FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1998
1998 - 2328.PDF
INDUSTRY enced and capable in aircraft design and man ufacturing and we really needed to supply con siderably less assistance to them. Probably our biggest contribution was providing the F-16 as a start line," explains Lee, a former F-2 pro gramme director. LARGER WING Externally, the F-2 features a 25% larger wing, a lm-longer fuselage, enlarged horizontal sta biliser and reinforced canopy. The most significant changes are internal, with the installation of a Mitsubishi Electric active phased array radar and integrated electronic warfare system, a home-grown mission com puter, Japan Aviation Electronics inertial ref erence system and Shimadzu and Yokogawa displays. The transfer of US technology attracted considerable criticism early in the programme, butjapanese technology has also been fed back to the USA, such as the use of Invar steel in tooling for the wing. "That technology has been made available to new programmes, like the F-22 and Joint Strike Fighter, and there will be some infusion of co-cured composite technology [used for die wing]," explains Don Jones, Lockheed .Martin F-2 programme director. Japan's Technical Research and Develop ment Institute has completed about 600 out of a planned 900 test flights to date. The four- phase test programme, using two XF-2A and two tandem-seat XF-2 B prototypes, had been due to be wrapped up by March 1999. This will now be extended by nine months because of recendy discovered wing cracking and flutter problems (Flight International, 5-11 GRAHAM PARRISH 98 Length overall Wing span overall Height overall Tailplane span 15.52m 11.13m 4.96m 6.05m Powerplant General Electric F110-GE-129 Power (each) Operating weight empty Maximum fuel weight 29,6001b (132kN) 12.000kg 3.602kg Wheelbase 4.05m Maximum take-off weight 22.100kg August, P23). Mitsubishi is now working on some "minor structural strengthening" to remedy die problem, which ".. .we expect will be incorporated into the first [production] wing", says Jones. Under the Japanese-US workshare agreement, Lockheed Martin and engine supplier GE have around a 40% share of die F-2 s production value. Ishikawajima- Harima Heavy Industries will build die fighter's GE Fl 10-129 powerplant locally under licence. Lockheed Martin now has two years of pro duction orders in hand for a total of 19 F-2 shipsets and will shortly begin negotiations for a third batch of nine for fiscal year 1998/9. It is due to deliver die first aft fuselage to Mitsubishi in November and die initial leading edge flap, stores management set and elec tronic data entry unit by the end of 1998. Delivery of die first US-built F-2 wingbox to Nagoya is scheduled for die first quarter of next year. "We will build eight out of die 10 left-hand wings, but because it's a leader-fol lower type arrangement, die first four to five aircraft will be built widi Mitsubishi wings," says Jones. F-2 SQUADRON The Japan Air Self-Defence Force plans to form its first F-2 squadron at Misawa AB in March 2000 and to take delivery of a total of 130 aircraft by 2011. Irrespective of whether Fort Wordi is still producing F-16s by dien, Lockheed Martin does not anticipate any problems with supporting die Japanese pro gramme over diat time. The only F-16 item common to die F-2 is die data entry unit, which Jones anticipates Japan may eventually replace with an improved system. With Japan looking for replacement trans port and maritime patrol aircraft and South Korea seeking a follow-on F-X fighter to the KFP early in the next century, and given die need of both countries to sustain domestic aerospace industries, Lee foresees "potential for a lot more" collaborative efforts to take place in the future. • 88 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 2 - 8 September 1998
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
