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Aviation History
1986
1986 - 3004.PDF
DEFENCE ATF procurement launches new era WASHINGTON D.C. The USAF advanced tactical fighter (ATF) programme launches a new era in US military procurement, partly as the result of the Packard Commission report into defence management. The report highlights many defi ciencies in the system for awarding contracts and the ATF programme looks set to be a watershed in US defence contract management. The ATF programme appointed two prime contractors, Lockheed and Northrop, who now have 50 months in which to build and fly two prototype aircraft each, one powered by Pratt & Whitney, the other by General Electric prototype engines. The flyoff at the end of this demonstration/ validation phase will decide the winning team, which will carry out the five-year full- scale development phase of the programme, and be eligible for up to $26 billion of business (in FY1985 dollars). Risk burden For the first time, contractors are having to share substantially in the risk burden, investing more of their own money in the early stages of the programme. Exact figures for the ATF programme are not released—or even known at this stage—but the ATF contractor teams, led by Lockheed and Northrop, will each probably have to put up at least as much as the USAF's $691 million per team for the prototyping stage. Up to 50 per cent of production tooling costs will also be industry-absorbed. The ATF prize attracted all seven of the major airframe companies despite the far higher financial burden imposed by the Air Force. In line with the USAF's hopes, most companies formed infor mal teaming arrangements before the prime contractor- ship awards—although each submitted its own ATF proposal. The aim was to ensure that risk-sharing part nerships were discussed before the ATF decision, which would reduce the time needed for the programme to w The USAF says that artists' impressions of ATF, such as this Lockheed concept, are not too futuristic settle down, and for other major subcontractors to be chosen. Lockheed competed for team leadership with Boeing and General Dynamics, and Northrop with its F-18 part ner McDonnell Douglas. Rockwell and Grumman did not sign teaming agreements. Each team member had already carried out consid erable hardware studies on its ATF proposals. Some of these had advanced to the stage at which windtunnel models, full-scale partial mockups and actual hardware pieces had been produced, all as part of what the Air Force Systems Division's ATF chief Col Albert Picirillo termed "a very aggressive and well prepared" set of proposals. Picirillo told Flight that the ATF competition had produced some extremely good designs;. "It was very tough, and ,we were very pleased with' response from industry," he said. Picirillo said that some winning designs were definitely superior to others, and that more than two were "particularly good". The winners were chosen because they had done the best job of balancing the diverse ATF requirements. While the ATF programme is not expected to be completely "black", many elements of the aircraft designs will be classified, particularly the low observ- ables, or "stealth" features. Northrop and Lockheed each bring important know-how in stealth technology; Northrop through its Advanced Tech nology Bomber programme, Lockheed through the F-19 stealth fighter. Another of the USAF's top ATF demands is for very high levels of reliability and main tainability (R&M). Tom Cooper, the USAF assistant secretary for research and development, said at a Pentagon briefing after the ATF decision: "We put an extremely high priority on the R&M aspects of both designs, because that will allow us to fly more sorties for far fewer maintenance man-hours." The target is for an aircraft that will have twice the reliability of an F-16, and be twice as easy to maintain. The ATF engines, for example, must require 60 per cent fewer tools and 70 per cent less maintenance than those now in service. Much of the reliability burden will also fall on the ATF's integrated avionics suite, which will have an unprecedented share of design priority. Each ATF team is contracted to build a complete ground avionics prototype, which will be updated as new technology becomes available. Picirillo would not comment on the individual ATF designs, beyond saying that all were "very exciting to look at", and that the artists' impressions produced by the winning companies during the ATF competition were not necessarily too • futuristic. "There is no doubt that the winning designs are fighters even though they look nothing like an F-15," he said. FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL, 15 November 1986
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