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Aviation History
1990
1990 - 0027.PDF
completed by AIT in Turin. These elements of the RB.199-powered P01 will be assembled for the first flight, which is scheduled to take place from MBB's Military Aircraft division flight-test centre at Manching, West Germa ny, in late 1991. The next aircraft, P02, will fly three months later from the BAe Military Aircraft flight-test centre at Warton. P03, a two-seater and the first to fly with Eurojet EJ200 engines, is scheduled to fly from Warton six months later, and P04, the first Italian aircraft, will follow with a flight from the AIT flight test centre at Caselle. TEST RIGS Avionics and hydraulics test rigs are also being built at the four sites, some having been commissioned already. Rig assembly is tied to the location of the joint design teams, BAe Warton being the site of the avionics team, MBB Ottobrunn of the flight controls team, AIT Turin the utilities controls team, while the structures team is based at CASA Madrid. Rigs for fuel, electrical generation and crew systems will be managed by BAe, which holds responsibility for these general systems. CASA similarly has responsibility for envi ronmental control, AIT for secondary power, stores carriage and propulsion, while MBB controls hydraulics and landing gear. Systems for the first four aircraft will be those required to take them through the basic performance envelope. Equipment for the sophisticated avionics associated with the radar, defensive aids and weapons systems will not be needed until prototype P05 onwards. On present schedules, P05 is ex pected to fly, complete with radar, in early 1993. "At the moment I am in a position to meet these targets," says Willox. The radar is the primary sensor in the aircraft yet to be decided upon and dominates the detail of the remaining avionic systems architecture, including the interface for the defensive aids subsystem (DASS). The full requirements for this and the infrared search- and-track system have yet to be finalised, though Eurofighter hopes to issue requests for proposals for both systems before the middle of next year. As a consequence, all of the first contracts are for primary equipment and for avionics and systems related to the three main operat ing databus highways: the cockpit bus, avion ics bus and utility control systems bus. This has required a concerted effort to tie up contracts on instrumentation and controls, primary navigation systems as well as flight control, fuel, data and power systems. "Long- lead items are being ordered first, but most cockpit, utility and flight-control system items have still got to be ordered," says Willox. Essential aircraft power systems already ordered include the main electrical generat ing system, auxiliary power unit and electri cal generator itself. Related contracts have also been issued for the variable-speed con stant-frequency generator and transformer Computer graphically-produced images of EFA (left) give way to the real thing (below) as cockpit halves for the first prototype are mated at BAe Warton rectifying unit. Engine-related contracts, awarded via Eurojet, cover digital engine control, radiation pyrometer, igniter, ther mocouple, electrical engine control and high- pressure thermocouple. Fuel-system con tracts awarded include the fuel control valve, defuel isolate valve, and inain fuel and reheat fuel systems. FLIGHT-CONTROL CONTRACTS Flight-control related contracts include the primary flight-control actuators for the rudder and outboard/inboard flaperons and foreplanes, hydraulic systems reservoir and low-pressure speed probe. The significant flight control system (FCS) contract is be lieved to have been awarded but the selected vendor has not yet been announced officially. Other contracts issued include the canopy seal inflation system and radar pressurisation system, landing-gear door actuators and gear actuators, landing-gear selector switch, air flow inlet guide-vane actuator, nozzle actua tor and air-intake cowl actuation. Radar cooling-liquid pumps, right- and left-hand glareshields, environmental control system, survivable memory unit and cockpit interface unit have also been issued. The next round of awards is likely to include the main air data computer, micro wave landing system (MLS), maintenance data panel, fuel computer and interface pro cessor. Other likely items related to the avionics and utilities databus include the radar altimeter, mission data loader/recorder and communications systems such as V/UHF, multi-function information distribution system and NATO identification system/ identification friend or foe. Major equipment items, such as wheels and brakes, have not yet been decided offi cially. Further downstream the awards are due to follow for the head-down display (HDD), and items related to the attack bus arm its two sub-databuses for the weapons systems and the DASS. Selection of specialised role equipment related to the attack bus and the sub-data- buses will include the stores, launcher rails and electronic support measures such as chaff and flare dispensers. Attack bus-linked equipment is dominated by the radar, DASS FI If.HTTMTCDMiTinM* . l nnn
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