USN’s New Range Aircraft: G550 CAEW
The US Navy is replacing its 2 NP-3D “Billboard” range monitoring aircraft with a new plane, which will use the same core design as the modern AWACS aircraft bought by Israel, Italy, and Singapore: “a Gulfstream G550 long-range business jet with the Conformal Airborne Early Warning (CAEW) structural modifications.”
The aircraft needs to be ready by the end of September 2017. So, why the G550 CAEW?
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“The aircraft shall be procured pursuant to 10 U.S.C. 2304(c)(1) and FAR 6.302-1, “Only One Responsible Source and No Other Type of Supplies or Services will Satisfy Agency Requirements.” The Gulfstream G550 CAEW aircraft is the only known aircraft that will satisfy the NAWC-WD Sea Range Support requirements without significant engineering, development, modification, test, and certification effort. This commercial derivative aircraft has both an FAA Type Certificate and the necessary Supplemental Type Certificates (STCs) to meet Government airworthiness requirements. No other known commercial derivative aircraft that possesses these necessary type certificates is capable of meeting the mission requirements, and therefore the G550 CAEW is the only aircraft that can meet the Government’s requirements on a timely basis.”
The one area that isn’t clear is the electronics. Some reports note IAI Elta as the sub-contractor, but that doesn’t appear in official announcements or new releases. The text of this FBO.gov announcement, and the fact that they’re buying from Gulfstream rather than Elbit or IAI, suggest that may only be buying the certified airframe. That would mean that they’d need to integrate their own radars, datalinks, etc. for over the horizon monitoring and missile testing. The full AWACS equipment set would certainly work, but it isn’t cheap, and may be more than the mission needs.
Fortunately, the Gulfstream 550 CAEW comes with a lot of built-in space and power for any installations the US Navy wants performed. Sources: FBO.gov Solicitation Number N00019-14-P1-PMA-207-0804 | Defense Update, “Gulfstream jets with Israeli radar to replace US Navy’s P-3 orion in test-range surveillance” | Flight International, “US Navy to order Gulfstream jet for test-range surveillance”.
Updates
March 19/19: Four more for Down-Under Australia will get four modified Gulfstream G550 business jets. The jets will be modified for the electronic warfare (EW) mission in the USA and the aircraft will be designated MC-55A Peregrine. The deal is worth $1.7 billion. The peregrine will be based at Royal Australian Air Force Edinburgh in South Australia alongside the RAAF’s P-8A Poseidons, and its incoming fleet of Northrop Grumman MQ-4C Triton UAVs. It will be integrated into Defense’s joint warfighting networks, providing a critical link between platforms. In June 2017, the US State Department cleared a potential Australian acquisition for up to five G550’s. The Defense Security Cooperation Agency named L3 Technologies as the prime contractor for the Foreign Military Sales deal.
September 20/18: UK Tender Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) aims to win a future tender to supply the Royal Air Force (RAF) with new airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) aircraft. The platform offered by IAI’s subsidiary, Elta systems, would be a Gulfstream G550 long-range business jet with the Conformal Airborne Early Warning (CAEW) structural modifications. The aircraft offers L- and S-band antennas, satellite links, 10-hour endurance, a 12,000-kilometer range, and a speed of 0.88 Mach. The plane entered development in 2003 and was delivered to the Israeli Air Force in 2007. Existing international customers include Italy and Singapore. If and when the UK will launch an open tender is yet unclear, because first of all, the RAF needs to decide whether it will upgrade its existing seven Sentry platforms or replace them.
June 25/18: Order for Down-under According to Jane’s, the Australian government will receive upgraded Gulfstream aircraft as part of a US foreign military sale. The 645th Aeronautical Systems Group located at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base is tapping L-3 Communications for the procurement of two Gulfstream G550 aircraft. The firm-fixed-price contract valued at $83 million. In June 2017 the DoD approved the sale to Australia of up to five G550 aircraft fitted with intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR), and electronic warfare (EW) mission systems, with integration work to be carried out by L-3. Work will be performed in Greenville, Texas; and Savannah, Georgia, and is expected to be complete by August 2021.
September 12/17: L-3 Communications will move forward with migrating the US Air Force’s EC-130H Compass Call equipment to a Gulfstream 550 Conformal Airborne Early Warning (CAEW) aircraft, after the Government Accountability Office (GAO) turned down a protest from rivals Boeing and Bombardier last month. The Compass Call “crossdeck” program (EC-X), will transition mission equipment from the USAF’s existing fleet of Lockheed Martin EC-130H aircraft, which serves as a communications eavesdropper and jammer for the service, onto new Gulfstream business jets. A service spokesperson said that a final agreement with L-3 on contract terms, specifications and price of the undefinitised contract action (UCA) is still pending.
May 12/16: The USAF has requested $165.7 million in the FY 2017 defense budget to convert the EC-37B (military designation for the G550) into an electronic attack platform. If selected, the C-37B will eventually replace the EC-130H currently used. According to the service, the selection of the C-37B was made uncompetitively as the aircraft did not require any further certification work.
January 8/16: Australia’s DoD has confirmed that they have purchased two Gulfstream G550 aircraft modified for surveillance and electronic warfare. Confirmation comes after the US DoD announced a foreign military sales contract on December 28. The two corporate aircraft will be fitted with specialized modifications by L-3 Communications Mission Integration in a deal worth $93.6 million.
January 4/16: Australia is to procure and operate the Gulfstream G550 as a special missions aircraft. A US Department of Defense foreign sales contract has awarded L-3 $93 million to provide special missions modifications to the aircraft to be completed by November 30 2017. While the Australian government has yet to confirm its intention to operate special missions aircraft, it is believed that it will be announced in a forthcoming Defence Department white paper.
