The first Greek air force McDonnell Douglas F-4E Phantom fighter to be upgraded by DaimlerChrysler Aerospace (Dasa) has had its maiden flight from the German company's Manching test centre. The aircraft reached a speed of Mach 1.5 and an altitude of 45,000ft (13,750m), flown by German air force test pilot Robert Hierl and Dasa navigator Richard Gütter.
A total of 38 Greek F-4Es are due to undergo the avionics upgrade by the end of next year and series-production work will be carried out in Greece at Hellenic Aircraft Industry.
The "Peace Icarus 2000"upgrade incorporates the Raytheon APG-65 multimode radar and Israeli Elbit modular multirole computer. Also included are an integrated inertial navigation/global positioning system, new radio, identification friend-or-foe, air data computer, multifunction colour displays, head-up display and radio altimeter.
Source: Flight International
