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TomcatViP

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Viewing 15 posts - 3,166 through 3,180 (of 5,621 total)
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  • in reply to: UCAV/UAV/UAS News and discussion 2015 #2191121
    TomcatViP
    Participant

    Hmmmm, a VTOL UAV with twenty four ducted fans on four rotating wings, what could wrong? 🙂
    That thing is ugly!

    Cheers

    Were they looking to be nominated at the Oscars when they made that video? This thing looks like an abomination. Those guys are generally well aware of what they do. So let’s wait and see… Even if the pill is hard to swallow.
    I wonder how they can expect a smooth transition as shown on the vid. For me, intuitively, this thing will wimble like a drunk butterfly before setting in the expected attitude. Amazing…

    in reply to: Where next for Europe? #2191470
    TomcatViP
    Participant

    Now, is there any reason to believe that engines and sensors cant be jointly developed?

    I still think its a bit ambiguous but two prototypes fits in some ways so…

    Do we think the airframers are trying to preserve unique design features or are they developing airframes with different capabilities?

    I hope so that they intend to have some forms of communality in avionics and systems. At the end, beyond what will be the airframes, this is what is going to cost more to sustain operationally and upgrade to remain credible. But engines will probably differ. Snecma has no projects running for a fighter class engines (unless we don’t know).

    in reply to: Norwegian Instructor Lies about F-35 BFM Performance #2191488
    TomcatViP
    Participant

    Shouldn’t we close the thread?

    in reply to: Where next for Europe? #2191491
    TomcatViP
    Participant

    So they still haven’t chosen where and who. They gonna fund each design. They can call it a joint program… Like gluing two types of different materials is. I can smell a remake of the Typhoon/Rafale saga, no? Except that this time there are no strict rules to put everyone in the same box.

    Errare hummanum and bladibladabla….

    in reply to: US Air Force Unveils New B-21 Bomber #2191495
    TomcatViP
    Participant

    Is it correct to suggest that the B2 sawtooth trailing edge came about because of a change of requirements with more emphasis on the low level mission? The design of the B2 prior to this was very similar to what we are being shown for the B21 and does that not suggest high level operation with better use of stealth?

    Yes. This exactly what the picture released lately would suggests. The sawtooth trailing edge was added after a gust alleviation flap was deemed necessary.

    This is the most logical conclusion we can make from the picture.

    ——————

    Also, regarding the cost+ contract and Senator Mc Cain’s remark:

    Cost-plus type contracts require government to pay overruns

    Remaining 70% of contracts for B-21 production bought under fixed-price type contracts requiring Northrop to absorb some of any overruns

    NOTE: Bunch says Northrop could lose all incentive fee if it overruns development work or falls behind schedule

    Source:
    Bloomberg.com

    in reply to: Eurofighter Typhoon discussion and news 2015 #2191816
    TomcatViP
    Participant

    Synergies drive the partnership up. I don’t understand all the fuzz around this. Is it so entrusted that without this Finmeccanica won’t have lost the deal?

    in reply to: U.S. restore scheduled flights to Cuba #476644
    TomcatViP
    Participant

    And here we go:

    https://www.flightglobal.com/assets/getasset.aspx?itemid=66112

    Interestingly, many direct flight to local touristic destination circumventing La Havana. A real deal for the future when Cuba will be a w-e destination for many.

    “We are making a strong commitment to serve all of Cuba, including the nine cities beyond Havana where much economic development is expected,” says Jason Bewley, chief financial officer of Silver, in a statement.

    Source:
    FlightGlobal.com

    in reply to: Russia moving tac air troops to Syria #2191819
    TomcatViP
    Participant

    Post truce Russian’s airstrikes

    https://img.washingtonpost.com/wp-apps/imrs.php?src=https://img.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp-content/uploads/sites/33/2016/02/Screen-Shot-2016-02-29-at-17.57.08.png&w=1484

    “If anything, they’re not just targeting Jabhat al-Nusra [and the Islamic State] like they’re claiming, and that’s for certain,” Casagrande said. “It’s by no means a nationwide cease-fire.”

    Yet the cease-fire, by and large, has held up throughout the past 48 hours.

    Source:
    The Washington Post

    in reply to: RuAF News and development Thread part 15 #2191831
    TomcatViP
    Participant

    Fund for what? Ru has already a potent trainer fleet. It’s all about Yacks, no? This one looks sexy with shape borrowed everywhere that flatter any enthusiast imagination but the construction methods are archaic. I do agree however that with a potent budget and partnerships for improved materials, it would do a nice private jet.

    in reply to: Indian Air Force Thread 20 #2191842
    TomcatViP
    Participant

    US proposes reviving naval coalition to balance China’s expansion

    NEW DELHI
    The chief of the U.S. Pacific Command, Adm. Harry B. Harris Jr., on Wednesday proposed reviving an informal strategic coalition made up of the navies of Japan, Australia, India and the United States, an experiment that collapsed a decade ago because of diplomatic protests from China.
    […]
    Harris told a congressional committee last week that the United States was close, after 10 years of demurral from the Indian side, to concluding a logistics agreement that would allow the two countries’ militaries to easily use each other’s facilities for refueling and repairs.

    Source:
    West Hawaii Today.com

    in reply to: Norwegian Instructor Lies about F-35 BFM Performance #2192647
    TomcatViP
    Participant

    You’ll have to excuse me. I don’t understand what you are saying in either part above. Most likely a language barrier, if you would not mind, please clarify.

    The flow separation that the F-35 is experiencing is common, BUT both reports mention it. It is obvious that the buffeting in High AoA/High G maneuvers are more pronounced than the pilots are used to. The F-18 E/F has/had a similar issue. Both the Super and the F-35C experienced higher than normal buffeting and TRO (a more serious issue). With the F-35A, it sounds manageable. The F-15 also exhibited strong buffeting in high AoA. The real question is: does the flow separation inhibit the flight envelope? The test pilot from the leaked report and the Norwegian pilot seemed to be in agreement that the buffet was not limiting, and did give feedback that the aircraft was approaching lift limits. Again, is the buffeting a serious issue? In this case it does not seem to be, but pronounced buffet is not a favorable characteristic. What I was alluding to in the above post about the Super Hornet was the wing strake/wing fence to address buffeting and TRO (if you look at a Growler, it it very pronounced). The F-35C had the leading edge flap modified to address similar issue. What is also interesting is that buffet is pretty common in fighters with twin tails. The trade off is that a single vertical stab, may not have this issue, but will also not have the directional stability in high AoA.

    If you are interested, here is the Nasa paper addressing the issue: http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/20040110952.pdf

    The F-16 has an AoA limiter because it has a pronounced pitch up at AoA above 25.5 degrees and enters a deep stall without warning. That is abrupt flow separation, definitely also not a desirable characteristic.

    Dog tooth are used to control the flow separation (and prevent a dissimilar effect) or energize a surface exposed to the generated vortex downstream. Examples are the Phantom dog tooth for one and the F15 horizontal surfaces for the latter.
    The vortex phenomenon can be so powerful that some fighter with a reduced vertical surface need to prematurely break the vortex before it can reach its maximum effect. Example is the Gripen with its small edges aside of the nose cone (the small vertical tail is there to contain the overall drag given the lower available trust).
    The wing Fences are there to limit the boundary layer transition above the wing thanks to the spanwise component of the airstream velocity. It’s a draggy solution that you find only scarcely on modern fighter, unless some aircraft deployed on aircraft carrier that needs to the extra lift generated by a larger trapezoidal wing.

    The TRO or Transonic roll off, is a characteristic of the 35 wing’s aerodynamic and aeroelasticity. In other term, it’s a draw back of the choice made by the engineers that must have been deemed negligible or acceptable given that it might be contained by adequate flight control laws. With the numerous modification of weight and volume, it is not a surprised that this still affect the bird and surprise new pilots that just went out of an airframe that had decade of use and refinements. In other words, it’s a transient problem.

    in reply to: US Air Force Unveils New B-21 Bomber #2192714
    TomcatViP
    Participant

    @DjCross:
    You are not going use a fan of a bypass value of 9 inside a flying wing at 60++ thousands feet!

    The B21, if it reuse propulsion tech from its ancestor, certainly relies on a system that was not mature at the time to be fully integrated in a frontline bomber.
    Like someone says, it’s all about flight science first.

    in reply to: F-35 News and discussion (2016) take III #2192715
    TomcatViP
    Participant

    What Defence-Aerospace is pedalling is propaganda journalism that Goebbels would be proud of!

    +1
    This is dishonest. Facts are repeatedly prostituted and it doesn’t seems to be something that bother much their owners. Glad you said it so loudly on Keypublishing.

    in reply to: Norwegian Instructor Lies about F-35 BFM Performance #2192717
    TomcatViP
    Participant

    Tomcat, that is utter garbage. Not trying to be rude but come on. Look on the top of the wings of the F-18 Super, and on the F-35C leading edge flaps. They are modifications to correct the very issue your praising. Obviously it is not the end of the world, but as NASA and others have pointed out, the designers did not correctly model buffeting when designing either.

    I can’t make your aero education. But, if you misunderstood me, buffeting is not some form of trashed airflows. Buffeting occurs on most airfoils with the transient effects occurring around it. For example, the amount of boundary layer separation will vary with speed and AoA and those two values are linked. So an oscillatory phenomenon occurs. This is what cause your plane to buffet. When and how strong it occurs are characteristics of your wing AND flight regime. Hence why pilots can use it to assess where they are in the perf envelope and what they can do and cannot.

    The F16 Flight laws keep the plane out of those zone as they constitute a domain where the plane is less efficient and is not linear. The result is like a fully assisted steering wheel. You don’t have any feedback from the road. What many of us needs.

    EDIT:
    It stroke me afterward, but aren’t you mixing Buffeting and flutters?

    in reply to: F-35 News and discussion (2016) take III #2192781
    TomcatViP
    Participant

    I take it that you are saying LM is installing stuff (that will need to replaced) as per contract whereas the editor is saying LM is not installing stuff (that will need to replaced) as per contract?

    What surprises me is that what was announced as a fixed price contract appears to have become a cost plus contract. Cost plus contracts by nature tend to see the cost go plus (since the higher the cost, the higher the profit for the contractor).

    No. It’s like building Rafale Ms with limited capabilities and some year latter, rebuilding them to the latest in-service standards. It’s the same thing. Except that the pace of modification is much quicker (and the need for it are divergent from one case to the other), hence doesn’t need an overall rebuild of the airframe (but it doesn’t exclude that a single bird will be modified more than once, in theory).

Viewing 15 posts - 3,166 through 3,180 (of 5,621 total)