Category: Aviation

JSF: It’s All About the Benjamins

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It’s the Dutch, so it would actually be Guilder, or Euro, Meijer, or Snip, or Geeltje, but in any case, the the kickback scheme that has the Netherlands as a JSF customer is now up for negotiation.

Basically, Dutch industry got a lot of offsets as a part of the F-35 deal, and the Dutch government is supposed to get a percentage of that revenue back from the defense contractors.

The problem is that the deal is not fully fleshed out, and the government is now asking for 10.3% of all revenue JSF related orders through 2053 as opposed to their original figure of 3.5%, because the falling US dollar will reduce public revenues in this scheme.

This may explain why the government is going through the charade of reexamining the procurement decision on the JSF, asking to look at the Eurofighter Typhoon (refused to respond with proposal), Dassault Rafale (Refused to respond with proposal), and SAAB Gripen.

They are using it as a lever to get more money out of their private defense contractors.

Finally Found a DoD Project That’s On Budget and On Schedule

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It’s the AH-64 Apache Block III Upgrade.

This is actually a non trivial upgrade:

The Block 3 improvements are pretty fundamental, requiring a new airframe, more than 1 million lines of code, a new transmission system, longer range and automatic recognition radar, UAV connectivity, the ability to communicate with a much wider range of platforms (but not stealthy aircraft), software that will help the air crew make rapid decisions and a host maintenance management systems that are expected to reduce the average flight hours lost to fixing and maintaining things by 30 percent.

And it appears that it’s working because of the basics, keeping up good lines of communications and avoiding requirement creep.

That last one seems to be the biggie in defense procurement fiascoes, which is why the entire spiral development model is problematic.

Moore’s Law* Hits AESA Radars

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It looks like manufacturers are starting to offer relatively inexpensive and low cost active, electronically-scanned array (AESA) radars as retrofits to existing aircraft. (Paid Subscription Required)

Basically, you have hundreds of solid state radars on a chip working together, and these chips are following the same trajectory as did processors and memory in the early days of the integrated circuit.

Raytheon is exhibiting its X-band Raytheon Advanced Combat Radar(RACR) at Farnborough†, which is designed to be lighter, cheaper, and require less power (and thus less cooling is required).

These radars are not up to the performance of, for example the F-22’s APG-77 radar, but they still provide a significant improvement in capability, including increased range, better resolution (with perhaps some anti-stealth capability), and the possibility of the radar being used for electronic warfare.

*Moore’s Law says that computer chips will double in power every 18 months (or 2 years depending on how you define power).
†If anyone knows of a way for me to get an all-expense-paid trip to either the Farnborough or the Paris air show, and they need a kidney….

Tanker Saga Update

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Northrop Grumman is now saying that it will complete all 4 system design and development (SDD) tanker airframes by the end of 2009, even with the hold for the rebid.

This is in stark contrast to Boeing, where they are so far behind schedule for their 767 tanker for the Italian Air Force, that hief of the defense staff, Gen. Vincenzo Camporin, will refuse to meet with Boeing executives at the Farnborough air show.

The tankers are already over 3 years late.

More evidence as to why EADS should be the winner on this.

F-35 Sound Check

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About a month ago, I blogged about how the noise levels of the F-35 might be an issue for the Norwegian Air Force.

Well, Lockheed Martin is now saying that, in violation of the laws of physics, the noise level in the “far field” areas will be less than the F-16, which has about 60% the installed thrust.

I inclined to believe that this is Lockheed speak for “we’ll cook the books with a test we design, and you’ll like it.”

US Airways Pilots Threatened Over Fuel Margin Requests

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OK, maybe the next time I fly, I walk instead.

Some US Air pilots requested additional fuel be loaded into their aircraft in order to have more reserves upon landing. US Airways retaliated:

But US Airways recently crossed the line when it ordered eight pilots who requested “an extra 10 to 15 minutes worth of fuel” to attend training sessions, or “check rides,” that could put their pilot licenses in jeopardy, Ray said. The pilots were supposed to report for their training sessions Wednesday, he said.

So, we have bankruptcy, pay cuts for the workers, massive bonuses for the executives, and now attempts to eliminate safety margins on fuel loads, because you have to burn some of that fuel to carry that fuel.

Stopped Rotor Still Being Pursued

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Boeing has been working on stopped rotor concept helos, where the rotor is stopped and functions as a wing at high speed, for years, despite the crashes of both of its prototype X-50 canard rotor wing (CRW) demonstrators.

Well, it looks like they folks at Boeing, Mesa* have come up with a a less ambitious take on this concept that has not yet crashed.

It is significantly simplified, dispensing with the tip jet power for the main rotor, and using a conventional tail rotor, and the wings pivot, so as to reduce the amount that they reduce lift during takeoff.

Here we have:

Takeoff


Transition to low speed forward flight.


High speed compound helicopter mode.


Stopped rotor

*Formerly McDonnell Douglas helicopters, formerly Hughes Helicopter. They make the Apache.

Updated Flanker Shown

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The Russians are now showing their SU-35 Flanker derivative prototype to air force officials and foreign representatives.

Note that, somewhat confusedly, this is the second aircraft designated Su-35.


It will feature a glass cockpit

Thrust vectoring to replace canards and nose strakes on earlier models for high AoA controllability.

The airbrake has been removed, with differential actuation of flight controls now handling the task reducing weight and allowing for more fuel

And the engines have been upgraded to the tune of about 4000 lbs more thrust each.

These changes, along with other weight reductions in the airframe are supposed to, among other things, give supercruise capability, and it is expected to be fitted with some form of phased array radar.

I’m inclined to believe that the supercruise will be meaningful in air to air mode, if just because the aircraft carries so much fuel internally anyway that it will only be carrying 8 or so missiles in that configuration.

I think that the desire for supercruise is what drove them away from canards, likely increased transonic and supersonic drag a bit, though I am not an aerodynamicist.

It’s also has a new fly by wire flight control system, and so I’m a bit surprised that they haven’t reduced the size of the vertical tails a bit to cut down on weight and drag.

It should be an impressive aircraft, and competitive, particularly on price, in the export market.

Pull size pics at link.

Sukhoi as Red Headed Stepchild

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Bill Sweetman has in interesting insight into the corporate culture of Sukhoi.

The founder of the design bureau was not a member of the Communist party, and the deisgn bureau seemed to be routinely outmaneuvered in the Soviet era by the MiG deisgn bureau, Artem Mikgoyan was brother of senior politician Anastas Mikoyan, and Tupolev design bureau, which was always very tied in politically.

As a result, the Sukhoi design bureau is unlikely to be amenable to partnerships with its rivals, and tends to look outside the country for such deals, as evidenced with its recent work with India on the PAK-FA.

Heavy Lift Helo/Blimp Hybrid

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The idea of using balloons to make a helicopter arrangement lift more, because the rotors carry only the load, the airframe is neutrally buoyant, was tried before in the late 1986s, with the Piasecki PA-97, but it was a shoestring job with a seat of the pants attitude towards engineering, and on its maiden flight, a helo broke lose, and destroyed the aircraft, killing one of the 4 pilots.

This Boeing /Skyhook joint venture appears to be more thought out, and it offers good performance, with an estimated 200 mile range with a 40t payload.

That being said, I have always said that the first problem with lighter than air craft is that landing, even in a mild wind, becomes problematic.

When you consider that this is designed for operations in the, “niche market of commercial oil and mining companies operating in Canada’s far north,” I would also add the problem of operations in inclement weather.

I would also note that the cost of helium is going through the roof (been to a party supply store lately?), which will further crimp the project.

Update on the Tanker Clusterf%$#

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It appears part of the decision regarding the rebid has to do with DefSec Gates’ ongoing war with an insubordinate, and frequently incompetent, US Air Force.

Among other things, USAF has been removed from the bid process.

I don’t think that the decision will change, as Gates is asking for amended bids, not new ones, tough the competitors can submit a completely new bid, and he isexpecting to issue a new request for proposals (RFP) in August, with a final decision in December, and in order for Boeing to have a better aircraft, which it needs to have because its on time and on cost performance has been pathetic, it would need to submit some sort of modified 777.

And Then They Lose Your Luggage

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The flight crew for a flight from Miami to LaGuardia showed up an hour and a quarter late, and they were roundly booed by the passengers.

Deciding that this constituted a “safety threat” because the environment was “hostile”, the flight crew refused to board the aircraft.

As a postscript, when the passengers were sent to LGA the next day, their luggage was “accidentally” sent to JFK airport.

At some point, we will have passengers dismantling an airliner with their bare hands.

5 Face Manslaughter Charges in Concorde Crash

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5 Face trial in Concorde crash that killed 113 in France
A prosecutor said Thursday that Continental Airlines and two of its employees had been ordered to stand trial on involuntary manslaughter charges related to the crash of a Concorde supersonic airliner in 2000 near Paris in which 113 people died.

In addition to Continental, the prosecutor also filed involuntary manslaughter charges against two employees of the Concorde program and an employee of the French civil aviation authority.

….

Truth be told, I’m conflicted on the filing of charges. There is an argument to be made that when the criminal justice system is involved,it makes investigations by the safety authorities that much more difficult.

Additionally, I don’t think that the errors here show a callous disregard for human life, which is the standard in the US for manslaughter.

GE Patents Pulse Detonation Core for Turbofan

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While this is a good idea, it seems to me that this is also a pretty obvious idea, using a PDE, or more than one to smooth out the pulses, as a substitute for the HP compressor, HP turbine, and combustors.

After the PDE works as its own compressor and combuster, though a PDE, a constant volume combustion, is theoretically more efficient than a combustor, which is constant pressure combustion.

Hmmm…After a quick examination of the patent, it appears that some of the PDEs actually rotate, which is not obvious, at least not to me.


Supersonic Business Jet Maker Looks at Sonic Boom Mitigation

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Arion is looking at using differences between air pressure and density to fly at speeds of up to Mach 1.2 without a boom. (Paid Subscription Required)

Basically, the speed of sound goes down as altitude goes up, and if the shock wave enters air where the speed is no longer supersonic, it cuts off.

Needless to say, the implementation would be problematic. You would need accurate real time temperature and barometric data to ensure that your shock would not hit the ground:

“We see no difficulties in its application,” says Richard Tracy, Aerion’s chief technology officer. “It requires atmospheric information, which is available over populated areas where it is needed. It’s a matter of accessing that data from the aircraft.” To ensure the sonic boom never reaches the ground, the company has picked a Mach cutoff altitude—the height at which the shockwave goes subsonic—of 5,000 ft., to provide a wide margin for uncertainty caused by aging or gaps in the data.

Based on temperatures and winds at or near the surface, the aircraft would be flown at a GPS speed relative to the airmass that ensures its shockwave never intersects with the surface. “With no wind, in a standard atmosphere, we could fly at Mach 1.15-1.16,” says Tracy. But the exact speed would vary with winds, season, time of day and direction of flight. “The Mach number in the cockpit could be Mach 1.03 to 1.3 or so.”

If supersonic flight was to be permitted over the U.S., Aerion calculates Mach cutoff would slice 1 hr. and 18 min. off a New York to Los Angeles flight compared with a conventional Mach 0.85 business jet, and trim 40 min. if compared with the Aerion SSBJ’s Mach 0.99 subsonic overland cruise speed.