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The Australian International Airshow 2015 The 12th Australian International Air Show and Aerospace and Defence Exposition 2015 was again staged at Avalon, Victoria earlier this year. The largest event of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere, it bought together aviation, aerospace and defence professionals, scientific researchers, aviation enthusiasts and members of the public. T here were two concurrent events at Avalon – one was the Australian International Aerospace and Defence Exposition, a major international trade event for aviation, aerospace and defence interests attracting around 600 exhibitors and the other was the Australian International Airshow which comprised numerous static and flying displays. Business deals worth $1.25 billion were made at the show which included areas of civil aviation, defence and aerospace. The official attendance figures were 169,251 for the public days and 33,406 for the trade days. The event came to Victoria in 1992 at the invitation of the then Victorian Premier Jeff Kennett but was actually started in 1976 at the Schofields Aerodrome in Sydney’s northwest, which was closed in 1994. The trade days, which were the “Aerospace and Defence Exposition” component were not open to the public and were from the 24th of February until 2pm on the 27th February. The public event was staged from 2pm on 27th February to 1st March. Air shows are always interesting and fun and with a huge amount of variety. It is, however, not possible to cover every aspect in detail. The 2013 Airshow was also covered by Silicon Chip in the May 2013 issue. As many of the aircraft and technologies present at the 2013 Airshow were also present at this year’s, those will not be covered again in detail. In this article those aircraft and technologies that are novel or new for this year will be the main ones that are covered. The RAAF (Royal Australian Air Force) of course had a major presence as would be expected and again proved they are not behind in any technologies (and neither are our other military arms). KC-30A Multi Role Tanker Transport The RAAF has five KC-30A Multi Role Tanker Transports. These are based on a modified Airbus A330-200 commercial airliner and their purpose is to provide strategic lift and also air-to-air refuelling. Both roles can be fulfilled simultaneously. In the air-to-air refuelling role it can supply up to 100 tonnes of fuel to either Australian or coalition aircraft, leaving 11 tonnes for itself. This fuel is contained in the standard fuel tanks; no additional tanks are fitted. In its cargo role it can carry 34,000kg in standard underfloor cargo areas. An example of a mission is a KC-30A remaining 1,800km from its home base with 50 tonnes of fuel available to offload for up to four hours. Other examples of typical missions are the tanker escorting and refuelling fighters to our various engagements in the Middle East. In the RAAF the KC-30A is capable of refuelling our F/A-18A/B Hornets, F/A-18F Super Hornets, and when fully tested it will refuel the F-35A Lightning II, E-7A Wedgetail, C-17A Globemaster III and other KC-30As. It will also be able to refuel the P-8A Poseidon surveillance aircraft when Australia acquires those. by Dr David Maddison 12  Silicon Chip siliconchip.com.au PLEASE NOTE: In response to many earlier queries, the URLS of http://youtu .b in this feature ARE CORRECT! If you re e/... the dot (full point) move between “youtu” an d “be” they will not load! An RAAF KC-30A airborne refuelling tanker, with three F/A-18F Super Hornets following. Note the deployment of the two “hose and drogue” refuelling stations. Inset at left is the Air Refuelling Operator station with 2D and 3D video screens to observe and control refuelling operations. The KC-30A is equipped with a “hose and drogue” (also known as “probe and drogue”) refuelling pod on each wing for refuelling of probe-equipped aircraft and an Air Refuelling Boom System at the tail of the aircraft which can be “flown” into the refuelling receptacle on the receiving aircraft. The refuelling system is controlled by an Air Refuelling Operator who sits in the rear of the cockpit (facing rearward) and views refuelling operations through 2D and 3D video screens. Interestingly, this two-engine aircraft has the same wing structure as the four engine A340-200/-300 and so it already has a provision for fuel piping and a reinforced structure to which the refuelling pods could be attached, minimising the modifications that had to be made. Two aircraft can be simultaneously attached to the hose and drogue refuelling stations or one to the boom. Aircraft are designed to use one refuelling system or the other. The hose and drogue system has the advantage that it is easy to retrofit, there can be multiple refuelling points and it doesn’t need to be “flown” into the receiving aircraft by an operator and the boom system has the advantage that it has much faster fuel delivery. The hose and drogue system is favoured by the US Navy while the boom system is favoured by the US Air Force. Most aircraft in the RAAF equipped for refuelling use the boom system with the exception of the Hornets (which were designed for the US Navy). With both systems the aircraft can refuel any suitably equipped Australian aircraft or aircraft of our allies. The capability for both systems has siliconchip.com.au There is better seat spacing on the KC-30A than on typical equivalent civilian aircraft. It will carry up to 270 passengers and can still perform its air refuelling role. made Australia very popular among our allies with whom we are currently engaged in various military missions around the world. As Australia phases out the Hornets, all remaining aircraft will use the boom system. While only one aircraft can be refuelled with the boom system compared to two with the hose and drogue system, the much more rapid refuelling rate with the boom means that there will be little difference in the time taken to refuel a given number of aircraft. The aircraft can also transport up to 270 personnel in seating, the same as found in the civilian version of the Airbus but with the deletion of the seat back video screen May 2015  13 option (so no in-flight movies for the troops!) MQ-8C Fire Scout Unmanned Helicopter Northrop Grumman had the MQ-8C Fire Scout unmanned helicopter on display. This is designed for reconnaissance, surveillance, airborne fire support and precision fire support for all armed services and is based on the Bell 407 manned helicopter. This particular variant of the MQ-8 was also intended to offer an unmanned cargo resupply capability for the US Navy. It has an endurance of 11 hours under standard conditions with a 136kg payload, range of 150nm and a maximum payload capacity of around 318kg. For a video see “MQ-8C Fire Scout Takes First Flight on USS Jason Dunham” http:// youtu.be/AaG2EDPVBqc A “flock” of petrol powered Aerochutes in flight. hours, assuming the flight time is not extended by catching thermals. The battery pack will be field swappable to replace a depleted battery. A basic Aerochute petrol model costs $26,000 and electric version is expected to be $34-$35,000, GST inclusive although the lifetime running costs of the electric version are expected to be less than the petrol model. Northrop Grumman MQ-8C Fire Scout unmanned helicopter (rotor blades folded back in transport position). Aerochute Aerochute Industries Pty Ltd (www.aerochute.com.au/) is an Australian company founded in 1989 that makes powered parachutes. These consist of a parafoil canopy beneath which is attached the wheeled airframe unit containing engine, fuel, propeller, pilot and passenger seat (if applicable) and cockpit instrumentation. The company’s products are designed to be safe and easy to use as the parachute is spin and stall resistant and there has never been a fatal crash. In the event of an engine stoppage the aircraft will gently descend to the ground like a parachute. There are two models, differentiated by the combined weight of the pilot and passenger that is to be lifted: the Aerochute (standard model) and the Hummerchute (for heavier people). A typical cruise speed is 60-70km/h, typical flight duration is two hours, take off distance is 10 to 15 metres and the maximum legal height is 5,000 feet. Aerochute is working with Swinburne University to develop an electric version called the Skymaster Pro. It will be quieter than the petrol model, require less maintenance and the motors can easily be stopped and started in flight for almost silent running. Like gliders, it is possible to catch thermals and glide for many hours. It will have a pair of motors and a pair of contra-rotating propellers in each of the two ducted-fan pods. This compares with a single motor and propeller in the petrol model. The flight time in the electric motor version is expected to be about 35 minutes and in the petrol model it is about 2 14  Silicon Chip Airframe portion of the electric version of the Aerochute. Each ducted fan pod has two motors and two contrarotating propellers. MQ-4C Triton Northrop Grumman had the MQ-4C Triton unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) on display. Up to seven of these aircraft will be purchased and will be based at RAAF Base Edinburgh in SA. The main sensor of the Triton is the AN/ZPY-3 MultiFunction Active Sensor (MFAS) X-band AESA (electronically scanned) radar. It provides a 360° view covering over 5,000 square kilometres in a single sweep and on a mission it can surveil 7,000,000 square kilometres of land or sea. The high resolution radar system can automatically classify targets, so, for example, it can distinguish between a container ship and an unfriendly foreign military vessel. The Triton can also operate semi-autonomously so the operators only have to specify an area to surveil, speed, altitude and mission objective and the aircraft will notify operators when it finds a specified target of interest. Service ceiling is over 50,000 feet and the aircraft is 14.5m long, has a wingspan of 39.9m and weighs 14.6 tonnes. Maximum speed is 331 knots (613km/h). The vehicle and the ground control station, communications systems, information analysis, maintenance, logistics siliconchip.com.au Northrop Grumman MQ-4C Triton unmanned aerial vehicle in RAAF livery. Australia is purchasing seven of these long duration surveillance aircraft. and other support facilities are collectively known as the unmanned aircraft system (UAS). It is derived from the RQ-4 Global Hawk (which was also on display) but it has strengthened wings and fuselage so that it can withstand hail, lightning and bird strikes and it has anti-icing systems. These are necessary as, unlike the Global Hawk which cruises at high altitude and stays there, the Triton is designed to be able to make rapid descents to low altitudes for closer inspection of targets or areas of interest. This may involve descending through storm clouds. Boeing P-8A The RAAF is to replace its existing fleet of Lockheed AP-3C Orions with a combination of unmanned Northrop Grumman MQ-4C Tritons (see above) and manned Boeing P-8A maritime surveillance aircraft. Australia will be purchasing eight of these, with an option of four more. They will start delivery in 2017 and eight aircraft will be fully operational by 2021. The first eight aircraft will cost $4 billion including support infrastructure. The P-8A Poseidon is designed for anti-submarine and anti-surface ship warfare, shipping interdiction and signals intelligence. It is capable of carrying anti-ship missiles such as the Harpoon, torpedoes, depth charges, land attack missiles and other weapons. It also carries and drops sonobuoys for detecting submarines. It is based upon a militarised Boeing 737-800 commercial airliner with 737-900 wings but has significant airframe modifications to allow for a bomb bay and 11 wing and fuselage hard points to attach weapons or sensors and also structural strengthening to allow long duration at a low altitudes (where there will be more wind buffeting than at US Navy Boeing P-8A. This aircraft is to replace the RAAF’s existing fleet of the Lockheed AP-3C Orions. siliconchip.com.au high altitudes) and high banking manoeuvres as it circles suspect vessels. The aircraft can carry 10,000kg of weapons. With 34,000kg of fuel the aircraft craft has an unrefuelled range of 4,000nm or 7,500km but it can undergo air-to-air refuelling from the KC-30A. In an anti-submarine warfare mode it can loiter 1,200nm (2,200km) from base for over four hours or with in-flight refuelling it can go on extended missions for as long as 20 hours, deep into the Southern Ocean. The Poseidon has advanced sensors such as a multi-mode radar, high-definition electro-optical camera, a system for processing acoustic data from sonobuoys with four times the capacity of that on the Lockheed AP-3Cs and numerous radio and satellite data links. Aerosonde Aerosonde is an Australian-based company making unmanned aerial vehicles. In 1998 it became famous for the first flight of an unmanned vehicle across the Atlantic. In 2006 it was purchased by US company AAI Corporation which in turn became a subsidiary of Textron in 2007. Aerosonde makes the Mk 4.7 “Small Unmanned Aircraft System” (SUAS). It is a highly flexible platform with day and night capability, surveillance and reconnaissance roles and a multi-payload capability. It has a 14+ hour endurance and numerous scientific and military uses. For video of this and other AAI UAVs see “AAI Corporation_UAS Video” https://youtu.be/oqy6wtl-muo AAI also make another UAV that is in use by the Australian Army, the RQ-7B Shadow 200 for reconnaissance and surveillance. Australian-designed Aerosonde Mk 4.7 UAV F-35A Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter Australia has committed to buying 72 Lockheed Martin F-35A Lightning II Joint Strike Fighters (JSF). The F-35A is perhaps the most advanced fighter in production in the world today. Two F-35As have already been accepted by the RAAF and are being used for testing and training. The F-35A is a multi-role supersonic stealth fighter. It features high manoeuvrability and acceleration, internal weapons stowage, advanced radar, electro-optical and infrared sensors, advanced communications and networking capability and the ability to employ a large array of weapons for air-to-air or air-to-ground use. The F-35 is very much a software-defined aircraft. In addition to its fifth generation features (see box), the F-35 and other fifth generation aircraft under development are May 2015  15 The F-35A Lightning II, chosen as Australia’s fifthgeneration fighter. very software intensive, to the extent that much of the capability of the aircraft is defined by software and not hardware. The F-35 has around 10 million lines of computer code on-board and about the same amount of code in ground support systems such as mission planning and diagnostic software. It even uses software-defined radios for its communications. The F-35 comes in five model variants. The A model is standard with conventional take off and landing; the B model is the short take off and vertical landing model which has reduced fuel and g-force capability compared to the A model due to its vertical fan; the C model is designed for carrier operations and has folding wing tips and larger wings for improved low speed handling; the I model is an Israeli variant and the CF-35 is a Canadian variant. There is significant Australian involvement in the manu- The F-35 Gen III Helmet Mounted Display System. facture of the F-35; 30 companies are involved as prime manufacturers and many more as subcontractors. One example of Australian participation in the program is the supply of some of the vertical tails by the Australian company Marand. Australian companies have so far won US$432 million dollars worth Australian participation in the F-35 of contract work program includes some 700 sets of and $1.5 billion tails! over the life of the program. A key to the effectiveness of the F-35 is the man-machine interface and the essence of this is the pilot helmet, called the F-35 Gen III Helmet Mounted Display System (HMDS), which will each cost a staggering $770,000. The helmet provides the pilot with an augmented reality display, giving a seamless 360° view with either day or night vision. The Electro Optical Distributed Aperture System combines the feeds of six infrared cameras and other sensors such as radar and target information and creates a synthetic view enabling the pilot to look anywhere and see anything. In fact, if the pilot looks down he won’t see his legs and floor of the cockpit but the ground. As a result of this augmented reality display the F-35 will be the first combat aircraft not to have a heads-up display since they were first introduced around 50 years ago. For videos see “Get a Pilot’s Eye View of the F-35 Head-Up Display – AINtv” https://youtu.be/Ay6g66FbkmQ and “F35 Helmet Display System” https://youtu.be/w0btzIvlScI Australia’s Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO) is providing support to the F-35 program in a number of key areas. The present cost of the program for Austrlia, not including the optional fourth squadron is $12.4 billion including facilities, weapons and training or $172 million per aircraft. However, with incentives to cut costs and better management processes the unit cost of each aircraft continues to fall. For example the aircraft cost is down 50% on what it was five and a half years ago. The cost is expected to be US$80 million per aircraft and US$12 million per engine by 2020. What is a fifth generation fighter? While there is no strict definition of what a fifth generation fighter is, Lockheed Martin in document A12-36991Q00 include the following key elements. 1) All-aspect advanced stealth (low radar visibility) enables reduced detection and engagement ranges of enemy defence systems or aircraft. Stealth is bought about by shape, embedded rather than external antennas, aligned edges, internal weapons and fuel and special coatings. 2) The sky can be dominated via next-generation avionics and sensor fusion to give the pilot real-time access to battlefield information and an unparalleled ability to dominate the tactical environment. This unmatched situational awareness, along with the aircraft’s extreme agility, acceleration and stealth, provides a tactical advantage over all adversary aircraft. 3) Force multiplication and enabling – a network capability allows information gathered by F-35 sensors to be immediately shared with commanders at sea, in the air or on the ground, providing an instantaneous, high-fidelity view of ongoing operations 16  Silicon Chip siliconchip.com.au Some critics have expressed concern that the aircraft has a lesser turn capability than legacy aircraft but it can fly further and faster with a greater payload and greater survivability and it can still pull 9G in a turn and fly at Mach 1.6. In addition it has stealth, a better radar, better sensors than anything else. Tiger helicopters The Australian Army had their Tiger Armed Reconnaissance Helicopters (ARH) on display. These are an advanced multi-role aircraft capable of missions such as reconnaissance, surveillance, anti-armour missions, close air support, escort duties and asset protection. It is capable of operating day and night, and in the aftermath of chemical, biological or nuclear war. Australian Army Tiger Armed Reconnaissance Helicopters (ARH). The ARH is an Australian variant of the Eurocopter Tiger. In contrast to the standard Tiger it has upgraded engines, a laser target designator for the Hellfire II missiles and provision for 70mm rockets. The ARH has a lightweight body with a high level of advanced materials such as composites and titanium. It has an advanced four bladed rotor and it can perform loops and negative-g manoeuvres. In August 2014 the aircraft was upgraded with the “Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System” laser guidance kit to convert the existing unguided 70mm rockets to guided rockets. Video: “Don’t just fly, fly Army: Tiger.” https:// youtu.be/gKq0pFNSU3U It also carries Hellfire II anti-armour missiles and a 30mm cannon which can utilise two different types of ammunition that are stored on the aircraft depending on the particular engagement. Silvertone Flamingo, designed by Bob Young, a former contributor to SILICON CHIP. It has a wing span of 4 metres, length of 2.9 metres, a dry weight of 10kg and a maximum weight with both payload and fuel of 20kg. The cruise speed is 52 knots or 96km/h. The UAV also has an auto-pilot for autonomous operation. A novel feature of this UAV is a payload pannier by which a variety of payload packages can be quickly changed for different missions. It has wing hard points for extra sensors or fuel and the wings have both ailerons and flaps. See www.silvertone.com.au/ (Editor’s note: the Flamingo was designed by Bob Young, founder of Silvertone and former contributor to SILICON CHIP magazine. The Flamingo was included in an article entitled “UAVs – an Australian perspective” in the June 2010 issue. See www.siliconchip.com.au/Issue/2010/June/Un-manne d+Aerial+Vehicles:+An+Australian+Perspective). C-17A Globemaster III Australia’s RAAF C-17A Globemaster III was a very popular exhibit. Australia has six of these aircraft with typically five in constant use and the sixth one in maintenance. The maximum payload it can carry is 74,800kg (about four times that of the C-130 Hercules) and it can carry 102 paratroopers or 188 passengers or loads such as an Australian Army Abrams M1A1 main battle tank, five Bushmaster vehicles or three Black Hawk helicopters. Its cargo bay is 20.78m in length. Each of the four engines can produce 40,440 pounds of thrust (180kN). It can carry 138,350 litres of fuel and is capable of air-to-air refuelling from the RAAF KC-30A. Silvertone’s Flamingo Silvertone Electronics were displaying the Flamingo Mk1 UAV. It is a UAV in the under 25kg class and originally designed as a low cost UAV for farm owners for remote surveillance of their properties. The airframe is modular so parts can easily be swapped and there is even a twin boom conversion and a variety of motor and landing gear configurations are possible. With high aerodynamic efficiency, this UAV has a longer duration than is typical in this class and can achieve up to seven hours’ flight time on its internal 5.6-litre tank with an appropriate configuration (motor type, throttle setting etc.). siliconchip.com.au MQ-9 Reaper The General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper is an armed remotely piloted aircraft made famous for its ability to make precision strikes against terrorists. The Reaper can loiter for long periods of time in enemy airspace with relatively small May 2015  17 weapons loads waiting for the enemy to appear, whilst traditional manned aircraft will continue to be used (for the time being) to drop much heavier weapons loads on defined targets. A USAF General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper carrying weapons. Australia is very likely to buy these. A typical ground-based crew consists of a pilot, sensor operator and mission coordinator. The MQ-9 has an advanced sensor and target designation suite including colour, monochrome and infrared video, a video image intensifier, a laser target designator, synthetic aperture radar and there is a capability to detect moving ground targets. It can be fitted with a wide and ever-increasing variety of weapons such as Hellfire missiles and laser-guided bombs as well as various sensor packages. There are six wing hard points (three on each wing) for attaching weapons. The inner pair can carry 680kg each, the mid pair can carry 270kg each and the outer pair can carry 90kg each (but not all at the same time). In addition, external fuel tanks can be fitted. An MQ-9 with two 450kg external fuel tanks with a weapon load of, say two 500lb bombs can have a mission duration of 42 hours. The Reaper has also been used as a test-bed for ARGUS-IS and Gorgon Stare (see www.siliconchip. com.au/Issue/2014/December/The+Amazing+ARGUSIS+Surveillance+System). The MQ-9 has a 712kW turboprop engine, a 20m wingspan, a length of 11m, maximum take off weight of 4,763kg, an internal fuel capacity of 1,770kg, an internal payload of 386kg and an external payload of 1,361kg. Maximum altitude is 50,000 feet and standard endurance is 27 hours. Cruise speed is 169 knots or 313km/h. 3D printing of jet engine In recent years there has been a revolution in 3D printing. Not only are the machines reducing dramatically in cost but the range of engineering grade materials has greatly increased and now includes many metals and alloys. The extent to which this technology has now developed was demonstrated by world’s first “printing” of the turbine assembly and casing of a small jet engine. This work, a world first for Australia, was undertaken as part of a collaboration between Monash University, Deakin University and the CSIRO and the spin-out company Amaero. In fact, two engines were printed. One difficulty was that no engine manufacturer likes to have their designs digitised or copied but the French Microturbo (Safran) company kindly supplied and allowed the researchers to scan one of their older engines for printing. 18  Silicon Chip 3D printed jet engine, with a close-up showing detail at right. Printing of metals or “direct metal laser sintering” is somewhat the same as plastics but each slice of a part is “written” by a laser scanning over a bed comprising metal powder. The powder is melted and consolidated by the laser, then the bed is lowered by the thickness of a slice, new powder is added and the process is repeated. After printing, the object is removed from the bed of powder. Some production components manufactured by this process are already in use, including SpaceX’s SuperDraco rocket engine. 3D printing of metals offers the possibility of creating extremely complex shapes which are impossible or prohibitively expensive by normal processes and also it offers the possibility of reducing spare parts inventories as parts could be “downloaded” and printed on demand. Videos to see: “3D Printing of a small Jet Engine” https:// youtu.be/nCcK-XSuaHs and “Australian Researchers Unveil World’s First 3D Printed Jet Engine” https://youtu.be/ odHppdY4Pcg Engineered Material Arrest System Following on from last month’s feature in SILICON CHIP about aircraft weather radar and flight safety is an important product designed to arrest aircraft that fail to brake correctly on landing. The Flight Safety Foundation analysed flight safety data for the period 1995 to 2008 and found that aircraft runway over-runs happen 2-3 times per month, are responsible for 97% of runway accidents and 30% of all aircraft accidents. Runway over-run accidents are also responsible for 83% of all fatalities in runway accidents. There are two ways to provide for safe aircraft arrest in the event of an over-run. Both involve “Runway End Safety Areas” or RESA. One type of RESA may be simply a suitable length of land past the runway in which the aircraft may continue to attempt to stop. The other type of RESA is EMAS (Engineered Material Arrest System). Zodiac Arresting Systems engineer a type of modular siliconchip.com.au The Tempus IC telemedicine unit which transmits vital signs to medical professionals at a ground station. A Bombardier CL600 aircraft safely arrested by EMASMAX in a runway over-run incident saving the lives of 34 passengers and crew. This incident occurred on January 19, 2010, at the Yeager Airport in Charleston, West Virginia. accessible via an aircraft’s IFEC (in flight entertainment and communications) systems. cellular crushable concrete panel which is permanently installed at the runway ends. Aircraft running into this material after an accidental over-run are effectively bogged and stopped in a controlled manner with no passenger injuries and little or no aircraft damage. The material is available in a variety of strengths and other characteristics depending upon the size of aircraft to be arrested. The material also has other applications such as surrounding buildings to stop terrorist vehicles being driven into them. For a video on this material see “EMASMAX by Zodiac Arresting Systems” http://youtu. be/emcSX1kijXM The RAAF had on display one of its 19 Panther Airfield Fire Trucks. Looking like something out of Gerry Anderson’s Thunderbirds, this RAAF Panther Airfield Fire Truck was an impressive sight. Made in Austria, the vehicle has six wheel drive, an airconditioned cabin (for one driver and three crew) and can shoot water a distance of 70 metres. Panther Airfield Fire Truck Telemedicine One call that one never wants to hear over an airline PA system (apart from “Brace! Brace! Brace!”) is “Is there a medical doctor on board?”. Unfortunately there may not be and if a passenger has a serious medical episode their condition could deteriorate or they could lose their life in the time it takes to land at a suitable airport. Tempus IC by Remote Diagnostic Technologies Limited is a vital signs “telemedicine” monitoring unit that can be used by relatively untrained airline staff to measure the vital signs of a sick passenger and transmit both the vital signs and establish a voice link to a medical doctor at a monitoring station. The Tempus IC measures such parameters as blood oxygenation, pulse and respiration rate, temperature, blood pressure and blood glucose level. It can also transmit a 12-lead diagnostic ECG signal. In addition, still pictures and video of the patient can be transmitted to the medical response centre. The device is designed to be intuitive and easy to use by staff with minimal training (about half a day). Once patient data has been analysed at a medical response centre, the staff will be advised what course of action is to be taken, including whether the aircraft has to be diverted immediately, or whether it is safe for the patient for the aircraft to continue to its destination. The Tempus device communicates via satellite and is compatible with a wide variety of satellite communication systems already found on aircraft and also communications siliconchip.com.au The RAAF’s Panther Airfield Fire Truck. Each truck can carry 8,500 litres of water, 1,300 litres of fire retardant foam and can spray at 6,200 litres per minute. It also has a dry chemical powder extinguishing system. Weight is around 36 tonnes, maximum speed is 120km/h and it is powered by a 14-litre Series 60 DDEC V Detroit Diesel. Conclusion The relentless advance of electronics, powerful computer capability and miniaturisation continues to dominate development in aerospace and defence technologies as well as the networking of various systems to provide excellent situational awareness. As far as Australia is concerned, we have significant participation in major international projects such as the F-35 and in addition to that, Australia’s military aviation power, always significant for Australia’s relatively small population, seems to be greater than it ever has been. Unfortunately, in this troubled world, it needs to be. SC May 2015  19