BOEING HAS revealed more details of its Joint Advanced Technology Strike (JAST) concept, including new configuration studies unveiled at the Paris air show.
The more striking external-design features of Boeing's compact JAST design include a sharply swept-back delta planform, an elevated cockpit, twin outward-canted vertical tails and a chin-mounted intake. The main engine inlet, reminiscent of the North American A-5 Vigilante, is located well forward to reduce hot-gas re-ingestion.
Details of the short take-off and vertical landing (STOVL) configuration for the US Marine Corps ASTOVL version remain vague, but the direct-lift propulsion system is indicated by twin vertical-lift nozzles close in-board of the main undercarriage legs.
Boeing says that despite the low-cost approach of its JAST concept, the small aircraft will have "...manoeuvrability equal to, or greater than, the Lockheed F-16 and McDonnell Douglas F-18." The company adds that, "...its combat radius and payload are multiples of the F-16 and F-18." Main targets for the JAST are as an ASTOVL replacement for USMC MDC/British Aerospace AV-8B and F-18s, carrier-suitable early-strike aircraft for the US Navy and a conventional take-off and landing (CTOL) replacement for US Air Force F-16s.
The three service-specific variants of the Boeing design, like the competing offerings from Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and the MDC/BAe team are designed to be built on the same production line. Boeing says that Dassault, a major sub-contractor on the JAST "...is working on affordable, multi-service common airframe structures concepts".
Noting the increasing involvement of the UK in the JAST, Boeing also adds that its concept "...will meet the UK Sea Harrier replacement needs...and may meet the requirements for the Future Offensive Aircraft (FOA)".
The company's purpose-built JAST test-rig site at Tulalip, north of Everett, will be completed in the next few weeks. A 94% scale model, powered with a Pratt & Whitney F119, is due to begin tests in the new site by the end of the year. Transonic and supersonic inlet tests, are also expected to be undertaken, in the third quarter of 1995, with low-speed and static inlet tests due early in 1996.
Source: Flight International
