PAUL LEWIS /WASHINGTON DC
With funding for developments withdrawn, manufacturers are looking at upgrades
Ejection-seat manufacturers Goodrich and Martin Baker are focusing attention on improving crew escape systems, with the prospect for new developments having evaporated together with US Congressional funding for the US Air Force/Navy Joint Ejection Seat Programme (JESP).
"We've been asked to look at the ACES II's arm and leg restraint system. This is one of the things we were looking at under JESP and we'll be looking at its applicability to ACES II," says Jeff Yaker, Goodrich president, aircraft seating and propulsion systems.
The seat upgrade is primarily aimed at the Boeing F-15 and Lockheed Martin F-16, which have no restraints. As the size and weight of helmets increase with the addition of visor displays and night vision systems, there is also a growing need for head and neck restraints, adds Yaker.
Goodrich and Martin Baker conducted limited performance and cost trade-off studies under JESP, but further funding has been dropped from the fiscal year2003 budget. The Congressional-mandated effort was intended to lead to the qualification of a new generation of seats by 2004-05, with the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) seen as the most likely application.
Lockheed Martin instead has selected the Martin Baker US16E seat for the F-35 JSF. With the Lockheed Martin/Boeing F-22 Raptor already equipped with a version of the ACES, there is no new platform application in sight.
Goodrich had been hoping to use JESP to "Americanise" the Russian Zvezda K-36 seat - used in the RSKMiG-29 and Sukhoi Su-27 - which offers a higher-speed ejection capability. The loss of JESP funding "brings that to a halt for sure", says Yaker.
The next major requirement will likely be a replacement escape system for the USAF's 500 Northrop T-38 Talon trainers. Martin Baker and Goodrich recently responded to an air force request for information. NASA has already selected the UK company's US16NL ejection seat to upgrade its 31 T-38s and recently test flew the first modified aircraft.
Martin Baker executive vice-president Brian Miller says the company is also modifying 1,500 seats installed on the US Navy's Boeing F/A-18C/D, F/A-18E/F, T-45 and Grumman F-14 aircraft. The work is focused on accommodatinga wider range of male andfemale pilots' weights, from 47-111kg (103-245lb).
Source: Flight International
