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Aviation History
1994
1994 - 0026.PDF
HIGH AoA FLIGHT With Sukhoi threatening to unveil a three-dimensional thrust vectoring nozzle on its Su-35 Flanker develop ment at Farnborough later this year, the United States Air Force is pushing ahead with research programmes to exploit thrust vectoring for high angle-of-attack (AoA) combat manouvering. Lockheed and General Electric, team members on the US Air Force's multi-axis thrust-vectoring (MATV) programme, are hoping that the success of the technology could lead to production thrust-vectoring and retrofit work on the F-16. "From our standpoint, retrofit into the fleet is a prime motivation," says Lock heed MATV test pilot Joe Sweeney. Lock heed modified the aircraft and integrated the flight controls of the two-seat NF-16D testbed to accommodate an axisymmetric- vectoring exhaust nozzle (AVEN). "We have to show that it is a cost-effective combat enhancer and we have to convince the people we want to sell it to," says the company. The aircraft, which was built as the variable-stability inflight-simulator air craft (VISTA), is a hybrid design incor porating the basic F-16 Block 30 airframe with a Block 40 digital flight-control system (DFCS). This is used to provide overall MATV system integration, as well as the expanded control laws to enable flight in the post-stall region. GE, which also supplies the NF-16D's Fl 10-100 engine, says that the successful demonstration shows that a retrofit pro gramme could give the F-16 a lot more combat capability for relatively low cost. "It's a lot of bang for the buck," says GE AVEN programme manager Rodger Mish- ler. He adds: "It's certainly exceeded all our expectations." Mishler says that development of a lighter, production-standard AVEN will be relatively easy. "The overall concept would remain the same, but we would need more back-up systems — either hydro-mechanical or electrical. There is some additional study required there, but it can be done relatively close [to the existing design]." The AVEN development nozzle adds 180kg to the weight of the Fl 10-100, but the company says that a refined produc tion version may weigh only 90-135kg. Both companies know that an opera tional requirement from the USAF and US Navy is required before any further pro gress towards production models is made. The MATV test team, which has flown several guest pilots, brought this one step closer on 14 December when it flew the USAF's Brig Gen William S Hinton Jr, requirements chief at Air Combat Com mand headquarters. USAF Wright Laboratory MATV pro gramme manager Les Small says that the demonstration flights are. being staged to "...let them know how practical it is and what its capabilities are". Small says that one of the main purposes of the MATV and the succeeding aerodynamic-control technology-integration vehicle (ACTIVE) research effort is to "...demonstrate the potential and see what we can do- with and what we can do without. We're doing it primarily for future fighter aircraft, such as JAST [Joint Advanced Strike Technol ogy], but also as potential retrofit. The USAF and USN will have that option". The ACTIVE programme will involve modification of a Pratt & Whitney F100- 229-powered McDonnell Douglas F-15B testbed with P&W-developed pitch/yaw vectoring exhaust nozzles. Data from this programme, and the MATV effort due to be completed later this month, are being fed into the USAF's propulsion, aerody namics and controls integration research- and-development (PACIR) programme. OBJECTIVES REACHED Witn the majority of the MATV pro gramme now complete, programme offi cials believe that the three main flight-test objectives have been reached. These in cluded the demonstration of manoeuvra- 24 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 5-11 January, 1994
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