F_I_2015_02_17_23_

DEFENCE

20 | Flight International | 17-23 February 2015 flightglobal.com

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T

he Royal Air Force’s 17 Sqn
has assumed control of the
test and evaluation of the UK’s
first Lockheed Martin F-35B
Lightning II, with lead aircraft
BK-1 having arrived at Edwards
AFB in California.
“Personnel from 17 Sqn will
fly and maintain the jets indepen-

dently from their US colleagues

• an important step towards the
  UK developing its Joint Strike
  Fighter capability,” the Ministry
  of Defence says.
  RAF and Royal Navy personnel
  will ensure that the short take-off
  and vertical landing aircraft is in-
  teroperable with UK regulations

and its other assets, ahead of the

expected declaration of initial op-

erational capability in 2018. The

UK’s third of four test aircraft,

BK-3, was also transferred to Ma-

rine Corps Air Station Beaufort in

South Carolina on 3 February.

Separately, the Royal Nether-

lands Air Force’s two F-35As

acquired to support US-led initial

operational test and evaluation ac-

tivities arrived at Edwards AFB on

16 January from Eglin AFB in

Florida. Four pilots, 20 techni-

cians and 10 other staff from the

service’s 323 Sqn are being trained

to work with the conventional

take-off and landing type. ■

FIGHTER BETH STEVENSON LONDON

UK evaluation of

F-35B gets off the

mark at Edwards

Royal Air Force and Royal Navy personnel establish 17 Sqn
to test Joint Strike Fighter variant’s capabilities until 2018

S

aab chief executive Håkan

Buskhe has given a bullish

assessment of the company’s

prospects in pursuing the US Air

Force’s future T-X trainer contract

in collaboration with Boeing.

“I think we are strong

partners,” says Buskhe. “We have

set up criteria that we think we

need to achieve to have a great

chance of winning. Breaking the

cost curve, increased perfor-

mance – that’s something we’re

working on.

“The work together and the

co-operation with the Boeing

company is going tremendously

well,” he says, noting that “we

have our team in St Louis, and

they have people in Linköping”.

Speaking during a financial re-

sults briefing in Stockholm on 10

February, Buskhe said: “We

haven’t changed our view on

both the price and the capability,

and the possibility to win” in a

future T-X contest.

“Additional investments were

made in the development of

trainers for the coming T-X

procurement process in the Unit-

ed States,” Saab says in its year-

end report for last year.

“We have for this year a fairly

big sum of investment in self-

funding in aeronautics,” Buskhe

says of 2015. “The main part is

connected to our joint efforts

together with Boeing.”

The Boeing/Saab team is

expected to face competition

from a General Dynamics/Alenia

Aermacchi partnership offering

a T-100 development of the

latter’s M-346; Lockheed Martin,

which is promoting Korea

Aerospace Industries’ T-50; and

Northrop Grumman, which on 6

February announced its inten-

tion to offer a new platform

which it expects to fly for the

first time later this year.

Meanwhile, Buskhe says Saab

expects the financial element of

Brazil’s 36-aircraft Gripen E/F

procurement to be finalised by

around mid-year. “Everyone is

working towards that target, and

there are no indications that we

have any stop in any process,” he

says. Sweden also plans to ac-

quire 60 of the type, and he notes:

“We see a great possibility to sell

around 400 to 450 of the new

Gripen E and F” over the life of

the programme. ■

TRAINERS CRAIG HOYLE LONDON

Saab boss confident of

success with T-X partner

G

ermany has grounded its ar-
my-operated NH Industries
(NHI) NH90s, following the dis-
covery of a “design flaw” with
the helicopter’s electrical system.
Berlin says all routine flights
with the 10.6t rotorcraft have been
“temporarily suspended” after
Airbus Helicopters, which assem-
bles the German troop transport
variant at its Donauwörth facility,
identified a fault with the type’s
overhead control panel.
The development follows an
incident involving a German air-
craft in Termez, Uzbekistan last
June. This was forced to make an
emergency landing after an engine
failure and shutdown of a number
of electrical systems.

Germany’s defence ministry

says the flaw can cause a potential

electrical short circuit when the

engine fire extinguishing system

is used, and that the flight safety

board of its aviation authority rec-

ommended a temporary suspen-

sion of routine flights while the

manufacturer develops a fix.

“Industry has assessed there is

no short-term airworthiness

issue, and recommends [opera-

tors] to continue flights,” Airbus

Helicopters says. “NHI is launch-

ing a modification in order to im-

prove [the] design,” it adds.

Flightglobal’s Ascend Fleets

database records the German

army as operating 37 NH90s,

with a further 26 on order. ■

SAFETY DOMINIC PERRY LONDON

‘Flaw’ grounds German NH90s

An engine fire extinguishing system can short circuit electrics

Airbus Helicopters

Crown Copyright

BK-1 will be flown and maintained independently of US staff