Guy Norris/SAN ANTONIO
HOPES OF REVIVING the long-delayed Turkish Northrop Grumman F-5 upgrade programme have been renewed with the involvement of a US-based investment company bidding to fund and manage the stalled modernisation effort.
Washington DC-based Triton Systems is soliciting immediate bids from all the major F-5 upgrade companies and hopes to begin work early in 1996. The planned effort would involve a comprehensive upgrade of 70 F-5A/Bs to the level of a lead-in trainer for the Lockheed Martin F-16.
Of the total, 34 would be retained by the Turkish air force, while 36 would be sold to help pay for the entire upgrade.
Although the initiative has promised to inject new life into the F-5 upgrade market, some companies are privately expressing doubts over Triton's optimistic timescales and ambitious plans.
Triton maintains that its 1996 start-date target is realistic, but sceptics point out that the investment company will require export licences from the US State Department. These can take a long time to obtain.
Others point out that the F-5 re-sale market is still soft. Bristol Aerospace, for example, which has been appointed by the Canadian Government as sales agent for the former Canadian Forces CF-5 fleet, has yet to sell a single unit, many of which have been freshly upgraded.
Companies expressing interest in responding to Triton's request for proposals include Sierra Technologies, which is considered a front runner in F-5A/B work following its fast-paced conversion of 15 Royal Norwegian Air Force F-5s into F-16 lead-in trainers.
Bristol Aerospace, Israel Aircraft Industries, Northrop Grumman and Rockwell International are also expected to bid.
Most will probably propose relatively basic upgrades to speed up the programme, enabling re-sale prices to be kept attractive and maximise profit potential.
Northrop Grumman is in the final stages of talks with Dassault Electronique on the use of the French contractor's EWS-A Aigle radar-warning receiver on board the F-5E Tiger IV update which it is developing for export markets. The Aigle has already been selected for use on French air force Dassault Mirage 1s, and another version is being offered for Mikoyan MiG-21 updates.
Northrop Grumman is planning a series of demonstrations with its upgraded F-5E after completing flight tests at Edwards AFB, California. The upgraded F-5 is fitted with an advanced avionics suite based around the same Westinghouse APG-66(V2) pulse-Doppler radar as is used in the F-16A/B upgrade.
The company says that the radar doubles the fighter-detection range of the original Emerson APQ-159- equipped F-5s.
Source: Flight International
