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Daily News
By Gail Helmer

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Monday July 22, 2002

PC News
Battlefield 1942 Single-Player Demo
3D Gamers has posted the new single-player demo of Battlefield 1942 that recently became available on the cover-disk of PC Gamer magazine. The demo allows you to try this upcoming vehicular 3D action game by Digital Illusions in one mission set in Tobruk. Download

Battlefield 1942 Game Trailer
A new movie of Battlefield 1942 has been released, showing more from the vehicular 3D action game that is being developed at Digital Illusions. This clip features Churchill motivating the troops. Video clip

New IL-2 Sturmovik Missions
Five new community created missions have been added to the official IL-2 Sturmovik website. Missions

Airport 2002 Vol. 1 Announced
After three successful editions of its Airport 2000 scenery for virtual pilots, Wilco Publishing is expanding its franchise with Airport 2002 Volume I its first add-on for Microsoft Flight Simulator 2002.

Scheduled for third-quarter release, the new title will feature seven all-new 3D airport models powered by exclusive new Wilco technology called FS NAT (New Animation Technology) that is capable of delivering more complex animations, more static and dynamic objects, more sounds, and higher resolution than any other add-on today without severe impact on PC performance.

Airport 2002 Volume I will include precise recreations of the world’s seven busiest airports: Paris Charles de Gaulle, London Heathrow, Munich International, Chicago O’Hare, Los Angeles International, Atlanta Hartsfield, and Dallas Fort-Worth International. (The Munich and Texas airports are firsts for the series.)

Wilco Announces A320 Pilot In Command
Wilco Publishing has announced the upcoming A320 Pilot in Command, due to hit PCs this fall. The new title will offer all the features of its predecessor plus the first 3D active panel in a flight sim aimed at the general public, complete freedom of movement about the cabin, and other exclusives that raise the realism altimeter to new heights.

Developed and tested by an active Airbus pilot, Wilco’s new add-on for Microsoft Flight Simulator 2002 will again give simmers the meticulously detailed panels, the true-to-life Flight Management Computer (called the Flight Management and Guidance Computer in Airbus-speak) and dozens of nerve-wracking malfunction simulations that earned multiple industry awards for 767 Pilot in Command.

Military News
Switzerland Selects Raytheon for its F/A-18 Fighter
The Swiss Air Force recently announced the selection of Raytheon Company's AIM-9X Sidewinder Missile to be the next-generation short-range missile for its the F/A-18 fighter aircraft. A Swiss project team made this competitive selection after careful evaluation of both the IRIS-T and the AIM-9X missiles. The value of this decision is more than $30 million. It marks the second international sale of AIM-9X and the first by an F/A-18 Hornet user.



"I'm extremely pleased that the Swiss Air Force selected AIM-9X," said Navy Capt. Dave Venlet, the Naval Air Systems Command Program Manager for Air- to-Air Missile Systems. "Equipping the Swiss Air Force with this superior missile will ensure their air combat dominance and enhance interoperability."

Ten potential international customers have expressed interest in the AIM- 9X, and other nations have made official inquiries to the U. S. government about possible procurement to fill their future short-range missile requirements. South Korea was the first international AIM-9X customer signing a letter of offer and acceptance with the U.S. government in June. Raytheon delivered its first production AIM-9X missile to the U.S. government on May 1, four months ahead of schedule. That delivery marked the beginning of an 18- year production plan to provide revolutionary dogfight capability to the U.S. and allied warfighters. Raytheon expects to produce more than 10,000 missiles to be split between the Navy and Air Force and more than 5,000 for international customers.

"This is a prime example of Raytheon's continued tradition of providing high performance, affordable air superiority weapons to the U.S. and its allies," said Charles D. Anderson, vice president of Raytheon Missile System air-to-air product line. "We are determined to win competitions by listening to our customers, responding to their requirements and delivering on our commitments."

The AIM-9X is a joint Navy and Air Force program currently in engineering and manufacturing development. It is the newest member of the AIM-9 Sidewinder short range missile family which is currently in use by more than 40 nations worldwide.

Evaluating UAV Control for GSARS
Raytheon Company and General Atomics Aeronautical Systems are evaluating ways to integrate unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) flight control, sensor collection and exploitation capabilities into the Ground Surveillance Airborne Radar System's (GSARS) platforms and ground stations. GSARS is the export version of the United Kingdom's Airborne Stand-Off Radar (ASTOR) system.

Leveraging more than 30 years of UAV ground control and intelligence-processing ground station experience, Raytheon will examine ways of integrating its Tactical Control System (TCS) onboard the GSARS aircraft and ground stations for the control of General Atomics Aeronautical Systems' family of UAVs.

During the study, Raytheon and General Atomics Aeronautical Systems will address expanded concepts of operation, flexible communication architectures, and size, weight, and power analysis.

The integration of UAV control within the GSARS architecture would significantly enhance the system's intelligence, surveillance, targeting, acquisition, and reconnaissance (ISTAR) capabilities. Examples of Raytheon's current advanced remote control technology include the Global Hawk Ground Segment, U-2 Deployable Common Ground Segment, and generic ground control and intelligence processing systems. General Atomics Aeronautical Systems develops and manufactures a wide variety of UAV platforms including the Predator, Predator B, IGNAT, and Prowler II.

South Korea selects Raytheon for its F-15K Multi-role Fighter
The Republic of Korea Air Force (ROKAF) signed two U.S. government Letters of Acceptance June 12 authorizing procurement of Raytheon Company's AIM-120C Advanced Medium Air-to- Air Missile (AMRAAM) and AIM-9X Sidewinder Missiles, which will be employed by their newest fighter, the F-15K. This decision carries with it a value in excess of $110 million and marks the first international sale of AIM-9X.

In addition, Raytheon is providing the ROKAF with its fire control radar -- the APG-63 (V) 1 -- which is also the first international sale of that radar.



"I'm extremely pleased that the ROKAF was the first international air force to select AIM-9X," said Navy Capt. Dave Venlet, the Naval Air Systems Command program manager for Air-to-Air Missile Systems. "Being equipped with threat superior counterair capability is vital to the Republic of Korea and to the U.S. Procurement and delivery of AIM-9X will assure dogfight dominance and enable interoperability." South Korea is among 25 nations that currently use AMRAAM as their beyond- visual-range (BVR) weapon of choice. The latest variant of AMRAAM, the AIM- 120C5, incorporates lethality and range improvements for an increase in capability over earlier versions. The AIM-120C5 is also configured with clipped fins for internal carriage requirements on such platforms as the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) and the F-22.

"The signing of the AMRAAM LOA continues to enhance coalition warfare and interoperability between the U.S. and her allies," said Col. Jim Knox, the Counterair Joint Systems Program Office (JSPO) acting program director. "AMRAAM is the free world's air-to-air weapon of choice, and together with Raytheon, we will continue to deliver on our commitments to the U.S. and allied warfighters."

AMRAAM is fully operational on the F-15, F-16, F/A-18, the German F4F, the UK Sea Harrier, Swedish JA-37 Viggen and the JAS-39 Gripen. It is currently being integrated on the F-22, Eurofighter, Harrier II Plus, Tornado and the Joint Strike Fighter. AMRAAM has also been adapted to a surface-to-air role for air defense and is operational in Norway as the Norwegian Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System (NASAMS) and has been demonstrated in a HAWK- AMRAAM system and on a High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV)- based system called HUMRAAM.

X-47A Pegasus Successfully Completes First Taxi Test
Northrop Grumman Corporation's Integrated Systems sector achieved another milestone today in preparation for the first flight of its X-47A Pegasus experimental unmanned air vehicle (UAV) with the successful completion of the vehicle's first taxi test at the Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division, China Lake, Calif.

Northrop Grumman designed and built the unmanned system with its own funds to demonstrate aerodynamic qualities suitable for autonomous flight operations from an aircraft carrier as part of the company's naval unmanned combat air vehicle (UCAV-N) program. Shaped like a kite, Pegasus was built largely with composite materials. The air vehicle measures 27.9 feet long with a nearly equal wingspan of 27.8 feet.



The low-speed taxi test was designed to exercise the X-47A's command and control, steering, brakes and navigation. The test consisted of five segments, each conducted autonomously after initiation by a ground controller. The first verified movement of the air vehicle and validated start and stop taxi commands. The remaining four segments allowed the vehicle to move down the runway in increments of increasing length from 20 to 300 feet. All test objectives were met.

The results of the Pegasus flight demonstration program will be used in Northrop Grumman's UCAV-N work for the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the U.S. Navy. The goal of the joint DARPA/Navy UCAV-N project is to demonstrate the technical feasibility for an unmanned system to effectively and affordably conduct sea-based surveillance, strike and suppression of enemy air defenses missions within the emerging global command and control architecture.

U-2's Improved Reconnaissance Capability
To stay current with the latest reconnaissance technology, Beale’s U-2 fleet is being upgraded from Block 0, or ”legacy” aircraft, to the new Block 10 configuration.

The $1.4 billion project, which began in 1998 and will be completed in the next two years, improves the aircraft’s data-collecting capability by upgrading the airframe, sensors and data links.

"With the new airplanes and new sensors, the weapons system is becoming much more capable," said Maj. Peter Lewis, chief of tactics for the 9th Operations Group. "Essentially, this is an upgrade to keep up with the times." The Block 10 upgrade allows the U-2 to collect better imagery more quickly, Lewis said.

"With the increased imagery and a near-real-time product, the shooter will have the ability to make a decision to take (a target) out while it is still there, and then confirm that it is dead," he said.



People from various squadrons whose participation is vital to the upgrade work closely together to decide the best actions to take in the process.

"The difference between what we’ve done with the Block 10 upgrade and what we’ve done in the past is that we’ve refined the process. We built a team across the functional areas, cutting through the extra time that it takes for the normal coordination of such projects," Lewis said.

In August 2001, pilots and maintainers began getting used to the significant differences the upgrades brought to the aircraft.

"What we tried to do as an integrated product team is integrate the new systems, which are very complicated, into day-to-day operations," Lewis said. "Our main goal was to make sure we could conduct sustained operations worldwide with the new system. So all of our efforts were geared toward guaranteeing that for the wing commander."

With America’s continuing need for the U-2’s abilities, the upgraded aircraft couldn’t be put through the usual cycle of testing at a flight test center.

"Unlike the normal weapons systems that take five years of operational testing and evaluation, we conducted all testing through our integration efforts at Beale," said Ron Burton, the systems integration manager for the 9th Operations Group. "A normal acquisition takes five to seven years, and we’ve managed to do it in a matter of months."

With constantly changing technologies, reconnaissance experts must work fast to put new technologies to use, Lewis said.

"If the testing process for new equipment takes too long, the tools become obsolete," he said. "Without the help of the all the people involved with the IPT, the Block 10 upgrade would not have been as successful or have been accomplished in such a short amount of time."

Northrop Grumman To Begin Flight Testing Of Advanced Radar
FARNBOROUGH 2002 AIR SHOW, FARNBOROUGH, U.K. -- Taking a step to cut risk and evaluate in-flight performance as soon as possible, Northrop Grumman Corporation's Integrated Systems sector has readied the aircraft that will flight test the advanced radar for the next generation U.S. Navy E-2C Hawkeye.

An NC-130H test bed has been flight qualified for the Radar Modernization Program (RMP). Test versions of the new radar's transmitter, receiver, antenna and rotary coupler will be installed soon for the six-month test program scheduled to start in late summer or early fall.



"Having the C-130 allows us to flight test the electronic design of the new radar long before production-version components are available," said John E. Michaelsen, Integrated Product Team leader and vice president for Airborne Early Warning Systems. "That reduces the risk of the RMP program significantly and, of course, will preview how the radar will perform in flight."

In addition to risk reduction efforts, "Successful testing of RMP in the NC-130 will be a significant milestone in the Navy's roadmap to a single integrated air picture," said Capt. N. Lee Lilly (PMA-231), E-2/C-2 program manager.

The aircraft will not have the typical Hawkeye workstations. Rather, radar data will be recorded aboard the aircraft and evaluated in a ground station.

A team from Airborne Early Warning and Electronic Warfare Systems, one of Integrated Systems' three business areas, modified the aircraft's cooling and power systems, wings, cabling and the structure that carries the antenna's disk-shaped rotating rotodome, which was then installed. They also installed all the racks and other components necessary to accept the advanced development RMP radar. The work was performed at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md.

The new radar, being developed by Lockheed Martin Naval Electronics & Surveillance Systems, Syracuse, N.Y., is a solid-state, electronically steered UHF design featuring an advanced signal processor utilizing space time adaptive processing. The transmitter offers solid-state, multichannel performance with higher projected reliability than the current tube-based subsystem. The antenna allows for continuous 360-degree coverage but with the added ability to perform electronic steering for critical target detection and tracking. The receiver and signal processing system performs the function of eliminating clutter and jamming/electromagnetic interference in an optimum way such that target detection is maximized.

The next-generation RMP/Advanced Hawkeye will also have theater missile defense capabilities, multisensor integration, a tactical cockpit giving the co-pilot the capability to function as a fourth mission system operator, a new communications suite, new generators, improved identification friend-or-foe system, and an updated mission computer and software. The plan is to deliver the first prototype aircraft in 2007, followed by production RMP/Advanced Hawkeye in 2008.

Chinook Modernization Program for Egyptian Air Force
Boeing is modernizing six CH-47C Egyptian Air Force Chinooks to the U.S. Army CH-47D standard. The first delivery is planned by the end of 2002, followed by five deliveries in 2003.

Boeing will complete contract negotiations for modernization of six more Egyptian Chinooks by the end of 2002. This will enable completion of two additional D-model upgrades in 2003, followed by four more in 2004. These modernized Chinooks will join four newly built CH-47Ds delivered to Egypt in 1999.



Egypt originally purchased 15 CH-47C Chinooks in 1980. Three CH-47Cs remain in the Egyptian fleet and will not be modernized. These aircraft may eventually be converted into maintenance trainers.

"Modernization of the Egyptian Air Force Chinooks means that nearly the entire worldwide CH-47 inventory will be D-models or later configuration," said Pat Shanahan, vice president and general manager, Boeing Army Programs and Rotorcraft. "The fact that nearly all our customers have upgraded their Chinook fleets demonstrates clearly the high value they place on the CH-47's operational capabilities across the military and civil mission spectrum."

Navy Receives Second Increased Capability Prowler Aircraft
FARNBOROUGH 2002 AIR SHOW, FARNBOROUGH, U.K. -- Northrop Grumman Corporation's recent delivery of the second ICAP III aircraft will enable the U.S. Navy to increase the tempo of the flight test program for the EA-6B Prowler advanced electronic warfare system.



Northrop Grumman's Integrated Systems sector modified two fleet EA-6Bs in St. Augustine, Fla., for the ICAP III test program. The first test aircraft was delivered in November 2001 and it began flight-testing in May after a five-month evaluation of its ICAP III system in the anechoic chamber at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md. The second joined the flight test activities in June. Both aircraft will be used for an operational assessment scheduled to begin later this year.

ICAP III, designed to overcome current and anticipated threat radar systems in adversaries' inventories, will be installed in the Navy's fleet of EA-6B Prowlers beginning in 2005. More importantly, ICAP III capability is the baseline for the Department of Defense's follow-on airborne electronic attack system of systems. A Defense Department panel has conducted an Analysis of Alternatives to follow-on candidate systems. The follow-on system will augment and eventually replace EA-6Bs in the department's inventory by 2015.

Aircraft Technology That 'Sees' Corrosion Behind Paint
Mechanics may no longer have to open as many sections of aircraft to search for corrosion if they use a new technology being developed by a Northrop Grumman Corporation-led team.

"We believe that this technology could eliminate two weeks of cycle time and labor associated with the paint removal process," said Robert Klein, vice president, Engineering, Logistics and Technology, Airborne Early Warning and Electronic Warfare (AEW&EW) Systems. "It is an expansion of the thermographic NDI technology we are already applying at St. Augustine, Fla., and we appreciate the partnership with the Office of Naval Research."

This is part of ONR's Aircraft Corrosion Prevention and Control Technology thrust under the Total Ownership Cost Future Naval Capability program. It will combine multiple methods for wide-area nondestructive inspection of aircraft into a single measurement system. Integrated Systems' AEW&EW Systems business area has been developing this imaging technology to scan rapidly painted structures for surface and subsurface corrosion.

The research further extends the work carried out under another contract for the multiagency Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program to image surface corrosion under paint. Integrated Systems is working with Thermal Wave Imaging, Inc., a leading supplier of active thermography inspection systems, and with Naval Air Warfare Center in Patuxent River, Md.


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