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Aviation History
1992
1992 - 0530.PDF
DEFENCE F-22 design team finalises shape of basic prototype External design of the Lock heed/Boeing/General Dynam ics F-22 has been frozen, defining the fighter's basic per formance and radar-signature characteristics. The F-22 team will now build radar cross- section and windtunnel models while completing internal design of the aircraft. The team is halfway through its second F-22 internal-design cycle, which is to be completed in April, and plans a third itera tion before freezing the fighter's internal design in November. A YF-22 prototype is one-third of the way through a lOOh flight- test programme to gather data for use in refining the produc tion-aircraft's internal design. The production F-22, when compared with the YF-22, dis plays changes to the wing, tail and forward fuselage: • Wing span is increased 45 cm, to 13.5m and leading-edge sweep is reduced 6° to 42°, but area remains unchanged at 255m2. [All edges aligned with the wing leading edge are also reduced to 42° sweep for radar cross-section reasons]. Wing-root thickness is decreased and camber and twist modified. The changes reduce drag and improve manoeuvrabil ity and cruise efficiency. • The area of each vertical tail is reduced 6m2 to 27m2, saving weight and drag and reducing aircraft height by 1.3m to just under 5m. The area of the hori zontal tail is unchanged at 20.6m2 per side but the trailing- edge is reshaped to reduce radar signature. • The engine inlets are moved aft 45cm to reduce weight and improve stability and control. The cockpit is moved forward and the nose made blunter to improve radar performance and pilot's over-the-nose vision. Air craft length is reduced by 62.5cm to just over 19m. Lockheed says the finalised external lines of the single-seat and two-seat aircraft were re viewed by the US Air Force's F-22 system programme office in December 1991. • New Russian weapons revealed BY MIKE GAINES AND ALEXANDER VELOVICH IN MOSCOW New missiles and aircraft developed by the former Soviet Union have been dis played in detail for the first time, during a visit by leaders of the Commonwealth of Inde pendent States (CIS) to the Machulische AB near Minsk. The visit was part of an at tempt by air force commanders and industry to persuade the CIS leaders to agree to continue funding at least some of the advanced weapons programmes, when they met in Minsk in February to discuss the armed forces' future. Witnesses say the industry chiefs left the air base looking disappointed. Seen close-up for the first time was the Sukhoi Su-27IB (lstrebitel-Bombardirovschik — fighter bomber), the side-by- side two-seat variant of the Flanker Interceptor. The aircraft, known as "Platy pus", has been seen making approaches to the carrier Kuznetsov, but this was only to evaluate side-by-side seating suitability for carriers. The air craft has no naval role and the example shown at Minsk had no arrestor hook or wing/ tailplane folding. Weight is in the 35t class, hence the need for twin-wheel nose gear and beefed-up main gear. The aircraft, which has no ventral fins, is armed for the defence-suppression role, with two high-speed X-31 (NATO designation AS-17) anti-radar missiles (ARMs), carried under the fuselage, 500kg laser-guided bombs on the inner wing pylons and, outboard of them, TV- and laser-guided X-29 (AS-14 Kedge) air-to-surface missiles. The outer pylons carry a new weapon, a Russian advanced medium-range air-to-air missile (AMRAAM). The "Amraamski" has gridded guidance vanes rather than tail fins and long- chord, low-aspect-ratio main fins. The Su-27IB has wingtip- mounted R-73 (AA-11 Archer) infra-red-guided air-to-air mis siles (AAMs) and a 30mm can non buried in the starboard chine. A retractable flight- Tire Su-27K, with folding wing and tailplane, flanked by the MiG-29M Fulcrum Plus Loral develops B-52 targeting aid Loral Fairchild Systems is to develop a new electro- optical navigation and targeting system for US Air Force Boeing B-52s. Loral has received a $5 million contract to build and test five prototype systems incorporating focal-plane-array infra-red sensors. The electro-optical sensor, mounted in a steerable turret under the B-52's nose, features a staring array of 640 x 480 infra-red detectors. The device, operating in the 3-5-micron waveband, has two fields of view, wide for navigation and narrow for target acquisition. Loral anticipates production contracts totalling $30 million following the 32-month proto type phase. The new system will replace the difficult-to-maintain AAQ-6 sensor fitted to B-52Gs and Hs, improving reliability. The staring focal-plane array uses new platinum-silicide de tector technology developed by the US Air Force's Electronic Systems Division and produced by Loral Fairchild Imaging Sys tems under a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency dem onstration contract. • Loral has won a $7.5 million contract to upgrade the fire- control systems in Canada's Oberon-class submarines. • Fokker and LTV Fokker and LTV's Sierra Re search subsidiary are team ing to offer a complete avionics and structural upgrade of the Northrop F-5 Freedom Fighter. Fokker, which formerly co- produced the type with Northrop as the NF-5, already performs overhaul and repair for a range of F-5 operators world wide, including Netherlands, Norway, Turkey, South Korea, Brazil and Venezuela. Sierra has accepted the first two of 15 Norwegian aircraft which will undergo its Tiger Paws digital-avionics upgrade. Sierra also provided a digital 24 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 4 - 10 March, 1992
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