Liten rapport från Sydafrika hur man upplever Gripen
“The Gripen was designed from day one for modern engineering and logistics.” points out SAAF Senior Staff Officer: Combat Systems Col John Bayne. “It has a lot of built-in test equipment. The result is reduced costs and streamlined support. The Hawk is a proven airframe, with some legacy systems, but we have a lot of experience with these.”
“One no longer needs to take an engine out of an aircraft and test it,” cites Delport. The Gripen is powered by the Volvo Aero Corporation RM12 low bypass ratio turbofan with afterburner, which is based on the General Electric F-404-400 engine. The RM12 has increased thrust and enhanced bird strike resistance in comparison with its American precursor. The Hawk Mk 120 uses the Rolls Royce Turbomeca Adour Mk 951, which is a two-shaft turbofan and is the latest member of the Adour engine family, providing increased thrust, longer life, and lower life-cycle costs. Both these engines are modular and both have full authority digital engine control (Fadec) including self-monitoring systems.
“These new engines are always testing themselves, and when a fault is detected, you don’t have to take an entire engine out of the aircraft – you just [remove] the module concerned,” explains Delport. One money-saving consequence is that AFB Makhado has been able to close down its engine test bench (a misnomer, as it was actually a separate building) because it is no longer required.
The training systems for the Gripen and Hawk maintenance personnel are also of the latest generation, and this training takes place at Makhado, in the Centralised Training Centre (CTC), which falls under the aegis of 85 CFS. The CTC has four classrooms, two each for the Hawk and Gripen, and each classroom has ten work stations.
“The CTC provides technical training for both ground crew and aircrew on each of these aircraft,” explains CTC Manager Lt-Col Eugene Hossel. “The course is computerised and modular. The students work at their own pace, at their own workstations. They need to past a test at the end of each training module before they are allowed to continue to the next module. The tests are also done on the system, and the instructors can add extra questions.”
For training on the Hawk, the CTC has the Virtual Aircraft Trainer (Vat) system, which formed part of the Hawk acquisition programme. This simulates everything on a Hawk in the computer. “The Vat allows all elements of the aircraft – controls, systems, subsystems, and components – to be displayed on a computer screen in great detail,” he elucidates. “The instructors can generate faults in the virtual Hawk and the students must find and fix that fault.”
For example, say a trainee has to remove an instrument from the rear cockpit. He or she starts off with a picture of the complete aircraft on the screen. The student then positions the cursor on the cockpit and clicks on the mouse to zoom in on the cockpit. The trainee has to zoom in on the cockpit opening handle. The trainee then places the cursor on this, and clicks to open the cockpit. The student then zooms back a bit, to indicate (by means of the cursor) that he or she wants to enter the rear cockpit. Once in the rear cockpit, the trainee is faced by the instrument panel, and must likewise indicate the instrument he or she desires to remove. Once that is in front of the student, the student must place the cursor, in turn, on the virtual representation of the screws that, in the real aircraft, secure the instrument in place. Once the cursor is on a screw, a click ‘unscrews’ it. Once this is done with all the screws, the instrument can be removed. And so on. Every step required in real life must also be fulfilled in the virtual world of the Vat.
The Jet Set
Everything at Makhado centres on the new generation of fast jets that are trans- forming the SAAF. The Gripen is replacing the already retired Denel Cheetah C fighters and the Hawk has already replaced the Atlas (later Denel) Impala I and II trainers and light attack aircraft.
“We’re very fortunate we could replace both our front-line fighters and fighter- trainers in almost a single programme,” says Bayne. “This gave us the opportunity to tailor our fighter-trainer. We could Gripenise the Hawk cockpit, to make the pilot transition from the one to the other as seamless as possible. As a total system, it takes us forward in technology and reduces the number of hours needed to produce front-line pilots. Both the Hawk and the Gripen use open architecture software, which makes constant upgrades possible, if funding permits.” (The airborne software for the SAAF Hawks was developed in South Africa, by Midrand-based medium- sized private-sector company Advanced Technologies & Engineering, better known as ATE.)
The Gripen, Bayne highlights, is easy to fly because of its modern systems, including fly-by-wire (FBW – electronic flight control) and Fadec. “Regarding the Mirage and Cheetah, many hours were needed to learn just to fly the aircraft. Pilots also have much improved situational awareness with the new aircraft.”
“The role of 2 Sqdn is multirole air combat operations,” says Flying Cheetahs OC Lt-Col Glen Gibson. “We are currently phasing in the Gripen. We are busy integrating new weapons onto the aircraft. The Gripen’s radar is a big upgrade on what we had before. The flight control system optimises the aircraft for low-drag flight at all times, thus reducing fuel consumption. The main technology improvements on the Gripen are FBW, datalinking, helmet mounted displays, and an improved infrared (IR) and laser designating pod. The IR is not fixed – it can be directed off-boresight. The SAAF has had IR before, but this is much more modern technology. This pod is already cleared on the Gripen and is being supplied via Saab. Likewise, the fifth- generation IR-homing air-to-air missile chosen as an interim fit on our Gripens, the Iris-T, is also already integrated onto the Gripen.” (The SAAF’s intent is to replace the Iris-T with the Denel Dynamics A-Darter, once the development of the South African/Brazilian missile is completed.) Datalinking allows Gripens to exchange information, including radar data, between themselves while in flight.
The Gripen can fly from Makhado to Cape Town without refuelling – and with sufficient fuel to divert to an alternative base if Cape Town is suffering bad weather. “The Cheetah couldn’t do this,” he reveals.
“With the Gripen, you need only two ground crew to get it airborne, as against eight or nine for the Cheetah,” reports Delport. “And a Gripen can be turned around – refuelled and rearmed – in minutes. The Cheetah took hours.”
