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Aviation History
1976
1976 - 0047.PDF
FLIGHT International, w/e 10 lanuary 1976 Fibre-optic communications A modified LTV A-7 Corsair II was due to make its first flight on January 6 with a fibre-optic internal data com munication system installed. Between 50 and 100 hours of flight trials are planned to be carried out at the US Naval Weapons Centre, China Lake, Calif, to determine whether fibre optics can successfully replace con ventional cabling. Navigation and weapon-delivery accuracy tests will be included in the trials. The Naval Electronics Laboratory Centre at San Diego says that the system will result in a 21:1 reduction in cable weight. The experimental hardware supplied by IBM for the A-7 tests is known as Aloft (Airborne light optical fibre technology) and has been on ground test with LTV for more than a month. The system uses time-division multi plexing and has a maximum data rate of 10 megabits. The 300 copper wires for carrying 115 individual signals in the original system are thus being re placed by 13 serial data channels multiplexed between the Aloft com puter and the various peripheral adapters. The Lynx line at Westland Helicopters, Yeovil, is building up with the first production aircraft on the line for the Royal Navy. During the next two years capacity will increase to II Lynxes a month. So far 128 aircraft are on order for Britain, France, the Netherlands and Brazil One of the advantages of using fibre optics is that they are considerably less susceptible than conventional wiring to the electromagnetic pulse (EMP) effects of a nuclear explosion. Future applications include the so- called fly-by-light flight-control sys tem. The British company Marconi- Elliott is supply just such a system to Boeing for use on the prototype USAF YC-14 Advanced Medium Stol Transport (AMST). The present ex periment is sponsored by Naval Air Systems Command but representatives of the other Services attended an IBM demonstration of the system last October. Sea Kings for Indian frigates The fifth and sixth modified Leander-class frigates to be built at Bombay's Mazagon Dock will each carry a Westland Sea King in place of the Alouette which equips earlier vessels, according to Mr Bam Niwas Mirdha, Indian Minister for Defence Production. South Korea to build missiles? The purchase by South Korea of Lockheed's facilities for manufactur ing solid-propellant rocket motors has led to speculation that the country might be developing a ballistic mis sile to carry a nuclear warhead. South Korea has bought the equipment, which used to belong to Lockheed Propulsion before it ceased operations in early 1975, for $2 million. 59 VSTT in production Beech Aircraft Boulder Division has begun production of the US Army's new MQM-107 Variable Speed Training Target (VSTT), having won a $7-7 million competitive contract last April. The eventual value of antici pated US orders for the VSTT is put at $26 million. The division's manager, Balph E. Moyer, says that "with additional applications—including that of a re motely piloted vehicle—under con sideration by the US Air Force, Navy and several foreign governments, we anticipate considerable production beyond the basic contract." One modification of the MQM-107 is the Tactical Expendable Drone System (Teds) under development for the USAF, but its principal role with the Army will be to tow a variety of tar gets for training surface-to-air missile crews as well as acting as a target itself. Super Hippo to test MX stages The United States' largest reusable solid-propellant test rocket motor has successfully undergone its first check out firing, consuming 45,0001b of pro- pellant in 41sec. Super Hippo, designed and manufactured by the Chemical Systems Division of United Technologies, will be used to evaluate components such as those planned for the USAF's MX advanced intercon tinental ballistic missile. The high- pressure motor is 22ft long and 7ft in diameter, and a 58ft X 7ft develop ment containing 88,0001b of propellant is planned. Before the development of Super Hippo surplus one-shot Poseidon and Minuteman motors were used to develop advanced components such as nozzles and thrust-vector-control systems. Boeing Uttas—a year's progress TECHNOLOGY ADVANCES introduced bv Boeing Vertol's YUH-61A Uttas have been confirmed, says the com pany, in well over 700 flying hours and 800 ground-running hours since first flight of the prototype at the end of November 1974. The main advance quoted by Boeing is the use of a hinge- less rotor with glass-fibre blades. The absence of lead-lag and flapping hinges not only simplifies the whole rotor system but also, by providing a direct path for rotor control forces, gives the pilot positive and virtually instantaneous response to control in puts. Flight tests with the rotor under Boeing Vertol's YUH-6IA Unas shows the low profile which results from a hingeless rotor and the elimination of a high mast. The competing Sikorsky design began also with a low mast but has since reverted to a more conventional layout (see "Flight" for Novem ber 13, 1975, page 720). Although the overall height is low, the path of the main rotor is never less than 8ft from the ground because of the rigid blade attachments
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