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Aviation History
1996
1996 - 1704.PDF
DEFENCE USAF ponders T-38 air-inlet redesign THE US AIR Force is consid ering a fleet-wide adoption of a redesigned engine inlet for Northrop Grumman T-38s after a successful NASA programme cleared an increase in die maximum take-off weight temperature limit to390C,from34°C. The NASA initiative was origi nally begun to improve the hot- weather take-off performance of the T-38s used by Space Shuttle astronauts to train for simulated Shutde landings at El Paso Inter national Airport, Texas. In summer months, when the temperature reg ularly exceeds 34°C, the aircraft's fuel load, and therefore endurance, has been severely restricted. Engineers from the Aero- sciences and Flight-Mechanics divi sion at NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston used stereolith- ography (SL) to create three- dimensional prototypes direcdy from computer-aided design data. Using the Center's SLA-500 SL tool, made by California-based 3D Systems, the team made a new bell- mouth design which yielded a 24% increase in thrust in static tests. A more-practical design for flight-testing was evaluated, pro ducing a 20% increase in static thrust and an 8% rise at ISOkt (280km/h). This was enough to allow operations at maximum take off weight at temperatures 5°C higher than the previous limit. Using the SL system, NASA has spent around $500,000 on the pro gramme, including flight tests. An outside contractor had offered to design, develop and test a modified inlet for $5 million. • NEWS IN BRIEF • F-16 TRAINER FOR KELLY Lockheed Martin F-16 pilots of the 182nd Fighter Squa dron of the Texas Air Na tional Guard's 149th Fighter Wing at Kelly AFB, San Antonio, will be the first to use a new Unit Training Device flight simulator at the base. The Hughes-built sim ulator is the first of 56 for the US Air Force. Klimov details MiG-35 options ALEXANDER VELOVICH/MOSCOW K LIMOVIS DEVELOPING two tiirust-vectoring-engine designs, the RD-13 3 and die RD- 333, for an advanced derivative of the MAPO-MiG MiG-29 Ful crum, dubbed die MiG-35 (Flight International, 12-19June). The engine-design bureau says that die RD-13 3 is based on the RD-3 3 which powers the Fulcrum, fitted with axisymmetric nozzles. The RD-333, however, is a fifth- generation engine design. The RD-133 will be ready for ground-test runs by die end of diis year, with test flights of a thrust- vectoring MiG-29 due to begin by around the end of 1997. This pro gramme is being viewed as a tech nology demonstrator, although, if the RD-333 project is delayed, the RD-133 could become the produc tion-standard engine. The RD-13 3 produces a maxi mum 83kN (18,6001b) of thrust in re-heat, while the RD-333 is intended to produce 98kN. The RD-3 3 3 is expected to be ready for the start of ground-test runs in around three years. Both engines are intended to have design lives of up to 2,000h. The thrust-vector- ing-engine programme is being financially supported by the VPK- MAPO defence industrial consor tium, of which Klimov recently be came a member. The MiG- 3 5 programme super sedes die MiG-29M project as the focus of future development. Un like the thrust-vectoring nozzles fitted to the Su-27M, the Fulcrum design operates in the horizontal and vertical planes. The Su-27M's Lyulka Saturn AL-37FU engines are fitted widi round nozzles, which operate only in the vertical plane. Lateral movement is inhibited by die Su-2 7 's tail sting. • FLA: more stimulation, less simulation needed France continues to delay over FLA FRENCH INDECISION over the fate of the Future Large Aircraft (FLA) military transport could drag on until the fourth quar ter of this year, according to sources close to the faltering multi-nation al collaborative project. The FLA industry partners have patched together a single-phase- approach proposal covering fixed- price development and production, in an attempt to break the deadlock. French industry sources admit, however, that "...we're getting nothing at all out of the French Government". There is increasing irritation among the other FLA partner nations, led by Germany, and widi- in the Airbus consortium which will manage the project, over France's inability to make its position on the programme clear. One source describes French statements as "a smokescreen". There has been speculation that, while France is unwilling to carry on with the pro ject, it is trying to avoid being total ly blamed for its collapse. Under the latest proposals, industry would fund die develop ment programme for the first two years, on the assurance of Govern ment orders for the aircraft. According to French industry sources, the Government may use a summit between President Chirac and Germany's Chancellor Kohl at the end of 1996 as the platform to announce the programme's fate. With Airbus Industrie facing an intensive period of programme development, covering stretches of the A3 3 0 and A3 40 airliners, as well as the launch of the A3XX high- capacity widebody, sources indicate that "...die additional hassle of FLA haemorrhaging money over the next two years" would be far from welcome. • MDCX-36 arrives for flight tests at Dryden THE FIRST McDonnell Douglas X-3 6 tailless fighter- agility research aircraft arrived at NASA Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards AFB, California on 2 July. The aircraft, the first of two 28%-scale remotely piloted vehi cles to be made for the research effort, will take part in a scheduled 25-flight test programme which is due to be completed in around six months' time. The aircraft will be put through fighter manoeuvres to gather data on the performance characteristics, especially agility, of tailless fighter-type aircraft. The diminutive X-36 is 5.5m long, widi a span of just 3.05m and a gross weight of around 580kg. It is powered by a 3.2kN (7001b)-thrust Williams International Fl 12 tur- bofan and is expected to be flown initially at speeds no greater than 160kt (300km/h). The test team aims to reach speeds of up to Mach 0.6 by die end of die programme. Much of the research will focus on the aircraft's integrated single- channel propulsion and flight-con trol system. This will control ailerons which divide to provide yaw control (like the drag rudders of the Northrop Grumman B-2), and will raise and lower to provide roll control. Directional control is augmented by a still-classified thrust-vectoring system which operates in yaw only through the X- 36's flattened "beaver-tail". • 16 FLIGHT I NTERNATIONAL 10 - 16 July 1996
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