Australia has embarked on a 30-month programme to evaluate and select an airborne early-warning and control (AEW&C) aircraft, following the submission of preliminary tenders by three competing consortia led by Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Raytheon E-Systems.
The Royal Australian Air Force's (RAAF) Project Wedgetail calls for initial design-activity contracts to be awarded to either two or three competitors. The contracts, each worth about $6 million, will allow suppliers to begin critical design work before submitting a full tender in 1998.
There will then follow a final year of evaluation, with a selection to be made by June 1999. The contract will cover the supply of four aircraft, with an option for two more. The RAAF has asked to take delivery of the first aircraft in 2002.
Boeing, meanwhile, has unveiled its proposed AEW&C contender for Project Wedgetail, based on its 737-700. The aircraft will be the corporate-jet version of the 737, with its increased gross weight and -800 wing structure, allowing a maximum 8h on-station endurance at 550km (300nm) range.
It will be fitted with a dorsal-mounted multi-role electronically scanned array radar supplied by Northrop Grumman's Electronic Sensors and Systems division (formerly Westinghouse). The radar consists of three L-band arrays, containing 288 modules, and is arranged to provide 360í uniform coverage out to a range of 350km.
Two arrays will be installed on either side of the 2.4m-high vertical mount, with a third horizontal array contained in a 10.5m-long "top-hat" housing, providing fore and aft coverage. In the long-range mode for sector search, the radar's range can be "more than doubled", according to Northrop Grumman airborne surveillance-systems vice-president William Adams.
Boeing plans for the integration, certification and installation of systems on the first two 737s to be carried out in the USA. The final two aircraft will be completed locally by its recently acquired subsidiary, Boeing Australia (formerly Aerospace Technologies of Australia), and British Aerospace Australia. The latter will also be responsible for mission-system support.
Raytheon E-Systems has also opted for a phased-array solution for Project Wedgetail, but using the Airbus A310 fitted with an electronically scanned Elta radar. Its three triangularly configured arrays, housed in a fixed circular radome, will "-more than exceed" the RAAF's 350km range requirement, claims Raytheon E-Systems government-systems vice-president Dennis Cleverly.
Lockheed Martin, with Northrop Grumman's Electronic and Systems Integration division, is emphasising a "low-risk" solution in the form of its C-130J turboprop transport and a conventional APS-145plus radar in a rotodome. The aircraft's nine operator stations will be integrated and tested in a self-contained module compartment, in an effort to minimise non-recurring development costs.
Source: Flight International
