From: skunk-works-digest-owner@mail.orst.edu To: skunk-works-digest@mail.orst.edu Subject: Skunk Works Digest V5 #241 Reply-To: skunk-works-digest@mail.orst.edu Errors-To: skunk-works-digest-owner@mail.orst.edu Precedence: bulk Skunk Works Digest Friday, 14 April 1995 Volume 05 : Number 241 In this issue: AW&ST - April 10, 1995 Re: AW&ST - April 10, 1995 See the end of the digest for information on subscribing to the skunk-works or skunk-works-digest mailing lists and on how to retrieve back issues. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Kathryn & Andreas Gehrs-Pahl Date: Thu, 13 Apr 1995 09:09:39 -0400 (EDT) Subject: AW&ST - April 10, 1995 The latest AW&ST has a choice morsel for the Skunk Works fans. Because of the special occasion, I will quote the entire article! McGraw Hill people, look the other way, please.... :) Other interesting articles in this issue are: * Big F-22 budget drives search for flaws, pages 21/22; * Lockheed Martin proposes F-16 cost reduction, page 24; * U.S. lab pursues UWB imaging technology, page 47; * Ames YAV-8B demonstrates ASTOVL landing concepts, pages 50/51; * Russian power design to drive U.S. weapons, pages 54/55; And here is the main attraction: SR-71 revived to fill intelligence gap, pages 22/23; by Michael A. Dornheim / Los Angeles Congress gave final funding approval last week to Air Force operation of the Lockheed SR-71 reconnaissance aircraft and the first flight is expected in May, five years after the service halted the the program. The prospects appear good because of two changes in how the aircraft will be operated. First, SR-71 funds are now being given to the Air Force by Congress, so that they no longer compete with high-priority Air Force programs (AWA&ST Jan. 22, 1990, p. 38). Second, the aircraft will have a data link for near-real-time transmisson of radar images. Senators Robert C. Byrd (D.-W.Va.) and Sam Nunn (D.-Ga.) inserted $100 million in the Defense Dept. budget last June for the SR-71 (AW&ST June 20, 1994, p. 25). The intent is to complement the Lockheed U-2 reconnaissance aircraft with a capability to penetrate hostile airspace until drones are developed that also have a penetrating capability. The SR-71 funds are "new" money and were not taken from other programs, Richard D'Amato, counsel to the Senate Appropriations Committee, said. "The hard part was restarting the program, and the question now is whether it is affordable for 4-5 years," D'Amato said. "The Senate view is that it is." The reactivation program has underrun its budget and is expected to cost less than $73 million, according to Air Force and Lockheed officials. Rep. Larry Combest (R.-Tex.), chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, started leading House moves in January to rescind unspent SR-71 funds, stating that drones such as "Tier 3" could perform the same penetrating role. However, Lockheed's Tier 3-Minus drone does not roll out until next month and probably would take at least five years to become operational, an Air Force official said. The joint House-Senate Appropriations Committee decide on Apr. 5 to rescind only the surplus $27.5 million of the Fiscal 1995 SR-71 funds. Senate leaders envision using the aircraft in a more tactical manner than before, and giving tasking and information distribution authority to local commanders rather than being remotely commanded at national headquarters levels. "The SR-71 will be [theater commander-in-chief]-dominated rather than strategic," D'Amato said. The two SR-71s will operate as a detachment based at Edwards AFB, Calif., under their old organization, now called the 9th Reconnaissance Wing in Air Combat Command. The aircraft may fly one recon mission, aerially refuel, and then receive orders for another mission, instead of just flying a preplanned strategic mission. "It might be better called the 'TR-71," D'Amato said, and a Lockheed official called it "Mach 3 RA-5 Vigilante." The data link has an audio channel up to the aircraft that would assist in giving it new targets. The Defense Airborne Reconnaissance Office, operating through the Air Force office of plans and operations and the Aeronautical Systems Command, directed a contract on Jan. 15 to the Lockheed Advanced Development Co. to renovate the two aircraft and their sensors. Costs are expected to be $38-43 million to renovate the two aircraft, $9-13 million to add the data link, $7 million for Air Combat Command operations and $3 million for Air Mobility Command tanker support, an Air Foce official said. These run through the end of September and include provisions for a 30-day deployment and program shutdown. Future operations should cost $30-50 million per year. The amounts are less than the $100 million appropriated partly because the original plan was for three aircraft, instead of two. Adding the third aircraft -- tail No. 17968 at Palmdale -- would cost about $4 million, Justin "Jay" Murphy, Lockheed SR-71 program manager, said. Also, the aircraft proved to be in good shape and their renovation has been efficiently run, an Air Force offical said. The aircraft will be maintained by Lockheed and other contractors, and flown by Air Force pilots. The SR-71s being renovated are Nos. 17967 and 17971. The former had under 50 flight hours and the latter about 5 hr. since completing the 800-hr. programmed depot maintainance. Their remiaining lifetime is well beyond projected use, Murphy said. No. 17967 was stored outside at Lockheed's Palmdale, Calif., facility and No. 17971 was flown in from NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center at neighboring Edwards AFB, where it had been stored on loan. Renovation tasks include taking the wing fuel tanks apart to replace their seallant, checking for animal and water damage, and reinstalling the sensors. The total SR-71 fleet between NASA and the Air Rorce will be four flying aircraft -- two SR-71As for the Air Force, one SR-71A for NASA and one shared SR-71B trainer. NASA and the Air Force also will share spares and a simulator that has had the back-seat reconnaissance controls reinstalled. Two more SR-71As are in storage in Palmdale, and there are several more at museums that are used for parts and might be made flyable. First flight of the Air Force aicraft is to be made around May 1 with No. 17971, followed by July 5 for 967. No. 17971 is to be equipped with reconnaissance sensors by Aug. 30. The sensors will be: * The nose-mounted Goodyear (now Loral) advanced synthetic aperture radar system (ASARS-1). * The Itek optical bar camera that mounts in place of ASARS-1 in the nose. The camera has a rotating head that sweeps from horizon to horizon 200 mi. on either side of the flight path. * The two McDonnell Douglas technical objective cameras mounted in the fuselage chines. They have a long lens and are automatically pointed at preprogrammed positions to take high-resolution snapshots. The AIL Electronic intelligence-gathering system (Elint) formerly ont the SR-71 is not being reactivated at the moment, Murphy said. However, the self-protection radar warning system is still active and provides some information. If the Elint is reactivated, it could be used to automatically cue ASARS-1 and the technical objective camera to look for emitting targets, a capability that did not exist before and that would increase tactical value. Murphy said there are no current plans to data link optical imagery. The data link being added for ASARS-1 is the Unisys system formerly used for the Hughes ASARS-2 radar on the Lockheed U-2 reconnaissance aircraft. It relays the raw radar data directly to a ground processing station. A similar link was tested on the SR-71 in 1980, but was not deployed. The data link antenna will be in a 1-ft. high-temperature radome on the bottom of the fuselage behind the rear cockpit. Data link range is about 350 mi., and the SR-71 will return to the vicinity of a ground station to transmit tape-recorded imagery over about a 5-min. period. The data link could also carry Elint information. Lockheed is trying to make various reconnaissance aircraft, such as the U-2, SR-71 and drones, work with a common ground station, Murphy said. One idea is to modify the ASARS-1 output to resemble the ASARS-2 format so it can be processed by existing ASARS-2 equipment. ASARS-1 and -2 were originally intended to have the same format, but system differences overwhelmed the computer power of the day -- for example, ASARS-1 can image in a turn and ASARS-2 cannot. Air Force operations are to start on Sept. 1. The reactivation scheme includes being able to support a 30-day deployment of the first aircraft in September, but there are no specific deployment plans. The SR-71 can be refueled with its special JP-7 by KC-10 or KC-135T tankers. The KC-135T is a KC-135Q reengined with CFM-56 powerplants. Three Air Force two-man flight crews have been selected. All have prior SR-71 experience but none are current in the aircraft, and the first crew will be returned to proficiency by NASA pilots. A NASA pilot will make the first flight on May 1. No Lockheed pilots will fly the aircraft. A crew needs about 80 flying hours per year to be proficient, Murphy said. When the Air Force canceled the SR-71 in 1990, its mission of penetrating aerial reconnaissance was to be replaced by a "classified airborne reconnaissance" platform, which was likely a stealthy subsonic drone design, similar to the Lockheed Tier 3. However, this replacement was also canceled. The remaining reconnaissance satellites lack the flexibility and surprise of an aircraft, and the U-2 cannot penetrate defended airspace. ### End of Article ### - -- Andreas - --- --- Andreas & Kathryn Gehrs-Pahl E-Mail: schnars@ais.org 313 West Court St. #305 or gpahl@raptor.csc.flint.umich.edu Flint, MI 48502-1239 or gehrs-pahl@buick.flint.umich.edu Tel: (810) 238-8469 or gpahl@cyberspace.org - --- --- ------------------------------ From: MP%MPA15C@MPA15AB.mv-oc.Unisys.COM Date: 13 APR 95 08:59 Subject: Re: AW&ST - April 10, 1995 >The data link being added for ASARS-1 is the Unisys system formerly used >for the Hughes ASARS-2 radar on the Lockheed U-2 reconnaissance aircraft. I expect that this is also now going to be a Loral system. Unisys recently sold almost all of its government systems division to Loral. That sale is expected to be complete by 9/30/95. _____________________________________________________________________ Mark Perew (714)380-5484 | Faith's what you find Unisys Mission Viejo, CA | when you're alone mp@mpa15c.mv.unisys.com | and find you're not. perew@kaiwan.com | -- Terry Anderson, "Den of Lions" ============= "All opinions are mine," sayeth the poster ============ ------------------------------ End of Skunk Works Digest V5 #241 ********************************* To subscribe to skunk-works-digest, send the command: subscribe skunk-works-digest in the body of a message to "majordomo@mail.orst.edu". 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