FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1988
1988 - 2637.PDF
FARNBOROUGH REPORT. fiEf?' ^^Ai --o»/!l—,. Gripen awaits clearance Saab is confident that the JAS.39 Gripen will fly before the end of 1988. Continuing difficulties with the aircraft's fly-by-wire system have delayed the first flight, but the company is working to comply with all the safety requirements laid down by FMV, the state licen cing authority. Saab admits that both Lear Siegler and itself under estimated the time necessary to evaluate the fly-by-wire system. However, the company insists that the JAS consortium can still deliver the aircraft to the Swedish Air Force by 1992. The fourth evaluation report has now been passed to FMV. The Gripen prototype's flight control system has passed closed-loop simulation with the aircraft connected to computer models, permitting test pilots to fly simulated missions. Light ning tests have proved success ful, and the radar and cockpit display systems have been flight-tested in a modified Viggen. Saab is particularly pleased that its weight-control measures have proved successful, and claims that never before has an aircraft been produced that is so close to its ideal weight. The RM12 engine for the JAS.39, which is an adapted version of the General Electric F404, has completed more than 4,000hr of ground-running tests in its development programme. One engine has been ground- run for more than 20hr in the first JAS.39 flight-test aircraft. Unlike the GE F404, the RM12 has been modified to meet the particular require ments of the Swedish forces. The sea-level performance has been increased to 18,0001b. Redundant control system features have been introduced to meet the Swedish require ments for a single-engine opera tion. The bird-strike capability of the F404 did not meet the Swedish specification initially, but a joint GE/Volvo Flyg- motor development programme has enabled the specification to be met. During manufacture of th engine, GE will produce 60 per cent and Volvo the remainder. Top The first prototype of the JAS.39 Gripen is undergoing final trials before flying later this year. Below installed tests of the RM12 in the first JAS.39 flight-test aircraft have been completed First long March 4 launched by China China launched its first Long March 4 booster from a new satellite launch site in Shanxi Province on September 6. The vehicle carried China's first meteorological satellite, Feng- yun 1, into a Sun-synchronous, 903-mile circular orbit inclined at 99-134°. The Long March 4 is one of six vehicles being marketed commercially by China Great Wall Industry Corporation. It is basically a Long March 2C with a liquid-propellant third stage. The other vehicles are the Long March ID, 2C, 2E, 3 and 3A. The Long March ID is an uprated Long March 1, with a solid-propellant third stage, and will be in service in 1991. The China Great Wall Corporation says that it has had informal talks with Italy and Australia with a view to launching small research satellites from these countries. The Long March 2C is the well-established booster of Chinese recoverable satellite missions, which are also avail able commercially. The 2E is the 2C with four liquid- propellant strap-on boosters, which has hitherto been known as the Long March 2-4b (adding to the confusion regarding which vehicles were available). This could launch one or both of the Aussat B communica tions satellites. The well-established Long March 3 may perform China's first commercial launch of the Hughes-built Asiasat 1 in 1989. The Long March 3A is an uprated version, with stretched stages. • Japan's Nasda launched its prototype HII test rocket TR-1, from the Tanegashima Space Centre at 0800hr local time on September 6. The quarter-scale model of the HII tested the configuration of the core stage and strap-on boosters. Recovery of the part of one of two SRBs took place at 10.12hr, 100km east of Tanegashima. The 14.3m-long, one-metre- diameter TR-1 was launched at an elevation angle of 75 • 7° and at a azimuth of 92 • 8°. FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL, 17 September 1988 31
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
