Engineering consultancy Frazer-Nash, working with Marshall Aerospace's Marshall Solutions Consulting Group, has been awarded a contract by the European Defence Agency (EDA) to investigate the potential for European-wide harmonisation of military aircraft airworthiness certification criteria.

The EDA recognises the benefits to participating EU Member States in developing harmonised airworthiness processes, procedures and documents. A task force comprised of several Member States has been set up which is focused on the development of military certification codes, standards and safety requirements for future military aircraft programmes. A primary objective of this task force is to act as a steering organisation for the development of European military airworthiness certification criteria.

At present, the European States have separate arrangements for the oversight of the airworthiness of military aircraft. This contrasts with the civil arena that is underpinned by the Convention on International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO). The ICAO Convention sets out principles that signatory states agree to follow in their oversight of the design, manufacture and continued airworthiness of aircraft. However there are a number of reasons why the civil system cannot be transposed into the military environment:

• Military missions often require dedicated mission equipment that may impact on airworthiness;
• Military missions may carry a much higher level of risk;
• A military aircraft may be called on to provide wider range of missions than a non-military aircraft.

Frazer-Nash will be responsible for developing a European handbook detailing military airworthiness certification criteria. The handbook will be based on the US equivalent MIL-HDBK-516B document and will cross reference existing military and civil standards used by Member states. The intention is that Member States will be able to use the handbook for defining the airworthiness certification basis for military airworthiness approval.

Frazer-Nash’s assessment will help to contribute towards the creation of a military regulatory regime that will facilitate the acceptance of aircraft, designed and manufactured in one state, as being deemed airworthy by another state.

Martin Soltau, Business Manager for Frazer-Nash, said: “We are delighted to be supporting the EDA in this challenging initiative. Certification and continuing airworthiness is a very significant cost for any military aircraft programme.  With the increasing need for European nations to collaborate on both aircraft development programmes and military operations, harmonisation of airworthiness regulations will be a crucial step in making such collaborative ventures more feasible and cost-effective.”