TacAir, the Reno-based adversary
support contractor that won a big Navy contract to augment training operations
at nearby Naval Air Station Fallon, the home of Topgun, is now fulfilling that
contract with its heavily enhanced F-5ATs. The aircraft are being overhauled
from the ground-up for the adversary mission and morphing into the most
advanced F-5s ever devised. The War Zone has learned that
these enhancements now include the addition of a full-color helmet-mounted
display that gives TacAir aggressor pilots unique and highly valuable
capabilities, especially when paired with the jet's plethora of other upgrades.
To our knowledge, this is a first for the rapidly expanding contractor adversary support
industry.
WHY F-5S BEAT OUT
F-16S FOR THE NAVY'S LATEST COMMERCIAL AGGRESSOR CONTRACTBy Tyler Rogoway
and Joseph TrevithickPosted in THE WAR ZONE
REFURBISHED TACAIR
AGGRESSOR F-5 PHOTOGRAPHED OVER ST. AUGUSTINE, FLORIDABy Tyler RogowayPosted
in THE
WAR ZONE
The existence of the private
aggressors utilizing helmet-mounted displays came to my attention when
aviation photographer
Christopher McGreevy posted some recent shots of flying
operations at NAS Fallon. I noticed that the pilots were going about their
high-octane trade with some unique headwear. I subsequently reached out to
TacAir's Mick Guthals, Senior Manager of Business Development with the firm,
who provided a full rundown on this industry-leading capability and some of the
other new bells and whistles on the company's F-5ATs that he wasn't able to
disclose last time we talked, but could now.
The F-5AT is equipped with the
Scorpion HMD, one of the most capable and versatile in the world. Scorpion is
used by a wide variety of aircraft, including A-10 Warthogs, F-16s, AC-130s,
H-60s, and more. The F-22 was slated to receive Scorpion, as well, although that still
hasn't come to pass.
The system uses a monocle over the
right eye instead of a visor projection concept that is used in other systems.
This provides a series of advantages. It is easier to integrate and fit and it
can be used day or night and even with night vision goggles. The system projects everything
from basic flight data to weapons information, including a gun pipper for
dogfighting, and sensor and data-link information in an augmented reality
manner.
Guthals told The War Zone that the HMD
was actually less expensive than integrating a heads-up display (HUD), which has far less functionality. In a
sense, the F-5AT is configured similarly to the F-35, in a less advanced form, which also
dropped the HUD entirely, with the HMD taking on all of its functionality and
more. Scorpion can also simulate the employment helmet-mounted
sight-aimed high-off-boresight air-to-air missiles that have proliferated around the globe. This is a huge plus for an
aggressor aircraft as it can realistically present a critical threat to even
the most maneuverable and stealthy fighters, should they wade into the
short-range fighting arena. Although it is hard to spot and nimble in certain
respects, the F-5's performance is lacking when compared to 4th and 5th
generation fighters. An HMD that can simulate these types of missile shots
helps level that playing field.
THALES
The F-5AT's Scorpion HMD also records HD video right onto the jet's
open-architecture mission computer, a feature that is a huge leap in capability
and is an invaluable tool to wield during the debriefing of the F-5AT's fleet
opponents. The video the helmet records is something akin to what the pilot is
seeing through their own eyes, not just what is being viewed through a HUD at
the front of the cockpit.
The Scorpion HMD is just one facet of
what is turning out to be one potent and efficient aggressor jet. The six fully
configured F-5ATs TacAir now has on strength also sport the multi-mode Nemesis pulse-doppler radar from Duotech. This system
takes up the majority of the jet's nose, with the guns having been removed. The
radar is designed specifically for the adversary mission and is fully fused
with the aircraft's Garmin 3000 avionics suite.
Nemesis is superior in range to the
AN/APG-66 radar that is found in a competitor's A-4s and in older F-16s, some of which are going to be joining the private
aggressor industry, and has the ability to simulate various enemy radars and
missile systems. It is also designed for extreme reliability and has the
potential to have its mechanically scanned array (MESA) antenna to be converted
to a more capable active electronically scanned array (AESA) antenna in the
future.
DUOTECH
Duotech is also supplying the radar
warning receiver suite for the F-5AT, which provides a high degree of passive
situational awareness. The system, dubbed Argus, can be easily integrated onto certain aircraft,
like the F-5, using existing apertures and has 360 degree, wideband threat
detection capability.
The jets are also set to receive a
proprietary data-link that will allow them to share information freely among
themselves, including targeting and weapons data, and it will support secure
communications. This could be extremely useful if an AESA radar gets installed
in some of the company's F-5ATs. With the data-link, just one jet equipped with
a more advanced radar could share all its information with other F-5ATs, making
it a big force multiplier. Currently, the air combat maneuvering
instrumentation (ACMI) pod the F-5ATs carry, the Cubic's P5 model, offers limited aircraft-to-aircraft
data-link capabilities, including the sharing of position data, which is highly
useful for the aggressor role.
These features are in addition to the
airframes being overhauled by Northrop Grumman and the Garmin 3000
large panel display glass cockpit being installed, as well as hands-on throttle
and stick controls, and other enhancements.
GARMIN/TACAIR
The Garmin 3000 fighter cockpit
concept (left) the F-5AT's actual cockpit (right).
The software that runs on the Garmin system and handles data-fusion and
tactical information was also developed specifically for the aggressor mission.
It's called Venom and comes from L3Harris.
In a press release, L3Harris described Venom as such:
"Venom integrates the latest
air-to-air capabilities using commercial off-the-shelf components, providing
pilots’ desired look, feel and operation in the cockpit. The suite enables
third-generation platforms to operate as a fifth-generation platform, and more
realistically emulate modern adversaries.
The Venom suite continues L3Harris’
work in adversary mission systems by integrating a high-resolution tactical
situation display, presenting radar and datalink track information, threats,
system status and weapons engagement information with the Garmin® G3000™
Integrated Flight Deck touch controller and bezel key interfaces. This provides
pilots an intuitive, cutting-edge capability for performing adversary training
missions. Scaleable, reconfigurable and adaptable, Venom enables platforms to
maintain relevance by easily and affordably incorporating new or desired
adversary capabilities."
L3HARRIS
Venom running on the Garmin 3000
larger area display found in the F-5AT's drastically updated cockpit.
Guthals noted just how reliable the
F-5AT configuration is. Four jets now operating out of Fallon accomplished
three sorties each on a single day last week. That's impressive reliability
by today's tactical fast jet standards.
Clearly, the Navy has taken notice as
to what TacAir has accomplished with the F-5AT conversion and is looking at
doing something very similar to its own comparatively antiquated F-5Ns, of
which the service is buying more second-hand from Switzerland. TacAir is
actually helping to manage that upgrade program for the Navy, so it is very
likely that a similar, if not nearly identical configuration will eventually
find its way into the Navy two F-5 equipped aggressor squadrons—VFC-13 and
VFC-111—and the Marine's single F-5 aggressor unit—VMFT-401.
As for the longevity of TacAir's 'super Tiger IIs' of sorts, they came
from surplus Jordanian stocks and apparently had very low flight time to begin
with, with around 2,000 hours on each of them. Guthals notes that the F-5s are
good for roughly 7,000 hours as originally designed and can go significantly
beyond that with a service life extension.
All told, it is fairly remarkably what TacAir has achieved with its
F-5TA initiative. The little planes pack an incredible amount of current-day
tech that is specifically designed for aggressor operations, not repurposed
from combat applications, into highly reliable, proven, efficient, and enduring
design. The Navy also gets to take advantage of its development work by
upgrading its own F-5s, which remain the backbone of the Navy and Marine Corps'
aggressor force.
The Navy passed over another aggressor company that proposed using
the F-16 platform for the NAS Fallon contract due to TacAir's efficient plan.
Time will tell just how good of a decision that was, but as it sits now, Navy
pilots are facing an enhanced F-5 adversary that is better adapted to the
aggressor mission than ever before and Air Force pilots are likely to be slugging it out with
the F-5AT soon, as well.
Contact the author: Tyler@thedrive.com
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