AE Dept.

General introduction of this Dept. activities

The Air Force’ Engineering Dept. (AFE Dept.) ensures and supports three basic elements of security of the AF’ engineering with its specific and accredited activity:

1. Engineering air service of air engineering operation
2. Radioengineering support and Air Traffic Control
3. Airport Engineering support of aircraft operation

In these three above mentioned points the AFE Dept. is focused on:

• Original and newly implemented engineering and technologies to the Air Force
• Operations, procedures and processes during implementing and operating new and original air engineering and air ground facilities
• Development, manufacturing, care, maintenance and repair of air engineering and air ground facilities

History of the AFE Dept.

This new entity (from 2005) – The Air Force’ Engineering Dept. (AFE Dept.) of the VTÚLaPVO branch, keeps portfolio of AIR activities, that can be traced back deeply to the Military Technical Institute history.
Works on aircraft systems of airframes, engines, onboard power networks, instrumental, navigation, radio, radioengineering, special and weapon equipment always had and has been part of its competency. It also belongs to this activities expert works of measuring laboratory that has carried out measuring flight and power parameters of aircraft, starting with historical paper records, via photo-sensitive, magnetic media, and ending with records on electronic media. Onboard flight recorders has been keeping in the AFE Dept. specialized portfolio as well.
The AFE Dept. historically carried out supervision of aircraft development and manufacturing, e. g. L-29, L-39 C, ZA, MS, L-139, L-159, and of testing the L-410, L-610 aircraft and their power plants. This activity has still been in the AFE Dept. capabilities even nowadays.
Participation of the Institute at ground power supplies development and manufacturing, e. g. SUEZ, PANS, etc. from the seventies years of the 20th century, has been keeping in the AFE Dept., because of necessity of their maintenance in the Armed Forces of the Czech Republic since nowadays.
The history of the tribological diagnostics began in 1980 when the first tests of atomic absorption spectrophotometer (AAS) applicability were carried out in an outside workplace situated in the Aeronautical Research and Test Institute (VZLÚ). In 1982, the laboratory bought atomic absorption spectrophotometer VARIAN 1475ABD and built a system of sampling from all aircraft. In 1991, the AAS spectrometer was replaced (for rising productivity) by the Atomic Emission Spectrometer with rotating disc electrode (AES RDE). That meant buying the BAIRD MOA instrument conforming to the JOAP (Joint Oil Analysis Program) of the US Armed Forces. From 1995 the routine analyses of oil operation samples were carried out in a new Czech Air Force Tribological Laboratory and the Tribological laboratory of the VTÚLaPVO provided only analyses for operation testing purposes when new aircraft and oils were implemented to operation use. The Czech Air Force Tribological Laboratory was cancelled in 2003, and all analyses for the benefit of the Air Force of the Czech Armed Forces were carried out in the VTÚLaPVO. Between 2003 and 2008, workers of the Tribological Laboratory successfully carried out several scientific projects dealing with application of infrared spectrometry for diagnostics of service fluids and projects for enabling better interpretation of wear metals concentration measured data based on the originally developed computer model predictor. Currently, the Tribo. Lab. activity belongs to the Czech Air Force operational needs, without that has been aircraft operation unimaginable.
The history of the parachute testing can be traced back into the end of the 50th. The parachute testing laboratory was opened to support development and verification of rescue and landing parachutes. In 1969 the Dept. of Rescue means and parachute engineering became the State testing laboratory No. 228, and in 1999 the actual Testing Laboratory ZL 1220 arose. It gained the CAI (Czech Accreditation Institute) accreditation and exists in the frame of the AFE Dept. The laboratory historically participated in development and testing rescue systems of the L-29, L-39, L-59, L-159 aircraft, UAVs and ultralights, development and testing personal landing parachutes the OVP family, the PTCH and M family sports parachutes, the ZL, PL, ATL, Witty reserve and rescue parachutes, the NPS cargo parachutes, the PB-90 braking parachutes and the MPAAD protecting instruments. Since nowadays the Laboratory has been carrying out parachute verification to obtain approval with a product use in the Czech Armed Forces as well as civil sector.
The history of the radio engineering support division and Air Traffic Control in the frame of AFE Dept. has been inseparably connected with the history of the Institute.

Product portfolio

In the portfolio of the AFE Dept. has been accredited and certification activity:

• Technical supervision of development of aircraft, its components and devices and ground facilities
• Technical supervision of new air engineering and ground facilities
• Assessment and verification of compliance of aircraft, its components and devices and ground facilities, testing electric equipment of military aircraft
• Expert activity, consulting and engineering support of logistics of air engineering operation
• Aircraft operation, device and systems data collection, processing, evaluating, presentations and archiving
• Development of SW for aircraft and its components and devices parameters recording
• Developing studies, specifications, tactically-technical requirements, engineering conditions, technical documentation of installations
• Avionics and flight recorders installation into aircraft
• tribological diagnostics of aircraft engines,
• testing air rescue means and parachute engineering
• Development, manufacturing, caring, maintenance and repairs of radio and radio engineering air ground facilities
• Education and training of personnel securing air ground engineering and radio and radio engineering support

For more details about product portfolio of the single AFE Dept. divisions, see their references.

Reference

The AFE Dept. workers have secured requirements of:

• The Armed Forces of the Czech Republic, e. g. SLog MoD, SV MoD, ILZ OLL VeSpS Olomouc and their acquisition workplaces
• civil organizations HAWKER Praha; Hagen BRG; Konsta, s. r.o, Praha; AERO Vodochody; Mars Jevíčko; Mesit Uherské Hradiště; Česká letecká servisní, a. s., Praha; Aviation Services, a. s., Praha

In 1989–2008 the AFE Dept. workers participated in solution of the below mentioned projects:

• supervision of development of the L-39MS/59E/59T/L-39ZA-ART, L-159A/B/T aircraft family
• call for tender for the pilots high altitude equipment
• Upgrading installation of the An-26 aircraft
• The Z-142 MAF aircraft implementation into the service
• Check tests of powered Rogallo wing in the frame of the „Netopýr (Bat)“ project
• Supervision of development and testing complex simulator and flight one of the L-159 aircraft named as KTL-159
• Replacement of rubber hoses with teflon ones on the operated Czech Air Force air engineering
• Technical expertises of aircraft agregates and systems after accidents/incidents
• The L-159 towing device
• Preparation of a project of mobile repair workstation for the helicopter flight
• Testing mobile aircraft deicing device, compressed gases charging station for their charging into aircraft
• Helicopter battle damage repair procedures
• Preparing Czech mutation of documentation for arresting cable system
• Supervision over air conditioning and PEJ Safír installation into the Mi-17 helicopter
• Design and implementation of the onboard recording system for the L-39ZA(C) aircraft
• Design and implementation of the onboard recording system for the Mi-8, Mi-17 helicopters, etc.
• Design and implementation of the new radioaltimeters into the helicopters
• Research reports from the military science tasks – the Parametr, the Nadstavba, etc.
• Research reports from testing aircraft and its systems
• In addition to the dominant submitter of analyses, the Air Force of the Czech Republic, the tribological diagnostics methods have been widely using even commercially since 1995, and other important customers, e. g. Transgas, Teplo Turnov, Policie ČR, První brněnská strojírna Velká Bíteš, Aero Vodochody, Walter, a. s., including automotive industry, e. g. PAL or Siemens, can be mentioned
• Radio system for military part of the IATCC Praha
• Engineering air service installation and support on the Air Bases of the Czech Air Force
• Building and service support of the Battle Guidance System for the Czech Armed Forces
• Maintenance of means of the Czech Armed Forces Air RadioNavigation Service
• And the other engineering assistance and supervision activity in behalf of particular units of the Armed Forces of the Czech Republic