|
ACS Details Revealed by Embraer
Embraer says the U.S. Army and U.S. Navy Aerial Common Sensor (ACS) aircraft will have a wingspan four-to-five meters longer than that on the ERJ-145 regional jet on which it is based. The fuselage, too, will be stretched, to over a meter longer, and the airframe will be ‘beefed-up’ by two tons, to give a 26-ton maximum take-off weight.
The ACS will have “a 41 ,000-ft operating altitude, which will be achieved through a combination of higher-powered engines and the increased wingspan, and it won’t have winglets,” Anastacio Katsanos, Embraer’s Defense Programs chief told Show News.
“With the two large radomes increasing aerodynamic drag, it was necessary to increase lift,” he explained. The ACS has a radome atop the rear fuselage, and a ventral ‘canoe’ radome forward of the wing leading-edge. The aircraft’s longer nose will accommodate a retractable FLIR. “The ACS will be fitted with EVS to enable take-off and landing in total darkness, and it will also have advanced self-protection systems,” noted Katsanos.
He believes that the ACS will be the first aircraft to achieve Level 5 for UAV control via its ISR platform. “In Level 5 you can re-program the route of the UAV while it’s airborne,” he explained.
A key contract requirement is that a squadron of five ACSs can deploy within 72 hours to any point in the world and operate 24/7 for 15 days without support. “The reliability of our platform made all the difference in gaining the contract against Gulfsteam’s G450 proposal, which could not comply with this requirement,” said Katsanos.
ACS project leader Lockheed Martin was awarded the contract in August 2004 for these next-generation battlefield surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft. They will eventually replace three ageing systems: the Army’s Beech King Air-based RC-12H Guardrail, which will be first to be replaced, in 2009-10; the DHC Dash 7-derived RC-7 ARL; and the Navy’s Lockheed EP-3E Aires II.
The U.S. Army is expected to procure around 38 aircraft and the Navy around 19. “The Army aircraft will have four (operator) consoles and the Navy possibly six. The aircraft will be fitted with underwing hardpoints and possibly have in-flight refueling capability as well,” said Katsanos.
The first ACS will fly at the end of 2006 or early in 2007. “We have to fly five development ACS aircraft; the first two will be produced in Brazil with the remainder built at our new plant in Jacksonville, Florida, and rolled-out in 2007,” said Katsanos. Jacksonville will then become the base for ACS production, with Lockheed Martin and L-3 responsible for installation and integration. —Mike Vines
back
to ShowNews home
|
