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Aviation History
1983
1983 - 1270.PDF
STAR '83 opment in 1987-88, for entry into service in 1993-95, but this may slip. There may even be a move to combine the programme with the US Navy's late- 1990s VFMX fighter-attack requirement. During the development of any new fighter, the continuation of existing pro duction lines seems a cost-effective way of meeting the threat. ATF will be no excep tion. Several technologies can already be identified which could keep the F-15 and F-16 on the front line beyond the year 2000 if necessary. Integrated flight and fire control (IFFC) is one such technology. An F-15 has already flown in which the fire-control system, including radar and a electro- optical precision tracking pod, is coupled to the flight controls. The system works by blending pilot commands with automatic inputs generated by the fire-control system while it is locked on to the target. The result is faster tracking and quicker gun kills in air-combat, and accurate air- to-ground weapon delivery in defensive manoeuvres. The F-15 testbed system is engineered to fine-tune the pilot's coarse tracking manoeuvres. If the target is kept within a box projected on the Hud, graphically representing the authority limits of the IFFC, the system will take out any remaining errors. For automatic bomb release in turns, the pilot follows bank- angle and g commands projected on the Hud. A similar system will be tested in the Advanced Fighter Technology Integration (AFTI) F-16 testbed, with the added Mk82 5001b bombs are released from tangential carriage under the F-16XL's wing refinement of decoupled flight-control modes such as direct lift and sideforce and fuselage pointing. The AFTI/F-16 has a new triplex digital fly-by-wire flight control system. The IFFC F-15 testbed has now been fitted with a digital flight-control system (DFCS) in place of the analogue command augmentation system of the basic Eagle. Based on four inexpensive micro processors sharing computing tasks, the F-15 DFCS can be integrated with the IFFC, and with engine control and naviga tion, and can be built into any existing aircraft. Integrated propulsion and flight control is an essential element of an Air Force programme to demonstrate improved short-field performance for tactical fight ers. Concerned about runway vulner ability, the Service plans to modify an operational fighter to take off and land within 1,500ft on both bomb-damaged and dispersed airstrips. The key to this Stol capability is thrust vectoring using rectangular nozzles to direct exhaust flow downward to augment lift at low speeds. The two-dimensional nozzles are part of the flight control system, and can be used in combat to steer the aircraft at high angles of attack. The demonstration propamine in cludes cockpit displays to aid the pilot when taking off or landing, and rough soft-field landing gear with braking coupled to nosewheel steering, thrust reversal, and flight controls for crosswind landings on wet runways. The Air Force hopes to fly the testbed in 1987. The introduction of the ATF in the mid- 1990s could see a realignment in the US Air Force front line, the F-15s relinquish ing air superiority to ATF and taking over air-defence/ground-attack from the F-16, which would in turn assume the close- support mantle of the A-10. The Air Force's immediate priority, however, is to fill the long-standing gap in its all-weather ground-attack capability with the dual-role fighter. Q McDonnell Douglas's Advanced Fighter Capability Demonstrator (foreground) was one of four F-15s taking part in the US Air Force dual-role evaluation 146 FLIGHT International, 16 July 1983
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