The ASTOVL programme originally emerged from a US Navy STOVL fighter strike study and continuing research under the US-UK ASTOVL co-operative research agreement. The ARPA programme was examining STOVL as a way of reducing the cost of performing a strike mission. As this is one of the main drivers of the JAST initiative, it seemed only logical that the two should eventually merge.
Talks between ARPA and the JAST office identified March 1996 as the ideal timeframe for merging. The ASTOVL risk-reduction phase was scheduled to end at that time and JAST's weapons systems contracts awarded in December 1994 would also have been completed by then.
The JAST office was to have sponsored the following phase. Despite defence department objections, Congressional pressure forced the two together in late 1994.
"ASTOVL would always have been merged with JAST, but probably not this early," contends the JAST office. The problem with this timing was that the various ASTOVL concepts were still in their infancy, no testing was completed and the risks were not reduced.
As feared, Congress moved ASTOVL into JAST, but not the $28 million ARPA budget that went with it. As the credibility of the JAST effort has grown, however, it now seems certain that both the USN and USAF are determined to support the programme with their budgets, as witnessed by the FY1996 requests already announced.
The enlarged JAST effort is also reflected in the number of planned demonstrator aircraft. "Our plans are to award up to two aircraft weapon-system-concept demonstration contracts, from among the proposals we receive," says JAST. "We anticipate that we will build two concept-demonstration aircraft under each contract."
This is good news for the four ASTOVL/Common Affordable Lightweight Fighter teams working to the outline timetable drawn up by ARPA. They feared that the STOVL concepts being aimed at one of ARPA's two demonstrators, dubbed the X-32A/B, could disappear after the JAST merger in preference to a lower-risk conventional take-off and landing (CTOL) demonstrator.
The JAST office says: "We plan to require that all of the concept-demonstration aircraft be STOVL-capable. Because STOVL is more complex, however, we expect to fly the concept-demonstration aircraft first in a CTOL configuration and then modify one to a STOVL configuration and complete the STOVL flight tests."
Source: Flight International
