GOALS OF THE USA's Fixed Wing Vehicle (FWV) technology-demonstration programme are being modified to reflect increasing interest in uninhabited combat air-vehicles. The FWV programme, involving the US Air Force, US Navy, NASA and industry, is the umbrella effort under which the Future Aircraft Technology Enhancement (FATE 1) demonstrator will be flown around 2001.
The FWV programme is seen as a three-phase effort, each stage setting tougher goals, says Dr Tom Weeks, chief of the integration division of the air-vehicle directorate at the US Air Force's Wright Laboratories. Each phase will involve ground and flight tests, as well as modelling and simulation. The first phase, using the FATE I demonstrator, is planned for completion in 2003. Subsequent phases, to be completed in 2008 and 2013, will use modified or new demonstrators, Weeks says.
Goals set for the FATE I include 20% reductions in development, production and operation and support costs, a 10% increase in lift:drag ratio and a 20% reduction in air-vehicle weight. The agility target, originally 20% greater than that of existing fighters, is being increased to reflect the fact that unmanned air-vehicles can be made more manoeuvrable than piloted aircraft, Weeks says. The FATE demonstrator will be un-manned to reduce costs, he adds.
The FWV programme covers three families of aircraft: fighter/ attack, airlift/patrol/bomber and special-operations. The major effort is focused on fighter/attack aircraft, represented by the FATE vehicle, with unique demonstrations covering the other classes. Weeks says that the special-operations part is "in trouble" because of insufficient funding.
The FWV effort is modelled on the US Department of Defense's long-running, highly successful, Integrated High-Performance Turbine Engine Technology programme, which has involved several ground demonstrations with increasingly challenging goals. The US Army and Navy plan a similar Rotary Wing Vehicle technology-demonstration effort.
Weeks says that the FWV programme will make use of existing demonstrator aircraft, such as the tail-less McDonnell Douglas X-36 and thrust-vectoring Rockwell/ Daimler-Benz Aerospace X-31. "We will use all the assets available. The only thing new is FATE," he says. Weeks adds that the aim is to release technology to industry earlier than in previous programmes, after major ground or "piggyback" flight demonstrations.
Boeing, Lockheed Martin, McDonnell Douglas and Northrop Grumman are working on three-month, $300,000 contracts to identify the technologies which should be flight tested on the FATE 1 vehicle. Building and flying two FATE 1 demonstrators is expected to cost less than the $160 million budgeted.
Source: Flight International