This story and its photographs are the copyright of the Australian Department of Defence. Permission to reproduce may be sought from the Editor, Army Newspaper Unit by contacting armynews@defencenews.gov.au
The following story was filed by Cpl Brian Hartigan and published in ARMY Magazine in June 1999 under the title:
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SOUTH Africa's colonial history and much maligned social policies have contrived a turbulent and oft times violent social and political landscape, necessitating the use of force to quell rebellion or repel invader. Emerging from years of sporting and economic sanctions, imposed by the western world, she is now a progressive and fiercely independent nation.
It could be argued, without much fear of contradiction, that those same sanctions went a long way towards the demise of the hated apartheid system. But more than that, the isolation imposed upon the country a self-sufficiency that has served to shape the soul of the nation in much the same way that geographic isolation forged the do-or-die psyche of Australia in its infancy.
The similarities between the two countries are far more tangible, however. Sharing, for the most part, similar lines of latitude in the southern oceans, both countries share a harshness of continental climatic conditions which can bedevil the unprepared or inexperienced. Tropical and sub-tropical coastal humidity gives way to vast, often desolate desert and semi-desert landscapes -- unforgiving for man and machine.
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The isolation of the recent past has seen her emergence as self sufficient, through necessity, in the production of conventional arms and armaments. The emergence of Denel's RedHawk armed reconnaissance helicopter as a world contender is a prime example of the old adage -- necessity is the mother of invention. RedHawk, born through necessity, seems to have the pedigree required to survive the Australian bush.
The requirement for a combat helicopter in South Africa arose from identified shortcomings in the Alouette 111, used in the gunship role during the Angolan conflict in the late 1970s.
The Alpha XH-1, a concept development platform, was born in 1978 based on the engine and rotor system of the Alouette 111. Further concept and subsystem development and testing were carried out in parallel using two Puma helicopters purchased by the program.
The South African Air Force design requirements, drawing heavily on lessons learned in Angola and a perceived build-up of Warsaw Pact armour on the dark continent, called for the basic capabilities of a modern combat helicopter -- agility, nap-of-the-earth flying both day and night, an excess power margin and reliable and accurate firepower delivery.
But the requirement went further, allowing for restrictive South African environmental and economic considerations. The most notable extras were, increased range and payload considerations, commonality with the existing and future medium helicopter transport fleets and dust protection.
Implicit in all requirements was a need to achieve low crew workloads, accurate and reliable navigation, reliability, maintainability and survivability.
The first prototype airframe flew in February 1990 followed by a second, two years later.
From this design heritage, RedHawk (directly translated from the Afrikaans, Rooivalk) emerges as a classic, winged, 'skinny' helicopter, externally bristling with a formidable array of weapons while internally crammed with a complex and complete systems suite.
Autonomous operation was a primary design factor in the development of RedHawk.
Because of the size of some African theatres, a typical proposed mission scenario for the aircraft called for same day operations to engage targets at ranges up to 2500km with no forward support other than fuel and munitions. This mission would require the aircraft, carrying external fuel tanks on its wings, to refuel at 1100km way-points before being armed at a forward base, short of the target. From this forward base, with external tanks replaced by weapons, the helicopter should be capable of engaging targets at 290km range with 10 minutes on station.
On lesser aircraft, such missions would not be possible without considerable maintenance support at the forward base.
The weapons suite boasts a formidable array of ordnance from six wing-stations or the nose-mounted cannon. The dual feed, gas operated cannon is slaved to either crew-member's line of sight, on the ground or in the air, or to the target designation and tracking system (TDATS) offering extreme accuracy to an effective range of 2000m.
The primary anti-armour weapon on offer to the Australian Army is the Mokopa, or Black Mamba, missile, although Hellfire and HOT are also deployable. Mokopa, also developed by the South Africans as a consequence of the trade sanctions, packs a potent punch, delivering a more than 11kg warhead out to a maximum 8km.
Although Australia has not stipulated an air-to-air capability for AIR87, RedHawk like all the others, is capable, having been proven with both the Matra BAe Dynamics Mistral and Kentron's V3P.
Although not in full production, the capabilities demonstrated by the prototypes set RedHawk firmly in the front line of bidders for Australia's, and many other nation's, requirements for an effective and reliable major force multiplier on the modern battlefield.
Denel, partnered with British Aerospace Australia, are offering RedHawk as a competent and confident contender in the race for Australia's more than $1 billion AIR87 project -- the replacement of the ageing Kiowa reconnaissance and Iroquois helicopter-gunship fleets.
Project director for the joint Denel/BAeA bid Patrick Stringer says RedHawk is a powerful helicopter that will meet or exceed the ADF's requirements in every respect and will provide a cost effective solution. "This team, supported by Australia's defence companies, is committed to meeting the Australian Army's requirements," Mr Stringer says. "Our primary challenge is to demonstrate to the ADF that, with RedHawk, we can deliver the best capability versus cost equation."
Denel's partnership with British Aerospace Australia will go a long way towards satisfying the political desire to create Australian jobs as a consequence of the acquisition -- one of the key factors in the tendering bib.
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PROJECT AIR87, one of the largest capital outlays in the Australian Army's history, will see the introduction of about 24 armed reconnaissance helicopters for two squadrons in Australia's north. 161 Recce Sqn in Darwin and 162 Recce Sqn in Townsville will benefit from the outlay of more than AUS$1 billion, with the new choppers expected to be operational in 2005.
The need to replace the Vietnam-vintage Kiowa and Iroquois-gunship fleets has long been recognised. Both airframes are nearing the end of their service lives.
Six contestants initially responded to the Australian Army’s Request for Proposal. These were -- Agusta with Aussie partner Tenix and the A129 Scorpion – Bell and Helitech with the AH1-Z Viper – Boeing and Boeing Australia with the AH64D Apache – Denel Aviation and BAeA (now BAE Systems) and the RedHawk – Eurocopter and ADI Ltd with the Aussie Tiger – and Sikorski with an armed Black Hawk.
The list has since been reduced to four – Scorpion, Viper, Apache and Aussie Tiger.
Five helicopters were reviewed in ARMY Magazine and those reports are reproduced in this web site (the armed Black Hawk was eliminated before being reviewed). .
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