Now there's a surprise!
The Brazilian Navy now also seriously thinks about equivalent "turboprop E-1 Tracers"
DATE:23/08/10
SOURCE:Flight International
Brazilian navy buys Traders
The Brazilian navy has acquired eight Grumman C-1A Traders for extensive modification to perform carrier on-board delivery and air refuelling roles.
The last C-1A was retired from US Navy service in 1988, so the aircraft will initially undergo overhaul in the USA to restore them to airworthiness.
They will then be ferried to Brazil's São Pedro da Aldeia naval air base.
Local sources indicate that Embraer will replace the C-1As' original Wright R-1820 piston engines with Honeywell TP331-14GR turboprops and Hartzell five-bladed propellers.
Embraer is also expected to receive a contract covering airframe overhaul and installation of updated avionics for six of the aircraft.
Two will be modified to fit them for air refuelling duties for the navy's McDonnell Douglas A-4KU/TA-4KU Skyhawks.
Including the US Foreign Military Sales contract purchase price of $234,000 for all six aircraft, with all modifications the total cost per airframe will come to $3.5-4 million.
The navy's prime concern, however, remains finding airborne early warning assets for the aircraft carrier São Paulo.
The navy intends imminently to inspect four stored Uruguayan navy Grumman S-2G Trackers, in the hope of obtaining the aircraft and again having Embraer fit them with TP331-14Gs.
Embraer has previously looked at the Eliradar HEW-784 and Thales Searchwater 2000AEW for development of a Tracker-based AEW platform. These aircraft would feature three mission stations, Link 11, ESM, plus new avionics and communications/navigation suites.
A contract amendment signed on 7 November 2014 by the Brazilian navy's directorate of aeronautics and Marsh Aviation revives a long-delayed programme to refurbish and re-engine four ex-US Navy Grumman S-2 Trackers
The new contract terms also acknowledge the entry of Elbit Systems of America’s subsidiary M7 Aviation, of San Antonio, Texas, into the programme.
The original Brazilian Tracker contract was signed on 20 October 2011 covering the airframe refurbishment, re-engining and systems transformation of four ex-US Navy C-1A Traders into “KC-2” Turbo Traders.
It also revived the C-1A fleet for military operations, a role that had been on hold since the US Navy retired the aircraft 26 years ago.
The Brazilian Navy’s São Paulo aircraft carrier due to its age is constrained in both catapult strength and flight deck length making the operation of the modern but much larger and heavier Northrop Grumman E-2D Hawkeye aircraft impossible.
Due to this limiting factor, the Brazilian Navy acquired eight Grumman C-1A airframes previously stored in the US military’s aircraft boneyard outside Tucson, Arizona.
The transaction is listed as a “grant” in a database maintained by the US military’s arms export unit – the Defense Security and Cooperation Agency. The database lists the current value of the C-1A airframe as $32,000.
Seeking to minimise risk, Brazil decided to rely on a tried and tested re-engining program developed by Marsh Aviation to have four of the aircraft converted to carrier on board delivery (COD) and air-to-air refueling aircraft.
The C-1A’s original Wright R-1820-8WA radial engines will be replaced by Honeywell TPE331-14GR turboprops fitted with Hartzell HC-135MA-5 five-blade propellers.
The analogue cockpit is to be modernised with an Astronautics electronic flight instrument system kit. These Brazilian Traders are currently stored in the Marsh Aviation lot in Mesa, Arizona.
As a US Government investigation was started on all of Marsh’s activities, which almost led to the company’s bankruptcy, the S-2 conversion project for the Brazilian navy was suspended for years.
The first KC-2 prototype flight is expected for November 2017 and the delivery of the first operational aircraft to the Brazilian Navy is scheduled for December 2018.
When they are delivered the Turbo Traders and Trackers will be operated by the newly created First Transport and Early Warning Squadron (VEC-1) based in the Sao Pedro d’Aldeia Naval Air Station located west Rio de Janeiro.
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