ASD is translating aeronautical technology into combat capability. Coming On and

BY JAMES W. CANAN SENIOR EDITOR Coming Up

IMFOU'RE an F-16 pilot in Europe. dence in its eventual success is, in as the upgraded F-16C and F-16D, You hear all the ballyhoo about fact, building. such technology demonstration air- the forthcoming wonders of the new The story is the same across a craft as the forward-swept-wing avionics system called LANT1RN, broad spectrum of programs that X - 29 (see "Forward Sweep," p. 60), meaning Low-Altitude Navigation Air Force Systems Command's and the Advanced Fighter Technol- and Targeting Infrared for Night. Aeronautical Systems Division ogy Integration (AFT!) F-16 and With LANTIRN, you hear, you (ASD) has brought along, some- F-111 aircraft. ASD manages all will be able to attack ground targets times bumpily, for several years. these programs, and all benefit, in at night from altitudes as low as one Concepts once considered in some one way or another, from work done hundred feet, under weather, hit circles to be too ambitious or not by ASD's Air Force Wright Aero- them with great precision, and live worth the candle, or both, are now nautical Laboratories (AFWAL) in to fly again. being transformed into more capa- flight dynamics, avionics, propul- You're a typical show-me fighter ble airframes, avionics, and en- sion, and materials. pilot, and you're skeptical. Then gines. Hardware contracts are being ATF program officials and con- you hear from the States that, sure awarded all over the place. tractors will also keep close watch enough, LANTIRN is in deep trou- These days, aeronautical systems on the maneuverability characteris- ble. It pushed too many tenuous newly in production, in flight test- tics Of the F-15 short takeoff and technologies too far, too fast. Just ing, or well along in engineering de- landing (STOL) demonstrator air- another pipe dream of the R&D velopment characterize the work of craft that ASD contracted to build mavens. ASD at least as much as do those late last year. The modified F-15 will Tactical Air Command seems to still in design or early in develop- incorporate engine nozzles for in- think differently, however. TAC is ment. flight reversing and vectoring of placing its bets on LANTIRN, thrust, a feature the ATF is likely to pushing hard for it, and giving it top Harvest of High Technology adopt. It could well provide the key priority. There must be something The serendipity of all ASD pro- to operating from bomb-damaged to it. grams firmly in hand or farther out runways and thus staying in the The next time you take notice, in is becoming more and more ob- fight. late 1984, LANT1RN is coming vious. Each takes advantage of such Taken together as an increasingly right along. Its navigation element is advanced technologies as micro- logical whole. ASD's programs being tested on an F-16, at night and electronics, nonmetallic materials, promise unprecedented combat ca- under combat conditions, with out- and aerodynamic shapes that are pability for the Air Force. It is hap- standing results. Its targeting ele- fundamental, in varying degrees, to pening right now. ment isn't yet ready for testing be- all. The B-1B bomber is in produc- cause its development has been For example, ASD's blue-chip tion. The highly upgraded single- much rockier. But it is a lot better Advanced Tactical Fighter (ATF) seat F-1 6C and two-seat F- I 6D and more amenable to fixing than its program is assimilating what is fighters, both wired for LANTIRN critics—many of whom are misin- being learned about those technolo- as well as for the Advanced Medi- formed about what it's supposed to gies and others in their application um-Range Air-to-Air Missile (AM- do—have made it out to be. Conti- to such current production aircraft RA AM), began entering the Air

34 AIR FORCE Magazine / January 1985 Force's operational inventory in December. A top-of-the-line Combat Talon C-130, with highly advanced avi- onics, is now being introduced to the Military Airlift Command's spe- cial operations fleet. The two-seater F-15E, having gained acceptance (if not full funding) in the Department of Defense and in Congress, needs ABOVE: An F-1S only a final decision on the disposi- tests the high- priority LANTIRN tion of its cockpit technologies and avionics system. on the division of duties between its Navigation pod frontseater and backseater in order is mounted on to begin moving swiftly through fi- the left of the nal development. aircraft; target- ing pod, on the The ATF, too, is coming on fast. right. RIGHT: DoD approval was imminent at Artist's sketch press time. Design contracts are shows how the scheduled to be awarded to three Short Takeoff and Landing airframe contractors, or three (STOL) and Ma- teams of such contractors, late next neuver Technol- summer. One will be selected in late ogy Demonstra- 1988 to start building the ATF, and it tor aircraft, a should be flying by 1991—only six modified F-15, will take off from years from now. damaged run- The ripening of so many interre- ways. lated ASD R&D programs at the halfway point of the 1980s is not the result of any all-embracing aero- nautical master plan conceived years ago. Rather, it represents a fortuitous confluence of pro- grams—many of them driven by ad- vances in the microelectronics of' sensors, signal processors, and data processors—that were instituted in- dividually over the years to stay ahead of the growing, many-sided Soviet threat in the air. "Our business is to manage proj- ects that keep adding up to a run- ning total of increased capability for the Air Force," declares Lt. Gen. Thomas H. McMullen, ASD's Com- mander. "We try to solve problems as they come—as we see them com- ing—in the aeronautical world."

AIR FORCE Magazine January 1985 35 LANTIRN Lights the Way High on the list of such problems is how to attack ground targets at very low altitude, at night and under the weather, with precision. This is why the LANTIRN system, made up of a navigation pod, a , and a head-up display (HUD) for the cockpit, is so important. It answers the "how." "I think LANTIRN is doing real well, particularly in the navpod," As depicted General McMullen declares. "The here, the LAN- targeting pod is a challenge, but I TIRN system's don't think there's any insurmount- "night window" able problem with its technology. cockpit HUD We're taking a little more time with should enable ground-attack it to make it well." aircraft crews to The navigation pod is the less in- fly and fight con- tricate of the two. It embodies a fidently at high wide-field-of-view, forward-looking speeds and low altitudes at night infrared (FUR) sensor, a terrain- and under the following radar (TFR), supporting weather. electronics, and an environmental control system. It has posed some big portion of the night away from the issue. We designed the targeting problems of power sufficiency and the enemy . . . but if we want to be pod to be able to hit a tank because of cooling, but these are relatively able to rule the battlefield at night if it can do that, it can hit all the straightforward and are being rec- the way we do in the daytime. then other targets it's assigned to hit." tified. we need the targeting pod." The LANTIRN targeting pod is A widely overlooked attribute of That pod is a technological hum- very densely packaged. At first, its the LANTIRN system is that its dinger. It contains a FLIR -sensor innards sprang leaks, and wires and navigation pod, acting independent- system with both wide and narrow connectors broke. It was taken out ly of its targeting pod, should enable fields of view, a and of testing and repackaged. But then single-seat aircraft to overfly and laser ranger, automatic target track- it proved to be incapable of attack- bomb targets in the dark, down low, ers. a missile boresight correlator, ing small tactical targets at required more safely and effectively than any all manner of supporting elec- ranges. The Air Force considered tactical aircraft anywhere (includ- tronics. and an environmental con- giving up on this capability. ing the dual-seat F-ill with its ter- trol system. But the Air Force didn't. Instead. rain-following radar and its Pave Like the navpod, it must be fully it took two new tacks on the target- Tack pod) have been able to manage integrated with the avionics of the ing pod. One was the incorporation in the past. aircraft carrying it. Those aircraft of a number of tracking improve- The targeting pod is a prerequi- will be the F-16C. the F-16D. the ments to allow the pod to acquire site for precision strikes at night. F-15E, and the A-I O. The targeting smaller targets farther away. This But even without it, the navigation pod will enable them to deliver did not turn out to be satisfactory, pod would make USAF's ground- laser-guided glide bombs and imag- however. attack aircraft threats to be reck- ing infrared (UR) Maverick mis- The other, more laborious ap- oned with around the clock. siles. proach was to improve the pod's op- As explained by Col. James A. tical chain by "cleaning it up from Fain, Jr., ASD's LANTIRN pro- Targeting Pod in Sight end to end, redoing it as much as we gram director, "If the target is big The targeting pod was designed can to improve its transmissivity," enough that I could see it in the by , builder of the says Colonel Fain. daytime, then I could hit it at night LANTIRN system, to be effective This is being done. Some im- with a navpod. because whatever I at night against targets as small as proved targeting pods were sched- can do in the daytime—within cer- tanks. The idea was that if the sys- uled for delivery to USAF in De- tain limits—I can also do at night tem could pick out a tank, it would cember 1984. Others, even better. with the navpod. But the targets have no trouble picking out larger will be delivered in March of this have got to be large, and I'd gener- high-priority targets like SAM sites, year. ally be using area-type weapons bridges, command centers, and Colonel Fain expressed confi- against them. We're not talking dams. dence that, by then, "the pods about surgical removal of high-val- "Hitting tanks has been oversold should have the capabilities we ue targets." in a lot of cases," declared Colonel think are necessary to attack small The bottom line. says Colonel Fain. "People ask why we want to tactical targets at the ranges we Fain, is that with LANTIRN's navi- go hit an individual tank with a very think are adequate for a single-seat gational pod alone "we can take a expensive airplane. But that's not [aircraft] work load.

36 AIR FORCE Magazine / January 1985 The first produc- tion-fine F-16C rolls out at Gen- eral Dynamics Corp.'s Fort Worth, Tex., plant. USAF plans to order at least 1,800 F-16C and two-seater F-160s. Both are wired for LAN- TIAN and the Advanced Medi- um-Range Air- to-Air Missile (AMRAAM).

"We're talking about vast im- ada began last October 15 and was day to night attack, let alone to at- provements in the optical chain scheduled to end by mid-December. tacking in weather. through the pod," the Colonel add- Under the terms of a joint agree- Even so, LANTIRN's TFR navi- ed. "We're talking about almost a ment between the US and Canada, gational capability will give pilots doubling of capability." the testing took place in the vicinity some in-weather leeway. The software of the targeting of the Canadian Forces base at "Depending on their need, they pod's tracker, which works hand in Gagetown, New Brunswick, where should be able to top ridge lines, hit hand with its FUR sytem, is also a European-type climate prevails. clouds, and punch over to clear air being upgraded. This will allow the Test flights originated at Loring on the other side," says Colonel tracker to lock on to small targets at AFB, Me. Fain. "They're not going to do that greater standoff ranges. The navigation pod had already kind of thing in training, but in com- The control loop between the tar- done very well in more than a year bat they could. They might have to geting pod and the Maverick is com- of testing at night, sometimes in do so." plicated. The FLIR system in the highly humid conditions that threat- In aeronautics, one advancement pod and the FUR system in the mis- ened the workings of the pod's always leads to another. ASD's Avi- sile continuously pass digital data to FLIR-protecting environmental onics Laboratory is experimenting the pod's missile boresight cor- control system. with highly advanced FLIR tech- relator. It matches up such data. The test flights were tough ones. nology for the Advanced Target Ac- Then it signals the Maverick to lock Test pilots and TAC pilots logged quisition Sensor (ATAS). This could on and the pilot to launch. about 480 flight hours over an esti- give future combat aircraft, notably According to Colonel Fain, ASD mated 15,000 miles, flying at an al- the Advanced Tactical Fighter, true anticipated that its improved target- titude of 500 feet or below. Above weather-beating capability. ing pods would be in shape to start unfamiliar US terrain both flat and Right now, though, the issue is handing off Mavericks in flight hilly, they dropped down to 200 feet LANTIRN. An Air Force System around the first of this year. These at speeds ranging up to 615 miles per Acquisition Review Council tests "will not include all the yank- hour and down to 100 feet at up to (AFSARC) decision on whether or ing and banking were looking for, 550 mph. not to finish developing and start but we're expecting that capability They reported that the naviga- producing LANTIRN navigation in the March—April time frame," he tional infrared display on their pods is expected early this year. The said. HUD, which brings into the cockpit IOC date for the pod is classified, Initial go-arounds with the target- what the system "sees," enabled but it seems that USAF's ground- ing pod's laser designator have been them to fly with confidence, as if in attack aircraft could be pretty well promising. Verification of the pod's daylight. equipped with them by the turn of boresighting accuracy for laser- Reliant as it is on optics, the the decade. guided munitions is well under way LANTIRN system will make air- And if ASD's optimism about the and looks good. craft capable of attacking at night LANTIRN targeting pods is justi- under the weather but not in the fied, production should be only a Night into Day weather. Existing FLIR systems do year or so behind. Final testing of the LANTIRN not see through clouds. It is tough The latest in the evolutionary line navigation pod on an F-16 over Can- enough to make the transition from of F-16s will be on the ramps at op-

AIR FORCE Magazine / January 1985 37 erational bases awaiting the arrival of LANTIRN pods. The F-16C and F-16D two-seat trainer variant have just begun entering USAF's in- ventory of combat aircraft. Both were rolled out at General Dynam- ics Corp.'s Fort Worth, Tex., pro- duction plant just six months ago. The Air Force plans to order at least 1,800 F-16Cs and F-16Ds.

Good Gets Better —49 The F-1 6C represents the fruits of LISAF's F-15 has come a long the Multinational Staged Improve- way in evolution ment Program (MSIP) undertaken from this early four years ago by USAF and, to model. Emphasis some extent, the four European is now on fast development of governments participating in the the two-seater F-16 program. It is a prime example F-15E with great of how to upgrade an existing air- firepower and craft—and to make it ready to ac- highly advanced cept such future systems as LAN- avionics and cockpit technol- TIRN and AM RAAM—without re- building it from nose to tail. The Litany of improvements in the LANTIRN and Mavericks to the As General McMullen puts it: F-16C is a lengthy and impressive air-to-air mode with AMRAAMs. "History shows we'll be going to one. Its AN/APG-68 radar, featur- F-16 pilots now have to enter fewer systems. One of the shifts ing a software-programmable signal weapons and navigation instruc- we're already in the midst of is processor and a dual-mode trans- tions into the aircraft's electronic keeping airplanes and engines lon- mitter, greatly extends its target de- memory while sitting in the cockpit ger, and improving their capability tection and tracking ranges. Its fire- prior to takeoff. This can take up to to do things that nobody even control computer has double the fifteen minutes. With the new sys- thought of when they were new— memory capacity and processing tem, the pilots can prerecord such offensively and defensively, surviv- speed of that in the A and B models. data on a computer cartridge in the ing in a high-threat environment. It is a stronger, heavier aircraft, briefing room and load it into the Electronics adds tremendously to too, the better to bristle with weap- computer system in less than a min- our capabilities." ons. Its gross takeoff weight is ute—almost like changing cassettes The late-model F-16s surely show 37,500 pounds, or 2,100 pounds in a car radio. this to be true. And so does the heavier than earlier F-16 variants. The F-16C also has a wide-angle F-I5E, no longer dubbed the dual- To manage its weapons more HUD for displaying more informa- role fighter but designed to be one, smartly, the F-16C embodies the tion over a larger area. This helps nonetheless. Advanced Central Interface Unit the pilot keep his head out of the (ACIU). This feeds the airspeed and cockpit, something he desperately One Damn Good Weapon inertial and radar targeting data needs to do while flying low-altitude System" from the aircraft's computer to the ground-attack sorties. A demonstrably superb air-supe- missiles, such as the Maverick, and The F-I 6C will have a better shot riority fighter, the basic F-15 Eagle to other smart weapons. The ACIU at surviving, too, Its rudder island is also an inherently very capable also makes it possible for those assembly was reconfigured so that air-to-ground machine as well— weapons to keep that computer up its tail can now accommodate two robust, big, with lots of room for to date on their status. Airborne Self-Protection Jammer ground-attack stores. The two-seat- The pilot sees all this, and much (ASPJ) electronic countermeasures er F-15E will incorporate avionics, more, on two new television screen black boxes. The sophisticated such as LANTIRN, to carry out the cockpit displays that replace and do ASPJ system will be installed in long-range interdiction mission at the work of many dials. He can call production-line F-16Cs in about night and under weather against up on either screen, or both, any two years and retrofitted at that time high-priority targets. sensory or weapons data he needs at in F-I6Cs already in service. The F-15E will also have almost any time. Reworking the F-16 to make it all of the capabilities of the B-1B The F-16C also features a solid- more capable now—and amenable strategic bomber, such as terrain- state computer cartridge system for to even greater capability in the near following, navigation-update, and loading mission and navigational future—is a prime example of weapons-delivery avionics and in- data. All innovations on the F-16C ASD's latter-day emphasis on get- ternal electronic countermeasures, make it more quickly versatile in ting the most out of what USAF Like the bomber, the F-15E will be a flight—for example, in switching already has in the way of combat software-intensive aircraft. Its of- from the air-to-ground mode with aircraft. fensive and defensive avionics can

38 AIR FORCE Magazine / January 1985 This is why TAC and ASD are pay- steps in technologies," says Colo- ing a great deal of attention to divid- nel Lupini. "We are integrating ing the crew duties aboard the proven technologies into one sys- F-15E in the best possible manner tem, onto the airplane. Redoing the and to determining the optimum basic F-15A to accomplish this configuration and placement of the would have been a monstrous aircraft's front-seat and back-seat task." technologies. "The F-15E," declares Colonel Initially, the idea was to give the Smith, "is going to be one damn frontseater control of air-to-air and good ." air-to-ground weapons: the back- seater, limited control of air-to- Birth of a Great Baby ground weapons and full control of At some point in the future. if this radar navigation. But this was indeed turns out to be true, and if changed to give the backseater the new and maybe even future vari- some air-to-air control as well. De- ants of the F-16--almost certainly fensive avionics were originally des- the F-I6F—also live up to their bill- tined for the front cockpit. Now ing, critics of USAF's mosaic of they will probably be put in the rear fighter programs are almost certain cockpit for management by the to start questioning why USAF WSO. needs the Advanced Tactical Fight- Putting potential F-15E pilots and er in view of the highly versatile, WSOs through their paces in cock- highly capable fighters it already pit simulators has been a big help in has. Such questioning will be espe- be reprogrammed to keep it ahead making decisions about such things. cially severe if defense budgets of increasingly sophisticated and "We match them up in different sce- grow more slowly. profuse threats from air and ground. narios, and they make their own as- USAF's answer will be—and al- It will contain a fully programmable sessments and tell us what sym- ready is—that the ATF, being de- set of armament controls for air-to- bology they want in there and let us signed to incorporate and integrate air and air-to-ground weapons. know about extremes of work engine, avionics, and other technol- In fact, the original F-15 was built loads," says Colonel Smith. ogies that are maturing fast but are for growth in air-to-ground capabili- The simulator was built by not quite ready. is sure to be the ty. Its HUD technology and bomb- McDonnell Aircraft Co.. which is finest combat aircraft ever, far out- ing modes made the original F-15 working with a steering group. rep- stripping even the best, most ver- comparable, as a ground-attack air- resenting ASD, TAC, USAFE, and satile F-16s and F-15s imaginable— craft, to the doughty A-7, which PACAF, in making decisions on moreover, that USAF is not plan- showed its mettle against ground F-15E cockpit configuration and ning to build the ATF just for the targets in Vietnam. symbology, hell of it, but to keep the fast-im- "For the F-15E, we expanded all However it comes out, F-15E proving Soviet air and air defense that and made it programmable," cockpit technology is certain to rep- arms from wiping the skies clean of explains Col. John S. Smith III, resent "a real jump" over any such US aircraft if war should come. ASD's F-15 deputy systems pro- technology in existing fighter air- "The ATF will be in the same ball gram director. "And we have a cen- craft, says Lt. Col. Robert E. park as the F-15 in terms of size and tral computer to manage the re- Lupini, ASD's F-15E program man- gross weight, but it will have far, far quirements of the airplane that's a ager. Air Force officials acknowl- better capabilities because it will tenfold improvement over the com- edge that the cockpit technology have to deal with some very ad- puter in the basic F-15A." and layout of the F/A-18, prpduced vanced threats," predicts Col. Al- Naturally, the LANTIRN system by MacAir for the Navy, is—as one bert C. Piccirillo. director of the is coveted by F-15E program offi- such official described it—"the very ATF System Program Office under cials. They claim that even though best now flying." ASD's Deputy for Tactical Systems. LANTIRN's navigation pod would But the F-I5E's cockpit will sur- Picking up steam, the ATF pro- enable the F-15 to carry out many pass it, they claim, with the best and gram moved into ASD's tactical ground-attack missions at night and latest in digital displays. "It will be a arena and out of its development under the weather, the aircraft whole generation beyond," Colonel planning arena last July. would also need LANTIRN's tar- Smith asserts. "with a lot bigger At the time, Brig. Gen. Gerald C. geting pod to perform the full range HUD. symbols a lot sharper and Schwankl. ASD's Tactical Systems of such missions envisioned for the brighter, and in colors instead of all director, declared that "develop- aircraft. green." ment planning gave birth to a great Those missions would impose a Even though the cockpit is the baby, and now everyone is eager to very demanding work load on the major technological challenge on help with its growing up." F-15E's two crew members—one the F-I5E, a very big and related He was not exaggerating. The that, in many instances, would be one, too, is the integration of all the ATF program involves a host of comparable to the work load of the aircraft's systems. ASD shops, such as those for pro- BAB bomber's four crew members. "We're not making any major pulsion, avionics, electronic coun-

AIR FORCE Magazine / January 1985 39 ground targets in a secondary role. It will be hard to spot by radar and by infrared and optical seekers. The ATF will be able to cruise super- sonically without afterburners be- cause each of its two engines is ex- pected to provide more than twice the thrust, in relation to its weight, of any current, state-of-the-art fighter engine. Advanced compos- ites should make it possible to build Aeronautical an ATF airframe that is fifteen to Systems Division twenty percent lighter than it would (ASD) will choose three be were it totally metallic in struc- contractors, or ture. three contractor Its avionics, characterized fully learns, late next by light, compact circuit boards summer to corn. with very-high-speed integrated cir- pete for full- scale develop- cuitry (VHSIC) in the form of tiny. ment of the Ad- reliable .semiconductor chips. vanced Tactical should allow for additional, enor- Fighter (ATF), mous savings in weight. shown here in generic design. Given that the ATF is expected to weigh about as much as an F-15. termeasures, aerodynamics, and design and plans for its early devel- such savings presumably mean that materials. It is also being supported opment. Three years from then, one it will be able to carry vastly more by AFSC's Armaments Division at will be chosen. and full-scale devel- fuel and weaponry and will feature Eglin AFB, Fla., by Electronic Sys- opment will begin posthaste. First more fight per pound. tems Division at Hanscom AFB, flight is scheduled for 1991. The ATF may well be the first Mass., and by Aerospace Medical This is a high-stakes program for fighter to cost less, rather than Division at Brooks AFB. Tex. the aerospace industry. Give or more, as a result of its incorporation TAC and Air Force Logistics take, the seven companies have of highly advanced engine, struc- Command officers have moved into spent an estimated $10 million to tural, and avionics technologies. the ATF office on a full-time basis. $20 million apiece on it so far. The The reason is that fighters—indeed. This is because the ATF program winner, or winners as a team. will all aircraft—are always priced pret- has entered the real-world, critical almost certainly dominate USAF ty much by their poundage. And in phase of getting down to cases in fighter production, and possibly order to build it to do what it will defining its operational require- fighter avionics integration, in the need to do, an ATF without those ments. 1990s. weight-saving high technologies Taking the users' approach to the Losers will risk being in tough might cost as much as $60 million, ATE, the TAC people are proxies for shape in those years unless they knowledgeable officials estimate. USAFE and PACAR too. The logis- move into different kinds of combat But the ATF will very likely come ticians are making sure that the flying machines, such as the Trans- in at one-third less than that, and its fighter's reliability and main- atmospheric Vehicle (TAV) now life-cycle costs, given the reliability tainability are not slighted in design- being conceived by several of them that can be predicted for its engines ing it to do what the pilots need it to in concert with ASD. and avionics, will be way down as do or what the technologists would well. like to see it try to do. What ATF Will Do The possibility that the ATF will Excitement about the ATF pro- At this juncture, no one knows have movable canards and a vari- gram is palpable at ASD. "We're what the ATF will look like, but able-camber wing is why its design- not dreaming; it's happening." there is no mystery about what it is ers show great interest in the X-29 Colonel Piccirillo declares, "and expected to embody and to do. and AFTI/F-111 technology dem- this next year should be extremely Its ultrasophisticated avionics for onstration aircraft. The AFTI/F-I 11 interesting." fire controls, flight controls, weap- is the test-bed for the Mission Adap- You bet. It is getting on toward ons delivery, and whatnot will be tive Wing (MAW) developed by crunch time for the seven com- totally integrated from scratch. It ASD's Flight Dynamics Laboratory panies—Boeing, General Dynam- just might have movable canards. and Boeing Airplane Co. ics, Grumman. Lockheed. McDon- Much of its airframe will be built of Wings that change shape, and nell Douglas, Northrop, and Rock- tough, lightweight advanced com- other surfaces that also move—all well International—now in competi- posites. managed by superfast flight con- tion to design the ATF. Three of It will be capable of cruising at trols reacting automatically to con- them, or three teams of them, will supersonic speeds and yet be very ditions of flight and demands of ma- be chosen, probably in August, to efficient with its fuel. It will be sup- neuverability—should team up with get down to the nitty-gritty of ATF ple, agile, and proficient at attacking thrust-reversing and thrust-vector-

40 AIR FORCE Magazine / January 1985 ing engine nozzles to give the ATF wasp-like agility and elusiveness. It really won't need those vector- ing nozzles for short takeoffs, ac- cording to Robert J. May, manager of ASD's Joint Advanced Fighter Engine program. Mr. May claims that the ATF's engines will be powerful enough to get it airborne "in fairly short distances," nozzles or no nozzles. The nozzles will be a big help in landing, however, "especially on a wet or an icy runway," says Mr. May, because they will make slow approach speeds possible and will Artist's rendering shows how fighter aircraft may someday take off from air-cush- rapidly provide high levels of re- ioned platforms that propel them to rotation speed over bomb-damaged runways. verse thrust on touchdown.

An Engine tor ATF Air Cushions and Fast-Acting Sensors Details of the advanced fighter Imagine a fighter aircraft taking off from a bomb-damaged runway by sliding over the engine being developed for the ATF craters and gaining airspeed atop an air-cushion platform that the fighter itself propels by Pratt & Whitney and General along the ground. Electric are highly classified. How- Imagine that same fighter, or any other, losing a vital chunk of its wing or tail to enemy ever, Mr. May provides a general fire—and continuing not only to fly but to fight. description of it as follows: Air Force Systems Command's Aeronautical Systems„Division (ASD) has passed beyond the point of merely imagining such prospects. It is well along with research and develop- "We are seeing a lot of advanced ment programs aimed at turning them into reality. materials incorporated in the design Much of ASD's work is concentrated on "sortie generation." one of its Flight Dynamics and tremendous improvements in Laboratory's four "major thrusts" of research and development. The "pivotal program" in the form of advanced aerodynam- that regard, says FDL Deputy Director James J. Mattice, is the Short Takeoff and Landing (STOL) and Maneuver Technology Demonstrator aircraft, an F-15 now being modified to ics—so we're going to see a great embody movable canards and thrust-reversing and thrust-vectoring nozzles. reduction in the number of stages in But FDL is also developing the Air-Cushion Equipment Transportation System (ACETS) the engine and about fifty percent and the Self-Repairing Flight Control System, both of which could someday make Air reduction in parts. Force aircraft much more capable of joining and sustaining combat. FDL has tested an air-cushion equipment transporter in a joint program with, and in, "That means reliability, right Canada. The test-bed platform successfully carried aircraft and other heavy equipment there. Also, we're seeing improve- over rough terrain and over craters thirty feet in diameter. ments in cooling effectiveness so That platform has its own engines. They push air into rubber cushions, or skirts, beneath that we can run high turbine tem- the platform, enabling it to float on air over rough terrain, much as a hovercraft floats on air peratures and get the performance, over water. Among other things, it has great potential for transporting combat equipment to and and yet still get the durability, we from intratheater airlifters over rough or scarred countryside in combat zones. want. With detain hand from thetests in Canada, FDL is nowlooking at the possibility of an air- "Some really advanced structural cushion transporter that would get its thrust from the aircraft mounted on it. When the concepts will help us save weight. platform reaches the aircraft's rotation speed, the aircraft would disengage and take off. FDL is also exploring the feasibility of using an air-cushion transporter as a carrier of the And we're going to the full-authori- Transatmospheric Vehicle (TAV), now being conceived under ASD's direction for takeoff ty digital electronic control. This, and direct ascent through and above the atmosphere. too, will improve the reliability of Fast-acting sensors and computers have given rise to FDLS high hopes for aircraft that the engine. Control is one of the can take heavy damage to control surfaces and then compensate—instantaneously and more unreliable elements in current automatically—for such damage in order to stay airworthy. For example, the aircraft's flight control computer would reconfigure other control engines." surfaces—such as rudders, flaperons, ailerons, and stabilators—to take up the slack The current P&W F100 fighter induced by the loss of part of a wing. engine has thirteen compressor For another, the loss of one side of a stabilator on the tail of an F-16 would cause a stages and four turbine stages. The control problem requiring instant rectification. The pilot probably could not provide it. He likely would not be aware of exactly whatwas wrong, and even if he were, he likely could not GE F110 has twelve compressor react fast enough. stages and three turbine stages. The But the combination of sensors and flight control computer that FDL has in mind, and is ATF engine will likely reduce the preparing to develop and test, could presumably reconfigure the F-16 in a flash by number of such stages "on the order substituting a combination of, say, flaperons and speed brakes to permit the pilot to keep of fifty percent," Mr. May predicts. control. The computer and its associated sensors would have two main tasks: diagnosing the P&W and GE have learned a problem and doing something about it immediately It would then tell the pilot what the great deal about how to design an aircraft is still capable of doing—whether he can continuethe mission orshould head tots engine for the ATF as a result of friendly airfield. their work on upgrading the F100 "Telling him what the failure is doesn't tell him what he needs to know," says Boris J. Tirpak, FDL's program manager. "He needs to know what capability he has remaining, engine and on developing its latter- such as his maximum Gs are four, his altitude is limited to 30,000 feet, and so forth. He day competitor, the F110 engine, re- needs to know if he still has control of the airplane, and how much." spectively. --J.W.C.

AIR FORCE Magazine / January 1985 41 Col. Howard E. Bethel, ASD's such a card would reduce the cessors. data processors, and sen- Deputy for Propulsion, describes number of connectors in the radar sors destined for the ATF. both the new F100-PW-220 engine signal processor (connectors are re- The final trick will be to provide and the GE F110 as "super" in du- sponsible for a great many failures the pilot with displays that make it rability and reliability, compared to of avionics) "by a factor of one hun- easy for him to take notice of, and their predecessors now on USAF dred to one." This could increase act on, the disparate information fighters. the reliability of the aircraft's avi- from the sensors that the computers Both of these engines incorporate onics by a factor of ten and cut show him in coherent fashion. De- advanced materials, cooling tech- maintenance in half, signers of such displays for the ATF niques, and electronic controls that Each F-16 now contains fifty- have been given a big leg up by work are precursors of such innovations, eight avionics black boxes, each on cockpit technologies in the to be even more advanced, in the weighing about fifty pounds. Called AFTI/F-16 program and by such engines of the ATF. Line Replaceable Units (LRUs)- work for the latest variants of the The technologies of those engines they are manufactured by several F-16 and for the F-15E. are "converging very nicely." says different contractors and are not The A F II/F-16 program, now en- Colonel Piccirillo. and "the engine standardized. Consequently, each tering its second phase; is also ex- program is on a good schedule. It F-16 also requires, at operational ploring technologies that may per- will be ready in plenty of time, and bases, 437 separate types of LRU mit the ATF pilot to speak some of we'll be able to upscale it easily it' replacement spares. his commands to the aircraft. Given necessary." According to Colonel Moore, it the urgency of the ATF program. Accelerated mission testing of the would take only forty-three VHSIC however, it is unlikely that such ATF engine is expected to begin in Line Replaceable Modules (those voice-control technologies will be just a little more than two years three-pound cards) to do what that ready for employment in the fighter from now. entire assortment ot' avionics black right off. boxes does in the F-16. The Al'F's technologies will be Avionics—The Toughest Reduction of weight would be "frozen," says Colonel Piccirillo, in Challenge compounded throughout the air- less than three years in order to get The ATF's avionics are the craft. Given the rule of thumb that a it built with technologies then avail- "toughest challenge," Colonel Pic- saving of one pound in an aircraft's able. But like all fighters. the ATF cirillo claims. "because there are so avionics translates into a saving of would undoubtedly be upgraded many things going on in avionics—a five pounds in its takeoff weight (in through several successive models, real explosion. We have so many the form of structural racks, cables, and the original ATF is being de- technologies coming out of the labs fuel, and the like), an aircraft replete signed with an eye to technological that have to be integrated fin the with VHS1C cassette-like circuit growth into the twenty-first cen- ATF) that our problem is going to be boards, such as the ATF is expected tury. in deciding where to cut it off in to be, would trade off tons of Many programs subheaded under order to get an airplane on the "dead" weight for "live" weight— Pave Pillar should produce avionics ramp." as in weaponry and other features systems ready for incorporation in All avionics for the ATF are being that embellish its performance. the ATE integrated in an - architecture" This prospect gives the ATF de- The Ultra Reliable Radar (URR) being devised in the ASD Avionics signers tremendous leeway. It also is a big one. Another is the Integrat- Laboratory's Pave Pillar program. It makes the logisticians happy. They ed Inertial Reference Assembly is heavily dependent on the advent foresee the ATF's maintenance (LIRA) system that pools informa- of the VHSIC chips and on their crews simply pulling defective avi- tion from all gyroscopes, acceler- performance and reliability as ad- onics modules from the ATF. insert- ometers, and other positioning vertised. ing new ones on the flight line (the equipment on the aircraft (even Those chips promise improve- module cards can be carried in one gunsights have gyroscopes) to keep ments of computational speed, of hand), and shipping the bad ones the pilot constantly posted on the reliability, and of weight and space back to the States for repair after state of the aircraft and its systems. savings that "blow my mind," says having collected a batch of them— Yet another endeavor pegged to Col. Frank Moore, director of the no hurry. the Al F is the Integrated Communi- Avionics Laboratory. The ATF will not be the only ben- cations, Navigation. and Identifica- For example: The existing F-15 eficiary of VHSIC technology. tion Avionics (ICNIA) program, radar signal processor weighs fifty Plans are afoot to retrofit existing which will provide, in a few fault- pounds, contains 5,000 integrated aircraft with the superchips wher- tolerant units, all externally re- circuits (chips), and needs 1,600 ever feasible over time. ceived radio, navigation. and Identi- watts of power. Doing its job with fication Friend or Foe (IFF) infor- VHSIC chips would require one All Aboard! mation, even from satellites, needed thin circuit-board card containing In anticipation of those chips, on tactical missions. only forty-five chips, weighing a to- which are now being manufactured These and other programs sup- tal of only three pounds, and requir- at very slow rates and upgraded by porting Pave Pillar are already un- ing only fifty watts, claims Colonel the six contractors in the VHS1C der contract. Moore. program, Pave Pillar officials are "This train," asserts Colonel Moreover, he says, the use of bent on integrating all signal pro- Moore. "is running." •

42 AIR FORCE Magazine / January 1985