C-130 herkules vs KC-390 Emraer från Brasilien

[vikingman]

Undrar om fördelarna överväger nackdelarna med ett anskaffande av KC390 till svenska flygvapnet. I och med Gripenförsäljning till Brasilien kan Sverige mer eller mindre

känna sig tvingat att köpa detta transportplan.

 

Våra grannländer har redan C-130 och därmed tillgång till utbyte av service och simulatorkapacitet. Airbus A400M är väl för dyr för lilla Sverige.

[JakobS]

Undrar om fördelarna överväger nackdelarna med ett anskaffande av KC390 till svenska flygvapnet. I och med Gripenförsäljning till Brasilien kan Sverige mer eller mindre

känna sig tvingat att köpa detta transportplan.

 

Våra grannländer har redan C-130 och därmed tillgång till utbyte av service och simulatorkapacitet. Airbus A400M är väl för dyr för lilla Sverige.

 

Det finns nog inga specifika nackdelar med det Brasilianska flyget som så, ett mycket större problem är nog att det knappt finns soldater som behöver flygas. Det har ju pratas om att man vill köpa in 4 nya plan, men nu har det även pratas om så få som 3. Tror knappast det spelar någon roll om det blir C-130 eller KC-390 när vi nästintill ska göra oss av med transportkapaciteten..

 

Vad gäller våra grannländer så tror jag de senaste åren visat oss hur mycket nordiskt samarbete runt materialköp är värt. Brasilien däremot är ett land vi gärna har med oss när det blir dags för Saab att utveckla ett nytt flyg någon gång i framtiden (om det någonsin blir ett nytt flyg efter Gripen).

[JakobS]

 

 

Testing of Embraer’s KC-390 tanker-transport is poised to accelerate to new levels with the introduction of a 7second aircraft and the start of a broad series of mission evaluations designed to finalize the aircraft’s aerodynamic lines.

Despite a 265-day hiatus in flight tests (related to Brazil’s budget issues) following its first flight in February 2015, the prototype has been flying at a high tempo since returning to the air last Oct. 26. “We are getting good reliability in the flight-test campaign. In January we flew more than 50 hr. in one month,” says Alexandre De Pol Fernandes, KC-390 senior program manager. “We have more than 130 flight hours amassed over the first four months. In terms of the aircraft’s high availability we are logging an unprecedented flight rate for a prototype,” he adds.

Since completing an initial airworthiness evaluation on the first sortie last year, Embraer launched immediately into envelope expansion when flights resumed. “We have achieved Mach 0.8, which is a very important milestone for us, and it is cleared to 36,000 ft. We are also evaluating all the aircraft systems, and have done inflight engine start and auxiliary power unit starts. We have also completed flap/slat configuration tests,” says Fernandes.

The latter tests are critical to the KC-390’s slow speed performance for both short-field capability and air-drop missions, adds Fernando Fialho, KC-390 program strategy manager. “This is very different from most other aircraft. We have a continuous double-flap segment with a fixed vane and can put flaps in discrete one-by-one degree positions.”

The flaps can be positioned from 0-40 deg., “which enables a wide variety of military operations such as gravity air drop, in which you need to put the aircraft in a nose-up attitude,” says Fialho. “We need to fly at fixed speed and altitude but at various weights. If you are heavier you need more flap. The ability to have such a large flap deflection also improves takeoff performance,” he adds.

The second KC-390 prototype has been rolled out and is being prepared for its first flight, which is “scheduled to happen over [this] month, maybe around the end of March or beginning of April,” says Jackson Schneider, president of Embraer Defense & Security. “The second aircraft is almost ready for flight and the timing depends on ground vibration tests,” adds Fernandes. The aircraft will be used for load validation tests and, other than minor differences in test equipment, is configured identically to the prototype.

“The main point for flight testing this year is to freeze the aerodynamics. To get there we have a lot of tests and some coordinated missions during the certification process, the first of which is in March,” says Fernandes. The test matrix, which will involve extensive participation from the Brazilian air force and army, includes air drops, paratroop deployment evaluation, parachute stability for the cargo-handling and air delivery systems and air refueling. The latter will be focused on stability of the trailing hose from the Cobham-supplied 912E wing air-refueling pod.

Production at Embraer’s facility in Gaviao Peixoto is picking up the pace; completion. This aircraft, dubbed 801, will be used for static tests with the next in line, 802, due to handle fatigue tests. “The static [aircraft] is in final assembly and will be ready early [in March],” says Fernandes who adds that suppliers have begun work on long lead items for the first production aircraft. Embraer is also assembling a full cockpit section for use in bird-strike certification tests.

“We are making best efforts to keep on plan to be ready to enter initial service [in] September 2017, and receive final certification in the third quarter of 2018,” says Fernandes. Deliveries of the first of 28 KC-390s to the Brazilian air force are set to begin in the first half of 2018. Argentina, Chile, Colombia, the Czech Republic and Portugal have signed declarations of intent for 32 additional aircraft, all of which remain active.

Efforts are also underway to market the aircraft for Canada’s Fixed-Wing Search-And-Rescue (FWSAR) program. Despite emerging as a late entrant with the KC-390, Embraer believes the multi-utility transport compares favorably with the C-295offered by Airbus and the C-27C proposed by Finmeccanica. To bolster its bid, Embraer has assembled a few Canadian partners that it declines to name at this time. “We have some companies teaming with us, and we picked the best,” says Schneider.

The company believes the high transit speeds of the jet-powered KC-390 will give the aircraft an edge in the contest, enabling it to reach target areas for SAR missions in half the time of turboprops, depending on the distance. The role of SAR was “considered from scratch” in the baseline design, as it was one of the Brazilian air force requirements,” adds Schneider. Despite the overall slide in the KC-390 program because of Brazil’s fiscal distress, he says: “We will totally meet the conditions to deliver the aircraft.” The mission is currently performed by six de Havilland Canada CC-115s and 13 Lockheed Martin CC-130s.

[JakobS]

 

KC-390 regains flight-test momentum

Four months after the Embraer KC-390’s first flight in February 2015, Embraer finally acknowledged the aircraft had still not attempted a second flight.

It seemed a worrying development, not unlike the nine-month pause that followed shortly after first flight of the Bombardier CRJ-1000 regional jet in 2009, as Embraer’s rival worked to resolve a software problem with the fly-by-wire-controlled rudder.

The KC-390 is packed with new technologies, including an advanced fly-by-wire system with active sidestick controllers and Embraer’s first exposure to a cargo ramp door and an in-flight refuelling system.

As the wait for the KC-390’s flight-test campaign to resume continued, there were questions.

Had Embraer over-extended itself with the largest and most complex aircraft development programme in Brazilian history?

One year later, the answer to those questions is clear.

The flight-test pause is now understood as the result of a fiscal crisis within the Brazilian government, which is funding the $1.8 billion development programme.

Amid a continuing economic recession, the air force was so strapped for cash that had fallen more than $270 million in arrears in payments to Embraer for the KC-390 development programme as of last August.

SCHEDULE SET

An agreement signed between Embraer and the air force that month established a schedule for the air force to catch up on payments over the next three years, allowing the KC-390 flight-test campaign to be reactivated.

Embraer resumed flight tests of the KC-390 on 26 October after the eight-month hiatus.

The budget-imposed delay had forced the airframer to postpone the operational debut of the tanker-transport by a year to 2018.

It seemed possible at first flight last February that the KC-390 could make a regional debut appearance at the FIDAE air show this year, but that was ruled out when the flight-test campaign paused over funding pressures.

But the KC-390 could still make a public debut later this year – perhaps even at the Farnborough air show in July.

“We are saving the surprise for later on this year, let’s say,” an Embraer spokesman says.

Keeping Embraer’s flight-test programme on track to complete civil airworthiness certification by the end of this year requires a high reliability rate for the relatively small test fleet. When the programme was launched in 2009, the Brazilian air force approved funding for only two prototypes for flight.

At most, that is half the usual number.

Embraer’s self-funded $1.7 billion development programme for the re-engined and re-winged E190-E2 regional jet, for example, envisions four prototypes for flight test.

Between late-October and the end of February, the first and only prototype in the flight-test programme has completed well over 100 flight test hours, says Paulo Gastão Silva, Embraer’s vice-president managing the KC-390 programme.

“We had a very good beginning of campaign. The aircraft is behaving very well. We have a very high availability so you see the number of flying hours for our first prototype. It’s really a very positive signal. We were able to enter in this period to fully cover the flying envelope, so Mach number envelope, we flew altitude envelope, we’ve flown all the flaps and SLAT combinations, gear up and down, in-flight shutdown and restart of the engines, the [auxiliary power unit], flight controls. So, a very, very positive beginning of [the] test campaign,” Gastão says.

The KC-390 had just undergone the flight-test phase when the pilot intentionally stalls the aircraft.

Modern aircraft are designed to enter a stall smoothly and recover quickly.

Few areas of aircraft performance are modelled as thoroughly in the design phase, but actual behaviour can only be confirmed by flight tests.

So far, the KC-390 is “behaving pretty much as forecast with our models”, Gastão says.

If the models accurately predicted stall performance, it is a good sign that less extreme areas of the flight envelope will also comply with predicted behaviour, he adds.

FLY-BY-WIRE VALIDATION

Another challenge facing the flight-test programme is validating the aircraft’s fly-by-wire system.

The flight control computer accepts a pilot’s inputs into a sidestick controller, interprets the pilot’s intent and sends commands to actuate control surfaces to make the aircraft comply with the pilot’s commands.

The computer also imposes limits on the pilot’s authority, prohibiting the aircraft from complying with inputs that would exceed the aircraft’s speed or structural limit loads.

Embraer designed the KC-390’s control software with three levels of such flight envelope protections.

In direct law, the fly-by-wire system is activated but the protections are turned off.

This degraded state is used operationally only if normal protections are not functioning correctly.

The first level of normal law imposes a set of soft limits on pitch and roll angle and speed, but the pilot can override the limits if necessary.

A second level of normal law places hard limits that the pilot can never exceed.

So far, the KC-390 test aircraft has been flown in direct law and the first level of normal law, Gastão says.

“The fly-by-wire is behaving really well. The pilots are loving flying the aircraft,” he adds.

“We’ll have the full normal mode flying very soon with the full set of functions for the flying envelope protections.”

Along with the Gulfstream G600 large-cabin business jet and the Bell 525 Relentless helicopter, the KC-390 is among the first aircraft to feature active control sidesticks.

These inceptors for the flight control system address a common criticism of fly-by-wire technology by providing artificial feedback to the pilots.

If the pilot commands a low-g turn, for example, the control stick is harder to push, replicating the feel of an aircraft using cables and rods to move the control surfaces.

The active sidesticks are also electronically coupled, so an input by the co-pilot also moves the pilot’s controller at the same rate.

In most flight-test programmes, multiple aircraft are each assigned a specific role, with one dedicated mostly to validating the flight envelope, another to evaluate the avionics, a third for operations in extreme temperatures and altitudes and finally another for interior systems.

With only two flight-test vehicles in the programme, Embraer must emphasise flexibility.

Each aircraft must be instrumented to perform all of the many tests required for certification, so both aircraft are interchangeable if one is down for maintenance or upgrades.

The second flight-test vehicle remains in final assembly, but should join the first aircraft in flight shortly, Gastão says.

“In the first half of this year we will have both flight-test aircraft flying,” he says.

“Both aircraft are configured so they can be used extensively for each of the tests. We do have a specialised aircraft in some parts of the campaign but this more a matter of internal planning.”

SALES PUSH

With the operational debut of the KC-390 still two years away, Embraer’s sales effort in international markets is becoming more aggressive.

The Brazilian air force has signed a contract to buy 28 of the type.

Embraer has also signed up commitments to buy another 32 aircraft from five international partners, including two from the Chilean air force.

Most recently, Embraer has entered the competition to replace the DHC-5 Buffalo for Canada’s fixed-wing search and rescue fleet.

The release of the tender in December 2015 appeared to cast doubt on whether the sealed requirements are favourable to an aircraft larger than the Alenia C-27 or CASA C-295.

Indeed, Lockheed Martin removed the C-130J, a turboprop-powered equivalent of the KC-390, from the competition after reviewing the bidding terms.

But Embraer has decided to participate in the potentially year-long competitive phase, pitting the twin-jet KC-390 against the much smaller C-27J and C-295.

“We delivered our proposal at the beginning of January,” Gastão says. “This was in fact a very good example of taking advantage of a truly multimission aircraft. The need in Canada is specifically for a search-and-rescue mission. The KC-390 has a search-and rescue capability. It was one of the initial requirements from the onset. So we were able to respond very positively to the Canadian needs because we had the aircraft in general ready to do that.”

Gastão adds that the KC-390 will need “some” modifications to comply with the Canadian requirements, but the overall aircraft is still compatible with the core mission.

The Canadian government has not released a timeline for the review process and a downselect date.

“We do expect they will announce their decision by the beginning of next year,” Gastão says. “So this is roughly the timeframe we have considered.”

[polman1]

De C-130J jag har sett har varit längre och tar åtta paletter. Den gamla tar ju sex paletter, om man i båda fallen räknar ramppaletten. Rent praktiskt är oftast volym mer värt än max lastvikt. Tycker inte vi ska köpa mindre än vi har.

[JakobS]

De C-130J jag har sett har varit längre och tar åtta paletter. Den gamla tar ju sex paletter, om man i båda fallen räknar ramppaletten. Rent praktiskt är oftast volym mer värt än max lastvikt. Tycker inte vi ska köpa mindre än vi har.

 

 

Det bästa hade nog varit nya herkor, den förlänga versionen. Tyvärr så kostar de en hel del så vi får nog nöja oss med det Brasilianska planet som ersätter KC-130H rakt av kapacitetsmässigt.

 

En ny bild & en video har kommit!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UetzJ4sMhZs

Edited March 30, 2016 by JakobS

[Perman]

Ingen ersättning av C-130H före 2030 enligt flygvapenchefen. Istället ska ett livstidsförlängningsprogram initieras från 2021:

 

http://www.janes.com/article/60467/sweden-postpones-plans-to-replace-c-130h-airlifters

 

Förmodligen en konsekvens av att verkligheten nu håller på att hinna ifatt de ekonomiska planerna enligt försvarsöverenskommelsen.

 

/Per

Edited May 19, 2016 by Perman

[JakobS]

Ja man tar sig för pannan! Det är dyrt att vara fattig..

 

Hur mycket slukar denna uppgradering bara för att man skall kunna skjuta upp utgiften med några år, 1 miljard?

Edited May 21, 2016 by JakobS

[griffon]

Hur mycket slukar denna uppgradering bara för att man skall kunna skjuta upp utgiften med några år, 1 miljard?

För att inte tala om den flygtid som inte kan produceras.

[vikingman]

http://www.defense-aerospace.com/articles-view/release/3/174978/parachute-drops-begin-kc_390-operational-evaluation.html

 

De första militära testerna av KC-390 med fallskärmshopp av fallskärmsjägare och fällningen av last har utfallit till belåtenhet.

[JakobS]

Hon kommer till Farnborough! Efter det så kommer hon även besöka flera länder i Europa som ses som potentiella framtida kunder, kanske kommer hon även till Sverige måntro?

 

https://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/kc-390-confirmed-for-farnborough-debut-426808/