Andrzej Jeziorski/ULM
SENIOR DASA AND GEC-Marconi officials were due to have met at the end of May in an effort to head off an industrial dispute over Germany's purchase of a defensive-aids subsystem (DASS) for the Eurofighter EF2000 combat aircraft.
DASA is concerned that the German defence ministry's intention to buy an off-the-shelf DASS for the EF2000 threatens the country's industrial capability in electronic warfare.
DASA's airborne systems division has been developing its own, reduced-specification DASS for the German air force's EF2000s since Germany withdrew from the EURODASS consortium in 1992, hoping to save money.
Bonn, however, now wants to procure the EURODASS system, but this does not involve any German industrial participation, says DASA airborne systems vice-president Manfred Jacobsen.
Jacobsen was to meet representatives of EURODASS lead company GEC-Marconi Defence Systems at the end of May, hoping to negotiate German workshare in the verification and test phase of the joint programme. Failing that, DASA will continue to fight in favour of its own alternative system.
DASA has invested tens of millions of deutschemarks in the development of its towed radar-decoy, electro-optical missile-approach warner and radar-warning receiver (RWR). The RWR is a joint proposal with Litton, and is the same as the upgraded receiver now being proposed for Germany's Panavia Tornado fleet.
A request for quotations on the Tornado RWR upgrade is expected this year. DASA's towed radar decoy is to undergo further flight trials this year, following tests in 1994 with a larger version of the device towed behind a Learjet.
Initial flight trials of a dummy system will confirm the unit's aerodynamic performance, while a fully operational decoy will be tested towards the year's end.
The decoy, to be deployed either from a Tornado underwing pod or from the wingtip of an EF2000, would be towed about 100m (330ft) behind the aircraft, protecting it from radar-guided missiles. The decoy can also be deployed by transport aircraft.
The fast-jet towed radar-decoy would be recovered by parachute after deployment, while on transport aircraft it would be winched in and out as necessary.
DASA claims that if Germany abandons the national DASS programme, it will look for export customers and partner companies to allow it to continue its towed-decoy work.
Source: Flight International
