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Canadian Aerospace
– Background – Challenger 604 MMA |
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Since 2003, Challenger 604 Multi-Mission Aircraft [1] of the Royal Danish Air Force (Flyvevåbnet ) have been flying sovereignty/fisheries
enforcement patrols around Greenland and the Faroe Islands. These Canadian-made aircraft are Bombardier
Challenger 604 bizjets equipped with quick-change interiors for different roles including VIP transport,
medevac, maritime surveillance (for which search radar is fitted ), fisheries / EEZ protection, ice reconnaissance,
SAR, and environmental protection.
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The Danish Challengers are descendants of CF CC-144s (left) once used to patrol Canada's east coast. [2] The key difference
– and it is a critical diffence – is the Flyvevåbnet aircraft's
optional sensor mount. The radar fitted to the 604 MMAs is the commercial Telephonics APS-143 mounted in a
3.6m-long belly radome (below). The second sensor is the Star Safire II electo-optical
imager.
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Challenger 604 MMA
Specifications
Dimen:
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Span 19.61m, wing area 48.3
m2,
length 20.85m, ht 6.30m |
Power:
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2 x 38.8kN (8729lb) General
CF-34-3B turbofan engines |
| Range: |
maximum 7400 km (4000 nm) |
| Speed: |
max 870km/h (470 kts) [3] |
| Ceiling: |
Service 12497 m (41000 ft) |
| Weight: |
12080kg empty, 21591kg max |
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The APS-143 radar set was also chosen by DND to update the CP-140 Auroras. Mounting search radar
[4] on Challengers posed no problems but integrating this system proved time-consuming – as is
often the case for first adopters. The simpler E/O imaging system caused no grief despite the
complexity of being made completely retractable. The E/O turret is installed in
an unpressurized bay in the rear fuselage (giving a 360° coverage). When the electro-optical imager
is not required, the E/O turret is withdrawn into the
fuselage and covered by a protective sliding door.
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To create those three Danish Challenger 604 MMAs, Bombardier sent 'green' airframes to Field
Aviation in Toronto for installation and integration of the mission equipment. Never as simple as it
sounds, the initial 'bugs' were worked out and Denmark had an economical patrol aircraft capable
of high-speed transits. By adopting the same sensor suite, the future MMA buyer could avoid such 'growing pains'.
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[1] Denmark ordered a single Challenger 604 MMA in 1999 with a follow-on order for another two signed
in 2000. The first RDAF aircraft (C-068) was delivered in 2003. C-080 and C-072 followed in 2004. (Note: RDAF serials
are based on makers numbers – c/n 5468, 5380, 5472.)
[2] CC-144s with 434 Sqn, Greenwood, NS, augmented CP-140 Aurora patrols in the 1990s. These Challengers
were in more-or-less utility transport configuration. There were plans to convert some Challengers (144604,
144605, and 144610) as dedicated maritime patrol aircraft to be redesignated as CP-144A. Conversion work was begun
but the entire CP-144A program was cancelled and the aircraft later sold off.
[3] Flyvevåbnet lists the 604 MMA top speed as 870km/h, slightly lower than a standard Challenger
604’s max cruising speed of 882km/h (476kt). Normal Challenger 604 cruising speed is 851km/h (459kt).
Economical cruising speed for either variant is given as
787km/h (425kt).
[4] In the 1990s, a Challenger 600 belonging to Intera Technologies (C-GSIP) was fitted with an experimental
synthetic aperture radar (the STAR-2) for Arctic ice reconnaissance. This CL-600 was operated on behalf of
Environment Canada's Atmospheric Environment Service.
[5] The aircraft in the photo is shown taking off from Station Nord on the NE tip of Greenland
(81°N, for comparison CFS Alert is at 82°N).
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