WRIGHT-PATTERSON AFB, Ohio - U.S. Air Force airborne surveillance experts are working with L-3 Communications Corp. to convert Cessna light single-engine turboprop aircraft to intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) platforms.
Officials of the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, announced a $14.2 million contract this week to the L-3 Communication Systems West segment in Salt Lake City for the Cessna 208B ISR program.
The contract, which involves counter-terrorism partnership money, will produce ISR-capable Cessna 208B Grand Caravan aircraft for Chad, Cameroon, Niger, and the Philippines under the foreign military sales program.
The Cessna 208 Caravan is a single-engined turboprop with fixed-tricycle landing gear built by the Cessna Aircraft Co. in Wichita, Kan. The plane can carry a pilot and as many as 14 passengers for short-haul regional airline and utility aircraft applications.
The Cessna 208B ISR variant carries an electro-optical sensor pod and other surveillance equipment. Some military variants of the Cessna 208 also can carry Hellfire missiles for ground-attack missions.
The Cessna 208B is nearly 42 feet long with a 52-foot wingspan. It can carry more than two tons of passengers, fuel, cargo, and other payloads. The plan has a Pratt & Whitney PT6A-140 turboprop engine that can carry the aircraft at speeds to 185 knots and altitudes to 25,000 feet. It has Garmin G1000 avionics with GFC700 integrated digital automatic flight control system.
On this contract L-3 Communication Systems West will do the work in Salt Lake City, and should be finished by September 2017.
(Military Aerospace)
The Cessna 208 Caravan is the right choice for an effective and low-cost Intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) mission aircraft. First and foremost the Caravan is economical to maintain and operate. At 20,000 feet the Caravan has a maximum range of 1295 nautical miles and that equates to a flight radius of 648 nautical miles which means it could patrol any hotspots in the Philippines. Like from Antonio Bautista Air Base in Puerto Princesa, Palawan to Pagasa Island (Thitu Island) in the West Philippine Sea which is only 548 nautical miles full circle (back and forth). Aside from the electro-optical sensor pod and other surveillance equipment to be installed, the US should place attachments for future installation of LAU 131 Rocket Pods which the Philippine Air Force uses to make the Caravan an ISR plus Attack aircraft. Which similar to the US provided Caravan to the Iraqi Air Force the AC-208 Combat Caravans (captioned picture above).
BalasHapus