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US NAVY'S NEW HUNTER KILLER: BOEING'S P-8A
O cially the World's Number One Military Aviation Magazine | www.airforcesmonthly.com
TORNADO
TURNS 30
THE BACKBONE OF THE RAF'S FIGHTING FORCE
FORCE REPORT:
CHINA
People's liberation army air force
ALLIGATOR
HATCHING
Building Attack
Helicopters
in Russia
VOYAGER'S
FIRST TREK
UK Future
Strategic
Tanker
Aircraft
Exercise reports
THRACIAN
STAR
US-Bulgarian
Air Exercise
TYPHOON
AUGUST 2012 £4.40
CANADA $13.25
TIGER MEET
ROAD
AHEAD
CONTENTS
AUGUST
CONTENTS
For daily news stories visit
www.airforcesdaily.com
e-mail the news team at:
milnews@keypublishing.com
82
NEWS
4
5
6-8
10 - 15
18 - 21
22
24
25
26 - 27
30 - 32
33
Editorial
Headlines
United Kingdom
Europe
North America
Latin America
Middle East
Russia
Africa
Asia Pacific
Australasia and
Contracts
34 - 35
Attrition
of the famous aircraft that entered
RAF service 30 years ago.
76
Retro Revenge
Hawker Hunter Aviation is leading
the way in providing high-tech
threat training at a reasonable
cost with its inventory of 1950s
aircraft. Key Publishing’s
Glenn
Sands
went to RNAS Yeovilton in
somerset to nd out more.
94
’Gator hatching in
Russia’s Far East
Alexander Mladenov
got the rare
opportunity to visit the Arsenyev
Aviation Company Progress to
see how Kamov's Ka-52 Alligator
attack helicopter is being built.
48
Luni Times
Italian Navy AgustaWestland
EH-101ASHs have just returned
from Afghanistan after more than
a year in the operational theatre.
Francesco Militello Mirto
and
Luca La Cavera
ew with them at
Luni-Sarzana Air Base in Italy.
82
The Poseidon Venture
The US Navy is acquiring 117
Boeing P-8A Poseidons to replace
its venerable Lockheed P-3 Orion
eet of submarine hunters-killers
in the maritime patrol role.
Blair
Watson
assesses the programme
as the type nears service entry
and assesses if the UK will
eventually buy it to replace the
axed Nimrod.
98
Super Tucano battles on
With the US Air Force re-opening
its Light Attack Support (LAS)
aircraft contest to supply aircraft
to Afghanistan, which Embraer’s
Super Tucano won rst time
around,
Santiago Rivas
looks at
the type’s success in the South
American market.
38
RAF Typhoon - Ready
to Swing!
In the rst of a two-part feature,
industry expert
Jon Lake
assesses
the Euro ghter Typhoon Phase 1
Enhancement programme.
Cover Feature uSA
66
The Need for SEAD
Dr Dave Sloggett
looks at how the
US is altering its doctrine in the
Paci c rim due to the evolving
Chinese military forces.
Cover Feature uk
44
Tornado Turns Thirty!
Tim Ripley
compares the Tornado
GR4 of today with the early version
70
A Grizzly Predator
Ted Carlson/Fotodynamics.
com
describes how the future is
changing the Air National Guard
with the introduction of the MQ-1.
102
Voyager’s Maiden
Passenger Flight
Neil Robinson
was on board the
RAF’s new Airbus Military A330
Multi-Role Tanker Transport, the
Voyager KC2, as it made its rst
passenger ight.
88
Flanker Follow-On
Douglas Barrie
pro les the Russian
Air Force’s future ghter, designed
to take on the F-22A Raptor.
Regulars
36
Opinion
Out of Chicago
Dr Dave Sloggett
looks at what
came out of the NATO summit.
104
Exercise Report:
Thracian Star 2012
China is strengthening its
military forces – and has the
money to do so.
Dr Dave
Sloggett
and AFM’s
Jerry
Gunner
analyse the People’s
Liberation Army Air Force in an
extensive feature.
52
Force Report:
The Chinese Dragon
spreads its wings
Alexander Mladenov
and
Krasimir Grozev
report
on Thracian Star 2012, the
biggest and most complex
joint US-Bulgarian combined
air exercise held in Bulgaria
to date.
108
Postcard from
Kazakhstan: More
from KADEX
110
Low-fly UK!
FREE DVD!
Subscribe
to AirForces
Monthly
and claim
your FREE
Hellenic
F-16 Cockpit
DVD worth
£12.49.
See pages
16 and 17
for more
details.
Kees Otten, Koos Heemskerk
and
Wim Das
present the
highlights of May’s KADEX 2012
airshow held at Astana Interna-
tional Airport in Kazakhstan.
AFM’s Essential Guide to
military low-level locations in
the UK nally reaches number
1 – the Bwlch in North Wales.
110
Feedback
106
Exercise Report:
Tiger Meet 2012
Bob Archer
travelled to
deepest Norway for this
year’s Tiger Meet.
109
Postcard from
Sweden
More correspondence from the
Editor's postbag.
AirForces Daily’s
Alan Warnes
reports from Linköping
where SAAB celebrated its
75th anniversary in style.
114
And Finally…
Future War in Art
Tim O’Brien
decides that the
MoD will eventually buy the P-8
Poseidon...
www.airforcesdaily.com
#293 AUGUST 2012
3
Cartoon by Tim O’Brien
It’s late June as I write this and
the sun has nally made an
appearance in the sky above Key
Towers in rural Lincolnshire,
just in time for the ‘mad month’
of early July with a rash of UK
airshows crammed in before
the London Olympic Games
begin and airspace in southern
England becomes restricted.
By the time these words are
read, the airshows at RNAS
Yeovilton and RAF Waddington
will have happened, and we’ll
be immediately into the Royal
International Air Tattoo weekend
at RAF Fairford and then off to
Farnborough for the biennial
trade show.
And what shows they promise
It’s Airshow Time!
to be – after several rather
lacklustre years, some real treats
are lining up for enthusiasts.
The Republic of Korea Air
Force’s Black Eagles team should
have – weather permitting – just
made its European debut at
Waddington, and the Russian
Knights are sending two Su-27
Flankers
to Farnborough.
But the one thing that would
really
complete the Farnborough
line-up would be the rst
overseas appearance by Lockheed
Martin’s F-35 – with aircraft now
operational with the US Air Force,
excuses as to why it can’t make
it are wearing thin. The project
badly needs a boost, and an
international debut at a big trade
show would do wonders
for potential customer
con dence, especially in
Europe and Scandinavia,
where the programme
regularly hits the headlines
for cost and delay reasons.
We’ll be on the road to
cover the best of the action
for next month’s issue –
but we’re still wondering
how we’re going to get
time to actually put it all
together by August 2!
Left:
UK Cover
- Tornado
GR4 by Jamie
Hunter
Below:
US Cover -
EA-18G Growler
by Boeing
EDITOR
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AirForces Monthly
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AirForces Monthly
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4
#293 AUGUST 2012
www.airforcesmonthly.com
NEWS
HEADLINES
For daily news stories visit
www.airforcesmonthly.com
e-mail the news team
at: milnews@keypublishing.com
UK Eyes Maritime
Surveillance Aircraft
Above:
A Saab 2000 MPA in action. It could be an option as a UK maritime surveillance aircraft.
Saab
W
ITH INCREASINGLY
hostile rhetoric coming
from Argentina’s Government
over the status of the Falkland
Islands, the UK Government is
becoming increasingly concerned
over the Islands’ security.
As a result, the Ministry of
Defence (MoD) is considering
which maritime surveillance
options could be deployed to
the region. One is thought to be
the Lockheed Martin palletised
maritime surveillance version
of the Vigilance system, which
could be rolled into an RAF
C-130J Hercules. It would come
with a SELEX Galileo Seaspray
7300 multi-mode maritime
surveillance radar and an electro-
optical forward looking infrared
(EO/IR FLIR). A C-130J is already
based at RAF Mount Pleasant in
a rudimentary maritime role, the
aircrew relying on ‘Mk 1 Eyeball’.
Another option may be the Saab
2000 or Saab 340; the Swedish
company visited Aberdeen on
May 23/24 and Edinburgh on
Above:
Saab showed o one of its 2000s as the Swordfish Maritime Patrol Aircraft at
its 75th Anniversary Airshow at Linköping in early June, even though the aircraft
has no systems fitted. It was due to attend the RAF Waddington Airshow, being held
on June 30-July 1.
Key - Alan Warnes
Above:
Lockheed Martin’s SC-130J Sea Hercules has a palletised mission system
that can be removed when required for its more usual cargo role. A ‘roll-on roll-o ’
system might appeal to the UK MOD.
Lockheed-Martin
June 7 in a Saab 2000, when –
according to
AirForces Daily’s
sources – “representatives from
the company met the MoD and
oil company of cials to discuss
both aircraft as maritime patrol
options”. Interestingly, at the
same time these meetings were
taking place, Saab was showing
off its 340 in a maritime security
role (see
Saab’s Special Mission
Solutions,
page 14) on May 31
while a Saab 2000 painted up as
a maritime surveillance aircraft
appeared in the static at Saab’s
airshow at Linköping-Malmen on
June 2-3.
Longer-term, Boeing sees
the UK as a prime market for
its P-8A Poseidon, which is a
737-800 airliner optimised for
maritime patrol (see
the Poseidon
Venture,
pages 82-86). It has been
acquired by both the Indian Navy
and the US Navy, reputedly at a
cost of around £220 million each.
According to the company, the
Saab 340 will cost around £20
million.
AFD- ALAN WARNES
heightened tension as a Turkish RF-4E is Shot Down by Syria
SYRIA HAS admitted that it shot down
a Turkish Air Force RF-4E Phantom
on June 22 o the Syrian coast. The
next day, SANA, Syria’s state-run news
agency, con rmed the details with a
statement from a military spokesman:
“At 1140hrs an unidenti ed aerial
target violated Syrian airspace, so the
Syrian anti-air defences counteracted
with anti-aircraft artillery, hitting it
and causing it to crash into Syrian
territorial waters.” The spokesman
added that it was not known until
afterwards that the target was a
Turkish military aircraft that had
entered Syrian airspace, but it had
been dealt with “according to laws
observed in such cases”.
On June 23 Turkey’s Anatolia news
agency said that President Abdullah
Gül had acknowledged that the
aircraft may have unintentionally
entered Syrian air space. “When
we think of the speed of these jet
planes while ying above the sea,
sometimes crossing over borders
for a short distance does occur,” he
is reported as saying. “These are
not ill-intentioned things.”
On June 24, the Turkish Foreign
Ministry said that Syria had shot
down the aircraft without any
warning, which it considered a
hostile act. Turkish search-and-
rescue teams said they had located
the wreckage of the RF-4E in the
Mediterranean at a depth of 4,260ft
(1,300m), but there was no sign of
the two crew, identi ed as Captain
Gökhan Ertan and Lt Hasan Hüseyin
Aksoy.
In a separate incident, a Syrian
Arab Air Force MiG-21 landed in
Jordan on June 21 and the pilot,
Colonel Hasan Merhi al-Hamadeh,
requested political asylum. The
aircraft was on a training ight
from Dumayr Air Base and the pilot
crossed the border into Jordan
where he landed at Al Mafraq-King
Hussein Air Base, just 6 miles
(9.5km) from the Syrian border.
www.airforcesdaily.com
#293 AUGUST 2012
5

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