Douglas Barrie/LONDON and Andrea Spinelli/GENOA
PAKISTANI AND Singaporean air force combat-aircraft upgrade programmes centring on the Fiar Grifo multi-mode radar are experiencing technical difficulties, causing both projects to suffer delays.
Singapore's avionics upgrade of its Northrop F-5E/F fighters has run into trouble, with systems integration the focus of the problem.
The Grifo radar is also being installed in Pakistan's Shenyang F-7s and Dassault Mirage IIIs. These programmes have also suffered, from delays in the delivery of a trials radar.
The Singaporean F-5s are being fitted with the Grifo F multi-mode pulse-Doppler radar. The Grifo is intended to replace the F-5's smaller and less capable Emerson APG-159 radar.
The F-5's narrow nose section has proved too small to accommodate the Grifo, however, and has required removal of the aircraft's port 20mm cannon and the repositioning of the forward bulkhead 460mm further back.
In addition, the Grifo's antenna has had to be reduced in size to fit the aircraft's nose cross-section, resulting in reduced performance, say sources close to the programme. There is also the problem of generating sufficient cooling and power for the radar.
Elbit Computers of Israel is responsible for the integration of the Singapore F-5's new avionics, including the Grifo radar.
Elbit is understood to be coming under increasing pressure to resolve the problem and put the programme back on track. Italian project sources admit that the Singaporean air force is "not happy", although they claim that the worst of the problems have been overcome.
Other avionic systems to be fitted include the Litton LN-93 inertial-navigation system, Elisra SPS-2000 radar-warning receiver and a new head-up display.
In Pakistan, the first Grifo radar was due to be shipped to the air force's Chaklala site in July 1994 to be fitted into an Mirage III. The radar was not delivered until December and is only now undergoing ground testing.
Source: Flight International
