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Aviation History
1970
1970 - 0076.PDF
':"M^V:^i VBNimsimaBS^' iWmKEs&SBBU WITH THE NAMING of McDonnell Douglas j Corporation as prime contractor for de- c velopment and production of the USAF s F-I5 air superiority weapons system (see i World News in this issue, page 34) a ( commercial struggle which has been t going on since September 1968—when % the Air Force issued Requests for Pro- f posals for the aircraft to eight companies ( —has been finally decided. Three com panies were selected in December 1968 to t proceed with contract definition, and after t evaluating proposals by three corpora- c tions (Fairchild Hiller. McDonnell Doug- b las and North American Rockwell) the \ Air Force named the winner on Decern- t ber 23. The powerplant contractor has a still to be nominated. t The F-15 will be a single-seater twin- F engined jet fighter with superior per- i formance over a broad range of alti- s tudes and speeds. In order for it to achieve this superiority in air-to-air t combat it will carry both missile and v gun armament. Use of both types of ( weapons will provide the versatility t needed to carry out the typical tactical e missions of fighter sweep, escort and f combat air patrol. e The contract being awarded will k have cost plus incentive fee features t for the engineering and design effort. a and fixed-price plus incentive fee for the test aircraft, initial production effort and £ subsequent production option quantities. g It includes progressive technical stages > which the contractor must achieve to the o satisfaction of the government prior to li authorisation to proceed with production. ii The airframe contractor will initially First Lockheed C-5A Galaxy for the USAF "Flight", December 25) leaving the Lockheed- Georgia airfield at Marietta for Altus AFB, Okla, where it will begin crew training la proceed with only the engineering and le- design effort and the production of 20 \.¥ aircraft to be used in development test- ;ee ing at a target price of $1,146,385,000 a (£478 million). This includes spares and e equipment to support the test pro- e gramme. The first increment to be o- funded for this contract is $80,240,000 ies (£33 million). n- An additional contract will be nego- t tiated with the successful powerplant ter bidder in March 1970, after completion "a- of the current competition for the engine ig between General Electric and Pratt and h Whitney. The initial funds required by ri these contracts have already been as approved by Congress in the FY '70 budget. Future funding for the entire n F-15 development and production effort :r- is, of course, subject to annual Congres- ti sional review and approval, to The "not-to-exceed" ceiling price for li the subsequent production of the first n wing of 107 aircraft is $936,591,000 o (£390 million). This total includes main- t tenance training, associated training :a equipment and technical data. Since the n proposed F-15 engines are still under evaluation, expenditure on them is not il known at this time. Engine costs are e therefore not included in the foregoing rt. amount. he Mr Seamans has designated Brig-Gen n Benjamin N. Bellis as the System Pro- ss gramme Director for the F-15 and ;e McDonnell Douglas estimate that a total h of approximately 4,000 subcontractors, t located in 42 states, will be participating in. n the programme. Ily In a description of the background to the programme the corporation say that the F-15 will be "a fighter pilot's fighter", superior to any present or planned fighter in both close-in visual and long- range missile encounters. It is the Air Force's highest priority development programme. Relating the new aircraft to compar able Soviet types, McDonnell Douglas say that since their appearance in the Korean War, Soviet-designed fighters have generally been more manoeuvrable and have had better acceleration than US fighters—which, on the other hand, have consistently had better radius of action, firepower, avionics and payload. The US margin of superiority in air combat during the Korean War was approximately 12 to 1. However, since that time it has become extremely narrow, and often dependent upon the skill and experience of American pilots. Fn the air war over North Vietnam the ratio of superiority has been about 2-5 to I. The need for a new US fighter is clear when it is recognised that the present best US fighter, the F-4E, will be over 20 years old in the late 1970s. During this same period the Russians have been steadily improving their air-to-air capa bility with the regular introduction of new fighter aircraft. At the July 1967 Moscow Air Show the Russians flew six new fighters and showed three older ones with major modifications. These represent a whole new family of high-performance fighters possessing greater capabilities in terms of manoeuvrability, acceleration and weaponry than the F-4E. The F-15 is being designed to excel in air-to-air combat. The three competing designs were the product of more than 500 different analyses of the concept, per formed as a part of a three-year study effort to define the characteristics re quired to provide the best possible answer in that role. Its tactical missions are fighter sweep, escort and combat air patrol, all of which require the F-15 to be able to acquire, identify, engage, and destroy enemy aircraft in either contested or enemy airspace and in enemy-controlled radar environment. It is designed to meet a composite threat—not that of any one specific aircraft. The assessed performance of current and projected Soviet aircraft such as MiGs, Foxbat. Flagon, etc, have been taken into account in defining F-15 performance charac teristics. The F-15 will be a single-seat, fixed- wing, twin-turbofan fighter in the 40,0001b weight class. Although designed to pro vide and maintain air superiority, it will also have a substantial air-to-ground capability and be capable of speed in excess of Mach 2. The F-15 will have a mix of air-to-air weaponry including both medium- and short-range missiles and an internal rapid-firing gun, it will also have an all-weather capability to seek and destroy enemy aircraft. Em ploying advanced engine technologies and aerodynamics as well as lightweight materials, its thrust-to-weight ratio will be greater than one-to-one. The F-15 Programme
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