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Aviation History
1979
1979 - 0080.PDF
7g , FLIGHT International, 13 January 1979 B-1 radar flies [ ~q~ Avionics THE electronically agile radar (EAR), originally developed for the Rockwell B-1 is now being flight-tested aboard a Strategic Air Command B-52. Designed as a multi-purpose single- antenna system, the Westinghouse radar has a relatively large and heavy phased array—a configuration often used for ground-based air-defence radars, but not previously considered for an airborne application—which can shape the beam for a number of tasks. Instead of having several antennas close together in the nose, one larger antenna can thus be put to several uses. The larger antenna provides better target resolution at long range, and its 1,600 element array should be more reliable than a simple wave- guide-and-reflector aerial. Mean time between failures for EAR is expected to reach 700hr, compared with around lOOhr for the best fire-control radars in service today. EAR should be capable of terrain- following, ground-mapping, and over land and overwater target-detection, a combination never before achieved in a single system. The current series of trials, which began in November last year and will continue until June this year, will test mapping, terrain- following and groundspeed measure ment performance. The radar was laboratory-tested by Westinghouse be fore installation—it completed over 200hr without a failure—and was Third Redifon 747 simulator for JAL JAPAN Air Lines has bought a third Boeing 747 simulator from Redifon, bringing the airline's total to five. In cluding visual equipment, this repre sents about £15 million of business for Redifon. The latest unit will have several new features, including low-friction motion and control-loading systems, a modular graphics instructor station, and an SEL 32/55 main computer. u \ installed in the aircraft by Boeing Wichita. The aircraft will be based at Wichita for the trials, and at least 50 flights are scheduled. Terrain-follow ing tests—at 500-1,000ft above ground level, and under manual control at all times—will be flown in clear weather over Kansas, the Ozark Mountains and the Rocky Mountains in New Mexico. Automatic flight control would probably be used for operational terrain-following at altitudes below 200ft. But retrofitting the B-52 with a unit of the required integrity would have called for a complete redesign of the flight control system. EAR seems unlikely to be installed in SAC's B-52s under the current retrofit programme, though the General Dynamics F-lll could probably accept the system. Navigation trials will be flown over the White Sands missile range in New Mexico, and along the Pacific seaboard. Some trials are expected to assess radar performance in bad weather, and the effects of snow-covered terrain and electronic counter-measures will be examined. Westinghouse has spent about $44 million on EAR development, and the B-52 installation cost about $6-2 mil lion. A further $8-2 million has been allocated to the flight-test pro gramme. US Air Force confidence in the system has been expressed in a request for production funding in the forthcoming defence budget. GENERAL ELECTRIC's aircraft equipment division is to supply thrust- management systems for up to 600 Boeing 757/767 airliners. This is the third major equipment choice for the new Boeing airliners, contracts having already been awarded for the inertial navigation system and autopilot. Based on a digital computer, the system in tegrates inputs from the autopilot, navigation and performance systems to produce minimum fuel-consump- The backward-looking HUD THE crewmen who operate the refuel ling booms fitted to US Air Force KC-135 tankers could be provided with head-up displays (HUD) as a result of research now under way at the Air Force Flight Dynamics Laboratory, Wright-Patterson AFB, A research unit made by Sundstrand embodies a ^in-thick glass and offers a 30° wide field of view. An electromechanical symbol generator delineates a "limit rectangle" within which the boom tip must remain if refuelling is to be continuous. The boom can extend by up to 20ft, this motion being shown as a bar against a simple scale and one of three letters—R, C or D (standing for ready, connect and dis connect)—indicates the refuelling phase. The HUD is expected to make the boom operator's task easier, saving on tanker/receiver connection time and improving the safety of airborne re fuelling. tion by selecting the best cruise throttle settings and keeping the engines within operating limits. Built- in test equipment will increase the speed with which faults can be diag nosed. GE will deliver the first units in January 1980. In specifying the system Boeing is taking advantage of developments which ensure that fuel management does not fall foul of insensitive engine control. Though most operators can achieve large fuel savings through small throttle adjustments in the cruise, early autothrottles were not able to control engine speed with the required precision. Highly accurate full-flight-regime autothrottles have been fitted to new production Boeing 727s and 737s, and similar equipment is being specified for most of the wide-bodied airliners. A Piessey Doppler VOR navaid has entered service in Norway. The equipment, installed at Konnerud, near Oslo's Fornebu Airport, is the first DVOR set supplied to Norway. Its antenna elements are arranged on a grid counterpoise which gives good radiated-signal performance even though the surrounding terrain is hilly and wooded. Doppler VOR is more suitable for this type of location than conventional VOR nX. '«= Boeing saves fuel with GE
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