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01-12-2006, 01:13
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מומחה לתעופה, תעופה צבאית, חלל ולווינות. חוקר בכיר במכון פישר
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חבר מתאריך: 02.07.05
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הידיעה המלאה מהמקור - Defense nesw
בה יש התייחסות גם לסוגיית המתדלק הקטן מבוסס G-550:
Israel Seeks Aerial-Refueled UAVs
Eitan Could Be First To Fill Unmanned Tanker Role
By BARBARA OPALL-ROME, TEL AVIV
The Israel Air Force is considering unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) that can refuel in midair, and unmanned tankers that can haul the fuel up and autonomously deliver it, the service’s Air Branch director said.
Tanker concepts worthy of evaluation include refueling among “like-minded platforms … such as a UAV refueling a UAV,” or manned aircraft whose speed and altitude are optimized for midair servicing of pilotless fighters, Brig. Gen. Yohanan Loker told air power professionals gathered Nov. 16 at the Fisher Institute for Strategic Air and Space Studies.
IAF officials have not formalized a requirement for UAVs that can take on or offload fuel while airborne, but are expected to do so within the coming year, defense and industry sources said. If a requirement is formalized during 2007, initial funding for conceptual development and testing could be included in the service’s multiyear plan beginning in 2008, sources here said.
“Refueling provides a continuous, persistent presence in the air, which significantly increases our ability to respond very rapidly to evolving threats,” Loker said. “The operational advantage of aerial refueling for long-range missions is obvious. … But even in limited, anti-terror operations at very close geographical ranges, it enhances the endurance, the effectiveness and the availability of our air assets.”
The technology to convert UAVs for in-air refueling should not be terribly complicated, and the potential benefits are tremendous, said Tal Inbar, a Fisher Institute analyst specializing in UAVs and space.
“If you take a platform already capable of flying 24, 30 or 48 hours and give it the ability to fly 60 or 100 hours, you don’t need to stretch your imagination to think of the added value it brings to the war fighters.”
For example, such UAVs could help provide secure military communications over the battle area, he said.
Israel is not the only nation interested in UAVs that can receive or deliver fuel. In February 2004, Paul Wolfowitz, then-U.S. deputy defense secretary, directed a Defense Science Board Task Force to assess the development of UAVs as aerial refueling tankers.
More recently, the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) has experimented with the kind of software and precision Global Positioning System gear that would allow a UAV to snuggle up to a manned tanker and take on fuel. In August flight tests above New York state, a modified Learjet held position behind a KC-135R tanker through two full racetrack-style orbits.
The U.S. Air Force had a requirement for automated UAV refueling under its now-cancelled J-UCAS effort, but currently has no plans for a specific UAV with that ability, said Daniel Schreiter, AFRL’s deputy program manager for automated aerial refueling.
IAI To Take Lead?
Defense and industry sources here said Israel’s autonomous tanker development efforts would likely be led by Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI), the nation’s sole provider of aerial refueling capabilities and a key producer of UAV systems. Over the years, the state-owned firm has converted Boeing 707, C-130, Il-76 and other manned aircraft into aerial tankers, and has equipped dozens of fighters and helicopters for in-flight fueling.
IAI has already simulated scenarios in which UAVs could autonomously refuel other UAVs.
“We’re preparing ourselves for this future requirement,” said Moshe Scharf, who directs marketing and business development for IAI’s Bedek Aviation Group.
Scharf said air-refuelable UAVs would provide more endurance and reduce the number of UAVs needed for a mission.
And tanker UAVs would meet Air Force requirements for increasingly multimission unmanned aircraft.
“It would expand the number of missions that could be done on the same UAV platform,” Scharf told the Fisher Institute gathering.
During the recent Lebanon war, the Israel Air Force flew dozens of manned and unmanned aircraft simultaneously and around-the-clock in an effort to hunt and kill Hizbollah’s medium-range missile launchers.
Defense and industry sources here said tanker UAVs would ease the burden of controlling so many unmanned platforms without reducing the persistent presence needed to quickly put weapons on a spotted target.
However, other air power experts here were less enthusiastic.
“For the unmanned tanker to be cost-effective, you would need a huge UAV capable of carrying many thousands of pounds of fuel … when other alternatives are available for much less cost and much lower risk,” one Israeli industry executive noted.
But defense and industry sources here said the IAF’s newest and still classified UAV, dubbed Eitan (Steadfast), could be ideally suited for the unmanned tanker role.
According to April 2004 editions of Air Force Journal, the service’s official Hebrew-language monthly magazine, the IAI-developed Eitan is about four times larger than the service’s nascent Heron-1, or Shoval, UAV. According to the IAF magazine, the 4-ton Eitan is designed to carry an estimated 1,800-kilogram payload, along with “large quantities of fuel, which will enable especially long flight.”
Industry sources here said the Eitan UAV — scheduled to make its first flight next year — could be adapted to carry nearly 10,000 pounds of fuel for more than 24 hours. Because details of the program remain classified, sources here declined to elaborate on the possible tanker configuration of the Eitan platform.
“Let’s just say that if the IAF makes this a requirement, there will be no need to develop a new platform,” an industry executive said Nov. 19.
Gas Taxi
Meanwhile, IAI executives said the firm is also working on a parallel proposal with Gulfstream Aerospace, producer of the G550, to convert the business jet into a tanker capable of servicing aircraft, helicopters and UAVs. In his Nov. 16 presentation, marketing director Scharf said the IAI-Gulfstream team envisions the G550 platform now used by the IAF for special intelligence-gathering and targeting missions as a type of flying service station for quick refueling of manned and unmanned aircraft.
According to IAI simulations, the G550 would be able to provide 40,000 pounds of fuel when servicing a 600-nautical-mile radius. At a larger operational radius of some 2,000 miles — shorthand here for missions targeting Iran — G550 could provide some 22,000 pounds of fuel.
The IAI executive described the G550 concept as the outer ring of a flying fuel station, which would reduce the waiting time for in-air refueling by quickly filling up many aircraft.
“After it finishes refueling fighters and other aircraft, it would return to the larger tankers for more fuel,” Scharf said.
Locker declined to say whether future Israeli tankers would require new self-protection systems to improve survivability. •
נערך לאחרונה ע"י יוסיפון בתאריך 01-12-2006 בשעה 01:30.
סיבה: יישור לשמאל
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