FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1978
1978 - 0363.PDF
FLIGHT International, 4 March 1978 627 -+ page 600 devices provide a further 6501b of VTO lift, making a total of 1,3001b in this mode. The design maximum payload of the AV-8B is 9,0001b bombs, two Sidewinder missiles and two 30mm cannon pods. The primary weapon system is to be the Hughes Angle Rate Bombing System (ARBS) also being installed in A-4Ms (q.v.). Operator: USA 336 planned. F-15 Eagle The F-15 Eagle air-superiority fighter entered USAF service in November 1974 and the first squadron was declared fully operational in January 1976. All major mile stones have been achieved on schedule and about 279 produc tion aircraft had been delivered by the end of last year. Units flying Eagles include the 1st Tactical Fighter Wing atLangley, Virginia, the 49th at Holloman, New Mexico, and the 36th TFW at Bitburg, Germany. By October 1979, the 33rd TFW at Eglin AFB, Florida, is due to have converted ta> F-15s. From a production rate of ten aircraft a month last year, the FY79 budget has reduced this to some six a month, the total amount requested being $1,415-7 million for 78 aircraft; last year 96 were procured. The two-seat Eagle is now known officially as the F-15B. Now entering production is the Northrop ALQ-135 Tactical Electronic Warfare System (Tews), the internal counter- measures set of which provides continuous-wave and pulsed radar jamming. The chaff dispenser and tail warning set are still under development. Operational testing of primary arma ment, AIM-7F Sparrow and AIM-9L Super Sidewinder is now complete, as is development of an improved, higher-rate-of- fire M-61 Gatling gun for Eagle. The F-15's Hughes APG-63 X-band pulse-Doppler radar is geared to detecting and tracking targets coming from a variety of directions and particularly at low level. When a target is acquired, the pilot directs the radar to: lock on and track it, the display then showing attack information such as range, differential altitude, range rate and weapon-release limits. The pilot can attack using the vertical-situation display or visually using the McDonnell Douglas Electronics head-up display, which gives aiming points and minimum launch ranges for the missiles. The long-range velocity-search radar mode shows only target velocities. In the short-range super-search mode, the radar scans the Hud field of view between 500ft and 10 n.m., automatically locking on to the nearest target. Notwithstanding the production-rate cutback, the USAF still plans to buy a total of 729 production Eagles (plus the 20 development aircraft) to equip six wings. Tactical Air Com mand F-15s will be used as strategic intercepters in the Continental US to supplement and eventually replace Air Defence Command F-106s, and the aircraft is one of several candidates for a future tactical reconnaissance type to replace RF-4s in the 1980s. F-15s delivered after May 1979 will have a further increase in performance, these aircraft having 2,0001b additional internal fuel, provisions for Fast Pack conformal fuel tanks and modifications which will enable a 68,0001b max take-off weight. Export orders are beginning to pick up with US Govern ment approval. Following the initial order for 25 Eagles for Israel, a further 19 are awaiting Congressional approval, while the Saudi contract for 60 is at a similar stage. The Japanese Air Self-Defence Force is to get 100 Eagles over the next 11 years. Operators: Israel 25, 15 on order; Japan 100 on order; Saudi Arabia 60 on order; USA 729 planned. F/A-18 Hornet Choice of the F/A-18 as the USN's air-combat fighter, instead of a Vought version of the GD F-16, was announced on May 2, 1975. Interim engineering contracts were given to McDonnell Douglas and to F404 engine manu facturer General Electric to refine their designs before a full- scale development go-ahead was given in December. Eleven development aeroplanes, including two two-seaters, are being built, the first being due to fly in September this year. The first operational aircraft will be deployed in 1982, initially replacing F-4 Phantoms. The Vought A-7 will also reach the end of its service life during the 1980s, and the USN plans to replace this type with appropriately modified Hornets. One in nine or ten of the production aircraft will be two-seaters and 345 of the 800 will be light attack versions. The first production aircraft will go to the US Marine Corps, which is due to receive 270. The F/A-18 is designed for beyond-visual-range attack with the AIM-7F Sparrow missile, intermediate-range attack with the AIM-9L Super Sidewinder and close-in combat with the 20mm gun. The A-18, on the other hand, is required for day and night, clear-weather attack against surface targets; both versions are essentially single-seaters. The fire-control sys tem consists of a Hughes multi-mode pulse-Doppler radar, forward-looking infra-red in a conformally mounted pod and laser spot tracker (also pod-mounted). In air-to-air modes the radar can track up to eight targets while still scanning, and automatic lock-on can be achieved through a switch on the control column which decides on whether the 27in- diameter antenna is boresighted, in vertical scan or the "Hud search" dogfight mode. The Hud is being supplied by Kaiser. The Hornet's radar includes Doppler beam-sharpening, terrain avoidance and moving-target indication to the surface- mapping and air-to-surface ranging modes of the fighter's • equipment. Data processing will be based on two AYK-14 general-purpose digital computers. The flight-control system will be quadruplex fly-by-wire with manual back-up. A total of $864-8 million is being sought in FY79 for the F/A-18 programme, this being for five aircraft, initial spares and continued development. The first production aircraft will be bought in FY79, with production due to reach 120 a year by 1982. A reconnaissance version of the Hornet is also being considered as a replacement for the USMC RF-4s and USN F-14s which will provide interim reconnaissance in the mid- 1980s. Development of such a reconnaissance aircraft is said to be attractive from the point of view of both cost and commonality. Operator: USA 800 planned, DC-10 ATCA In December the USAF chose the DC-10 as its future Advanced Tanker/Cargo Aircraft (ATCA). An initial $28 million contract will allow production engineering to begin and long lead-time items to be bought for a planned first buy of 20 aircraft. Money for two machines has been requested in the FY79 budget. Selected to supplement the present fleet of 615 KC-135 tankers, the DC-10 was chosen from four submissions: the C-5A Galaxy, 747, TriStar and DC-10. A close runner-up was the Boeing 747, and the USAF has not ruled out using both, although the principal reason behind choosing the DC-10 was its ability to operate from more air fields than the 747 and its lower cost. Principal change between the civilian DC-10-30 and the military version is the addition of fuel tanks in the lower cargo compartment, an air-to-air refuelling boom plus operator's station, a hose and drogue, and military avionics. The USAF plans to retain the -30's CF6 engines and operate the ATCA to normal commercial standards. In the tanker role it will be able to deliver 200,0001b of fuel to a rendezvous point 2,200 miles from base, almost doubling the non-stop range of a C-5A. With a cargo payload of 170,0001b the aircraft will be able to fly 4,370 miles and deliver a mixture of fuel and cargo—a valuable capability which currently calls for both tankers and transport aircraft. Operator: USA 20 planned. YC-15 AMST No money has been allocated for this Hercules- replacement programme in the FY79 defence budget and, according to defence officials, this renders both the YC-15 and the competing Boeing YC-14 dead in the transport role. However, McDonnell Douglas is considering the YC-15 for commercial use, and the USAF will continue to keep both types alive on R&D funds, with a view to one of them being McDonnell Douglas F-/5B Eagle (foreground and a single-seat F-I5A of the German-based 36th TFW
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
