Ahuriri Aerospace R540

R540 on take for delivery to customer.
Role	Wide-body jet airliner
Manufacturer	Ahuriri Aerospace
First flight	2012
Introduction	10 June 2015 with Onekawa Skylines
Status	In service
Primary users	Onekawa Skylines Air Kermat Royal Continental Airways Royal Redisan Airlines
Produced	2015 - present
Number built	X00

The Ahuriri Aerospace R540, also known as the "Globeliner" in a long-range twinjet wide-body passenger airliner produced by Ahuriri Aerospace''. Developed as part of the wider major product update that first saw the development of the R530 long-range medium capacity airliner, the R540 was intended as a replacement for the R520 for long range, high capacity routes whilst having more range and more versatility then its predecessor. . Reported by Ahuriri Aerospace as one of the most advanced airliners in the world, the first commercially produced aircraft was delivered to Onekawa Skylines in 2015 and has a back log of X00 orders as of 1 January 2021.

Development

R540 for Royal Continental Airways on it maiden flight.

The Catalogue Redevelopment Program, known colloquially as the "Latin Nose Planes" initiated by the recently minted President Hana Tuakeo called for a significant change across the Ahuriri Aerospace roster. It envisioned significantly more efficient, more versatile aircraft would dominate airliner demand in the foreseeable future and set out a three step change to its venerable fleet. The first new introduction would be the R530, intended to replace the R510 family due to the limitations on growth of the original R510 design.

The R540 would be the next step, and would see the replacement of the R520. The R520 had proven to be a reasonably popular aircraft with airlines, but its significant size and its quadjet configuration made it increasingly unpopular amongst passenger carrying customers as twinjets came to dominate the long-range widebody market with their improved efficiency. It also suffered from its size, as it was difficult to effectively employ on routes that had less demand. This coincided with the increasing use of the point-to-point model over or alongside the previous hub-and-spoke model amongst airlines.

Because of these concerns the R540 was designed mostly built from CFRP materials, significantly bring down the weight of the aircraft over traditional aircraft aluminum. This alongside the incorporation of the new Rollers Engineering Model 1400 turbofans designed exclusively for the R540 allowed for previously unmatched range and efficiency for a Ahuriri Aerospace widebody. With the R540ER having a range of 17,000km, it allows direct connections between distant destinations like Belfras to Ngati Onekawa-Nukanoa and allowed more direct trans-Makrian flights.

Variants

AEW540

This variant of the R540 was released in 2019 by a cooperative effort between the Redisan government's RIMT and Ahuriri Aerospace. Stripped down airframes were delivered to the RIMT Black Site near Vitali in Orun and outfitted with the Anacom Industry's AXL-5 passive electronically scanned array. This system is a three-dimensional radar that measures azimuth, range, and elevation simultaneously, and has superior surveillance capability over water compared to the earlier AXL-3 from the R510AEW&C. It has a 360 degree field of view and is a Pulse-Doppler radar. The system is capable of to determining the velocity of a tracked target and includes a flexible, multi-mode radar. This allows it to separate maritine and airborne targets from ground clutter, which was a significant upgrade over older variants. It can detect and display targets over 210 miles away.

Futher equipment includes a friend-foe identification system, tactical satellite data link, advanced navigation systems, and an early iteration of the Aegis Core Master Processing Suite. Ahiriri also offered upgrades to the airframe such as additional strengthening of the wing roots.