Royal Danish Navy sets SM-2 buy as priority, mulls frigate BMD upgrade

Daniel Wasserbly, Baltimore, Maryland and Richard Scott, London - IHS Jane's Navy International

23 November 2016

Key Points

• SM-2 purchase is the top priority for the service, but funding remains the challenge
• The navy will also make a decision on a planned frigate BMD upgrade path in 2018

Funding to acquire a stock of Standard Missile-2 (SM-2) Block IIIA medium-range missiles for its Iver Huitfeldt-class frigates is the Royal Danish Navy's (RDN's) top priority, the service's most senior officer has told IHS Jane's .

Speaking on board the Iver Huitfeldt-class frigate HDMS Peter Willemoes (F 362) during an 18 November port visit in Baltimore, Maryland, Chief of the Naval Staff Rear Admiral Frank Trojahn also indicated that a decision would be made on a planned frigate ballistic missile defence (BMD) upgrade path in 2018.

Original post: janes.com

Iver Huitfeldt-classfrigate

Zumwalt Breaks Down, Gets Tow in Panama Canal

By: Christopher P. Cavas, November 22, 2016

WASHINGTON -- The new, high-tech destroyer Zumwalt suffered an engineering casualty Monday evening while passing through the Panama Canal and had to be towed to a berth, the US Navy said. 

The US 3rd Fleet in San Diego was able to provide only a few details late Monday evening, but early reports indicated the problems stemmed from an issue with heat exchangers in the ship’s integrated power plant, which provides electrical power to both the propulsion plant and sensors, weapons and ship’s services. 

Third Fleet spokesman Cmdr. Ryan Perry issued a statement late Monday: 

“Vice Adm. Nora Tyson, commander, US Third Fleet, has directed USS Zumwalt (DDG 1000) to remain at ex-Naval Station Rodman in Panama to address engineering issues that occurred while transiting the Panama Canal. The timeline for repairs is being determined now, in direct coordination with Naval Sea Systems and Naval Surface Forces. The schedule for the ship will remain flexible to enable testing and evaluation in order to ensure the ship's safe transit to her new homeport in San Diego.” 

The casualty occurred as the Zumwalt was passing through the lower half of the canal, and the ship was towed through the Miraflores locks at the southern, or Pacific end, to Rodman, a former US base once known as the Balboa Naval Station. The ship is en route to its home port of San Diego. 

The Zumwalt was commissioned Oct. 15 in a ceremony at Baltimore, having left its builder’s yard at Bath, Maine, on Sept. 7. The ship’s crew has been dealing with a series of relatively minor incidents, including a seawater leak in a shaft lube oil system in September and, reportedly, several engineering issues while the ship was at Mayport Naval Station in Florida in late October. 

The ship’s integrated power system is a new layout that uses advanced induction motors to produce up to 78 megawatts of electrical power, far more than any previous destroyer or cruiser. 

Once at San Diego, the Zumwalt will enter an extended industrial period to complete the installation of its combat system -- a job expected to continue through most of 2017.  

Original post: defensenews.com

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Zumwalt-class destroyers

HondaJet sets two air speed records

NOVEMBER 14, 2016

After setting two speed records, HondaJet is considered the fastest aircraft in its class

HondaJet has officially secured its first speed records over two recognized courses from Teterboro, New Jersey to Fort Lauderdale, Florida and Boston, Massachusetts to Palm Beach, Florida.

The United States National Aeronautic Association presented the records to Honda Aircraft Company during the recent National Business Aviation Association’s (NBAA) Business Aviation Convention and Exhibition in Orlando, Florida.

In setting the record between New Jersey and Florida, the HondaJet departed Teterboro Airport at 2:15 p.m. EST on April 9, 2016 and landed at Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport at 4:06 p.m.

Despite average headwinds of 60 knots (nearly 70 mph), the 960-nautical-mile flight took two hours and 51 minutes at a cruising altitude of 43,000 feet with the HondaJet surpassing the existing record from Teterboro to Fort Lauderdale.

Factoring the considerable headwind of 60 knots and high temperatures, the HondaJet achieved an average true air speed of 396 knots (456 mph) and maximum ground speed of 414 knots (478 mph) for this flight.

For the Boston to Palm Beach record, the HondaJet departed New Bedford Regional Airport at 7:18 a.m. EDT on July 19, 2016 and landed at Palm Beach International Airport at 9:16 a.m. The 1,060-nautical-mile flight took two hours and 58 minutes.

Factoring average 30-knot headwind, the HondaJet achieved an average true air speed of 385 knots and a maximum ground speed of 422 knots (486 mph).

The HondaJet is the first aircraft in its class to officially achieve the Boston to Palm Beach record.

The HondaJet is the claiming fastest jet in its class with a maximum cruise speed of 422 knots (486 mph); it soars highest in its class with a maximum altitude of 43,000 feet; and it is the most fuel-efficient light jet in its class by up to 17 per cent.

It has a range of 1,223 nautical miles (1,408 miles).

Original post: wheels.ca

Related post:

GE Honda Aero Engines Poised to Add to Turbofan Family

Honda HA-420 HondaJet

New Delhi gives final approval for M777 howitzer buy

Rahul Bedi, New Delhi - IHS Jane's Defence Weekly

21 November 2016

India's federal government has given its final approval for the procurement of 145 BAE Systems M777A2 155 mm/39 calibre lightweight howitzers for the Indian Army (IA) for around USD737 million under the US Foreign Military Sales programme.

The government's Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS), headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, sanctioned the purchase of the towed M777s and Selex Laser Inertial Artillery Pointing Systems on 16 November after clearing the final price, military sources told IHS Jane's, adding that the contract is likely to be signed by the end of the year.

The deal envisages the import of 25 guns in completed form, with two howitzers being delivered within six months of the deal being signed and the remaining 23 at a rate of two guns per month.

Original post: janes.com

M777 155mm Howitzer

China launches 40th Jiangdao-class corvette

Andrew Tate, London - IHS Jane's Defence Weekly

03 November 2016

China's 40th Jiangdao-class (Type 056/056A) corvette was launched on 28 October at the Huangpu shipyard in the southern port city of Guangzhou.

The ship is the twelfth of the class to be constructed at the yard. The latest three are currently fitting out at Huangpu or are undergoing post-build sea trials. One of them is expected to enter service with the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) before the end of the year.

Huangpu is one of four shipyards constructing the 1500-tonne Jiangdao-class corvettes at a rate of about one every six weeks.

The corvettes are armed with four YJ-83 anti-ship missiles, a 76 mm gun, two triple-barrelled lightweight torpedo launchers, and an eight-cell HQ-10 short-range surface-to-air missile launcher.

A number of the class have enhanced anti-submarine capabilities (Type 056A) with towed and variable-depth sonars, in addition to the hull-mounted sonar fitted to all of the class.

Although not equipped with a hangar, a Z-9 helicopter can be operated from the flight deck to either supplement the ship's sonar suite with airborne dipping sonar or provide the capability to engage a submarine at greater range than achievable with ship-launched torpedoes.

Original post: janes.com

Jiangdao Class (Type056) Corvette

Honda HA-420 HondaJet

The Honda HA-420 HondaJet is the first aircraft developed by Honda Aircraft Company. The light business jet was designed in Japan and then developed and manufactured in Greensboro, North Carolina in the United States.

Design

The HondaJet is a low-wing monoplane with a conventional structure, it has a mainly composite fuselage and an aluminium wing. The aircraft is powered by two GE Honda Aero Engines HF-120 turbofans mounted on pylons above the wing. It has a retractable tricycle landing gear with both single wheeled main and nose landing gear.

Image: rodbearden.com

Several aircraft with overwing podded engines have been tested, for various reasons. The configuration has been used on seaplanes, such as the Dornier Do X from 1929 and the modern jet-engined Beriev Be-200. It was also used on the VFW-Fokker 614, a 44-seat German jet airliner, in the early 1970s. The VFW-614 was designed for eliminating ingestion problems and weight. Others include NASA's Quiet Short-Haul Research Aircraft around 1980 and the Scaled Composites Triumph 8-place business jet in 1988.

The HondaJet’s overwing engine mount configuration was designed to maximize cabin space, and achieve lower wave drag at a high Mach number. The nose and wing are designed for laminar flow, and the main fuselage has a constant profile, making an eventual stretch easier. The combination of engine placement, wing and fuselage was achieved using computer simulations and wind tunnels. Honda claims that the combination of lightweight materials, aerodynamics and efficient engines gives the HondaJet up to 20% better fuel efficiency than similar aircraft.

Honda began developing its own small turbofan engine, the HF118, in 1999. This led to the HF120, developed with GE Aviation under the GE-Honda partnership. The HF120 was test-flown on a Cessna Citation CJ1. The engine features a single fan, a two-stage compressor and a two-stage turbine. The GE Honda HF120 received FAA type certification on 13 December 2013, and production certification in 2015.

Cabin

The passenger area is 5.43 m (17.80 ft) long and has an enclosed lavatory. The semi-round cabin is 12.1 ft long, 1.52 m (5.00 ft) wide, and 1.46 m (4.80 ft) high.

Image: motorsportsnewswire.com

Image: privatefly.com

Image: flightrun.com

Cockpit

The aircraft is equipped with a touchscreen 3-display Garmin G3000 glass cockpit system (i.e. most of the cockpit readouts are presented on flat-panel displays).

Fingertip Control Meets Integrated Flight Deck

• ·         Advanced flight deck for light turbine jets
• ·         Bright high-resolution displays with SVT™ let you see clearly even in IFR conditions
• ·         Displays divide into 2 pages to help display multiple systems and sensors
• ·         Intuitive touchscreen interface with shallow menus and audible feedback
• ·         Automatic Flight Guidance and Control Systems
• ·         Weather, charts, traffic, terrain and Global connectivity options

Source garmin.com

Image: flyhpa.com

Image: flyhpa.com

Image: flyhpa.com

Image: flyhpa.com

With the GE Honda HF120 turbo-fan engines, the startup sequence was simple and automatic… Just push a button to initiate the start sequence, then move the thrust levers to the idle position. The system monitors the starting sequence for any abnormalities. This is as simple as it gets.

Image: flyhpa.com

Cruise Speed Control

Image: flyhpa.com

This is a new button on the Garmin autopilot that I had not seen before. It does exactly what it sounds like… It’s cruise control for the cruise phase of flight. Apparently, it holds a selected speed while in the ALT (altitude hold) mode within 5% of the selected N1 setting. It’s not a complete auto-thrust system, but it should help eliminate repetitive manual thrust adjustments in cruise.

Speed brakes

Image: flyhpa.com

On most airplanes the speed brakes are mounted on the wings and tend to be noisy. The HondaJet is the first plane I have seen with speed brakes mounted on the tail. This unique arrangement results in very little noise or vibration when activated.

Image: flyhpa.com

Landing gear

Image: flyhpa.com

Fujino received the 2014 International Council of the Aeronautical Sciences award for the design as well as an Aviation Industry Leader of the Year Award.

In 2014, the aircraft was awarded a 'Best of What's New' title by Popular Science magazine. Source wikiwand.com

These graphs are designed to illustrate the performance of HondaJet under a variety of range, payload, speed and density altitude conditions. Do not use these data for flight planning purposes because they are gross approximations of actual aircraft performance.

Time and Fuel Versus Distance


This graph shows the relationship distance flown, block time and fuel consumption. HondaJet has an average long-range cruise speed of about 354 KTAS that yields about 8% better fuel efficiency than cruising at an average 396 KTAS cruise speed. HondaJet’s 7,279 lb. quoted single-pilot BOW is not representative of a typically equipped aircraft with four club seats in the main cabin, a single right-hand, side-facing seat across the entry door and popular options. The two aircraft we flew for this report had 7,500+ lb. single-pilot BOWs.

Specific Range (Mid-Range Weight, ISA) This graph shows the relationship between cruise speed and fuel consumption for Hondajet at representative cruise altitudes for 9,000 lb., mid-weight aircraft. Based upon our two flights in the aircraft, we believe these data to be accurate.

Range/Payload Profile The purpose of this graph is to provide simulations of various trips under a variety of payload and two airport density altitude conditions, with the goal of flying the longest distance at long-range cruise. Each of the six payload/range lines was plotted from multiple data points, ending at the maximum range for each payload condition. The time and fuel burn dashed lines are based upon long-cruise data taken from the Time and Fuel versus Distance graph. Runway distances for sea-level standard day and for BCA’s 5,000 foot elevation, ISA+20C airport accompany the takeoff weights, using the optimum flap configuration in light of FAR Part 23 Commuter Category runway and second-segment OEI climb performance requirements.

Source aviationweek.com

Image: flyhpa.com

GE Honda HF120

Image honda.com

Wide-chord blisk-type fan

Source honda.com

SPECIFICATIONS Engine Type: GE-Honda HF-120 turbofan Number of Engines: 2 Max Takeoff Distance: 3,120 ft. Max Landing Distance: 2,500 ft. Cabin Volume: N/A Cabin Height: 4 ft. 9.4" Cabin Width: 5 ft. Cabin Length: 17 ft. 8" in. Baggage Volume: 64 cu. ft. Lavatory: Yes External Length: 41 ft. 7 in. External Height: 13 ft. 2 in. External Wing Span: 39 ft. 9 in. External Wing Span: 39 ft. 9 in. Payload Max Takeoff: N/A Payload Max Landing: N/A Payload Max Operating: N/A

FEATURES
Jet Type:	Very Light Jets
Manufacturer:	Honda Aircraft Company
Cost:	$3.65 M
Max Cruise Speed:	420 MPH
Maximum Mach Operation:	N/A
Max Pax:	5
Max Range:	1,180 nm
Max Altitude:	43,000 ft
Certification:	est. 2009
Base Aircraft:	N/A
Current Order:	100
Deliveries:	N/A
Available:	2010

Technical data aphrodite-mgmt.com