Northrop Grumman begins installing new engines on Joint STARS

The US Air Force has awarded Northrop Grumman two contracts, worth $300 million collectively, to complete non-recurring engineering, flight test/certification and begin production of new engines for theE-8C Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (Joint STARS) fleet. The E-8C is a modified B707-300 series commercial aircraft that detects, locates, classifies, tracks and targets hostile ground movements, communicating real-time information through secure data links.

Work will begin immediately with the test bed aircraft based in Melbourne being the first E-8 to convert to the Pratt and Whitney JT8D engine and complete military certification flight test activities, which will begin later this year. Concurrently, production start-up activity begins with Northrop Grumman's principal subcontractors, Pratt and Whitney and Seven Q Seven, to produce a propulsion pod system that includes JT8D core engines, nacelles, thrust reversers and pylons. The first retrofit to the Joint STARS fleet is set for late 2010.

"The new JT8Ds will improve mission performance, fuel consumption, takeoff, and climb rates, increase time on station and mission capability, meet current noise and emissions standards and provide for additional growth and system upgrades," said Dale Burton, Northrop Grumman vice president for Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) and Air Force Battle Management Command and Control (BMC2). "The new engines will also reduce maintenance man-hours. The JT3D engines, which have been the workhorse for 707s since their production, were our number one maintenance issue."

Northrop Grumman will replace the engines on each of the 17 operational jets during their routine periodic depot maintenance schedules, which will result in no additional downtime for the operators.

The Joint STARS E-8C airframe is the only military 707-based platform where the programme has invested $35-$45 million in airframe refurbishment during production with new components, material upgrades, and parts replacements, and has also ensured that all known structural anomalies, airworthiness directives and service bulletins were addressed. A recent E-8C Airframe Sustainability Analysis concluded that the airframe is operationally and economically sustainable for 50 more years.

Northrop Grumman is the prime contractor for the E-8C Joint STARS, having delivered 17 aircraft to the 116th Air Control Wing at Robins AFB, Georgia, and currently providing life cycle maintenance and training under the Total System Support Responsibility programme.

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