Australian technology company Structural Monitoring Systems believes its comparative vacuum monitoring (CVM) crack-detection technology could help extend the lives of the Royal Australian Air Force's General Dynamics F-111 strike aircraft if the country's new Labor government decides to scrap an order for 24 Boeing F/A-18F Super Hornets.
Ordered last year to replace the RAAF's 25 F-111s from 2010, the two-seat Super Hornets were planned to provide a stop-gap ahead of deliveries of the Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, following concerns over the structural integrity of the F-111's wing and airframe. Australia's new government opposed the F/A-18F purchase at the time, and has launched a review of the country's air power requirements.
Mark Vellacott, managing director of Perth-based SMS, wrote to new defence minister Joel Fitzgibbon late last month, saying that "Australia's world-class airframe life-extension capabilities and the potential benefit of new sensor-based structural health-monitoring technologies" were not taken into account during decisions to retire the F-111 and acquire Super Hornets.
Under development for 10 years, CVM detects and monitors structural integrity by using an inert sensor that is adhered to the aircraft or embedded in its fuselage, a vacuum source to apply and control a low vacuum, and a fluid flow-measuring device, which combine to detect sub-1mm cracks in metal surfaces. The technology has been tested on a number of military aircraft types and is being developed for new Airbus civil aircraft. SMS also has a commercial licence agreement with Boeing.
CVM could significantly decrease the burden of structural integrity maintenance inspections and reduce the potential risk of a major structural failure on the F-111, says Vellacott. This could involve the use of continuous in-flight monitoring employing instrumentation systems under development by SMS, he adds.
Source: Flight International
