Page 26 - Australian Defence Magazine April 2019

NORTHROP GRUMMAN
DEFENCE BUSINESS
AVALON
Northrop Grumman responds to Coastwatch RFI
The Firebird is a Medium Altitude Long Endurance (MALE) platform, powered by a piston engine and with an endurance of around 30 hours. It is capable of being switched from manned to unmanned con- figuration in around four hours. Two pro- totypes are currently undergoing develop- mental testing and Chappel says a third will soon join the program.
The launch customer is an undisclosed US Government agency, but Chappel says the aircraft is now being offered for export sales. “We’re marketing the airplane now, because it has reached the stage where our initial pro- duction program is assured,” he explained.
Chappel describes Firebird as a ‘unique capability’, saying that Northrop Grum- man is not just trying to produce another MALE UAS. “Yes, it classically fits in the MALE category, but it’s optionally-manned and the aircraft was designed from the ground-up to have that capability in mind,” he adds. “The integrated mission systems are capable of performing all manner of ISR, communications, ocean surveillance or Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief mission sets.”
Chappel says unit cost will be less than ten million US dollars per aircraft. “This is not a double-digit (millions of dollars) air- plane,” he said.
Additional lessons were being learnt from the proliferation of users, all of whom oper- ated the aircraft slightly differently.
A Heads of Agreement for Australian Sovereign Sustainment Contracts signed at Avalon between the Commonwealth and Lockheed Martin. To date, Australian in- dustry has secured subcontracting work on the F-35 program worth $1.3 billion. This is expected to grow significantly.
Defence Minister Christopher Pyne said the agreement provides “certainty and clar- ity to Australia by pre-agreeing ... contract
provisions with Lockheed Martin Australia and Lockheed Martin Corporation for any sovereign sus- tainment contracts”.
Pyne added: “This creates an en- vironment where (Defence) should it decide to enter into new contracts with different companies for vari- ous services such as training, will be able to seek the IP, technical data, and software it needs through the US F35 Joint Program Office and Lockheed Martin.”
NIGEL PITTAWAY | AVALON
A NORTHROP Grumman official has con- firmed that the company has responded to an Australian Government Request For Information (RFI) regarding a future mari- time surveillance capability. The RFI has been released by the Department of Home Affairs and Border Force.
According to vice president and general manager of Autonomous Systems Brian
Chappel, Northrop Grumman will offer its recently unveiled Firebird optionally- manned aircraft, possibly together with other sensors and systems, for the Coast- watch requirement.
“We haven’t directly spoken to the Aus- tralian Government yet, but it’s an appli- cation and a mission set that we certainly believe has some applicability. We will be following that with Border Force very close- ly (and) we have responded to the Request For Information,” he told ADM.
JSF costs to drop over time
JULIAN KERR | AVALON
GREG Ulmer, vice-president and general manager of Lockheed Martin’s Joint Strike Fighter program, said the company hoped to reduce the cost per flying hour of the F-35A from US$35,000 to US$25,000 by 2025.
A further objective was reducing F-35A annual costs “per tail” to about US$4.1 mil- lion by the late 2030s.
Over the past three years the sustain- ment costs of an F-35A had been reduced by about 15 per cent and significant further savings were anticipated, Ulmer said.
“Think about big data analytics. All the components have electronic files associated with them; we understand their reliability. As we preflight an airplane we sweep the control surfaces and monitor how the sur- face responds relative to the pilot’s input. If we see something outside a normal distri-
bution of that reaction, rather than fly to fail we’re going to replace that component based on its history.”
Other savings would come from using data analytics to improve the efficiency of the supply chain, further reducing false alarms in the aircraft’s diagnostic system, and downsizing the size of flightline sup- port crews from 9- 12 to 6-8.
26 | April 2019 | www.australiandefence.com.au