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Aviation History
1988
1988 - 1352.PDF
European transonic tunnel goes ahead Four European countries have established a joint company to design and operate a £200 million transonic windtunnel. The agreement, which follows almost ten years of planning, was signed in April by represen tatives of the national aerospace research establishments of the four countries involved: Britain, West Germany, France, and The Netherlands. The European transonic windtunnel (ETW) will be located at Cologne, West Germany, on a site adjoining the German aerospace research establishment (DFVLR). It will be a closed-circuit cryogenic tunnel using a nitrogen-air mixture at -180°C. With a 2 • 4m by 2m test section and a maximum pressure capability of 4 • 5 bar, the tunnel will operate at Mach 0-15 to 1-3. ETW will be of vital importance to the European aircraft industry, the partners believe. The tunnel will provide the full-scale Reynolds numbers capability (around 50 million) that the US industry has access to with its National Transonic Facility. The facility will be built and run by Cologne-based Euro pean Transonic Windtunnel GmbH, in which Britain has an equal 31 per cent share with West Germany and France, the remaining 7 per cent share being held by The Netherlands. Construction costs will be shared differently, with Germany as host country taking 38 per cent, Britain and France 28 per cent each, and The Netherlands 6 per cent. Extensive research work was carried out before the formation of ETW GmbH; in Amsterdam, at The Netherlands' National Aerospace Laboratory (NLR), a l:8-8-scale pilot tunnel was built to assess the aerodynamic performance. A model of the ETW high-speed leg at DFVLR in Cologne was used to quantify turbulence levels. This study led to the chosen circuit geometry whereby liquid nitro gen injection takes place upstream of the compressor. Injection of 75,000 tons of liquid nitrogen a year is necessary. It is planned to run the tunnel first in early 1993, to be followed by an 18-month commissioning period. Mwmm Jmm /.\\;-,'i^,;i.W,'. Existing European wind tunnels 0-6 0'f Mach number High-speed and turbulent flight is difficult to simulate accurately at full scale in existing European windtunnels F404 growth detailed Plans to increase the thrust of the F404 fighter engine to almost 23,0001b ultimately have been revealed by General Elec tric. The F404 is presently rated at 16,0001b in the F-18 Hornet. As the first step GE is offering the 17,6001b-thrust enhanced performance engine (EPE). This combines a 2,000hr hot section with increased thrust and improved fuel effi ciency, says GE. The EPE's thrust improve ment over the basic F404-400 powering the F-18 is between 8 and 20 per cent, says GE. The engine is being offered for block upgrade and retrofit of the US Navy's F-18 fleet, and is being proposed by McDonnell Douglas in its bid to win the Swiss fighter contest. GE has been discussing for some time a Growth II F404 capable of delivering up to 20,0001b thrust, and says that such an engine would be ready in time to power the Navy's planned Hornet 2000 upgrade, if approved. GE has now defined an increased-diameter Growth III F404, producing 22,5001b thrust. Ada guides missile Rockwell has test-fired a Hell- fire missile guided by a new digital autopilot programmed in Ada, the international stan dard high-level computer language. The digital autopilot is intended to increase the anti- armour missile's lethality by providing greater impact angles, plus improved attitude control and accuracy. Growth capacity is provided to cope with future targets, new flight profiles, different launch plat forms, and motor and warhead changes, says Rockwell. Hellfire is the first demon strated application of Ada soft ware to missiles, claims Rock well. The digital autopilot was required to fit in a small area, yet be able to calculate missile attitude and guidance commands while travelling at supersonic speeds. The autopilot cycles through a combination of Ada and assembly-level software every 8 millisec, leaving 3-2 millisec reserve for future growth, says Rockwell. Iraq increases Scud's range Iraq claims that an improved version of its SS-1 Scud-B surface-to-surface missile has a range of 900km. The missile is designated Al-Abas, and is Iraq's second upgrading of the Soviet-built missile. Iraq says that the Al-Abas was launched at a 860km-range target and "hit it accurately". The Iraqis have added boosters to the original Scud-B and replaced the warhead with a smaller one. The first upgraded Scud-B was designated Al-Hussein and had a range of 600km. To achieve this, Iraq had to replace the original 1,000kg warhead with one of 250kg. The use of boosters became essential when Iraq wanted to increase the missile's range further. To compensate for the reduced effectiveness of the smaller warheads, Iraq uses the longer-range missiles in large salvos. The CEP of the original Scud-B is 1,000m, but the upgraded missiles are less accurate. China installs radar China has built and installed a "world-class" nationwide radar system for the Air Force, offi cials say. Export markets are now being sought. An unidentified senior Air Force official said that, after "40 years of hard work", China has established a strong radar system "armed with various types of equipment". "The radar plays a key role in such major tasks as aerial recon naissance, operations, defence, and traffic control for both military and civil flights," he told the China Daily news paper. The official said that China is now able to produce "all kinds" of equipment for radar installa tions, and that its quality and speed of operation have "improved markedly" in recent years. 18 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL, 21 May 1988
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