Brazil Presses KC-390 Into Operational Service Due To COVID-19 | TB2 UAVs Entered Service With Qatar | India’s Rafale Delivery Likely To Be In July

Americas

Northrop Grumman won a $12.7 million delivery order for selector antenna in support of the P-8 aircraft program. The P-8A is a militarized version of the Boeing 737 commercial aircraft. The P-8A has an active multi-static and passive acoustic sensor system, inverse synthetic aperture radar, new electronic support measures system, new electro-optical/infrared sensor and a digital magnetic anomaly detector. Its nine-person crew includes a dual-pilot cockpit and five mission crew. The P-8A has workstations with universal multi-function displays, and ready accommodation for additional workstations and workload sharing. Work will take place in Maryland. Estimated completion date is February 13, 2025.

The Brazilian Air Force was forced to take two of its KC-390 transports away from instructional flights in order to airlift medical supplies to areas affected by COVID-19. The Brazilian Air Force received its first Embraer KC-390 transport on September 4. The twin-turbofan-powered KC-390 can be refueled in flight and can be used for in-flight or on-ground refueling of other aircraft. The military aircraft has a cargo bay equipped with an aft ramp similar to Hercules, and is capable of transporting a wide variety of cargo, including armored vehicles.

Middle East & Africa

Bayraktar TB2 UAVS participated in a Qatari military exercise for the first time. The Qatari Ministry of Defense released footage showing Exercise ‘Al-Adheed 2020’ that included brief clips of a Bayraktar TB2 taxiing and taking off. The UAV was not carrying weapons, but the video implied that it carried out precision strikes during live firing at the Qurayn Abu al-Bawl training area in the south of the country. Qatar’s order for six Bayraktar TB2s, three ground control stations, and a training simulator was announced during the DIMDEX show held in Doha in March 2018.

Europe

A Ukrainian MiG-29 had an accident while landing at Melitopol air base on April 10. State Bureau of Investigation said the pilot had violated flight rules during the landing and will be investigated under Article 416 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. The pretrial investigation is under way to probe into the violation of the flight rules, which entails grave consequences. The punishment is imprisonment for a period of five to 15 years. The aircraft made an emergency belly-landing on the runway, one of its wing was damaged. The pilot survived.

RAMSYS GmbH won a €12.1 million and $66.2 million contract modification to exercise options for the Block 1A Rolling Airframe Missile (RAM) Guided Missile Round Packs (GRMPs) recertification. The RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missile is a small, lightweight, infrared homing surface-to-air missile. The RIM-116 RAM is designed as a high-firepower, low-cost, self-defense system against anti-ship cruise missiles and other asymmetric threats. For all versions of the missile, there is no shipboard support required after missile launch. The original Block 0 design was based upon the infra-red seeker of the Stinger missile, and the warhead, rocket motor and fuse from the Sidewinder missile. The Block 0 configuration uses Radio Frequency for midcourse guidance and transitions to Infrared guidance for terminal engagement. The Block 1A incorporates the added capability of autonomous IR-all-the-way guidance, thus countering advanced anti-ship cruise missiles that do not employ onboard radar seekers. Work will take place in Ottobrunn, Germany and Tucson, Arizona. Expected completion will be by September 2021.

Asia-Pacific

India will likely have to wait till July to get its Rafale jets on home soil, according to The Hindu. The delivery flight home has been delayed due to COVID-19 travel restrictions. Test and support equipment are still stuck in India. Travel restrictions imposed by India on anyone coming from Europe is complicating the situation. Additionally, the lockdown restrictions are expected to continue in France at least till the end of April due to severity of the outbreak. “So, it is only obvious that we expect corresponding delay,” the newspaper cited two sources. India has contracted 36 Rafale multi-role fighter jets from France in fly-away condition with 13 India Specific Enhancements under an $8.5 billion Inter-Governmental Agreement signed in September 2016. As per the IGA, deliveries begin 36 months from signing of contract and will be completed in 67 months.

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Embraer’s Multinational KC-390 Tactical Air Transport Program

Global competition in the 20-ton air transport segment continues to intensify, with Brazil’s launch of its KC-390 program. Embraer figures reportedly place the global C-130 replacement market at around 700 aircraft. In response, it will develop a jet-powered rival to compete with Lockheed Martin’s C-130J, the larger Airbus A400M, Russia’s AN-12 and its Chinese copy the Yun-8/9, and the bi-national Irkut/HAL MRTA project. Smaller aircraft like the EADS-CASA C-295M, and Alenia’s C-27J, represent indirect competition.

Embraer is extending its efforts and markets by crafting a jet-powered medium transport with a cargo capacity of around 23 tons, that can be refueled in the air, and can provide refueling services to other aircraft by adding dedicated pods. The KC-390 has now become a multinational program, and may be shaping up as the C-130’s most formidable future competitor. A tie-up with Boeing underscores the seriousness of Embraer’s effort, which is now a production program…

France’s Rafale

Will Dassault’s fighter become a fashionably late fighter platform that builds on its parent company’s past successes – or just “the late Rafale”? It all began as a 1985 break-away from the multinational consortium that went on to create EADS’ Eurofighter. The French needed a lighter aircraft that was suitable for carrier use, and were reportedly unwilling to cede design authority over the project. As is so often true of French defense procurement policy, the choice came down to paying additional costs for full independence and exact needs, or losing key industrial capabilities by partnering or buying abroad. France has generally opted for expensive but independent defense choices, and the Rafale was no exception.

Those costs, and associated delays triggered by the end of the Cold War and reduced funding, proved to be very costly indeed. Unlike previous French fighters, which relied on exports to lower their costs and keep production lines humming, the Rafale has yet to secure a single export contract – in part because initial versions were hampered by impaired capabilities in key roles. The Rafale may, at last, be ready to be what its vendors say: a true omnirole aircraft, ready for prime time on the global export stage. The question is whether it’s too late. Rivals like EADS’ Eurofighter, Russia’s Su-27/30 family, and the American “teen series” of F-15/16/18 variants are all well established. Meanwhile, Saab’s versatile and cheaper JAS-39 Gripen remains a stubborn foe in key export competitions, and the multinational F-35 juggernaut is bearing down on it.