 MHz personnel location beacon (PLB) solutions each eyeing the British Personal Emergency Locator System (Pels) requirement, due to be delivered in 2005.

One contender for the Pels programme is HR Smith, which displayed the Series 500-27 PLB. In service with the Air Forces of Norway and Singapore since the end of 2003, the 500-27 PLB has also been selected for installation in SDD phase Joint Strike Fighter aircraft ejector seats by Martin Baker, a decision endorsed by prime contractor Lockheed Martin.

Tadiran Spectralink's AN/PRC-149 and AN/URT-140 PLBs were also on display. These form the basis for the US Navy's version of Pels, the Personal Locator Beacon Voice Transceiver programmes. Tadiran Spectralink will complete delivery of all 22,000 sets by March 2005. To meet potential US Air Force requirements for a search and rescue beacon the company is developing a new version of the AN/URT-140 with an integral GPS and two-way voice. The company announced at Farnborough that it was to team with an undisclosed British company to bid for the Pels.

A wholly new competitor on the search and rescue beacon scene was Fernau, best known for its navigation and direction-finding equipment. It launched its Fernau 2100, a 406 MHz Personal Locator Beacon offering voice and integral GPS with a view to supplying the product to the Pels programme.

The" biggest news in the combat search and rescue is that of an agreement between Signature Industries and Cubic for the latter to support the detection of the former's encrypted G2R beacon waveform in Cubics's AN/ARS-6 V12 airborne personnel locator system. The ARS-6 is used throughout Nato to detect downed pilots in a combat environment using the General Dynamics AN/PRC-112 family of radios. The move means that the G2R can now be used as a much cheaper alternative to the General Dynamics AN/PRC-112 family in a Nato combat search and rescue environment.

In terms of software radios British manufacturers Plextek displayed the Diabolo high performance Digital Signal Processing board. Co-developed with an undisclosed partner, the board was built to RAF specifications for use on a fast jet type in response to an Urgent Operational Requirement for Operation Telic in Iraq. Also on show were the company's operationally tested 600G Telemetry Module cards, which are designed to change the modulation scheme link for tactical data links between 44 and 800 Kbps.

Innovative Concepts released details of version 2.8 of the demonstration variant of new Improved Data Modem (IDM) software to work with the US Army's Precision Mission Planning System and ICI's PCIDM V2 modem, which operates on attack helicopters. The solution will allow in-flight mission updates to support updates 'on the fly' during training missions in Phase 1 of the programme. A follow-on phase is planned to develop this into a combat capability expected later this year.

Speaking at a Raytheon Briefing, Astor IPT leader Bill Chrispin outlined the datalink upgrade path for the system. He stated that Britain would follow America in the adoption of the Multi Platform--Common Data Link, when that becomes available, to ensure interoperability. Currently the Astor uses Cubic's Narrowband Data Link Subsystem. Cubic could also point to datalink success with its Tactical Common Data Link being selected for the winning Thales-led Watchkeeper programme.

Lockheed Martin had announced its selection for the US Orcle laser communications programme. At the show Carl Zeiss Optronics displayed its LCTSX optical communication systems designed for the TerraSARX programme, part of the team that includes Tesat Spacecom and DLR. The Systems will be capable of 5.5 to 10 Gbps. An earlier Zeiss system used on the Esa Silex satellite has a proven 50 Mbps capability.

Canada's CDL Systems brought to the show news of its success with its Vehicle Control System (VCS) 4586, the first available Nato Stanag 4586 compliant system working with the US Navy's PMA263 programme office. The system has been tested in simulation with the Shadow 200 and in real life tests uses TCP/IP with the Grasshopper micro UAV.

Thales showed the shelter-based mobile Tactical Air Control Centre (TACC), deployed to Iraq in May last year shortly after its delivery in February. The TACC is designed to undertake air battle management functions as well as airspace controls via a Northrop Grumman sourced C2 software. At the show, AMS showed the AR327 Commander radar use to support the TACC.

Joint Strike Fighter Fan

Lockheed Martin showed the powerplant system for the F-35B, complete with shaft-driven Rolls-Royce LiftFan and lateral reaction controls--or roll-posts. The LiftFan and three-bearing swivel module (3BSM) from the rear fuselage also appeared on the Rolls-Royce stand. For anyone brought up to believe that every ounce (and every cubic inch) counts in designing a fighter, the idea of flying around with a large metal barrel in the front fuselage is hard to swallow. (Armada/RB)

Unmanned Combat Aircraft

In the Ucav (unmanned combat air vehicle) sector, Boeing and Northrop Grumman respectively exhibited mockups of the X-45C and X-47B, both of which are due to fly in 2006/2007 under the Darpa-led J-ucas programme. Powered by a Pratt & Whitney F100-PW-220U, the X-47B is presumably heavier than the 16,550 kg X-45C, equipped with a General Electric F404-GE-102D. The weight given for the X-45C implies an incredible packaging density (it was displayed with a 900 kg Jdam in the left weapons bay). The wings of these Mach 0.8 aircraft are remarkably thick, and that of the X-45C demonstrates noteworthy washout (reduction of incidence toward the tip). The X-47B mock-up appeared more real, perhaps because its landing gear was taken from a (much heavier) Northrop Grumman A-6, and its arrester hook was based on a drive shaft from a pickup truck. The earlier US Air Force concept of dissembling such aircraft for air transport has now been abandoned: they will be ferried to the operational theatre, although automated aerial refuelling is not part of the J-ucas programme. (Armada/RB)