Sir - Your leading article under the title "Missing a Trick" (Flight International, 17-23 April, 1996, P5) contained a number of misleading statements relating to the Future Large Aircraft Programme which I would like the opportunity to correct.
The article is a thinly veiled Lockheed-Martin sales pitch, which promotes a totally undefined requirement for a C/KC-135 and C-141 replacement at the expense of a well-defined agreed European need for a new military transport. The fact that Lockheed's project, the World Airlifter, is ill-defined, to say the least, is readily admitted by Lockheed-Martin executive vice-president Al Hansen in your article on P4 of the same issue.
The design of the FLA, on the contrary, is based firmly on the detailed needs of eight European air forces as expressed in the Future Large Aircraft European Staff Requirement (ESR), a document which has been formally agreed and issued.
Contrary to the statements made in your leader, this document defines tactical and logistic missions, and comprehensively describes the aircraft's role capabilities, as well as laying down design standards, system requirements and integrated logistic support.
On the basis of the ESR, a detailed aircraft definition has been produced which has the agreement of the programme partners and which does, surprisingly perhaps, indicate the type of powerplant among all of the other basic characteristics of the FLA including those of size, payload and performance.
There is no denying that bringing the FLA programme together represents a tremendous challenge for the partner governments and European manufacturers alike. It also represents a tremendous opportunity to produce a new-generation military transport suited to the future needs of the army and air force users, which offers more payload, more volume, more range and more speed than today's ageing inventory and warmed-over derivatives offered as replacements. It thus meets the defined need for tactical and logistic missions covering force projection, peacekeeping and disaster relief operations.
Source: Flight International
