Combat aircraft

GLOBALEYE MAKES MAIDEN FLIGHT

SAAB MARKED THE maiden  ight

of its new GlobalEye swing-role

surveillance system (SRSS) when

the  rst aircraft took o at 12.52hrs

local time on March 14 from Saab’s

air eld in Linköping, Sweden. The

aircraft, a modi ed Bombardier

Global 6000 jet, undertook a

one-hour 46-minute test  ight

during which extensive test data

was collected using the on-board

instrumentation suite. ‘Today’s

 ight went as planned, with the

performance level matching our

high expectations’, said Magnus

Fredriksson, Saab experimental

test pilot. ‘The aircraft’s smooth

handling was just as predicted and

a real pleasure for me to  y.’

For more details of the GlobalEye,

see pages 82-85.

T-X TO

RANDOLPH

USAF AIR EDUCATION and Training

Command (AETC)’s 12th Flying

Training Wing at Joint Base San

Antonio-Randolph has been selected

as the preferred location for the  rst

new advanced pilot trainer (T-X)

jets when deliveries of the aircraft

begin in 2022. The replacement for

the T-38C Talon will also eventually

be stationed at Columbus AFB in

Mississippi, Vance AFB in Oklahoma

and Laughlin AFB and Sheppard

AFB in Texas, which all serve as

undergraduate pilot training bases.

The service expects to award a

contract for the new trainer this year.

Randolph’s 12th FTW is home to

USAF instructor pilot training.

EDWARDS TO

HOST B-

TESTING

THE COMMANDER OF the

412th Test Wing at Edwards AFB,

California, has con rmed that

testing of the new Northrop

Grumman B-21A long-range

strike bomber will be conducted

at the Mojave Desert facility. The

Raider will likely be produced at

the contractor’s nearby facility

at Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale.

Details of progress with the

B-21 have remained a closely

guarded secret.

As reported last month, the

USAF has con rmed that it will

begin retiring its existing  eet of

B-1Bs and B-2As once a su cient

number of B-21As are  elded in

the early 2030s, while the B-52H

will be retained. The service will,

however, continue to upgrade

both bombers while the Raider is

under development. It hopes to

increase the size of the bomber

 eet from 157 to 175 aircraft,

comprised of 100 B-21As and 75

B-52Hs. The service estimates

that keeping the B-52Hs until

2050 will require around $

billion in upgrades, o set by $

billion that will be saved by re-

engining the  eet.

TYPHOON RADAR

TESTING ADVANCES

AIRBUS DEFENCE AND Space

commenced  ight trials of

Tranche 3 Euro ghter IPA

(GT026/98+08),  tted with

the Euroradar Captor-E active

electronically scanned array

(AESA) radar, in March. The

aircraft follows BAE Systems’

IPA5, serial ZJ700, which was

the  rst to have the new radar

installed. IPA8  ew at Manching,

Germany, in September 2017,

before being upgraded with the

radar. The Captor-E development

program for Typhoon remains on

track, according to Euro ghter,

a number of  ights — with

the radar both powered and

unpowered — having now taken

place as part of the scheduled

program of activity, said Alastair

Morrison, senior vice-president

of radar and advanced targeting

at Leonardo Airborne and Space

Systems. ‘The  rst phase of

 ight tests wrapped up last year

and we’ve seen some excellent

results’, he added. ‘Currently

we’ve been working with the

 rst asset in the UK; having the

second asset will allow us to run

multiple programs in parallel.

This year we’ll be performing

a series of high-intensity  ight

trials with incremental software

updates to enable the required

capability [P3E] to be available

for the  rst deliveries to the

Kuwait Air Force.’

Eurofi ghter IPA8 (98+08)

returns to Manching on

March 16 at the conclusion

of its second fl ight with

Captor-E fi tted.

Dr Andreas Zeitler

Devoid of its United Arab

Emirates Air Force markings,

the fi rst GlobalEye lifts off

from Linköping. Saab

HEADLINES [NEWS]

http://www.combataircraft.net // May 2018 07

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