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Aviation History
1991
1991 - 0254.PDF
FJ44 turbofans, eventually flew in July 1988, but Rutan says: "Beech didn't even fly the aeroplane when it was ready. It was flying for six months before the company was sold, but Beech never came down to fly it." When Rutan concluded the deal to transfer ownership to Wyman Gordon, it included all rights to Triumph and ARES. At that point, ARES was two-thirds com pleted, but Rutan did not accelerate devel opment, preferring to devote most of his resources to Triumph. The flight-test pro gramme continued until Rutan was satisfied that "...we had a product that could meet [FAR] Part 23 certification". The FAA chief pilot in Seattle was invited to put the aircraft through a "cursory" examination and, according to Rutan, conciuded that it was "..not only certifiable, but also better than other business jets in some areas". For example, it could be flown at 41,000ft (12,500m) without yaw damper. The result has been that a prospective manufacturer could take on a full-scale devefopment and certification programme "...knowing that there was no risk about the aircraft's certification or its flying qualities", Rutan says. He adds: "We still think that the best place for Triumph to be manufactured would be Beech, because they have a large, under-utilised composites facility, and they have two competitors which will be taking King Air sales". He adds: "If I was running Beech right now, 1 would recognise that the days when hundreds of King Airs could be sold against light jets are numbered. Jets used to be more expensive and use more fuel, but this aeroplane is less expensive, uses less fuef, and goes at 400kt to boot. Beech needs a light jet." HOPE, BUT NOT OPTIMISM Rutan acknowledges, however, that such a partnership is extremely unlikely to materi alise, and adds: "1 think the chances of successfully marketing the design to some one else are relatively low. It's the 'not invented here' syndrome, at least domesti- ARES' asymmetry is designed to shield the, port ai cally. We are having discussions with two different entities outside the United States, but we don't have any deals on the way yet. As far as setting up a new company to do it, that's a real high-risk proposition. I'm not optimistic that Triumph will be pro duced, but I'm hopeful." ARES, on the other hand, is attracting a lot of attention, both from Third World governments which are the primary target for the design and, somewhat surprisingly, from the US mifitary, which is beginning to warm to the idea again. Rutan says: "We have seen some interest where we didn't expect it. I didn't expect the US Navy to be so helpful, and already have an Admiral come down and fly it, and I didn't expect to see US Air Force interest this early." The ARES prototype flew for the first time in February 1990, and has since completed its initial performance-evafuation programme, confirming that Rutan has de- vefoped a light, agile low-level fighter with natural stall limiting, which has the poten tial to be applied to a variety of missions. These include anti-helicopter, close air sup port, armed border patrol, special opera tions, drug interdiction, forward air control or even tactics training for more expensive high-performance fighters. Rutan describes ARES as "something be tween an attack helicopter and an A-10", which would sell for around $1 million a copy, depending on the configuration. Be cause the aircraft now flying is merely a generic technology demonstrator^ and is not "hard-tooled", the design could»--easily be scaled up or modified, with production versions appearing in a variety of sizes and configurations. These might include a two-seat trainer, or a dedicated close-air-support/anti-armour version which would be around 15% larger and heavier and be armed with a 30mm cannon. Rutan says: "I look at ARES not as a product, but as a design that can address various missions, with the information from the flight-test programme being valuable to the development of any new product." Rutan adds: "We are promoting two concepts now. One is to make the aircraft available to a potential customer, for them to evaluate the flying qualities, its perform ance, its detectability and survivability and its armaments. In other words, to look at what it can do relative to his mission." PROSPECTIVE CUSTOMERS The other proposal, which has been put to "several prospective customers", is for Rutan to build two more prototypes, config ured to meet a specific mission requirement (for example, drug interdiction or training), and to have them ready for "operational suitability testing" by the customer. The prototypes would take about two years to build, and would cost a total of around $5 million, "not including the avionics and armament", Rutan says, adding that it is too early for announcements. Rutan would prefer the aircraft to be manufactured in the USA, but wouid need a partnership with a prime manufacturer or major avionics supplier. The other option is for the aircraft to be licence-built overseas, with Scaled Composites participating in a joint development programme, and Wyman Gordon supplying major airframe sections or components. Rutan says: "A lot of our emphasis has been in looking at the market, and trying to define missions and needs and maybe combining a country's interest in the air craft's mission with their interest in manu facturing composite aircraft components as a business, instead of importing US or European hardware. They could build the aircraft for themselves, a.id have something to export. That's a much more likely scenario for ARES manufacturing than one where the aeropfane is built in the USA and sold domestically." With either ARES or Triumph, Rutan's primary concern is that, once the licence is purchased, Wyman Gordon has the oppor tunity to recoup its investment by partici pating in the development and manufactur ing of the aircraft. • Inlet from gun gases while using blast pressure loads on the starboard fuselage to offset gun recoil FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 30 January - 5 Febraary, 1991
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