FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
2003
2003 - 1285.PDF
NORTHROP GRUMMAN Aircraft Mission Powerplant Max power (shp)/ thrust dry/wet (lb) Wing span (m) Wing area (m2) Length (m) OEW (kg) MTOW (kg) Max load (kg) Range (km) Endurance Hard points Cruise (kt) Mmo Ceiling (ft) Crew Internal fuel (kg) Fuel, opt ext (litre) Air refuel? A-10A Attack 2xGE 9,065 17,53 47.01 16.26 9,770 22,680 7,258 3,950 - 11 - 450kt - 1 4,855 6,813 Yes A Thunderbolt B-2 Spirit E-2C Hawkeye E-8C JSTARS EA-6B Prowler F-5E Tiger F-14D Tomcat T-38 Bomber AEW Ground surveillance EW Fighter/attack Air superiority Trainer t 4xGE F118-100 2x R-RT56 4 x P&W JT3D-3B 2 x P&W J52-408 2 x GE J85-21 2 x GE F110-400 2 x GE J85 5,100 24.56 65.03 17.6 18,364 24,689 2,855 5.3h 259 37,000 5 5,624 Yes 18,000 44.42 283 46.61 77,564 152,407 41,657 12,086 11h 525 M0.84 42,000 21 70,307 Yes 11,200 16.15 49.1 18.2 14,589 29,483 1,770 3,861 W^BtXBI^^^M 5 - 42,200 4 6,995 7,570 Yes 3,500 8.13 17.3 14.68 4,346 11,192 3,175 1,595 5 16,110/26,775 19.54/11.63 52.5 19.1 18,950 33,725 6,577 2,965 - M1.63 52,000 1 2,562 litres 1,040 Yes M2 53,000 2 7,348 2,022 Yes 2,680/3,850 7.7 15.79 14.14 3,254 5,670 - 1,610km M0.88 M1.23 53,600 2 2,207 litres - No tronic-attack version, potentially a two-seater, to replace USN/USMC EA-6Bs. The Lockheed Martin-led team participated in a fly-off against Boeing's X-32. First flight of the CTOL X-35A was on 24 October 2000. The air craft was later converted to the X-35C CV vari ant. First flight of the X-35C - fitted with larger wing and tail surfaces to provide carrier suitabil ity - was on 16 December 2000. Hover pit test ing of the STOVL X-35B was completed in April 2001, leading to a first flight in June 2001. The Lockheed Martin JSF resembles a scaled- down, single-engined F/A-22. The STOVL vari ant's propulsion system has an R-R-developed lift fan shaft-driven by the main engine. The lift fan provides a flow of cold air balanced by an R-R three-bearing vectoring nozzle on the propulsion engine. After several iterations, the F-35 emerged with an enlarged wing to meet a higher, 9g manoeuvre requirement, redesigned lift-fan nozzle and smaller, lighter air inlets. The divert- erless inlets have been redesigned from a two- to a three-sided configuration for improved high angle-of-attack performance. MITSUBISHI Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, 5-1 Marunouchi 2- chome, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, Japan. Tel + 81 (3) 32123111;fax + 81 (3)32129860; www.mhi.co.jp Formerly known as the FS-X, the F-2 is a Mitsubishi-developed derivative of the Lock heed Martin F-16, powered by the GE F110-129. The aircraft first flew in October 1995 and four prototypes were used for flight testing. The Japan Defence Agency (JDA) declared the F-2 ready for deployment in September 2000, and the first aircraft was delivered for opera tional service that month. The JASDF requires 83 single-seat F-2As and 47 two-seat F-2Bs. Development problems included cracks in the wing during static testing, and excessive loads at the base of the fin during high subsonic flight. Flight testing slipped by around a year. Costs rose significantly, with the aircraft costing three to four times as much as a basic F-16. The unit cost for initial production aircraft is esti mated at $100 million. The F-16 was selected in 1987 as the basis of the FS-X. Changes include a 25% bigger compos ite wing and a larger radome housing a Mitsubishi-developed active array radar. The F-2A is taking over the F-l's ground attack/mar itime strike roles, armed with ASM-1 and ASM-2 anti-ship missiles. Mitsubishi is proposing devel opment of an air-superiority variant to replace JASDF F-4EJ Kais from around 2010. This would require upgrades to the radar and avionics to allow the aircraft to carry more air-to-air missiles. The two-seat F-2B is intended to replace Mitsubishi T-2/2A trainers. Fuji and Kawasaki, as well as Lockheed Martin, are major airframe subcontractors. NORTHROP GRUMMAN Northrop Grumman, 1840 Century Park East, Los Angeles, California 90067-2199, USA. Tel +1 (310) 553 6262; fax +1 (310) 201 3023; www.northgrum.com A-10 Thunderbolt II Northrop took over responsibility for support ing the former Fairchild A-10 in 1987. In February 2001, Lockheed Martin was awarded an A-10 multiple upgrade programme, poten tially worth $226 million. Savings will accrue from pulling the 367 A-lOs out of service for modification only once. It also provides the air craft with enhanced close air support and preci sion strike capability a year early. The aircraft are receiving a digital stores man agement system, situational awareness datalink and 1760 weapons databus as well as a DC gen erator upgrade, JDAM and WCMD integration, and Sniper targeting pod compatibility. The USAF has requested information on re- engining the A-10. The GE CF34-8, a commer cial engine derived from the A-10's TF34, is con sidered the favourite. It would be derated to ll,0001b-thrust and would replace the 8,0001b- thrust TF34. B-2 Spiri The B-2 stealth bomber was declared operational in April 1997 with delivery of the 13th aircraft to the USAF. It was used operationally for the first time during the 1999 Kosovo crisis, when raids were launched from the home base of Whiteman AFB, Missouri. The six B-2s that took part dropped more than 454,000kg of GPS-guided munitions, mostly JDAMs. Northrop Grumman has provided a range of pricing options to restart production of an updated version of the B-2. Options include 40 more aircraft at $550 million each - compared with a $2 billion unit price for the initial 21 - but production resumption is considered unlikely. Since the final B-2 rolled off the production line in 1998, the focus has been on upgrading the fleet to a common and more capable Block 30 configuration. This was accomplished in early 2001, except for a test aircraft at Edwards AFB, which is to become a Block 30-plus stan dard aircraft. Northrop Grumman and Raytheon are devel oping an active array antenna, which has revived interest in a Block 40 package. Upgrading the APQ-181 with an AESA will improve bombing accuracy and change its Ku- band frequency to avoid interference with com mercial signals from 2007. The all-new AESA would be fitted to the current radar. Northrop Grumman is hoping for money in 2005 for other incremental enhancements, which could include updating computer software and processors, adding fibre-optic buses, an www.flightinternational.com FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 27 MAY - 2 JUNE 2003 59
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
