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- Path: sparky!uunet!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!pacific.mps.ohio-state.edu!linac!uwm.edu!uucp.mr.med.ge.com!news.mr.med.ge.com!szopinsk
- From: szopinsk@picard.med.ge.com (Jerry Szopinski Mfg 4-6983)
- Subject: Re: V/STOL fighters
- Message-ID: <1993Jan25.101611.25785@mr.med.ge.com>
- Sender: news@mr.med.ge.com
- Nntp-Posting-Host: guppie
- Organization: GE Medical Systems, Magnetic Resonance
- References: <1jogamINNiua@uniwa.uwa.edu.au>
- Date: Mon, 25 Jan 93 10:16:11 GMT
- Lines: 57
-
- (text deleted)
-
- : >this is where the missiles will most likely hit. With the engines amidships
- : >(around the CG), even a relatively small blast, such as that of a shoulder-
- : >launched SAM, will cause catastrophic engine, control and structural damage.
- : >A larger missile like the Sidewinder will cut the plane in half. (All right,
-
- (text deleted)
- :
- : >Chad Wemyss
- : >Worcester Polytechnic Institute
- :
- : Wouldn't the four nozzles of a non-afterburning turbofan have a
- : much smaller IR signature than two nozzles of a twin engined
- : afterburning plane? The exhaust of the Harrier would have greater
- : diffusion and for much of the upper hemisphere, the nozzles are hidden
- : by the wing.
- : If there is a direct strike by an AAM, there would be alot of
- : catastrophic damage anyway whereever the engine is located. Most missile
- : hits would be proximity blasts(?) in a manoeuvering engagement.(This is
- : conjecture on my part).
- : Most of the designs for ASTOVL planes are high(by jet fighter
- : terms) bypass turbofans so the IR signature of these engines should be
- : inherrently less than the current generation of low-bypass engines.{I
- : think the pegaseus has bypass ratio of 1.2 compared to the f100 of the
- : f15 ratio 0.7}
- :
- :
- : Daniel Oi
- : University of Wesyern Australia
-
-
-
- The major threat to a VSTOL aircraft like the AV-8A Harrier would be AAA
- and SAMs (including the shoulder-launced variety commonly used by today's
- ground forces). The threat from above would be minimal because the attack-
- ing pilot would be firing a heat-seeking missile roughly toward the ground.
- The IR sensor would have a hard time picking the harrier's exhaust out from
- all the heat coming up from the ground. With SAMs or shoulder-launched
- missiles the Harrier would be silohetted(sp.?) against the cool sky, making
- it much easier for the IR sensor to lock on.
-
- On the AV-8A the larger pair of the four exhaust nozzles are located in the
- same area as the engine; this is the most likely the area that a heat-
- seeking missile would lock on to. A hit in this area would be very serious.
- If just the nozzles were damaged you'd lose half your thrust/lift, depending
- on what mode you were in at the time.
-
-
- Jerry
-
- "It riles them to believe that you perceive the web they weave and keep on
- thinking free!" -- Moody Blues
-
-
-
- :
-