Indonesian state-owned aircraft manufacturer PT Dirgantara (PTDI) has completed ground firing trials on a gunship variant of the CN-235 twin-engine multipurpose aircraft, and is now preparing the airframe for its first aerial tests, Igan Satyawati, the company's vice president for business development and marketing, told Jane's at Singapore Airshow 2020.
The variant, which has been developed out of the company's flying test bed (FTB) airframe, is fitted with single-barrelled 30 mm DEFA 553 aircraft cannon on the portside aft of its fuselage.
The weapon was salvaged from a retired Douglas A-4H Skyhawk that was formerly in service with the Indonesian Air Force (Tentara Nasional Indonesia - Angkatan Udara: TNI-AU).
The FTB was formerly in service with the now defunct domestic flight operator, Merpati Nusantara Airlines. PTDI acquired the airframe as a platform from which it can prove out experimental concepts, such as the gunship variant.
It is equipped with General Electric (GE) CT7-9 turboprop engines and has been structurally enhanced to withstand the weight of its 30 mm cannon. The airframe has also been retrofitted with storage compartments to store equipment and munitions related to the weapon.
There are plans to incorporate hardpoints on the aircraft's wings and fuselage so it can carry additional weapons but this is not a priority at the moment, said the company.
"Now that ground-based firings from the aircraft have been completed, we are focused on preparing the parameters to test the aircraft and its [30 mm] weapon while it is in the air," sad Igan, adding that the company is aiming to conduct the flight trials by 2020. (Jane's)
CN235 Gunship akan Dipersenjatai Meriam, Ini Penjelasan PT DI
TEMPO.CO, Bandung - PT Dirgantara Indonesia menampilkan model pengembangan CN235 terbaru, yakni seri Gunship di ajang Singapore Airshow 2020 di Changi Exhibition Centre, Singapura, 11-16 Februari 2020 “Kami bawa dummy-nya,” kata Manajer Komunikasi Perusahaan dan Promosi PT Dirgantara Indonesia (Persero), Adi Prastowo, saat dihubungi, Kamis 13 Februari 2020.
Adi mengatakan, proyek seri Gunship kini masih dalam tahap uji dan pengembangan menggunakan flying test bed atau pesawat yang didedikasikan untuk kegiatan purwarupa, CN235. Pesawat FTB CN235 tersebut diperkenalkan pertama kali saat uji terbang perdana di Bandara Husein Sastranegara, Bandung, 23 Agustus 2019.
Rencananya, model CN235 Gunship akan mengusung mesin General Electric CT7-9C3, dan senjata cannon atau meriam tunggal kaliber 30 milimeter. Tapi sebelum menenteng senjata itu, serangkaian uji terbang masih harus dijalani.
Project Manager Flying Test Bed, Eko Budi Santoso, mengatakan uji terbang terbatas yang sudah dilewati. "Artinya pressurize belum kita fungsikan, auto-pilot belum kita fungsikan,” kata dia, saat dihubungi, Kamis 13 Februari 2020.
Eko mengatakan, uji terbang itu dilakukan setelah mendapat persetujuan Indonesian Military Airworthiness Authority (IMAA). FTB CN235 tersebut saat ini sudah menuntaskan uji terbang awal dengan total jam terbang 10 jam 20 menit. “Sekarang posisinya lagi in-progress menjadi complete configurasi basic,” kata Eko lagi.
Saat konstruksi konfigurasi dasar FTB CN235 tuntas, pesawat akan menjalani uji terbang lagi selama 75 jam. Baru setelahnya, pemasangan sistem senjata. "Sistem senjata disiapkan paralel," kata Eko. (Tempo)