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Aviation History
1990
1990 - 2753.PDF
FARNBOROUGH REPORT Soldiering on in model form, CATIC's Super 7 is a heavily modified MiG-21 China seeks Super 7 partnership China's CATIC is looking for new partners for its Super 7 fighter programme to replace Grumman, whose involvement was put on ice by the US Government in the wake of last year's Tiananmen Square mass acre in Beijing. CATIC says: "Super 7 is still alive and study work contin ues", adding in response to questioning about Grumman's position that it hopes "...to find other partners" if the US situa tion is not resolved. If partners cannot be found, CATIC hopes to continue with the programme alone, using Chinese-derived avionics and weapon systems to replace Western equipment, which it would not be able to obtain. While admitting that Chinese political backing would be diffi cult to get under these circum stances, it believes that the problems "...could be over come" . Super 7, a development of the F-7 fighter, has completed windtunnel testing and work is now concentrating on simula tion work. CATIC says that, before the US freeze on involve ment in the programme, foreign interest in the aircraft was high. Pakistan had been linked with the Super 7 but recently pro- SPACE SIMULATED Evans & Sutherland (E&S) is to supply CAE-Link with up to 13 image generators for use by NASA in rehearsing future space missions. E&S will supply visual systems for the upgraded Shuttle mission simulator and future Space Training system at Johnson Space Centre in Houston, Texas. The contract, potentially worth more than $60 million over six years, includes E&S's Jirst ESIG-3000 image generators (illustrated). Deliveries begin in 1991. CAE-Link's Link Flight simulation division is NASA's training systems contractor. cured secondhand Mirage Ills from Australia. Displaying the Super 7 in model form this year, CATIC released some details of the aircraft's performance. Maxi mum take-off gross weight will be 10,800kg, maximum Mach number will be over 1.8, and service, ceiling will be 59,500ft (18,000m). Super 7 is described by CATIC as a dual-mission air- superiority fighter be armed with a belly-mounted twin- 23mm cannon, two semi-active radar homing air-to-air missiles and two Sidewinder type infra red homing missiles. • Volvo prepares RM12 solutions Volvo Flygmotor says that the solutions for the prob lems with the Swedish JAS39 Gripen's RM12 engine will be submitted by 1 January, 1991. Volvo vice-president and gen eral manager military engines Hans Kruger says: "The solu tions are now in the hardware verification phase". Early this year it was discov ered during ground testing that the engine suffered from thrust droop and that cracks were appearing in the third-stage fan. In the case of the latter the blade roots have been strength ened and the dovetail joint ex tended. Kruger stresses that no aerodynamic changes to the de sign have been necessary. • Service-ready 777 is Boeing's goal CCTnstant" extended range loperations (EROPS) capa bility on the Boeing 777 will provide a more reliable aero plane more rapidly than a con ventional development pro gramme could, says the com pany. Commercial Airplane Group executive vice-president Phil Condit says that the 777, known during development as the 767-X, "...should be launched by this fall, but it's not important". Boeing still plans to have the aircraft in service by 1995. Condit points out that the programme has been planned to take a year more than usual to ensure a higher level of systems testing. "We are positive on the outlook for the programme," he says, but confirms that there are no sales, yet. Boeing's European sales direc tor Graeme Howard says that the sales team wanted the air craft on the market a year ear lier to compete with the Airbus Industrie A330/A340 and the McDonnell Douglas MD-11, but the 777 development team "...dug their heels in". EROPS is a high priority for potential Boeing 777 customers, says programme chief Alan Mu- lally. Talking of the total testing and trial period through which an airliner must go before win ning EROPS clearance, he says: "There is , no reason why it should not be possible to accel erate this process". The Boeing goal is 180min EROPS clearance from delivery, but there is an implication that something less may be achieved. Boeing is certain, though, that previous EROPS rules will be amended in the light of new testing procedures, and that the 767-X will be the first aircraft to set these standards. Condit says that engine relia bility is no longer the issue —systems reliability is the key. Mulally says its test "iron bird", unlike previous developments where it tested mechanical and hydraulic systems only, will be a complete aeroplane. There fore, total systems testing will begin earlier than expected. • FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 12 - 18 SEPTEMBER, 1990 29
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