Apr.8, 2014 by Jon Hemmerdinger - FG

Washington DC - Boeing’s maritime surveillance aircraft (MSA), which is based on a Bombardier Challenger 605 platform, will be an ideal aircraft for countries that already operate Lockheed P-3 Orions, the company says.

Speaking at the Navy League’s Sea-Air-Space Exposition near Washington DC, company officials add that potential customers will also be countries in the Asia-Pacific and Persian Gulf.

“Likely customers are going to be [countries] with a challenging maritime environment,” says Jeff Brown, Boeing’s director of business development for electronic and information solutions. He adds that the MSA will be an ideal platform for performing surveillance of economic maritime zones within roughly 170nm (320km) of coasts.

“A plane like the Challenger can get to station quickly and spend a longer amount of time there” than turboprop-driven alternatives like the P-3, says Brown.

He declines to name potential customers, but Flightglobal’s MiliCAS database shows that Persian Gulf and Asia-Pacific operators of the P-3 include Australia, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand. P-3 operators in other regions include Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Germany, Norway, Pakistan, Portugal and Spain.

A prototype MSA achieved first flight on 28 February, following modifications to a Challenger 604 test asset performed by Toronto-based Field Aviation. The test aircraft was subsequently flown to a Boeing facility in Yuma, Arizona, where flight testing will continue, Field says.

Flight testing is scheduled to conclude by the end of 2014, with production to start in 2015, Field says.

Boeing says it has targeted 20 to 30 potential customers, and estimates the market value to be $10 billion over 10 years. The aircraft will be marketed to coast guards, militaries and other government operators, according to Field.

The base version of the MSA will be manned by two pilots and three system operators. It will be offered with a Selex ES Seaspray 7300 maritime surveillance radar and a FLIR Systems Star Safire 380 electro-optical/infrared sensor. Options will include two additional crew stations and equipment such as satellite communications and a side-looking airborne radar, says Field. Future aircraft could also be outfitted with weapons mounted on wing hardpoints, it adds.

07 March 2014 by Kim Helfrich - defenceWeb

With approval, in principle at present from the National Treasury, Defence and Military Veterans Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula’s unhappiness about “her people” flying in aircraft more than 60 years old seems set to end, if only in a few years.

During his national budget speech last month Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan approved the acquisition of new maritime surveillance aircraft (MSA) in the 2015/16 fiscal term for the South African Air Force (SAAF).

The new aircraft, the number of which was not stipulated by Gordhan, will replace 35 Squadron’s C-47TPs, now well over 60 years old and the mainstay of the SAAF’s maritime patrol and surveillance capability.

Mapisa-Nqakula specifically mentioned the age of aircraft in the wake of the C-47TP crash in the Drakensberg in December 2012 which left 11 dead.

With the door now open for MSAs, two of the potential suppliers have both stressed the importance of acquisitions that can fulfil multiple missions rather than be dedicated to the single tasking of maritime surveillance.

Taking an extract from the draft Defence Review, hopefully still to be tabled during the current session of Parliament, Lockheed Martin points to the importance of airborne maritime surveillance. The Review states: “as a trading nation, with over 95% of our trade being reliant on maritime trade routes, the security of South Africa and its people is crucially dependant on the ability to trade, grow the economy, reduce poverty and provide meaningful work for South Africa’s people” and, in reference to the threat of piracy, “protection of the trade routes for merchant shipping is of vital national interest to the nation. No less than 75% of South Africa’s oil imports on which the economy depends arrives by sea from the Middle East.”

The United States aerospace and defence company’s relationship with the SAAF goes back more than 50 years, having delivered C-130 Hercules to the SAAF half a century ago. C-130BZs in service with 28 Squadron are still the SAAF’s major airlift and transport aircraft. However, with these nearing the end of their serviceable lives, Lockheed Martin maintains the new generation C-130J Super Hercules is the right replacement.

Apart from being able to do what the current SAAF BZ fleet does more efficiently, the J models are also multi-mission. This means configurations can be changed to suit specific taskings, ranging from transport of troops and equipment through to medevac, VIP transport, firefighting and maritime surveillance and patrol as well as search and rescue, an important tasking given South Africa’s responsibilities in terms of its massive economic exclusion zone.

In similar vein the C295 from the Airbus Defence and Space stable is also a true multi-mission aircraft. It offers transport in all its variants; maritime surveillance, unarmed with the option of either palletised or permanently installed mission systems; maritime patrol, armed and also with either palletised or permanently fitted mission systems as well as oil spill response and protection.

With no real prospect of growth in the defence budget, the SAAF would be getting “more bang for its buck” if aircraft acquisitions are of the multi-mission type. This would cut down on the number of platforms to be purchased and allow more different mission taskings.

These are only two of the possibilities SAAF acquisitions personnel will be investigating - many other manufacturers have also expressed interest in Project Saucepan, including RUAG, Saab, L-3, ATR and HAL. Another possibility comes from a suggestion made by retired lieutenant general Carlo Gagiano, when he headed up the airborne arm of the SA National Defence Force (SANDF).

He proposed acquiring a number of smaller twin-engined aircraft, in the King Air size, to be fitted with the requisite equipment and operated by SAAF Reserve Force pilots from airports along the country’s coastline. Given that current SAAF chief, Lieutenant General Zakes Msimang, has stated the revitalisation of the SAAF Reserve is one of his priorities, this could well add another arrow to the quiver that is maritime surveillance.

Reserve Force pilots based at say, Port Elizabeth, Durban and Cape Town, could utilise these SAAF assets, freeing up whatever other platforms are acquired for other duties.

All told, military aviation watchers maintain there are options aplenty available to the SAAF acquisitions personnel to beef up maritime surveillance and keep the seas off the country safe, essential given that South Africa is very much a maritime trading country.

March 5, 2014. David Pugliese - Defence Watch

News release from Field Aviation:

TORONTO, ONTARIO, March 5th, 2014 – Field Aviation, a Field Aerospace company, has successfully completed its first test flight of Boeing’s Maritime Surveillance Aircraft (MSA) demonstrator. The demonstrator is a Boeing owned Challenger 604 and is the prototype platform upon which Boeing will develop its MSA program based on the Bombardier Challenger 605.

Field Aviation, Boeing’s teammate on the MSA program has carried out modifications to the airframe and systems which include the design, manufacture and installation of provisions for Search Radar, retractable EO/IR camera, ESM, Comint and other communication systems.

Following the arrival of the aircraft at Field Aviation’s Toronto facility in early 2013, a baseline flight of the aircraft was carried out to acquire and benchmark flight and handling characteristics prior to any modifications being carried out.

The first post modification flight took place at Toronto Pearson International Airport (CYYZ) on Friday, February 28th. The nearly four hour flight was conducted to verify that the handling qualities of the aircraft had not been affected by the airframe modifications. Field Aviation test pilot Craig Tylski reported that there were no issues with aerodynamic performance throughout the envelope and the external shapes on the aircraft did not affect the handling or control of the aircraft whatsoever.

Following this first fight, the MSA demonstrator has been flown to a Boeing facility in Yuma, AZ, where Field Aviation will continue working towards completion of its flight test program, leading to FAA and Transport Canada certification. Upon flight test completion, Field Aviation will deliver the modified MSA demonstrator to Boeing in Seattle for integration of the MSA’s sensors and communications subsystems.

Field Aviation is internationally recognized for its uniquely engineered products and services including the modification of aircraft for special mission purposes. These capabilities have made Field Aviation a world leader in the adaptation of commercial aircraft for special mission roles. Special mission aircraft modified by Field Aviation are serving governments throughout the world providing a range of essential services.