The US Marine Corps is pressing ahead with incremental sensor and weapon enhancements to the Boeing AV-8B Harrier after more than nine months battling to overcome problems with the fighter's Rolls-Royce F402-408 engine and return the bulk of the fleet to flying status.
The first of six planned test firings of the Raytheon AIM-120 AMRAAM beyond visual range missile is set to be conducted by the end of this month. The missile will initially arm Spanish navy and Italian navy AV-8B Harrier II Plus aircraft, with a joint operational assessment planned for the third quarter. "We're very interested as well," says Col Tom White, USMCAV-8B programme manager.
AMRAAM testing comes after integration of the Northrop Grumman/Rafael Litening II targeting pod. The USMC is now negotiating to add 47 pods to the US Air Force's procurement. The USMC, with the aid of post-Kosovo supplemental funding, has already ordered nine pods, along with four for Italy and two for Spain. Litening has been integrated with the aircraft's C1 software and head-down display.
Flight testing of the new Open System Core Avionics Requirement (OSCAR) block 1.1 software is underway, with a low-rate initial production decision on the new weapon/mission computer targeted for January.
A 1760 databus will open the door to a range of new weapons, including the Kongsberg Penguin anti-ship missile for Spain. OSCAR 1.2 will follow in 2003 along with the Boeing GBU-31/32 Joint Direct Attack Munition and HaveQuick communications. The USMC wish list also includes the Raytheon AIM-9X short-range air-to-air missile, the AGM-154 Joint Stand-off Weapon and the Joint Helmet Mounted Cueing System. "It's a matter of affordability," says White.
OSCAR flight testing had been delayed by the recent AV-8B grounding as the result of engine vibration and cracking in the No 3 bearing. The bulk of the 140-strong fleet is now flying with the exception of 15 AV-8Bs awaiting engines, after a nine month integrated product team effort to overhaul engines, procedures, process and quality control in the USMC depot and at R-R.
"We allowed ourselves to get reactive, not proactive. We didn't test and thought the quality of R-R was taking care of itself. We're now being proactive and finding the problems before they hit the fleet," says White. The focus is now to phase out the remaining F402-406 engines and switch to an all -408 fleet by 2004, while increasing the mean time between failure from the 275h to 800h.
Airframe and engine industry sources, however, are critical of the USMC and the training of its maintenance personnel.
Source: Flight International