Flight International - June 30, 2015 UK

DEFENCE

16 | Flight International | 30 June-6 July 2015 flightglobal.com

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A

long-running effort to pro-
vide pilots of the Lockheed
Martin F-22 with a day and night
helmet-mounted display (HMD)
and cueing system has taken a
significant step forward, with the
US Air Force publishing a draft
programme schedule and re-
quirements list that would deliv-
er an operational system by 2020.
The HMD will allow a pilot to
visually control sensors and
weapons at high off-boresight an-
gles, particularly Raytheon’s
AIM-9X Block II air-to-air missile.
Such a capability has been a
validated requirement of the F-
programme since 2007, but cost
pressures and sequestration cuts
have repeatedly seen the acquisi-
tion pushed back. Most recently,
a planned demonstration of the
Visionix-Gentex Scorpion hel-
met-mounting cueing system was
terminated in 2013.

T

urkish Aerospace Industries

(TAI) is preparing for a series

of spin-recovery test flights using

one of its prototype Hurkus turbo-

prop-powered trainers.

Seven or eight flights will be

conducted from August with a re-

covery parachute installed, says

Özcan Ertem, head of the compa-

ny’s aircraft group. TAI opted

against exhibiting the type at the

Paris air show due to this sched-

ule, but gave static display debuts

to its Anka unmanned air vehicle

and T129B attack helicopter in Le

Bourget.

Verification flights with the

Hurkus will be performed for the

European Aviation Safety Agency

in October ahead of the expected

receipt of certification early next

year, Ertem says.

Fifteen of the type will be de-

livered to the Turkish air force,

running from June 2018 to late

the following year, while the

service could potentially add a

K

orea Aerospace Industries’
(KAI) FA-50 light fighter
should obtain final operational
clearance with the South Korean
air force in late 2016, says Sang
Choi, vice-president and general
manager in the company’s inter-
national marketing department.
The Republic of Korea Air
Force already has one operation-
al squadron of 20 FA-50s, and a
second unit should be set up by
the end of this year, Choi said at
the Paris air show.
KAI has never disclosed the
size of the South Korean FA-
order, but Seoul will probably end
up taking about 60-100 examples
to replace its Northrop F-5s.
Meanwhile, Choi says deliver-
ies of 12 FA-50s to the Philippines
will commence late this year,
under a deal signed in 2014. Iraq,
which has ordered 24 locally-
designated T-50IQ examples, will
get its first dozen in 2016. ■

FLEET GREG WALDRON PARIS

Korean FA-50s

near clearance

August goals set for TAI programmes

DEVELOPMENT CRAIG HOYLE PARIS

Hurkus trainer deliveries should commence in 2018

Turkish Aerospace Industries

UPGRADE JAMES DREW WASHINGTON DC

USAF restores target for F-22 helmet

Delayed project to give Raptor pilots ability to visually cue air-to-air weapons set to deliver operational system by 2020

Acquisition of the HMD technology has been repeatedly put back

US Air Force

According to a draft require-

ments document dated 1 June,

the F-22 programme office wants

a mature helmet system that

would be ready to enter a four-

year development and test peri-

od starting in 2017. Laboratory

and simulator testing would take

place in 2018, ahead of flight tri-

als in 2019.

The USAF says it will accept

an assembly that uses the existing

Gentex HGU-55/P helmet – either

modified or in its current form –

or a new design. The programme

will not accept a reduced field of

view, or any degradation in per-

formance across the Raptor’s

flight envelope, including high-g

manoeuvres, crash, ejection,

bailout or water entry.

Key requirements include the

day and night cueing of weapons

and sensors at high off-boresight

angles, as well as the ability to

process and display data and

video feeds from those devices.

The helmet “will also be able

to receive and display target,

weapon and flight data for air-

craft state, navigation and air-to-

air/air-to-ground weapon deliv-

ery while maintaining visual

contact with the target,” the doc-

ument says.

The AIM-9X Block II and

Raytheon AIM-120D AMRAAM

medium-range air-to-air missile

will be fully available on the F-

by 2017, as part of the type’s In-

crement 3.2B upgrade. ■

Alenia Aermacchi, BAE Systems

and Saab have been approached

to participate in the process,

along with China’s CATIC.

A request for proposals has

also been issued for the

production of prototype aircraft

in support of the TFX effort,

which assessed one twin-en-

gined configuration and two sin-

gle-engined designs during its

concept phase, which conclud-

ed in 2013. ■

further 40 to this total. The addi-

tional aircraft would support a

proposed international training

centre at Izmir air base, also

equipped with upgraded

Northrop T-38 jet trainers.

Meanwhile, the Turkish gov-

ernment has invited five compa-

nies to express interest in part-

nering with TAI on Turkey’s

indigenous TFX fighter pro-

gramme, with responses due in

August. Airbus Defence & Space,