Combat aircraft

required air-to-air and air-to-ground

ordnance using Block 3F software.

WDA testing began in July 2013

and evaluation of the AIM-120,

AIM-9X and AIM-132 air-to-air

missiles was completed in August

2017. Air-to-ground tests of the
      Paveway IV and GBU-12 laser-guided
      bombs, GBU-39 Small Diameter
      Bomb, GBU-31 Joint Direct Attack
      Munition (JDAM) and the AGM-
      Joint Stand-o Weapon (JSOW)
      concluded in October 2017.
      The F-35 test team is now set to
      conduct limited operational testing
      before modi cations required
      for full initial operational test and
      evaluation (IOT&E) are completed
      on all 23 test aircraft. The ‘pre-IOT&E’
      testing approved by the director
      of operational test and evaluation
      will likely include cold-weather
      and ship suitability testing, but
      limited close air support (CAS) and
      reconnaissance missions may also be
      carried out.

- Lockheed Martin met its 2017

Lightning II delivery target on

December 15 when the 66th  ghter

was accepted. The deliveries marked

an increase of more than 40 per cent

over 2016. Lockheed Martin says

it has decreased the time required

to produce the aircraft by about 20

per cent since 2015. It expects to

deliver 160 Lightning IIs annually

by 2023 and to reduce the cost of

the F-35A version to $80 million per

copy by 2020.

• The US Navy aircraft carrier
  USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72)
  conducted carrier quali cations for
  nine aviators assigned to VFA-
  and VFA-125, plus VX-9 ‘Vampires’
  from December 7-11. It included
  the  rst use of the Joint Precision
  Approach and Landing System
  (JPALS) in an operational setting
  as well as the  rst shipboard use of
  the autonomic logistic information
  system (ALIS). Operations were
  conducted with JPALS in inclement
  weather during a portion of the
  quali cation process. Prior to this
  the F-35C had only used JPALS
  during developmental testing.

SNC PROTEST DENIED

THE US GOVERNMENT

Accountability O ce (GAO)

denied a protest  led by the

Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC)

over the US Army’s Future Utility

Aircraft (FUA) decision. Although

the contractor was reportedly the

only respondent to the US Army’s

request for proposals, the service

canceled its solicitation in August

2017 after determining that no

bidder met its requirements. The

FUA competition was intended

to deliver a non-developmental

 xed-wing replacement aircraft

for the army’s  eet of 92 C-12 and

C-26 operational support airlifters.

Although the service still has a

requirement for the FUA, its Fixed-

Wing Project O ce is working

to determine its plans to move

forward with the replacement.

SNC had teamed with Beechcraft,

BAE Systems, L3 Technologies,

and Rockwell Collins to o er the

Beechcraft King Air 350, which it

believed met all of the US Army

requirements. Known as the

FUA-350CER, the aircraft featured

two Pratt & Whitney Canada

PT6A-67 turboprops and had a

range of 2,100nm (3,889km).

In addition to the recent news of

large-scale Mirage F1 acquisitions

by both Draken and the Airborne

Tactical Advantage Company (ATAC),

more details have now emerged

regarding the former’s acquisition

of 12 Denel Cheetah  ghters that

previously served with the South

African Air Force (SAAF). The aircraft,

which include nine single-seat

Cheetah C and three two-seat

Cheetah D models, are expected to

be operational with Draken by the

middle of this year. Based on the

Dassault Mirage III, the Cheetah was

developed by Atlas Aviation, which

is now part of Denel Aeronautics,

for the SAAF in the late 1980s. In

addition to structural improvements

and uprated Snecma Atar 9K50C-

engines, the  ghters were equipped

with updated avionics that included

Elta EL-2001 pulse-doppler multi-

mode radars.

Tactical Air Support (TacAir) has

given out more information about

its acquisition of F-5E/F Tiger IIs.

In October 2016, TacAir, which

operates out of Reno in Nevada, St

Augustine in Florida, Lexington Park

in Maryland, and nine other locations

nationwide, received US State

Department approval to purchase

21 ex-Royal Jordanian Air Force F-5E/

Fs, along with support equipment

and spare parts, including engines.

These represent a signi cant boost

to TacAir’s current  eet of CF-5Ds

and Tucano aircraft, which are used

primarily for training and commercial

close air support roles. The 21 Tiger IIs

make TacAir the largest commercial

operator of the type, and it is working

with Northrop Grumman to upgrade

them for their new commercial

aggressor role.

According to the company,

TacAir’s full-time cadre includes 53

USAF Weapons School graduates,

17 former military instructor pilots

and four test pilots. Jamie Hunter/

Stephen Chapis

SCORPION TESTS AGILEPOD

THE USAF RESEARCH Laboratory

(AFRL) Sensors Directorate

conducted a  t-check of its

recon gurable AgilePod

multi-intelligence (multi-INT)

recon gurable pod with the Textron

Aviation Defense Scorpion light

attack ISR aircraft at Wright-Patterson

AFB, Ohio, on December 21, 2017.

The pod’s open architecture allows

its sensor packages to be rapidly

recon gured based on speci c

mission needs. Developed for

carriage by the MQ-9A Reaper

unmanned air system, the AgilePod

underwent an initial series of

 ight tests on a DC-3, operated by

Airborne Imaging Inc, last summer.

NASA ACQUIRES GULFSTREAM

THE NATIONAL AIR & Space

Administration’s Langley Research

Center at Joint Base Langley-Eustis,

Virginia, has acquired a C-20B

Gulfstream III that had previously

been operated by the USAF’s 89th

Airlift Wing. The former serial 86-

(c/n 478) has been assigned the civil

registration N520NA. It will support

airborne research conducted by the

center. The Gulfstream III was retired

to Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona, on

August 30, 2017 but had departed by

November.

USAF/David Dixon

NASA Langley/David C. Bowman

UNITED STATES [NEWS]

http://www.combataircraft.net // March 2018 09

8-12 US News C.indd 9 19/01/2018 15: