International Aerospace Discussion

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SaiK
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Re: International Aerospace Discussion

Post by SaiK »

Ah. sorry. I recollect having read radio-thermo gen used for cassini mission.
thanks. From that link, it has something new-tech added to curiosity batteries:
In particular, only the new generation can deliver 14 years of energy within a 45kg, 60X60X60cm box. Yes, it is not much different from the boiler in your house, but so much more powerful.
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Re: International Aerospace Discussion

Post by TSJones »

SaiK wrote:Ah. sorry. I recollect having read radio-thermo gen used for cassini mission.
thanks. From that link, it has something new-tech added to curiosity batteries:
In particular, only the new generation can deliver 14 years of energy within a 45kg, 60X60X60cm box. Yes, it is not much different from the boiler in your house, but so much more powerful.
The plutonium for Curiosity was purchased from the the Rodina because the US of A no longer manufactures plutonium. :eek:

So yes, a little bit of Mother Russia is now on Mars.
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Re: International Aerospace Discussion

Post by SaiK »

joke that US of A does not mftr... but it could be all intentional however to get from Rodina.
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Re: International Aerospace Discussion

Post by TSJones »

SaiK wrote:joke that US of A does not mftr... but it could be all intentional however to get from Rodina.
This is sort of off topic so it will be the last message from me concerning plutonium.

The US could of course manufacture plutonium but we don't.

In fact Bush wanted congress to start up a new $billon plus factory to manfacure nuclear bomb pits but congress nixed it.

There is concern that the pits in our current bomb inventory are getting very old and might not work the way we would want them to but we would still rely
on a small maufacuring shed at Los Alamos where they would be small-scale custom made. But it is my understanding that so far there is no movement to
replace the old pits. The Rocky Flat nuke trigger plant in Colorado has been shut down. The Amarillo TX nuke bomb plant has been shut down but a small crew remains to deactivate old bombs. The Oak ridge plant in Tn is also undergoing some demolition/deconstruction as well. All facilties are personally inspected by the Russians.
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Re: International Aerospace Discussion

Post by SaiK »

There would be always a strategic angle to all these. When push comes to shove, you hear all those Area 51 type projects coming out to surface. Anyways, my 2c for the OT.
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Re: International Aerospace Discussion

Post by pentaiah »

Pu could as well be sourced from Japan which is resting its rear end on huge pile of it while preaching Non proliferation wonder why?

Russian Rovers if not Alpha Romeos circa 1971 and 1973

Image
Lunokhod 1 was a lunar vehicle formed of a tub-like compartment with a large convex lid on eight independently powered wheels. Its length was 2.3 metres (7 ft 7 in). Lunokhod was equipped with a cone-shaped antenna, a highly directional helical antenna, four television cameras, and special extendable devices to test the lunar soil for soil density and mechanical property tests. An X-ray spectrometer, an X-ray telescope, cosmic ray detectors, and a laser device were also included. The vehicle was powered by batteries which were recharged during the lunar day by a solar cell array mounted on the underside of the lid. To be able to work in vacuum a special fluoride based lubricant was used for the mechanical parts and the electric motors (one in each wheel hub) were enclosed in pressurised containers.[1][2] During the lunar nights, the lid was closed and a polonium-210 radioisotope heater unit kept the internal components at operating temperature. Lunokhod was intended to operate through three lunar days (approximately 3 Earth months) but actually operated for eleven lunar days.


Lunokhod 2 rover and subsystems

Image
Detail of Lunokhod's wheels
The rover stood 135 cm (4 ft 5 in) high and had a mass of 840 kg (1,850 lb). It was about 170 cm (5 ft 7 in) long and 160 cm (5 ft 3 in) wide and had 8 wheels each with an independent suspension, electric motor and brake. The rover had two speeds, ~1 km/h and ~2 km/h (0.6 mph and 1.2 mph). Lunokhod 2 was equipped with three television cameras, one mounted high on the rover for navigation, which could return high resolution images at different frame rates—3.2, 5.7, 10.9 or 21.1 seconds per frame. These images were used by a five-man team of controllers on Earth who sent driving commands to the rover in real time. Power was supplied by a solar panel on the inside of a round hinged lid which covered the instrument bay, which would charge the batteries when opened. A polonium-210 radioisotope heater unit was used to keep the rover warm during the long lunar nights. There were four panoramic cameras mounted on the rover. Scientific instruments included a soil mechanics tester, solar X-ray experiment, an astrophotometer to measure visible and ultraviolet light levels, a magnetometer deployed in front of the rover on the end of a 2.5 m (8 ft 2 in) boom, a radiometer, a photodetector (Rubin-1) for laser detection experiments, and a French-supplied laser corner reflector. The lander carried a bas relief of Vladimir Lenin and the Soviet coat of arms. The lander and rover together massed 1814 kg.
Notice the size of blots almost 2 to 3 mm over size over the flanges of the main body (tub like structure) and the over all crude but functional as usual typical Russian design. Could have saved some grams of weight ( assuming they are MS not titanium if so cost of Ti alloy)

They(fasteners)could all be counter sunk to have smooth surfaces


My curiosity killed the cat and I found this:
Russia has developed RTGs using Po-210, two are still in orbit on 1965 Cosmos navigation satellites. But it concentrated on fission reactors for space power systems.

.....
Radioisotope systems - RTGs

So far, radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs) have been the main power source for US space work over nearly 50 years, since 1961. The high decay heat of Plutonium-238 (0.56 W/g) enables its use as an electricity source in the RTGs of spacecraft, satellites, navigation beacons, etc and its alpha decay process calls for minimal shielding. Heat from the oxide fuel is converted to electricity through static thermoelectric elements (solid-state thermocouples), with no moving parts. RTGs are safe, reliable and maintenance-free and can provide heat or electricity for decades under very harsh conditions, particularly where solar power is not feasible.
....

The latest RTG is a 290-watt system known as the GPHS RTG. The thermal power for this system is from 18 General Purpose Heat Source (GPHS) units. Each GPHS contains four iridium-clad ceramic Pu-238 fuel pellets, stands 5 cm tall, 10 cm square and weighs 1.44 kg. The Multi-Mission RTG (MMRTG) will use 8 GPHS units with a total of 4.8 kg of plutonium oxide producing 2 kW thermal which can be used to generate some 110 watts of electric power, 2.7 kWh/day. It is being used in the Mars Science Laboratory, a large mobile laboratory - the rover Curiosity, which at 890 kg is about five times the mass of previous Mars rovers.



The Stirling Radioisotope Generator (SRG) is based on a 55-watt electric converter powered by one GPHS unit. The hot end of the Stirling converter reaches 650°C and heated helium drives a free piston reciprocating in a linear alternator, heat being rejected at the cold end of the engine. The AC is then converted to 55 watts DC. This Stirling engine produces about four times as much electric power from the plutonium fuel than an RTG. Thus each SRG will utilise two Stirling converter units with about 500 watts of thermal power supplied by two GPHS units and will deliver 100-140 watts of electric power from about 1 kg Pu-238. The SRG and Advanced SRG have been extensively tested but has not yet flown. NASA plans to use two ASRGs for its probe to Saturn's moon Titan (Titan Mare Explorer - TiME) or that to the comet Wirtanen.

...

As well as RTGs, Radioactive Heater Units (RHUs) are used on satellites and spacecraft to keep instruments warm enough to function efficiently. Their output is only about one watt and they mostly use Pu-238 - typically about 2.7g of it. Dimensions are about 3 cm long and 2.5 cm diameter, weighing 40 grams. Some 240 have been used so far by USA and two are in shut-down Russian Lunar Rovers on the moon. Eight were installed on each of the US Mars Rovers Spirit and Opportunity, which landed in 2004, to keep the batteries functional.

The Idaho National Laboratory's (INL) Centre for Space Nuclear Research (CSNR) in collaboration with NASA is developing an RTG-powered hopper vehicle for Mars exploration. When stationary the vehicle would study the area around it while slowly sucking up carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and freezing it, after compression by a Stirling engine. Meanwhile a beryllium core would store heat energy required for the explosive vaporisation needed for the next hop. When ready for the next hop, nuclear heat would rapidly vaporise the carbon dioxide, creating a powerful jet to propel the craft up to 1000 metres into the 'air'. A small hopper could cover 15 km at a time, repeating this every few days over a ten-year period. Hoppers could carry payloads of up to 200 kg and explore areas inaccessible to the Rovers. INL suggests that a few dozen hoppers could map the Martian surface in a few years, and possibly convey rock samples from all over the Martian surface to a craft that would bring them to Earth.

Both RTGs and RHUs are designed to survive major launch and re-entry accidents intact, as is the SRG.


all here
http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/inf82.html
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Re: International Aerospace Discussion

Post by NRao »

SaiK
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Re: International Aerospace Discussion

Post by SaiK »

svinayak
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Re: International Aerospace Discussion

Post by svinayak »

Which moon?
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Re: International Aerospace Discussion

Post by SaiK »

Amrika ka.
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Re: International Aerospace Discussion

Post by johneeG »

Acharya wrote:Which moon?
Saar,
what are you suggesting? :?:
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Re: International Aerospace Discussion

Post by SaiK »

If I am reading him correct, Acharya means amrika never landed on moon.
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Re: International Aerospace Discussion

Post by SaiK »

http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/24910306 ... ght/287332
watch the video, and it shall make you feel how distant we are from doing what the khaans have done.

descent audio[radio]:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEFz8ERfZ50

with original music score and better video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0BOKr_nrnE
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Re: International Aerospace Discussion

Post by Kartik »

Sweden and Switzerland agree on package for 22 Gripen Es for the Swiss AF. The cost of the total package (including development costs for the Gripen E) is Swiss francs CHF 3.126 billion, which works out to $3.27 billion for 22 aircraft.

Now this doesn't include weapons nor operating costs for any given time; so for entire package of training/support/ground infrastructure/technical manuals, it works out to $148.63 million for each Gripen E. That is expensive.

Details
contents
 22 aircraft.
 Equipment specific commitments air-air,
exploration and air-to-ground engagements.
 Package logistics for the Air Force.
 Package logistics Swiss industry.
 systems for planning and evaluation missions.
 drive systems for pilots.
 Instrumentation for flight testing.
 Audit Program for production aircraft, fire
including missiles.
 Technical Data Package.
 Strategic cooperation between Saab's aviation industry
Swiss and FXM armasuisse.

price
 The prices are fixed in Swiss francs CHF 3.126 bn
including development costs.
 A deposit of CHF 300 million is foreseen in the plan
payment 2014. The second payment plan will be
agreed in the purchase contract.
 The package acquisition and costs will still
optimized in anticipation of the acquisition agreement.

Delivery Schedule
Sweden:
3 Gripen E in 2nd quarter 2018
2 Gripen E in 2019
3 Gripen E in 2020
other Gripen Es from 2021

Switzerland:
11 Gripen E from mid-2018 to 2019
11 Gripen E from 2020-2021
Swiss Govt. press release pdf in French
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Re: International Aerospace Discussion

Post by Arunkumar »

NASA's Mars Insight design looks like the polar lander of 1999 with a drill bit attached.
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Re: International Aerospace Discussion

Post by SaiK »

http://articles.cnn.com/2012-08-19/us/u ... ale-crater
"Each pulse delivers more than a million watts of power for about five one-billionths of a second," a NASA statement said.

India plans to launch Mars orbiter
I am more of the opinion we need to be more inline with curiosity type drilling and sampling machine on the moon for H3, rather a satellite around mars (of course it has its own benefits however), just on prioritization of needs.
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Re: International Aerospace Discussion

Post by Singha »

^ so much for the Gripen being much cheaper compared to the rest of MRCA horses. once you add the bells and toys, everything is expensive, nothing incl the MKI is cheap...I would expect the loaded cost of any 4.5gen bird to be north of $100m these days when we consider a well equipped plane in squadron service.
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Re: International Aerospace Discussion

Post by Kartik »

F-35 to begin high AoA tests soon. The article gives some good ideas about what to expect when the Tejas begins its high AoA testing, hopefully sometime this year itself.

F-35 high AoA flight tests imminent
est pilots at Edwards AFB, California, are set to begin high angle-of-attack (AOA) flights and weapons separation testing on the Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF).

So far this year, pilots at the isolated desert base have flown about 350 sorties, says Lt Col George Schwartz, director of the F-35 integrated test force and commander of the 461st Flight Test Squadron. Much of the activity has focused on high speed tests which have seen the F-35 being repeatedly pushed out to its maximum speed of Mach 1.6 and 700 knots calibrated airspeed-often fully laden with internal weapons.

Another ongoing theme for the Edwards test pilots is maturity testing for the software required for the F-35 training mission currently underway at Eglin AFB, Florida. The test pilots at the base have also flown night aerial refueling missions and have completed all of the engine air starts required for the F-35A conventional take-off and landing variant (CTOL).

For the engine air start tests, the F-35 needed some modifications, one of which was the addition of a second cockpit pressurization system. The added pressurization system was necessary because the tests involved shutting down the jet's engine at high altitude. "We finished that up with two engine restarts at 40,000ft and 37,500ft," Schwartz says.

Though the air start sorties were challenging in a single-engine fighter, the testing was necessary in order to move onto exploring particularly difficult parts of the jet's flight envelope. "That allowed us to go into high AOA testing where we will start expanding the envelope from 20° AOA all the way up to 50° AOA," Schwartz says. "It's going to start probably in September."

Right now, engineers are in the final stages of attaching an anti-spin parachute to aircraft AF-4. "We've finished almost everything for that," Schwartz says. The next step will be to test deploying the chute during runway taxi trials in order to make sure it works properly.

Initially, test pilots will simply push the F-35 out to 50° AOA. But then the veteran aviators will have to intentionally depart the aircraft from controlled flight in order to gauge how the jet behaves under those conditions. They will also evaluate the F-35's departure recovery procedures and its departure resistance characteristics. "It's the kind of stuff a test pilot dreams of doing," Schwartz says.

Like the transonic region of the flight envelope, high AOA testing flight is particularly tricky. While there have been improvements made, there are still some transonic roll-off problems--where the aircraft begins an uncommanded roll at speeds between Mach 0.9 and Mach 1.2--that have yet to be fully ironed out on the F-35. Those problems are being fixed with tweaks to the F-35's flight control laws. But Schwartz says, similar discoveries are possible in other challenging parts of the envelope like high AOA flight. "We expect to find stuff and we'll get it corrected," Schwartz says. "That's why we're here."


...
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Re: International Aerospace Discussion

Post by SriKumar »

Nice video. Not sure if it was shot as a video or if it was a series of hi-res static shots stitched together to form a motion picture. During the parachute phase you can 'see' the camera sway a bit, which seems to reduce upon initiation of powered flight. At about 2:37, you can see one wheel of the rover deploy, at the top left of the picture. This was about 40m above martian surface. At the end, the picture goes dark....not sure why. There would have been plenty of sunlight. Quite a feat of engineering to get this landing sequence successfully executed.
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Re: International Aerospace Discussion

Post by TSJones »

SaiK wrote:http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/24910306 ... ght/287332
watch the video, and it shall make you feel how distant we are from doing what the khaans have done.
You can't look at it that way. The US has been doing this for a while. NASA-JPL's first attempt at Mars was in 1964. The Russians in 1962. in 1962 I was a boy listening to a transistor radio at bed before I went to sleep for news and music. The Beach Boys were a surf and hot rod car band. Little Eva was singing about the "Lo-co-motion". The Beatles were still in Germany and had not yet invaded the US. :rotfl:
I could watch a total of two TV stations, both in black and white.

In 1964 the first model of the IBM DOS mainframe came out. It was huge and it worked and printed out one batch job at a time. The programmer had to wait for his print out and punch cards when the operator got done with the job.

Russia was the first to Mars when it crash landed in 1971. The US had all kinds of failures also.

My point is, you can't just look at the US and see an impressive accomplishment and feel how far away you are. You've got to look at all the years we've spent (and money) to get there. Feel fortunate that India doesn't doesn't have to make the mistakes we made. And also, while I am no fan of Russia, I do respect their space efforts and feel bad about the failures they have had in their Martian program (altough they were spectacular on Venus and also their Moon rover).
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Re: International Aerospace Discussion

Post by SaiK »

TSJones, That would be another perspective of looking at from the "achievers club" point of view. For that matter, I don't have to say anything to explain how would an Olympian silver medalist or any kind talk when the Gold flashes in vibrant color.. It is an automatic human expression to accept the 2nd or no-comparison state of feeling. However, I agree the achievements are earmarked by lessons learned from failures.. and that is the hidden message that fails to reach many less than capable ears. It has to be always like that showing the gold medal, as the minimum achievement level for other medalists, and for the golder, it would be always what he/she scripts in the records.

IOW, congrats.
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Re: International Aerospace Discussion

Post by vivek_ahuja »

The proposed F-35 assembly line...

[youtube]df_MHNkAVrw&feature=g-all-u[/youtube]
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Re: International Aerospace Discussion

Post by ranjbe »

Footage of the first US-built RAF STOL JSF F-35.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/news ... ction.html
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Re: International Aerospace Discussion

Post by Lisa »

BAE's Striker helmet gives fighter pilots 'X-ray vision'

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-19372299

"When a pilot in a Eurofighter Typhoon jet glances down, he doesn't see a steel-grey floor. Instead he sees clouds, and maybe sheep and cows in green fields below."
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Re: International Aerospace Discussion

Post by Kartik »

The latest South Korean KF-X model. Reminds me of the F-35, except for the fact that its twin engined, the intakes look different and don't feature DSI, and the wings are more reminiscent of the F-16 and look somewhat smaller than the F-35's and lack the more refined wing blending of F-35.

Otherwise, the forward fuselage and cockpit canopy seems a lot like the F-35 with a slightly longer radome. 8 wing/wingtip hardpoints for weapons on external pylons and 2 hardpoints for fuselage mounted semi-conformal missiles plus 1 for carrying a LDP..no indication as yet of an internal weapons bay, although South Korean websites claim that this is the layout for a non-stealth mission. The intakes don't seem to feature S-ducts though its too early to tell from just a model.

With 2 F-404/F-414/EJ200 engines, the aircraft is broadly in the same weight/thrust class as our AMCA..

Image

Image

Image

in Indonesian colours
Image
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Re: International Aerospace Discussion

Post by Indranil »

Kartik,

There has to be some curves in the intake at least in the horizontal plane. The engines have no separation while the intakes have (width of cockpit).
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Re: International Aerospace Discussion

Post by Ravi Karumanchiri »

Many Rakshaks will be aware of the ongoing debacle caused by the slow-motion failure of the Lockheed Martin program to produce the JSF-35.

Here in my own country, Canada, the scandal has taken a new turn. I noticed this story in The Toronto Star just today....


New Avro Arrow design pitched to feds as alternative for F-35s: report

http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/poli ... 35s-report

The Canadian Press
OTTAWA—A consortium of Canadian manufacturers sought to go back in time to help move Canada’s air force into the future.

Documents obtained by Global News indicate the storied CF-105 Avro Arrow was put forward as an alternative to the purchase of F-35 stealth fighter jets.

And among the project’s champions is one of Canada’s top soldiers, retired Maj.Gen. Lewis MacKenzie.

The Arrow was an advanced, all-weather supersonic interceptor jet developed in the 1950s but the project was scrapped before a single plane could be built.

But MacKenzie told the Global TV show “The West Block” that the Arrow’s basic design and platform still exceed any current fighter jet and it’s perfect for Canada’s needs.

A plan to build an updated Arrow in Canada instead of buying into an international deal for a fleet of F-35s was put before the Harper Conservatives in 2010.

The proposal suggested the plane could fly 20,000 feet higher than the F-35, soar twice as fast and would cost less.

But in June, the government rejected the plan, saying the funds and time required to execute it were too much.

Meanwhile, the plans for the F-35s remain on hold.

Last spring the auditor general tore a strip off the government, accusing the Department of National Defence of hiding $10 billion in continuing costs for the fighter and the Public Works department of not doing enough homework to justify the purchase.

Conservatives responded with a seven-point action plan that took responsibility for the plane away from defence, giving it to a secretariat at Public Works.

Last week the government announced it has hired the accounting firm KPMG to crunch the numbers on the program.
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Re: International Aerospace Discussion

Post by Cosmo_R »

@Ravi Karumanchiri ^^^: Interesting, I just heard (indirectly --I don't know him) from Nigel 'Sharkey' Ward that the RN plans to dump the F-35s in favor of a tried and true British plane:

http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9 ... hgUU20Ujxv
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Re: International Aerospace Discussion

Post by Cosmo_R »

Lisa wrote:BAE's Striker helmet gives fighter pilots 'X-ray vision'

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-19372299

"When a pilot in a Eurofighter Typhoon jet glances down, he doesn't see a steel-grey floor. Instead he sees clouds, and maybe sheep and cows in green fields below."
Does he also see any enemy targets or is that a premium feature? Just kidding :)
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Re: International Aerospace Discussion

Post by Cosmo_R »

The Korean K-FX seems to be a derivative of the Super Hornet rather than a F-35.
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Re: International Aerospace Discussion

Post by Singha »

the fuselage of the Soko fighter between the air intakes does not seem broad enough for a internal bay or maybe they can squeeze in a few SDB or 2 x AAM in there...but not much.
the model is probably not to scale, the cockpit volume looks overly large for the pilot model if you compare to a real JSF. hence the lack of internal bay could be just a false image.
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Re: International Aerospace Discussion

Post by Kartik »

indranilroy wrote:Kartik,

There has to be some curves in the intake at least in the horizontal plane. The engines have no separation while the intakes have (width of cockpit).
Hi Indranil,
you're referring to the S-ducts for the intakes? If so, I agree, I noticed that after I had posted the pics and made the post itself..:)
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Re: International Aerospace Discussion

Post by Kartik »

In the meantime, the Embraer KC-390 has passed the (rather important) PDR phase and now serious detailed design definition will begin. Next will come the CDR and if it passes that, the prototype should be ready in a couple of years of that gate being passed.

India should have participated in this program from the very inception rather than the MTA, which seems to be mired in perennial delays.

Embraer completes PDR for KC-390
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Re: International Aerospace Discussion

Post by alexis »

Kartik wrote:The latest South Korean KF-X model. Reminds me of the F-35, except for the fact that its twin engined, the intakes look different and don't feature DSI, and the wings are more reminiscent of the F-16 and look somewhat smaller than the F-35's and lack the more refined wing blending of F-35.

Otherwise, the forward fuselage and cockpit canopy seems a lot like the F-35 with a slightly longer radome. 8 wing/wingtip hardpoints for weapons on external pylons and 2 hardpoints for fuselage mounted semi-conformal missiles plus 1 for carrying a LDP..no indication as yet of an internal weapons bay, although South Korean websites claim that this is the layout for a non-stealth mission. The intakes don't seem to feature S-ducts though its too early to tell from just a model.

With 2 F-404/F-414/EJ200 engines, the aircraft is broadly in the same weight/thrust class as our AMCA..

Image

Image

Image

in Indonesian colours
Image
As per reports, it was to have internal bays which can carry 4 AMRAAM class missiles or 2 AMRAAM class missiles and 2 1000 pound JDAMs. However the model does not seem to have such space.
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Re: International Aerospace Discussion

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Re: International Aerospace Discussion

Post by Ravi Karumanchiri »

BAE Systems, EADS in merger talks

Paul Sandle
London — Reuters

Published Wednesday, Sep. 12 2012, 12:57 PM EDT
Last updated Wednesday, Sep. 12 2012, 1:02 PM EDT

Britain’s BAE Systems PLC said on Wednesday it was in talks about a merger with EADS NV, the parent of Airbus SAS, to create a European powerhouse in aerospace, defence and security.

BAE shareholders would own 40 per cent of the combined group and EADS shareholders the remaining 60 per cent with the combine structured as a dual-listed company, BAE said in a statement.

<snip>

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-o ... le4539212/
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Re: International Aerospace Discussion

Post by Lisa »

The Three Rocketeers -

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0 ... ocketeers/

How rocketeer Alan Bond and two colleagues defeated the Official Secrets Act, shrugged off UK government intransigence and defied conventional wisdom to build a new spacecraft.

Related,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skylon_(spacecraft)

Skylon is a design for a spaceplane by the British company Reaction Engines Limited (REL). It uses a combined-cycle, air-breathing rocket engine to reach orbit in a single stage. A fleet of vehicles is envisaged; the design is aiming for re-usability up to 200 times. In paper studies, the costs per kilogram of payload are hoped to be lowered from the current £15,000/kg to £650/kg (as of 2011[update]),[3] including the costs of research and development (R&D), with costs expected to fall much more over time after the initial expenditures have amortised.[2] The cost of the programme has been estimated by the developer to be about $12 billion.
gunjur
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Re: International Aerospace Discussion

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BAE/EADS merger would test the Pentagon,says US defence executive
The chief executive of US defence group Lockheed Martin, Robert Stevens, has said he expects a "very public review" of the possible merger of rivals EADS and BAE Systems. the Lockheed chief said the proposed deal could test the Pentagon's position against further consolidation at the top tier of the weapons industry.
alexis
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Re: International Aerospace Discussion

Post by alexis »

The Bastion air base attack by Taliban is reported to have destroyed 6 harriers and damaged another 2. Quite a loss of property and capability for USMC.
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