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Aviation History
1981
1981 - 0062.PDF
56 FLIGHT International, 10 January 1981 Canada gets from F-18 R&D costs CANADA is to receive 137 McDonnell Douglas CF-18 Hornets, eight more than planned when the aircraft was selected last April, in a nine-year pro gramme that will cost an estimated $4,000 million. Canada also has the option to buy a further 20 attrition aircraft without paying any related research and development costs, a saving of almost $880,000 on each air craft. The first CF-18 will arrive in 1982 and deliveries will continue at the rate of two a month until 1989. The US Government has agreed to reduce by $70 million the R&D levy on the 137 CF-18s. This will be matched by a Canadian commitment to increase the CF-18 programme budget by a similar amount. This reduction in R&D recoupment was a key factor in the selection of the Hornet over the F-16 in Canada's New Fighter Aircraft competition. Only by seeking a reduction in its contribu tion to F-18 development costs could Canada afford enough aircraft to meet its minimum requirement to replace CF-lOls and CF-104s. When the new US Congress con venes later this month the Senate Armed Services Committee, under the new Republican chairman John Tower (Texas), is scheduled to con duct hearings on the F-18 programme which, it is now estimated, will cost $29,700 million for 1,366 aircraft. The cost problem will also affect Canada. To offset this McDonnell Douglas and mini DEFENCE its suppliers have agreed to subcon tract work worth $3,260 million to Canadian firms. A $60 million Canadian General Electric factory is to be built at Bromont, Quebec, to produce blades and vanes for GE commercial turbo- fans. Construction of the plant is to begin in June with production getting under way two years later. The factory will provide 400 jobs. Four contracts for CF-18 component- assembly work will be awarded in the next three months. FSW prototype award imminent SELECTION of a contractor to build two forward-swept-wing (FSW) proto types for the US Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa) is imminent as we go to press. General Dynamics, Grumman and Rockwell have been conducting windtunnel tests of the unconventional layout for the last three years, amassing some 2,500hr of tunnel time and demon strating that the concept is workable. The three manufacturers have pro posed full-scale demonstrator air frames with differing price tags: General Dynamics has put forward a modified F-16; the Grumman design uses existing components, including F-5 forward fuselage and F-16 under carriage; and Rockwell has proposed a completely new design. Darpa con siders a manned demonstrator essen tial to prove the concept and to in vestigate areas such as the effect of stores carriage on divergence and flutter speeds of the aeroelastically tailored carbonfibre wing. The demon strator will allow the US Air Force to assess the layout on various missions, although air combat at Mach 0 • 9, 30,000ft is the design point of greatest interest. FSW uses the directional bending characteristics of composite laminates to overcome the natural tendency of forward-swept wings to diverge—twist uncontrollably—with increasing angle of attack. Until now, this structural instability has prevented designers making use of the improved aero dynamic efficiency offered by forward- swept wings, especially when com bined with close-coupled canard con trol surfaces (see Flight, November 17, 1979, page 1661 for a more detailed explanation of the concept). Windtunnel studies suggest that the FSW fighter would be about 20 per cent lighter—and hence smaller—and 20 to 30 per cent cheaper than cur rent designs. Grumman's forward-swept-wing design with F-S forward fuselage e£P Buzzard struck Harrier in Wales ROYAL AIR FORCE Harrier GR.3 XW765, which crashed near Lampe ter, Wales, on March 12, 1980, was brought down by a buzzard. The air craft, from 3 Squadron, RAF Guter- sloh, West Germany, was on detach ment to RAF Wittering, Northants., and was on a low-level sortie over Wales. The pilot saw a large brown bird in front of his aircraft: he had no time to react. The buzzard struck the windscreen and then entered the engine. Although the bird caused no signifi cant mechanical damage, engine air flow was disturbed and the engine surged—there was a marked loss of thrust and a decrease in engine r.p.m. although the throttle had not been moved. After impact the pilot began to climb and the Harrier gained some 1,200ft. The pilot jettisoned external fuel tanks over open fields then shut down the engine in preparation for a manual relight according to proper procedures. In the 45sec between birdstrike and ejection there was insufficient time for the engine to be relit and the air craft crashed in open farmland. The pilot ejected two seconds before im pact but was uninjured. The aircraft was destroyed. Wisbech ban lifted THE Royal Air Force ban on flying over Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, has been lifted. The order prohibited Wis bech overflights below 10,000ft after a midair collision between two Harriers. One of the Harriers crashed on the town killing three people. The restriction has meant that areas around Wisbech have had more fre quent overflights. The five-mile radius ban has been in effect for 15 months.
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