GRAHAM WARWICK / ST LOUIS
Bern becomes first F/A-18C/D export customer to modernise its aircraft
Switzerland has launched a two-phase avionics upgrade for its Boeing SF-18 Hornets. The Upgrade 21 programme will incorporate six major engineering change proposals (ECPs) already in the pipeline for US Navy and Marine Corps F/A-18C/Ds.
Switzerland will be the first F/A-18C/D export customer to modernise its aircraft and has joined a new group formed by Boeing and the US Navy in an effort to co-ordinate domestic and international upgrade programmes.
Informal meetings of the Hornet International Steering Committee (HISC) have already identified common areas of interest, says Jim Korte, general manager F/A-18 new business and international programmes. These include: the Joint Helmet-Mounted Cueing System (JHMCS); radar and electronic warfare upgrades; open-architecture mission computer and high-order language software; and the Tactical Aircraft Moving Map Capability (TAMMAC).
The Swiss upgrade programme is intended to improve interoperability with US aircraft, incorporate a high off-boresight air-to-air missile and address changes in European airspace. Phase 1 will incorporate the TAMMAC digital map, identification friend-or-foe combined interrogator/transponder, and provisions for the NATO-standard multifunction information distribution system (MIDS) datalink. Phase 2 will introduce the JHMCS, a digital databus to the wingtip missile pylons and the MIDS low-volume terminal.
Working with local industry, delivery of Phase 1 upgrade kits will begin in mid-2004 and fleet installation will be complete by mid-2006. Phase 2 kit deliveries will begin in 2006, with fleet installation to be completed in early 2008. Systems needed to meet the 8.33kHz channel spacing and FM immunity requirements for operation in European civil airspace have been removed from the overall Upgrade 21 programme and will instead be installed as soon as possible.
Australia and Canada have already embarked on F/A-18A/B modernisation programmes that share common elements with the ECP 583 upgrade for US Navy and Marine Corps A/Bs, and bring the aircraft close to C/D configuration. Korte says the HISC will attempt to coordinate future upgrades to these aircraft, as well as domestic and international F/A-18C/Ds, to achieve cost savings and economies of scale through collaboration on development and joint procurement.
"[The committee] will pull all the countries together, give them the ability to communicate, and develop integrated roadmaps [for Hornet upgrades]," he says. The Swiss upgrade is expected to "trigger off" a number of ECPs, and the HISC will attempt to align the timing of these with the requirements of other Hornet operators. "Some with align, some won't, but there will be benefits," he says.
Source: Flight International
