AF A 1996 NATIONAL CONVENTION Aerospace Technology Exposition By Peter Grier to Ace Guy by to ho I F ONE adjective could describe the ff p military advances on display at Sta AFA' s Aerospace Technology Ex- position held September 16-18 in Washington, D. C., it would be "full- spectrum." This year's exhibitions covered a broad array of defense technologies and concepts, from Joint Strike Fighter mockups and missile casings to laser tracking systems, militarized laptop computers, and desktop simulators with amazing graphics. Air Force visitors who thronged the exhibit hall found advanced en- gines for unmanned aerial vehicles Dozens of nations send representatives to AFA's Aerospace Technology and new electronic warfare systems, Exposition. Here, air attaches Maj. Gen. Miguel Angel Medina (left) of the computer security booths and ejec- Peruvian Air Force and Lt. Gen. Ruben Gustavo Zini of the Argentine Air Force tion seats. One firm touted its rocket examine a print of a Keith Ferris painting of an F-22. engine recycling capabilities. Strike Fighter Exhibitors were eager to discuss their chances in the last big airframe cording to one JSF team leader, work well together," he added, as program of the century—the Joint Lockheed Martin. they know a joint program is the Strike Fighter (JSF). The Lockheed Martin presentation only way a new tactical aircraft can In a number of exhibit booths, noted that the company faces a formi- be made affordable. booming rock music combined with dable task in adapting one airframe to Boeing is another team leader in slide shows depicting Third World requirements of the US Air Force, pursuit of the JSF program. Its modu- conflicts and other potential threats Navy, and Marine Corps as well as lar design for the new fighter has a served as a backdrop for the presen- Britain's Royal Navy. The Navy and common forebody and a common tations of competing contractor teams. Air Force use different jet fuels, for aftbody and tail, with a single-piece With the US Air Force planning to instance, and their existing AIM-9 wing structure and a fuselage tailored purchase more than 2,000 JSF air- missiles are not interchangeable. for such individual needs as greater craft (and other US and foreign mili- "Commonality numbers range any- durability for carrier deck landings. tary services preparing to buy hun- where from seventy-five to ninety- According to Boeing representa- dreds more), the program seems five percent" of the total system, tives, the performance characteris- certain to determine the shape and said David Wheaton, vice president tics of their Joint Strike Fighter will composition of the fighter aircraft and program manager for Lockheed include a combat radius thirty per- industry for the next fifty years, ac- Martin. "I'm seeing all the services cent greater than that of current US AIR FORCE Magazine / November 1996 79 strike fighters, plus significantly yet what we're going to do with this," technology intended to support the greater acceleration and agility. he said. modern digital battlefield. Another team vying for the Joint Strike Fighter award is composed of Spacebased Eyes New Airlifters McDonnell Douglas, Northrop Grum- Technology for spacebased eyes A large part of the McDonnell man, and British Aerospace. These that will likely be necessary to deal Douglas exhibit was devoted to the firms are pushing their unique-look- with the ballistic missile threat was C-17. As Secretary of the Air Force ing design as the JSF variant backed also on display at the 1996 exhibit. Sheila E. Widnall noted in her speech by the most prior fighter experience. Material available at the Air Force to AFA' s Convention, the C-17' s Among them, team members have Spacebased Infrared System Program outlook has changed quite a bit over developed the US Navy' s F-14 Tom- Office display maintained that the the last year. cat and F/A-18 Hornet, USAF' s F- SBIR system will be the necessary Twelve months ago, the airlifter's 15 Eagle, and the multinational Tor- follow-on to today's Defense Sup- political future was cloudy because of nado. port Program surveillance satellites. cost and development problems. To- McDonnell Douglas pointed out Plans call for an evolutionary transi- day its future is bright, thanks to tech- that, as the builder of the venerable tion away from DSP, with new ground nical improvements and an Air Force F-4 Phantom II fighter, it is the only equipment in place by 1999 and de- order for a full 120-aircraft fleet. contractor ever to have manufactured livery of SBIR system satellites be- The importance of airlift will only a fighter airframe used by the Air ginning in 2002. increase in coming years, as perma- Force, Navy, and Marine Corps. The TRW's exhibit, meanwhile, pro- nently forward-deployed forces con- Phantom also has been the mainstay moted the low-level component of tinue to dwindle. McDonnell Doug- of numerous foreign air forces. the SBIR system architecture, the las officials made use of this fact by Space and Missile Tracking System. promoting the C-17' s applicability Airborne Laser SMTS satellites would operate in to real-life deployment problems. Lasers—specifically, the Airborne low-Earth orbit, providing continu- They said it takes sixty-five mis- Laser program—were another highly ous observation of ballistic missiles sions and more than six days to trans- visible item at this year's exhibition. from boost phase to atmospheric re- port a fighter squadron' s support With the ABL contract set to be entry. Current plans call for an SMTS equipment and munitions from Eu- awarded in mid-November, jockey- satellite constellation comprising rope to the Middle East via C-130. ing between Boeing' s team and a twelve to twenty-four spacecraft. C- 17s, on the other hand, could move Rockwell-led effort seemed intense. the same load in seventeen missions Rockwell's ABL display included Unmanned Aerial Vehicle spanning little more than two days. graphics depicting a mock theater The Boeing booth featured a large Over at the Lockheed Martin area, missile engagement, complete with number of unmanned aerial vehicle however, the company was heavily a deep, repeating boom signifying a (UAV) programs. Boeing supplies the promoting its new C-130J airlifter. booster kill. data-exploitation, mission-planning, The firm said that major system en- "This will revolutionize air war- and communications ground element hancements will dramatically reduce fare," insisted Brent Brentnall, Rock- for the Predator, a medium-altitude the ownership cost of the J model well ABL business development man- UAV that already has seen service Hercules. Manpower costs will drop ager. "When I was in the Air Force, over Bosnia-Hercegovina. With Lock- by about forty percent and mainte- you engaged at a half-mile distance heed Martin, it is developing Dark- nance man-hours by about fifty per- with a .50-caliber machine gun. Now, Star, an advanced, stealthy UAV that cent, compared with previous models. you may engage at hundreds of miles will allow theater commanders to with a beam of light." stare at battlefields for an extended Battle - Tested Boeing touted its union with TRW period. Lockheed Martin also called at- and Lockheed Martin on an Airborne Earlier this year, the DarkStar pro- tention to F-16 operations over the Laser team. Twenty years of techni- gram suffered a setback when a pro- Balkans. In May 1995, an F-16 from cal advances have made such a weap- totype crashed on takeoff on what the 555th Fighter Squadron, 31st on possible, the firm said. was to be a test flight. However, "we Fighter Wing, became the first Fight- For instance, recent guidance and pretty much understand what hap- ing Falcon to drop a laser-guided control tests have shown conclusively pened," said Boeing's Alex Henschel. bomb in combat. This past September, that it is possible to focus and point a "You're going to end up with a better an F-16 from the 23d Fighter Squad- laser at a missile hundreds of miles vehicle because of the experience." ron, 52d Fighter Wing, achieved a away, despite the bouncing of aircraft Raytheon E-Systems, meanwhile, similar combat first for the aircraft and turbulence of air. All that's needed promoted a wide range of electronic when it fired an AGM-88 High-Speed now is to demonstrate the feasibility communications and intelligence Antiradiation Missile to suppress an of integrating known technology into equipment. E-Systems makes the adversary's air defense radar in Iraq. a single package capable of downing Common Ground Segment equip- Other firms drew on today's head- theater ballistic missiles in boost phase, ment that permits communication lines in support of their products. claimed ABL officials. with and control of DarkStar and With the US attack on Iraq still fresh Theater missile defense will be Global Hawk UAVs; other products in the minds of visitors, Northrop only the first airborne use of laser include the Commanders' Tactical Grumman provided extensive data weapon technology, Mr. Brentnall Terminal, the Next-Generation Ra- detailing how its premier airframe— predicted. "I don't think we know dio, and a variety of information the B-2 bomber—could be used to 80 AIR FORCE Magazine / November 1996 Company officials pointed out that the AMRAAM is now a combat- G proven weapon, having scored two by to victories over Iraq and one over ho f p f Bosnia. Production models of the Sta beyond-visual-range missile are ex- ceeding the goal of 1,500 hours mean time between failures. An AMRAAM follow-on, the Future Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile (FMRAAM), is un- der development by Hughes's UK sub- sidiary for use by the Eurofighter 2000.