SHINMAYWA INDUSTRIES plans to modify an US-IA amphibian with new engines and avionics, to serve as a development testbed for a possible replacement search-and-rescue aircraft for the Japan Maritime Self-Defence Force (JMSDF).
The company has been pressing Japan's Technical Research and Development Institute (TRDI) for funding to develop its proposed US-X amphibian, as a follow on to the US-1A. ShinMaywa is facing a shortfall of work, with the delivery in March 1996 of the fifteenth and last US-1A ordered by the JMSDF.
The TRDI, however, does not have sufficient funds to back full-scale development of the US-X in the near future. Instead, the company will begin work in 1996 on an interim US-1Kai upgrade programme, incorporating many of the features planned for the US-X.
The upgrade centres on replacement of the US-1A's four Ishikawajima Heavy Industries-built General Electric T64-IHI-10J engines with Allison AE2500 turboprops. The aircraft's wing is likely to require structural reinforcement to take the 164kg-heavier AE2100 engine.
New avionics include glass multi-function displays, flight-management system, digital electronic engine-control, improved-performance search radar and night-vision systems. Consideration is also being given to pressurising the aircraft, although it is uncertain whether this can be achieved with the existing fuselage-hull, says one source.
The upgraded US-1Kai will serve as a baseline configuration for the US-X amphibian. The manufacturer hopes to start detailed design work in 1997, fly the first aircraft in the year 2000 and begin production around 2002/3. The programme schedule is tentative and subject to TRDI funding.
Preliminary design work calls for, the aircraft to have a slightly heavier maximum take-off weight, of around 50,000kg.
It will have a maximum range of 5,180km (2,800nm), compared to the US-1A's 4,255km, while a pressurised hull will enable the aircraft to operate up to an altitude of 7,625m (25,000ft), a major improvement on the existing aircraft's 10,000ft ceiling.
Source: Flight International
