Nomads

Mixed Bag

Of Gaf

Australia’s Government Air craft Factories (GAP), based in Melbourne, have been produc ing a range of aircraft, guided weapons and pilotless target planes for more than 30 years.

But it looks as if their greatest success story to date could be their latest major effort the

twin turbo-prop STOL utility

aircraft, the Nomad.

Already in service in a num ber of countries the Indonesian navy has 12 of the ‘Search Master B’ version, five are performing various func tions in Papua New Guinea, and 16-seater passenger Nomads are at work in West ern Samoa and Guam the Nomad has gone some way

towards putting the Australian aircraft manufacturing indus try on the world map.

The Nomad is available in a number of types: the ‘Utility’, for passengers, cargo, or a mix of both; the ‘Commuter’, a pure passenger model; the ‘VIP’, designed for executive travel; the ‘Mission Master’, a military version designed for support operations in forward areas; and two derivatives of the latter, the ‘Search Master B’ so named because of its Ben dix RDR search/ weather radar installation and the ‘Search Master L’, equipped with Litton 504 radar. The two last-named types are dedicated to the task,

highly topical in today’s Pacific

context, of maritime sur veillance.

Recently, the ‘Search Master L’ has been wrapped into what is known as the ‘Australian

Package’. Developed by a

number of Australian con cerns, including GAP, Amal gamated Wireless (Australasia) Ltd, and Hawker de Havilland Australia Pty Ltd, the ‘package’ offers a coastal and fisheries protection system at the (in the circumstances) relatively mod est cost of SAS million.

The system includes two ‘Search Master L’ Nomads $2.2 million for the aircraft, and $BOO 000 for spares; and three de Havilland Marine

Carpentaria class patrol boats,

total cost $2 million. , The Nomad is powered by two General Motors Allison 250 8178 engines with three bladed Hartzell propellers.