Lockheed cuts cost

Press, 5 October 1984, Page 20

Lockheed cuts cost

From

lAN MATHER,

in London

The Lockheed Company of California is the latest manufacturer to join the scramble to produce an early warning aircraft affordable for customers other than the United States, N.A.T.0., and Saudi Arabia.

Lockheed’s converted Orson antisubmarine aircraft, fitted with a saucer-shaped radar on top of the fuselage to enable it to spot enemy fighters, was recently unveiled. It will compete with the “RollsRoyce” of early warning aircraft, the A.W.A.C.S. made by Boeing. Lockheed hopes to sell its planes at $55 million each, against a price tag of $l2O million on the A.W.A.C.S. The company, which has produced the plane speculatively, thinks it can attract orders from several countries, including some in the Third World.

“The Falklands campaign and Israel’s successes against Syria have brought to the attention of the military planning community the

need for airborne early warning,” says George Lombard, Lockheed’s vice-president of government marketing. “We believe a cost-effective system is in tune with the market.”

Almost every aircraft manufacturer, military and civilian, has some kind of airborne early warning design on the drawing board.

Britain decided not to join with the rest of N.A.T.O. in buying Boeing A.W.A.C.S. (13 have been ordered), but to go it alone and develop its own Nimrod early warning planes. These have hit snags, though, which have delayed their entry into service.

Marconi, which is making the radar for Nimrod, has developed an early warning system called Skyguard which can be installed on

a wide variety of aircraft, ranging from helicopters to short-range passenger planes. Thom E.M.I. is to develop for export a lightweight early warning system to be installed on Islander aircraft. The Dutch company, Fokker, has developed an early warning system to be installed on its planes. The most successfully exported early warning plane is the E-2C Hawkeye — made in the United States by Grumman — which is much cheaper than the A.W.A.C.S. and can be carried on aircraft carriers, though its range is much shorter.

Hawkeyes have been bought by Israel, Egypt, and Singapore, in addition to the United States Navy. Grumman says nine other countries have expressed interest. Copyright — London Observer Service.