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Aviation History
1992
1992 - 0585.PDF
DEFEHCE Douglas Aircraft cuts costs as first production C-17 nears completion Production C-17 almost complete Work on the first produc tion-standard McDonnell Douglas C-17 transport for the US Air Force is 95% complete, says the company, which claims that "significant production per formance improvements" are being achieved on the new line at Long Beach, California. "What normally takes nine or ten aircraft to achieve is being done on the fourth production aircraft," says Brig Gen Kenneth Miller, USAF director of the C-17 programme. "The cost of the aircraft in terms of man- hours required to produce it is dropping sharply, and the qual ity is going up tremendously." The fourth production aircraft (P-4) underwent wing/fuselage joining in the first week of March, and is roughly 53% com plete, including installation and check out of all systems and equipment before delivery. P-2 is 89% complete, and P-3 68%. P-l has moved to the flight line. David Swain, executive vice- president Douglas Aircraft gov- NEWS IN BRIEF MIRAGE 2000-5 The Dassault Aviation Mirage 2000-5 fighter leaves France for the first time on 16 March for a ten-day test programme in Finland, in a competition against Sweden's Saab-Scania JAS39 Gripen, the General Dynamics F-16 Falcon and the McDonnell Douglas F-18 Hornet. Finnish air force pi lots will evaluate the Mirage 2000-5 as the last contender for a 60-aircraft order, after having tested the Gripen and both US aircraft. ernment segment, in charge of the C-17 programme, says: "Based on ,,the work we are accomplishing today, we are at a production rate of 6.3 aircraft per year. On the current air force schedule, we will maintain this relatively low rate until 1994, when we will begin to ramp up to a more efficient production rate." The company is working on ten production aircraft for the USAF, which is set to receive its first C-17 at Charleston AFB, South Carolina, in early 1993. The first full squadron of 12 aircraft will be operational by late 1994. D Boeing seeks glass cockpit for Chinook Boeing Helicopters is to invite proposals for an advanced cockpit for the CH-47 Chinook helicopter. The request for infor mation on cockpit management systems is prompted by interna tional customer interest in an advanced Chinook. Responses are expected by mid-1992. The advanced cockpit is on a list of Chinook improvements Boeing is proposing to the US Army. Others include new en gines and four-blade rotors. Although the cockpit study is being driven by international customer needs, "...the Army will drive many of the product improvements", admits Boeing. The glass cockpit would differ from that developed for the spe cial-forces MH-47E, which is op timised for long-range, night, nap-of-the-earth covert opera tions rather than cargo-carrying. The company is upgrading 446 US Army Chinooks to CH-47D standard, plus 26 to MH-47E configuration, and is proposing a series of block up grades to increase the range and payload and improve the avion ics on D models. Block 0 includes installation of a radar altimeter and devices to prevent sand ingestion. Block 1 adds the MH-47E's long-range fuel tanks, plus satellite naviga tion, improved fuel control and uprated engines. Block 2 intro duces advanced engines, four- bladed rotors and integrated digital avionics. Boeing says a Block 1 im proved Chinook could be ready by 1995-6. The Block 2 ad vanced Chinook, available later, would be able to hover out of ground effect with a 25,800kg payload, up from the special operations MH-47E's 24,500kg. Cost of ownership would be 25% less than that of the D model, according to Boeing Heli copter estimates. Boeing Helicopter is also up grading the Royal Air Force's Chinook fleet. • 'AmraamskiY aerodynamics outlined BY MIKE GAINES The new Russian advanced medium-range air-to-air mis sile (AAM) uses grid-type aft control surfaces. It is the first time it has been used in AAMs, although this high-speed aerody namic technique has been seen on SS-23 Spider inter-continen tal ballistic missiles. The "Amraamski's" tail-fin configuration is made up of a honeycomb arrangement of thin aerofoils, called a lattice wing, set at right angles to the airflow. The missile was seen for the first time in pictures published by Flight International, 4-10 March. Lattice wings, three-dimen sional lift systems of a large number of flat or profiled vanes enclosed by side and end mem bers, are a type of lifting, stabili sing and control surface which, in certain conditions, possess numerous advantages over con ventional monoplane wings. Attached flow can be retained over a lattice wing's vanes at angles of attack of up to 50-60°. The individual vanes can be placed close to each other with out interacting, so a large total wing area can be attained in a small space. At supersonic speeds, lift from a lattice wing is several times greater than can be attained from a monoplane wing occupying the same space. At Mach 4, a typical missile speed, a lattice wing produces about three times the lift of a corre sponding monoplane design. With a lattice wing, the coeffi cient of lift at varying angle of attack is practically constant throughout the speed range — particularly useful when the cen tre of gravity of the vehicle shifts significantly in flight, as does a missile when the rocket-motor propellant is burned off. Another advantage for missile applications is that lattice wings are smaller, so, when used as control surfaces, the hinge mo ments are correspondingly smaller — requiring lower power — and smaller actuators can be used. D FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 11 - 17 March, 1992 !:>
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