Ramon Lopez/ELMIRA, NEW YORK
SCHWEIZER AIRCRAFT hopes to cash in on a growing international market for low-cost long-distance surveillance aircraft such as the RU-38A Twin Condor, which the US aircraft maker revealed publicly for the first time on 20 July.
The US Coast Guard, which is the launch customer, will take delivery of three twin tail-boom RU-38A aircraft, two of which are heavily modified single-engine RG-8A Condors operated by the USCG for the past seven years.
The third unit will be built around a spare RG-8A wing set which the USCG had in storage. Schweizer Aircraft can expect to earn $5.3 million on the contract.
Schweizer has designed the twin-engine RU-38A for covert, low-level, day/night patrol missions with a crew of a pilot and sensor operator. Apart from being flown on anti-drugs operations, the Twin Condor will also be used for border patrol, search-and-rescue and environmental-protection missions.
The three aircraft will be based at USCG Air Station Miami, Florida, but can be deployed nationwide as required.
The non-pressurised aircraft's two heavily muffled Teledyne Continental GIO-550 air-cooled piston engines are mounted in a tandem configuration with the pusher engine aft of the cockpit. The addition of a second power plant allows for greater safety margins and missions up to 6h.
The Twin Condor retains a side-by-side cockpit layout, although the cabin has been widened. The USCG sensor payload includes a forward-looking infra red sensor and a low-light-level television camera.
Also installed is, a Bendix-King APN-215 weather radar, with search and surface-mapping modes. The aircraft has a gross weight of 2,404kg and can carry a 408kg payload. The Twin Condor's wingspan is 19.5m (64ft), and it is 9m in length.
The RU-38A had its maiden flight on 31 May. Company and US Air Force test pilots are conducting a joint flight-test programme, due to be completed in September. The second Twin Condor, is scheduled to be flown within months and all three aircraft, are expected to be operational in February 1996.
The USCG, may buy additional RU-38As and company officials believe that orders from other US and foreign law-enforcement agencies, will follow, after the USCG aircraft prove themselves.
Schweizer Aircraft envisages a family of reconnaissance aircraft, including the original RG-8A, the RU-38A and a three-seat variant of the Twin Condor. The third place would be for a payload operator behind the two-pilot cockpit.
Nine RG-8As have been built since the mid-1980s. Other customers include unnamed US Government agencies and foreign countries, including Mexico.
Source: Flight International
