https://www.aerotime.aero/29583-business-jet-military-conversion
과거엔 드하빌랜드 코멧(HS 님로드)이나 보잉 707, 747 등이 넉넉한 공간과 장기체공능력을 바탕으로 군용기로 전환돼 사용됐지만, 전자장비가 소형화돼 비즈젯 내부에도 탑재 가능해지고 엔진성능이 향상돼 장기간 체공이 가능해지면서 여객기 대신 비즈니스 제트기가 군용기로 쓰이고 있다는 기사입니다.
2020년 1월 27일 아프간 가즈니 주 동부에 항공기가 추락했는데 사고 초반 아프간 항공사의 기체로 오인되는 일이 있었습니다. 실제 이 기체는 봄바르디어 글로벌 익스프레스 6000을 개조한 미공군의 E-11A 통신중계기였습니다. 이 비즈니스제트기는 영국의 센티넬 R MK-1 전장감시기로도 개량돼 쓰이고 있습니다.
또한 사브는 봄바르디어 제트기를 UAE에 판매한 사브 글로벌아이 AEW&C 기의 플랫폼으로 선정했으며, 스웨덴은 걸프스트림 IV 비즈니스제트기를 개조한 신호정보수집기 2기를 1995년부터 운용중으로 이 기체는 러시아 칼리닌그라드 주변의 발틱 해 공역을 정기적으로 비행합니다.
2020년 1월엔 프랑스의 DGA가 다소 팰콘 8X에 탈레스제 전자장비를 장착한 Archange 전략정찰기를 도입계획을 승인했습니다. 3기가 도입될 이 정찰기는 트랜잘 수송기 기반인 C-160G 가브리엘을 대체할 예정으로 속도 513km인 C-160G보다 두 배 빠른 980km에 달하며 항속거리 또한 8,858km에서 11,950km로 길어졌습니다.
hat makes business jets such great military aircraft?
There are numerous links between business and military aviation. And if some manufacturers like to highlight elements taken from their combat aircraft and integrated into their corporate jets, there is a reciprocal relationship. Indeed, some aircraft developed for exclusive travel find their way into the fleet of various air forces, and not only for the purpose of personnel transportation. But what makes business aircraft such good military platforms?
Manufacturers have an established track record of turning jet airliners into military aircraft. It started with the likes of the de Havilland Comet which morphed into the Hawker Siddeley Nimrod maritime patrol aircraft at the end of its civilian life. There was also the Boeing 707, with the Boeing E-3 Sentry airborne early warning and control aircraft still widely in use.
The airframe of a commercial jet allows the military long-range capability and a cabin large enough to fit necessary equipment. The poster child of these features is no less than the Boeing 747. The Queen of the Skies gave birth to a plethora of military variants, including the E-4B airborne command post colloquially known as the ‘Doomsday Plane’, and the iconic VC-25, used as Air Force One by the United States Air Force (USAF) to transport the US President. The 747’s 4,000 square feet of cabin space offers enough room to fit in numerous amenities, not least the presidential quarters (with a gym), a situation room, a medical room, and even an operating room.
However, the past decade has seen an increased interest from the military in another area of civilian aviation: business aviation.
Such are the similarities between some military and corporate jets, it is not always easy to tell them apart.
Early on January 27, 2020, news emerged that an aircraft had gone down in the eastern province of Ghazni, to the southwest of Kabul, Afghanistan’s capital. Initial reports were unclear as to what type of airplane was involved. Eventually, the local governor’s office said the aircraft was a “plane belonging to the Ariana Afghan Airline”. However, the national carrier’s CEO denied it, saying all planes were accounted for.
Once photos and footage of the crash site emerged online, the reason for the misunderstanding and confusion became clear: the aircraft involved was in fact a Northrop Grumman E-11A communication relay plane of the USAF.
Based on the Bombardier Global Express 6000, the E-11A is an airborne communication relay, transmitting critical information from one military unit to the other, thanks to a Battlefield Airborne Communication Node (BACN) system developed by Northrop Grumman. Except for the USAF roundel on each engine nacelle, it was hard to distinguish the highly specialized aircraft from a regular corporate jet.
With the ever-advancing miniaturization of electronics, the need for large cabins to fit the equipment needed for observation or communication missions has decreased. Similarly, advances in engine technology mean that the range of corporate jets has now reached a point where bigger aircraft with larger engines are superfluous.
Consequently, contracts for strategic aircraft based on business jet airframes have flourished in the past few years.
The Bombardier Global Express 6000 is one such success. In addition to the E-11A mentioned earlier, the jet was also converted by Raytheon into a battlefield surveillance plane for the Royal Air Force: the Sentinel R.Mk-1.
More recently, Saab turned Bombardier’s jet into an early warning and control (AEW&C) platform for the United Arab Emirates, giving birth to the GlobalEye. The first aircraft was delivered on April 29, 2020. In an attempt to tip the scales in its favor in the ongoing Finnish fighter procurement tender, Saab has offered Finland two GlobalEye aircraft in addition to its Gripen fighters.
But Bombardier-based aircraft are not alone in this niche market.
Since 1995, the Swedish Air Force has been using two S102B ‘Korpen’, a pair of Gulfstream IV business jets converted for signals intelligence (SIGINT) missions. The aircraft can be regularly seen patrolling above the Baltic Sea, off the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad.
In January 2020, the French procurement and technology agency (DGA) awarded the Archange airborne strategic intelligence program to Dassault Aviation and Thales. This program will see three Dassault Falcon 8X being fitted with Thales electronic intelligence technologies.
The Falcon 8X will replace the larger Transall C-160G Gabriel aircraft. Not only is the business jet smaller and lighter, it is also twice as fast at 609 miles per hour (980 kilometers per hour) against 319 miles per hour (513 kilometers per hour) for the C160. In addition, it offers a superior range of 7,425 miles (11,950 kilometers) compared to 5,504 miles (8,858 kilometers) for its predecessor.
This trend is expected to continue.
In July 2021, when the Maritime Airborne Warfare Systems (MAWS) program envisioned by France and Germany seemed about to collapse, Dassault enthusiastically suggested to the French government that it could convert its new Falcon 10X into a Maritime Patrol Aircraft.
Once again, the technological leap would be tremendous, as 56 years separate the Dassault-Breguet Br.1150 (Atlantique 2) currently in operation in the Marine Nationale, and the Falcon 10X, the latest addition to the Falcon business jet family and the largest business jet by the French manufacturer to date.
To fully replace the Atlantique 2, however, the Falcon 10X would have to carry an array of anti-submarine weapons, including torpedoes, grenades and missiles. The weaponization of a corporate jet would mark a new milestone in the versatility of those platforms.