Category: Aviation

Hybrid PDE-turbine engine

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GE is bench testing the concept, which basically involves using a pulse detonation engine (PDE) in place of the high pressure turbine.

Basically, a PDE is a pulse jet, like that of the V-1 “Buzz Bomb”, but instead of igniting the fuel normally, where the flame front front progresses at subsonic speeds, it detonates the fuel (the flame front moves at supersonic speeds).

What I’ve read mostly is its potential to replace high speed turbojets, but this shows that it could be applied to civil high bypass engines by replacing the HP compressor and turbine.

Chinese Commuter Jet Boasts Novel Aerodynamic Feature

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The Chinese commuter airliner, the ARJ21 is using tight integration between the engine and wing to boost aerodynamic performance.

The plane has a DC-9 configuration (see picture below), and they are hoping to get a 1% increase in l/d ratios by integrating the engines airflow and with the wings.

Essentially, this means that the inlet air to the engines will boost the energy of the airflow over the wing.

It’s an interesting concept, but given the fact that if this aircraft achieves even modest success, there will be stretched variants, where the engines will be further from the wing, one wonders if this technique can still work as the gap between engine and wing grows.

Behind Schedule and Over Budget, Lockheed Attemps to Sell Reduced Testing for JSF.

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LM is claiming that they can save money by “streamline” testing by using lessons from the F-22.

This is bulls*&%.

What they are really saying is that they are behind schedule and over budget, and that they are going to attempt to field these aircraft without proper testing in order to save money and time.

It is a request for a bailout, with shortcomings being fixed under a later cost plus contract.

Deputy SecDef Tells USAF to Pound Sand

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Good news, Deputy Secretary of Defense Gordon England has told the Air Force to Sod off.

The Airforce wanted to manage all UAVs that operated over 3500 feet. That’s right all of them, Army, Navy, Marines, etc.

They wanted to run the contracts, for basically anything larger than a hand launched short range system.

The army, quite logically said that the USAF does a piss-poor job supporting people on the ground. They just don’t give a damn, hence the inanity of the USAF drawing up its own counterinsurgency manual, which basically says, bomb everything that moves*.

While there are some economies gained from merging programs, Congress has pressured the DoD to merge USAF Predator and Army Warrior unmanned aerial system (UAS) programs for this reason, absent real duplication, and positive proof that the USAF if the ONLY service that can efficiently manage the system, any mergers should cut against the fly boys from Colorado Springs.

*Come to think of it, that’s pretty much their answer to everything.

More on Japan’s Road to Militarism.

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I’ve posted before on what I see as Japan’s return towards its militaristic past, and now we have the JapaneseDefense Tech: Japan launching an aircraft carrier.

I present to you the the Hyuga, 18,000 tons of naval pulchritude:

Of course, it’s not a “real carrier”, like the American super-carriers, or the France’s smaller deGaulle.

Right now, it will carry 4 helicopters, 3 Blackhawk types, and 1 Ch53E Super Stallion, though in a pinch, more can be accomodated.

If the Japanese get the JSF, I can see them getting some of the STOVL versions and operating them from these boats, if just for training for a possible future, and larger, carrier of Hermes size.

But still, the idea of Japanese getting back into carrier aviation does not fill me with anticipation.

India launches contest for 126 new fighters with RFP release

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India just released it’s request for proposal for 126 fighters to replace part of it’s aging MiG-21 fleet.

A list of likely bidders are, with what I see as pros and cons are below, with my guesses as to the outcome after that:

  • Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Horne
    • Pros:
      • Interoperability with Western weapons
      • Good payload/range (Probably best of the lot)
      • Highly capable radar/avionics. (maybe the best of the lot)
    • Cons
      • Relatively low agility (probably worst of the lot)
      • Expensive.
      • Largest plane in competition.
      • Subject to US sanctions.
  • Dassault Rafale
    • Pros
      • Interoperability with Western weapons Highly capable radar/avionics. Might be adapted to use Indian Kaveri engine. Dassault already has aircraft in the Indian fleet (Mirage 2000s) Cons Would be 1st foreign adopter of system, may cause support issues.
      • Somewhat expensive.
  • Eurofighter Typhoon
    • Pros
      • Interoperability with Western weapons
      • Good payload/range
      • Highly capable radar/avionics.
      • Very high performance (supercruise at Mach 1.4+ in air to air configuration)
    • Cons
      • Air to ground capabilities still in development.
      • Expensive.
  • Lockheed Martin F-16
    • Pros:
      • Interoperability with Western weapons
      • Good payload/range
      • Capable radar/avionics.
      • Good agility.
      • Lower lifetime costs (because it is single engined).
    • Cons
      • Expensive.
      • Subject to US sanctions.
  • RSK MiG-35
    • Pros:
      • Interoperability with Russian weapons, which they already have in service.
      • Operations and maintenance should be most similar to those of the MiG-21s being replaced.
      • This is a member of the MiG-29 family, which the Indians already have in service.
      • Probably the lowest purchase price of any of the competitors.
    • Cons
      • Avionics are likely the least capable of the lot.
      • Payload/range is likely 2nd least of the lot.
  • Saab Gripen.
    • Pros:
      • Interoperability with Western weapons
      • Highly capable radar/avionics.
      • Lowest life cycle costs (based on the fact that it is the smallest and lightest of the lot.
      • Superb short/rough runway performance.
      • Might be adapted to use Indian Kaveri engine.
    • Cons
      • Probably the least payload/range (but more than the MiG-21)
      • Somewhat subject to US sanctions.

First, note that this will not be India’stop of the line fighter. That will be the SU-27 family variants that it is already flying, or has already bought, so absolute top end performance is not crucial.

India, by virtue of it’s non-aligned status, has a highly heterogeneous air fleet, which makes for a complex supply chain and support. This would suggest that they will buy the MiG, and that’s my call at this point, though there are issues with the Russians, such as the much delayed carrier delivery, and currency issues (the Russians want to start pricing in Euros).

However, the Russians are no doubt aware of this, and might push too hard.

If you go for lowest life cycle costs, the Rafale wins, with the F-16 being close behind.

The Indians have experience with Dassault as a supplier, which might give them a leg up too.

I think that the F-18 and Typhoon are pretty much out of the running.This is a competition for a lightweight or medium fighter aircraft, and both are well above this weight class.

Comments? Thoughts? Aspersions to my heritage?

Low Cost Carriers Lower Fares

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There has just been a study on the effect of Low Cost Carriers entering a market, in this case, Pittsburgh, and it shows that:

Fares in Pittsburgh dropped 27%, while the airport reported 360,000 additional passengers per year for a total economic impact of $1.8 billion, according to the study, written by Wilbur Smith Associates (WSA). Pittsburgh’s LCCs include AirTran, JetBlue, Southwest and USA3000.

In 2000, the average one-way fare to all destinations was nearly $192, one of the highest in the nation, said the report. “The expansion of low-fare service at Pittsburgh lowered this figure dramatically,” it said. “The average one-way fare decreased by 27% to $140 from 2000 to 2006, and fares to Pittsburgh’s top 15 destinations dropped 32% to $120.”

The people managing airports in Atlanta, Denver, and ESPECIALLY Dallas-Fort Worth, please take note. Being the bitch of the dominant airport in a region hurts air travel and the local economy.

A400M Progress

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There has been significant A400M progress, so the EADS (Airbus) Military transport seems to be back on track.

I think that this will be a winner. It’s bigger and faster than the (way too small) C-130 Hercules, but smaller and cheaper than the hideously expensive C-17, which with its turbofan engines is a Hoover for FOD on the runway.

The An-70 needs too much seed money, and it’s too noisy and well…too Russian (yes, I know that Antonov is Ukrainian, but it’s perceptions). See a cool YouTube of it here


Bootnote: It appears that a lot of people end up at this post because they are doing google image searches on the A400. For defense and aviation related stuff, about 10% of my output, I would suggest using the following tags: Aviation, Defense, Defense Procurement, Engineerng, Military, Missile Defense, Missiles, NASA, NATO, Naval, Nuclear Weapons, technology, Transportation, and UAV.

Scat Stealth Drone

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The Russians have unveiled a new stealthy combat UAV at the Moscow air show.

As I’ve said a number of times, the building blocks of stealth are publicly available, the equations were originally published in a Soviet scientific journal and are publicly available, so this is no surprise.


This appears to be mockups of various wind tunnel studies, and it also appears that the first prototype will be manned with a v tail.



Boeing Slips 787 First Flight

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I said that this would happen, and I was right. Boeing has delayed the first flight of the 787.

While I don’t think that it is going to slip as much as the Airbus A380, it won’t come in on time.

The company won’t have its existance threatened, but we will see Wall St. analysts wring their hands on cable TV and a dip in stock price.

It will mean nothing in the long term, but stock brokers don’t make money on buy and hold, they make it on churn and burn.

Is Rumored Arms Sale to Iran a Pretext for An Attack?

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There is a report that Iran will be buying a significant number of Sukhoi Su-30 multi role jets in the Jerusalem Post.

The specific report says that they will be buying 250 fighters, they will be purchasing aerial refueling tankers.

I call bull s$%#.

Let’s look at the points:

  • This amounts to a very significant chunk of change. At least $6 billion, and more likely $25 billion total cost. They don’t have the money for this. They have already had riots over gas rationing, because they lack sufficient money to reimport enough gasoline (they lack refining capability) for their needs.
  • They have no experience with the aircraft.
  • This is roughly equal to the total number of fighters that they currently deploy.
  • They have a significant amount of western systems that would be difficult to integrate into the platform.
  • The Russian government, and Sukhoi both deny it vehemently, which would not be the case with this huge an order.

I think that this got leaked to a friendly source (the J. Post) in the sort ot PR campaign that we swa before the invasion of Iraq.

Very Light Jet Mfg Makes Teeny Jet

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Eclipse, whose Eclipse 500 very light jet pretty much launched the segment has unveils a single engine teeny weenie jet prototype.

I think that this is Eclipse hedging its bets. It has a lot of orders, but from air-taxi services, which are an unproven business model, so it could be left with egg on its face.

I think that this may be bet hedging. It’s a bit small for air-taxi services, but as a personal jet it seems about the right size, with a 1+3 cabin, as opposed to the 500’s 1+5 cabin.

Swift Engineering of San Clemente, California was contracted to assist with the design and build the ECJ in slightly over six months.

“Swift Engineering has been a tremendous partner, and was instrumental in taking this new aircraft from design to flight test so rapidly,” says Raburn.

Six months is very impressive. My guess would be that this is a product of their experience with friction stir welding, which among other things, allows dissimilar materials to be welded, which has largely been responsible for the low cost of the Eclipse 500.

What Alan Said

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As an aside, I rather imagine that Princes William and Harry would like to see the same thing with Paparazzi’s motor bikes.

Ground those TV choppers
The senseless death of four helicopter newsmen in Phoenix underscores the stupidity and wastefulness of broadcasters who squander their precious resources on cheap chopper chases instead of more worthy pursuits.

This journalistically indefensible insanity must be stopped. If broadcasters won’t do it voluntarily, then the Federal Aviation Administration, acting on behalf of us innocents on the ground, ought to step in and do it for them.

So says Alan Mutter, and so say we all.

Helicopter footage of a car chase or a fire is not news, it’s porn masquerading as news.

Schedule Slips on B-787

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It looks like Boeing will be slipping the first flight of the 787 until September.

Boeing management is saying that, “But delivery of the first 787 to All Nippon Airways in May 2008 remains possible, (Boeing CEO Jim) McNerney says, even if the already compressed flight test schedule shortens to seven months.”

I discussed this possibility earlier (also here), and said that it was likely that there would be delays in deliveries.

It’s coming to light now because Boeing has a different culture from Aribus, which had similar problems with its A340, and as a result tends to be more upfront about such things.