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Aviation History
1977
1977 - 0201.PDF
Pegasus updating prospects P RODUCTION of Pegasus 11 in Mk 103 form for RAF Har riers and as the F402 for US Marine Corps and Spanish Navy AV-8As passed its peak several years ago and is now running at about two or three units a month at Rolls-Royce Bristol. This work is however supplemented by overhauls at a rate of ten engines a month. Production of the 37 Pegasus Mk 104s for the Royal Navy's 25 Sea Harriers will begin in March. Delivery of these engines will be spread over about three years, starting in about a year's time. Also in prospect is a contract for the six or seven powerplants associated with a forthcoming Spanish Navy follow-on order for five AV-8As. A total of 372 Pegasus 6, 10 and 11 engines have been ordered. The RAF bought 166 units for its 110 aircraft, the USMC purchased 155 for 102 AV-8As and eight two-seat TAV-8As—a very similar proportion of operational to spare engines—while the Spanish Navy took 14 for six AV- 8As and two TAV-8As. Up to last October, 335 of the total order had been delivered. All have been delivered either as Pegasus 11/Mk 103s/F402s or retrospectively modified to these standards. By the TECHNICAL EDITOR A formal decision on the procurement of 342 AV-8Bs for the USMC, worth some 500 engines, is not scheduled until 1979. With the Sea Harrier programme spread over the. next three or four years, production will therefore fall to a very low rate. The subsequent climb out of the produc tion "trough" will inevitably put up the cost of the AV-8B, and both Bristol Division and the USMC are very anxious to seek further outlets for AV-8A. The Harrier/AV-8A engine is being continuously im proved under a formal US/UK Pegasus Support Pro gramme, with an annual funding of about £3 million being shared equally between Britain and the United States. Many of the engine changes under consideration or de velopment have been put up to the USA in the form of two packages of options, all aimed at enhancing the life and reliability of the powerplant. The best combination of these changes would increase the annual "improvement" cost by about £2 million, again shared equally by Britain and America. The US Government favours this policy but the British Government has yet to give its assent. Ultimate aim of the USMC is an identical standard of engine in both Above, US Marine Corps AV-8A in low-speed configuration. The AV-8B proposed for the 1980s will be based broadly on the same fuselage, tailplane and powerplant, but will have a completely new and larger wing with advanced aerodynamics. Below, final assembly of engines at Rolls-Royce Bristol, with technician in foreground torquing fan-retaining bolts the AV-8A and AV-8B, and there is some feeling within the UK's Ministry of Defence that a common powerplant for Europe and America (applying retrospectively to the RAF Harrier's) would benefit the programme and make sense economically. Again, there appears to be enough similarity between the requirements for Sea Harrier en gines and those for the AV-8B to justify a common stan dard. The powerplants currently in service have accumulated more than 160,000 flying hours. Although the Pegasus was designed before the modularity principle had appeared, and when the emphasis was overwhelmingly on high per formance at low weight, the policy of both the RAF and the USMC is gradually changing from fixed-life to on- condition maintenance. The RAF, which has operated Har- f \. V , % MmmmM I; * Wid. 1 i iiilils::-;:- • * i HE ii •••••..%, • • 1' • ••%.'•
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