Indian Defence Review

Airbus Military C295

As the Indian Air Force turns its attention to the question of the replacement of the venerable Avro fleet, it is a good moment to review the remarkable increments in performance and technology that have taken place in the sometimes overlooked medium transport aircraft class.

Not only has the capability of such machines dramatically improved since the days of the Avro, but mature designs already proven in service such as the Airbus Military C295 continue to be developed for the future. With a commitment to innovation, it seems it is always possible to “squeeze a little more juice from the orange”.

This is achieved partly thanks to the concept of rapid prototyping, an agile development process which enables new concepts to be tested for their cost-effectiveness and either selected for further work or discarded in a relatively short period. The result is that as well as improving the basic design of the transport version, it is possible to generate entirely new versions to respond to the market, and that in turn enables nations such as India to exploit the cost-advantages of using the same basic design in different roles.

The C295, for example, is in widespread service as both transport and maritime patrol versions, as well as Coast Guard and anti-pollution control, but it was then developed into an anti-submarine warfare (ASW) aircraft which is in operational service in Chile and now an airborne early warning (AEW) derivative is being actively offered. In some cases, notably Portugal, the same aircraft are switched between surveillance and transport versions by use of roll-on/roll-off palletized mission systems. The same concept is employed by the US Coast Guard and the C295’s smaller brother – the CN235.

Federico Lacalle, Regional Sales Director, Airbus Military

Additionally the basic C295 transport continues to benefit from new features. Following flight-testing, the aircraft will very shortly be certified to use higher power ratings. This enhancement is being applied to the aircraft’s existing Pratt & Whitney Canada PW127 engines and will allow pilots to use the additional power at their discretion when it would be advantageous. The extra boost provides improved climb and ceiling performance or can be translated into additional payload – as much as 1,700kg more than currently at 25,000ft. Airbus Military Head of Engineering Miguel Angel Morell says: “This improves operation over very high terrain such as the Himalayas with only minor influence on power plant maintenance costs.”

Rapid prototyping techniques were also important in the ongoing development of an aerodynamic enhancement to the C295 – the provision of winglets, which are currently being tested on the prototype aircraft. That aircraft is still fitted with the dummy radar rotodome used in the development trials of the C295 AEW variant for which the winglets may be particularly valuable. But the devices also promise benefits for the transport variant by improving take-off performance as well as in the climb and cruise by increasing the lift to drag ratio. Windtunnel testing indicated that the advantages would outweigh the increased weight and the aircraft first flew with the winglets in December 2012. Flight data is now being analysed to provide the basis for a decision on whether to fit the devices as standard.

In the military world even general transports can be put at risk of enemy ground fire, and bitter experience has already shown the hazards of small arms fire and “dumb” weapons fielded by guerilla and terrorist combatants. For that reason Airbus Military is conducting trials of an on-board inert gas-generating system (OBIGGS) for the C295 which injects an inert gas above the void created in fuel tanks as the fuel is consumed and drastically cuts the risk of explosion. The aircraft can already be fitted with removable cockpit armouring, as well as a defensive aids system, and has seen extensive service in the Afghan conflict. Implementation decisions on OBIGGS will be taken soon.

Airbus Military awaits further detail on India’s requirements in the maritime surveillance sphere, but the capabilities of the aircraft in that role also continue to be enhanced. In the ASW role the aircraft is already in service equipped with the Mk 46 torpedo – now work is well advanced to add the MBDA Marte anti-ship missile to the type’s weaponry. Missile-carriage flight trials took place in 2012 and preparations are now underway for missile release tests. Initially the inert missile will be released without a booster to check for satisfactory separation, and then with a booster for more detailed examination of the launch characteristics.

However, it is essential for maritime patrol aircraft to have on-board mission systems that enable their crews to make sense quickly of the incoming sensor data and take the right decisions on how to prosecute targets. Airbus Military already offers one of the world’s most advanced maritime surveillance configurations in its proprietary Fully Integrated Tactical System (FITS) which is in widespread service on the C295 and CN235, as well as the smaller C212, and as a retrofit to the P-3 ASW aircraft of the Spanish and Brazilian Air Forces.  It has been integrated with a wide variety of sensors including the Elta 2022.

But few fields in aviation advance faster than electronics and so the company is intensively working to develop the next generation of FITS at its development laboratory at Getafe near Madrid.  A range of enhancements being trialed is expected to offer benefits including: greater processing power particularly for high-resolution image capture and video recording; updated net centric functionalities such as wideband data link, video streaming, and use of remote ground consoles and databases; and a revamped human-machine interface capitalizing on the latest touch screen display technology.

In addition to the transport and maritime surveillance models of the C295, customers have the possibility of using the aircraft in the increasingly important airborne early warning & control (AEW&C) role. The aircraft has proved a highly optimal solution for this task, combining a true AEW capability with tolerable operating costs and hence filling the gap between expensive airliner-based platforms and limited performance smaller aircraft. The C295 was developed in complete secrecy at Airbus Military’s plant in Seville in Spain. Rapid prototyping was once again employed making good use of 3-D computer aided design married to intensive concurrent engineering in order to install a full-scale, 6m diameter, radar rotodome on a C295 for aerodynamic testing. The tests quickly demonstrated the aircraft’s suitability, and the track record of the radar from Airbus Military’s partner ELTA Systems meant that the C295 AEW&C could immediately be offered with confidence to the market where it has secured strong interest.

The clear message is that in the C295 India has the potential to acquire a proven and high-performing medium transport which is at the top of its game today, but with its best yet to come as a transport and in other roles of key interest.