Two extensively-ugraded Canadian-registered Douglas A-4N Skyhawks have arrived in Germany where they will be used by Pointe Claire-based Discovery Air Defence Services (DADS) to provide aggressor training to the air, ground and naval elements of the Bundeswehr. A subsidiary of Discovery Air Inc., DADS formerly was known as Top Aces, founded in 2000 by three former Royal Canadian Air Force fighter pilots to provide the Department of National Defence with training services with a fleet of Dassault/Dornier Alpha Jets.
A total of seven A-4Ns, former Israeli Air Force jets bought by an American company and subsequently acquired by DADS, are scheduled for delivery to Germany. In addition to those and its Alpha Jets, Discovery has more than 140 fixed- and rotary-winged aircraft in its fleet, operating from 35 facilities in 25 communities in Canada and as far afield as Patagonia, Chile. It provides not only the DADS military training but also air ambulance, fire suppression and charter services as well as a range of logistics, maintenance, repair, overhaul, modification, engineering and certification services.
Canada was one of the first North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) members to pursue the contracted training approach, which now is being copied by other countries. The hourly cost of a Skyhawk is under $5,000, so “it makes absolutely no sense to fly an F-18 . . . against another F-18 at a cost of $40,000 an hour each – as the Canadian government used to do and as many other countries still do,” Discovery Air Chief Executive Jacob “Koby” Shavit said in an interview, adding that the program had saved Canadian taxpayers “hundreds of millions of dollars.”
DADS President Paul Bouchard, one of the Top Aces founders, said the concept of outsourcing aggressor training was driven by NATO-wide budget cuts in the 1990s. “There was a need for an affordable sub-sonic aircraft that can do most roles in support of military operational training.” He explained in an interview that the company acquires aircraft either directly from governments or – in the case of its Skyhawks and Alpha Jets – from other companies which had bought them from governments. “We really do our own assessment of whether it’s supportable and whether it is going to have an adequate life to support the annual flying rates for the number of years we expect to operate it.”
Bouchard said DADS tears down the A-4Ns to depot-level inspection standards, sending the Pratt & Whitney engines out for overhaul. Everything else is done in-house, including the installation of new military or civil avionics as required. Garmins are used in the completely rewired Skyhawks but some “steam gauges” have been retained where suitable. They also have a traffic collision avoidance system and are able to drop practice munitions.
“We can do it end to end: bring it in, tear it down to the most basic level, build it back up, modify it with in-house engineering and certify – which sets us apart from most companies which are similar to us,” Bouchard said, explaining that it adds up to “many hundreds of hours over several months.” He said that similar projects on a government contract with a major original equipment manufacturer probably would involve “a few years and many more people.”
When an ex-military jet is acquired by a civil operator, type certification is understandably not straightforward because of elements such as ejection seats and external stores points. But Transport Canada and the DND have what Shavit called “a marvelous collaboration” which has becoe “the gold standard which our allies try to replicate.”
The first of the Germany-bound Skyhawks was flown to Ottawa International Airport (YOW) from Discovery’s overhaul facility in Mesa, Arizona, The other arrived later and both spent several days at the fixed-based operator facility before departing Nov. 4. Their proposed route took them initially to Goose Bay, Labrador, and then to Iqaluit, Nunavut, before leaving Canadian airspace once they had foreign overflight clearances. The remainder of their route transited Greenland, Iceland and Scotland before they arrived at their final destination, Wittmund Air Base.
The first Skyhawks flew in the mid-1950s and saw service with the US Navy until 1976 and the US Marine Corp into the mid-1980s. Shavit, who flew A-4Ns as well as McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantoms during a 20-year career with the Israeli Air Force, pointed out its distinctively high nose gear. It enabled the relative small delta-winged single-engined (40’3” long with a 26’6” wingspan, a 15’ tailfin and a maximum take-off weight of 24,500lbs) to carry a nuclear weapon on a centre-line hard point. The DADS aircraft still sport their aircraft carrier landing hooks as well as air-to-air refueling probes.
To be used by the Luftwaffe “Richthofen” Tactical Group to hone the skills of their Eurofighter Typhoon crews as well as Germany’s army and navy, the agile Skyhawks will retain their Canadian-registry and have “Discovery Air” on their fuselages and the Canadian flag on their vertical stabilizers. Shavit pointed out that the program “will establish Discovery Air in the centre of Europe’s largest economy, providing a foundation for future expansion with other NATO partner countries.”
The next venture in Discovery Air’s sights is is a “quite well-advanced” acquisition of US Air Force General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcons as the company targets the US military “and a number of other NATO countries” operating the latest strike fighters. “It’s a question of what aircraft is best suited to the customer’s training,” Bouchard said. “Modernized ‘fourth generation’ F-16s or even F-18s are the appropriate platforms for F-35 and F-22 training. They need a capable threat to fly against. Once western air forces truly go into the ‘fifth generation’ training environment . . . all the benefits are magnified in terms of operating costs and the hours available on those types of platforms.”
Ottawa-based contributor Ken Pole, the longest continuous member of the Canadian Parliamentary Press Gallery, has had a lifetime interest in aerospace and defence, beginning with his childhood near a Royal Air Force base in Scotland.
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