if you lose it, you can never get
it back.”
The average age of Ahrlac
development team members
is 38, Ichikowitz notes. How-
ever, they are mentored by
veterans of the Rooivalk attack
helicopter program, one of
South Africa’s most ambitious
defense projects in the 1980s.
(Program leader Paul Potgieter, Jr., is the son of the Aerosud
managing director and Rooivalk program leader, Paul Pot-
gieter.) “I don’t believe that we could have done Ahrlac in 10
years’ time” without them, Ichikowitz says, “but now we’ll be
able to do the next Ahrlac.”
Interest in the Ahrlac is “huge,” adds Ichikowitz. “The
numbers are a little unbelievable.” The Islamic State insur-
gency in Syria and Iraq is causing Middle East governments
to recognize the need for low-cost aircraft to perform intel-
ligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) and attack in
a counter-insurgency environment.
Regional customers have already acquired trainer-based
aircraft such as Super Tucanos, as well as armed crop-dust-
ers and light ISR-attack helicopters like the Boeing AH-6i and
MD Helicopters MD 530F. Paramount says Ahrlac of ers a
wider range of capabilities than any of these aircraft, some
more obvious than others.
The cockpit view, for example, is unparalleled, the com-
pany says. The one-piece blown canopy is bulged to provide
a direct downward view, and the wing is swept forward to
place the roots behind the rear seat.
Unlike a low-wing aircraft, Ahrlac can accommodate a
large mission-systems pallet in a lower-fuselage bay with
“about the capacity of two oil drums.” The operator can ac-
quire multiple mission pallets and reconfi gure the aircraft
from, say, an overland reconnaissance mission to maritime
patrol in a matter of hours. Ahrlac is designed to carry a
20-mm gun—the low-recoil Denel GA1—whereas tractor-
propeller types are restricted to small-caliber gunpods.
With area-increasing trailing-edge flaps, Ahrlac is de-
signed for a wide speed range, with a predicted maximum
of 330 kt. and practical loiter speeds as low as 70 kt. Over-
sized wheels and trailing-link landing gear are designed for
unprepared fl at surfaces. Although it was engineered to be
docile and stable, Ichikowitz says the aircraft is stressed to
9g and will be fully aerobatic, and usable as a basic or even
intermediate trainer.
Outside the Middle East, Paramount is seeing interest
from potential customers in Eastern Europe, Africa and Asia.
U.S. customers have visited the company, including repre-
sentatives from the military’s Africa Command, the State
Department and Customs and Border Patrol.
In the works is an emergency fl otation system for the air-
craft, a safety measure for extended maritime operations. cAviationWeek.com/dti AVIATION WEEK & SPACE TECHNOLOGY DEFENSE TECHNOLOGY INTERNATIONAL MARCH 30 -APRIL 12, 2015 DTI13
The Ahrlac prototype has
fl own more than 65 hr.
and a second, production-
confi gured aircraft is close
to its fi rst fl ight.PARAMOUNT PHOTOSMake your mission a success.
Border control with the Dornier 228.
RUAG Aerospace Services GmbH | RUAG Aviation
P.O. Box 1253 | Special Airfield Oberpfaffenhofen | 82231 Wessling | Germany
Phone +49 8153 30-2011 | [email protected]
http://www.dornier228.comView videoPlease visit us at- Quad A – 2015 Army Aviation, 29–31 March, Nashville, TN, USA, booth 166
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