23-11-2003, 19:40
Please note:
Dealer and manufacturer (production) rights are reserved to Geforce4 only!
Thank you for your understanding.©
Za-34
Cost:
Naval version 55 million [it can withstand the high loading of catapult assisted launches and tailhook arrested landings. The aircraft has larger wing and tail control surfaces for low speed approaches for carrier landing.]
Non naval variant: 50 million
http://www.digikitten.com/playhousev2/files/pixelmonkey/Zaunamed.jpg
Outer Surface Components:
39% Titanium
24% Composite
16% Aluminum
01% Thermo-plastic
Stealth
RAM
RAM, or Radar Absorbing Material, is covering the entire fuselage of the Za-34. This material is made to absorb and kill radio waves instead of reflect them.
Scattering
Heat Reduction
To be stealthy, a plane must not give off too much heat. The heat not only makes it stand out on thermal imaging, but makes it a prime target for missiles. The engines of the Za-34 are made to make as little exhaust and heat as possible.
Turbulence Reduction
The turbulence of a plane is caused by the movement of the craft disrupting the air around it. The shape of any stealth plane is made so that is EXTREMELY aerodynamic, having the least amount of air resistance. This minimizes the turbulence, and the fuel costs, since the plane is not creating so much drag. The less turbulence, the less likely it is that the enemy's sensitive laser detection equipment will pick up on the plane.
Visual Detection:
*Smoke Contrails
Smoke Contrails are caused when the engine(s) of a plane spurts out extra power. Any contrail (smoke or air) is something that a pilot does not want following his plane if he is going into the enemy territory, after all, it is a tell tale sign of his presence. The Za-34 and many other planes were created in such a way as to reduce this problem. Tests were once conducted to stop or reduce contrails on planes. The Za-34, because of the super cruise ability, is able to avoid the smoke contrail problem fairly well.
* "Air" (moisture) Contrails
"Air" Contrails are the most commonly seen type of contrail. These come from the moisture in the air being disturbed by a wing. When these contrails are created, the pressure of air surrounding the wing is disturbed and unbalanced, causing the moisture to form trails. The Za-34 has been able to decrease the likelihood of these contrails because of the horizontal stabilizers located on the aft part of the aircraft. These stabilizers help evenly distribute the lift of the aircraft so that contrails are avoidable.
*Low Visibility
The Za-34 was painted with a medium gray. This gray matches the sky closely enough to fool the naked human eye enough to not stick out like a sore thumb.
*Low Level Flight
This is a somewhat dangerous, yet old and effective way of avoiding radar detection. This method is used to fly below radar cover, basically, flying so low to the ground, that all the trees and obstacles (hills, buildings, etc.) scramble the radar waves (remember that radar bounces off of everything).
This method is beginning to age. With new detection methods, the radar is able to pick out the plane from the ground clutter.
Following from Za-34
"Stealth features of the Za-34
Taking a look at the Za-34, quickly reveals the fundamental principles of a stealthy design as discussed earlier.
Airframe features
The Za-34 has a low height triangle appearance from the front. This physical cross sectional view ensures a small signature from the front and low observability touches such as paint and materials, as well as little "W" shapes where straight lines might have appeared, all tend to break up the signature by absorption or redirection.
The "W" shapes are found at numerous places on the stealth aircraft. For instance, in the forefront of the cockpit glass, there is a very apparent "W" shape. This reduces the radar energy reflected during a head-on pass to the radar emitter. The "W" shape is also found on landing gear doors, engine inlets and outlets, as well as other openings.
The leading and trailing edges of the wing and tail have identical sweep angles (a design technique called platform alignment). The fuselage and canopy have sloping sides. The vertical tails are canted. The engine face is deeply hidden by a serpentine inlet duct and weapons are carried internally.
Engine nozzles
Reduction of radar cross section of nozzles Is also very important, and is complicated by high material temperatures. The approach taken at Lockheed is to use ceramic materials. The ceramics may be either lightweight, parasitic sheets mounted on conventional nozzle structures or heavier structural materials forming saw-toothed edges.
Cockpit
The pilot's head, complete with helmet, is a major source of radar return. This effect is amplified by the returns of internal bulkheads and frame members. The solution is to design the cockpit so that its external shape conforms to good low radar cross section design rules, and then plate the glass with a film similar to that used for temperature control in commercial buildings. Here, the requirements are more stringent: it should pass at least 85% of the visible energy and reflect essentially all of the radar energy. At the same time, one would prefer not to have noticeable instrument-panel reflection during night flying.
Antenna
On-board antennas and radar systems are a major potential source of high radar visibility for two reasons. One is that it is obviously difficult to hide something that is designed to transmit with very high efficiency, so the so-called in-band radar cross section is liable to be significant. The other is that even if this problem is solved satisfactorily, the energy emitted by these systems can normally be readily detected. The work being done to reduce these signatures is classified.
Paint scheme
In order to make the Za-34 disappear for the human eye on the ground, when in flight, special camouflage schemes have been developed. This way the plane will blend with the background sky as much as possible viewed from the bottom and disappear in the ground texture when seen from above."
Avionics And Radar:
http://www.digikitten.com/playhousev2/files/pixelmonkey/radarb5.jpg
the weapons management system, electronic warfare system and the EN/GPA-90 radar work as one, giving the pilot unprecedented situation awareness.
The EN/GPA-90 radar is designed for air-superiority and strike operations and features a low observable, active aperture, electronically-scanned array with multi-target, all-weather capability.
The radar is key to the Za-34's integrated avionics and sensor capabilities. It will provide pilots with detailed information about multiple threats before the adversary's radar ever detects the Za-34. This is also called BVR, or Beyond Visual Range capability.
It will give an Za-34 pilot the possibility in air-to-air combat, to track, target and shoot at multiple threat aircraft before the adversary's radar ever detects the Za-34 .
The avionics software is to be integrated in three blocks, each building on the capability of the previous block. Block 1 is primarily radar capability, but Block 1 does contain more than 50 percent of the avionics suite's full functionality source lines of code (SLOC) and provides end-to-end capability for the sensor-to-pilot data flow
This Block 1 software enables the basic operation of the radar and its initial mode complement, including the simultaneous operation of search and track modes and systems health and maintenance or built-in-test modes.
At the Boeing Avionics Integration Laboratory the Za-34 radar was integrated with the avionics mission software and other aircraft avionics sensors such as the electronic warfare system, and the communications, navigation and information systems.
Internal Weapon Bays:
http://www.digikitten.com/playhousev2/files/pixelmonkey/missza1.jpg
The Za-34 is capable of carrying existing and planned air-to-air weapons. These include a full complement of medium-range missiles, advanced medium range air-to-air missile, and short-range missiles.
The Za-34 has four internal weapons bays for its main armaments. Two at the bottom of the mid-fuselage and two on the air intake sides. 5 underwing hardpoints are mainly meant for fuel tanks on ferry flights, but can also carry a weapon load. Below the different weapons configurations are shown:
Air-to-air configuration; 2 missiles in the side bays + 6 missiles.
Air-to-ground configuration; 4 missiles in the side bays + 2 missiles + 10 500 pounds bombs. (or 5 1000 pound bombs and no Long range AA missiles)
External combat configuration; 4 fueltanks + 4 missiles.
Ferry configuration; 5 external fuel tanks + 12 missilesBelow, If the pilot decides to fire a missile, the beapons bay door of the referring missile will open, the mechanism will carry the missile outside the plane, the missile can lock and it is fired. When the missile is away, the ejection system will retract into the weapons bay again and the bay door closes to preserve the fighters stealthyness.
http://www.digikitten.com/playhousev2/files/pixelmonkey/weapbm.jpg
Cockpit:
http://www.digikitten.com/playhousev2/files/pixelmonkey/zacockpit.gif
The Za-34 features a side-stick controller in addition to two throttles that are the aircraft's primary flight controls. Located on the right console, the GEC-built stick also serves as a swing-out, adjustable arm rest. The stick is force sensitive and has a throw of only about one-quarter of an inch. The throttles are located on the left console.
During air combat, both the stick and the throttles are high-use controls . To support pilot functional requirements, the grips include buttons and switches (that are both shape and texture coded) to control more than 60 different time-critical functions. The buttons are used to control the offensive (weapons targeting and release) and defensive systems, (although some, like chaff and flares, can operate both automatically and manually) as well as display management.
The Heads Up Display or (HUD) server as the primary flight instrument for the pilot. It will have a viewable area of 30 degrees horizontally and 25 degrees vertically. Developed by the Air Force Instrument Flight Center, the GEC HUD will use standard symbology and be 4.5 inches in height. Unlike the HDD's, the GEC HUD will not be in color. However, the symbology will be exactly the same as the Head Down Displays. As a shock absorber from bird strikes, the windshield will be protected by a rubber buffer strip placed on the HUD combiner glass. During initial bird strike tests, the HUD would routinely shatter. Precautions were taken at all costs to avoid this from happening. The buffer strip would shield the polycarbonate glass by allowing it to flex during a strike. Design is underway for a collapsible HUD that would fall but not break. In addition, the Za-34 design also features a sort of laminate that eliminate glass from shattering in the cockpit.
The Integrated Control Panel (ICP) will be the main location where the pilot can manually input data for communications, autopilot and navigation. The ICP will be located below the HUD, underneath the glare shield and in the center top of the instrument panel. Additionally, the ICP will have "double click" features which are similar to a PC mouse in functionality. The double click feature will allow the pilot to input data more rapidly. Six Liquid crystal color displays will be housed in the cockpit. The LCD's will be fully readable in direct sunlight. Notable improvements of LCD's when compared to the older generation displays of CRT's are a lower weight, less size and a lower power consumption. The LCD's are inherently more reliable because of the lower power consumption. Two Up Front Display's (UFD)'s are located to the left and right of the ICP. They measure 3x4 inches. The primary function of the UFD's are to provide the pilot with cautionary information/warning/advisory, data communications/navigation/identification (CNI)data and act as the serve as the Stand-by Flight instrumentation Group and Fuel Quantity Indicator. A maximum of 12 messages can appear on the UFD's at any given time, and remaining faults can be indexed as sub pages.
Engines:
http://www.digikitten.com/playhousev2/files/pixelmonkey/zaengine.jpg
it uses G-50FU Pulse detonation engines for propulsion
the G-50FU pulse detonation engines are similar in size to modern turbojets (a bit smaller) but are more efficient because detonations create higher pressures and travel faster than turbojet combustion. This means more power, higher efficiency.
The 3-dimensional nozzle vectors thrust 20 degrees up down left and right for improved aircraft agility. This vectoring increases the roll rate of the aircraft by 50 percent and has features that contribute to the aircraft stealth requirements.
Heat-resistant components give the nozzles the durability needed to vector thrust, even in afterburner conditions.
With precision digital controls, the nozzles work like another aircraft flight control surface. Thrust vectoring is an integrated part of the Za-34's flight control system, which allows for seamless integration of all components working in response to pilot commands.
the G-50FU engines also feature:
Integrally bladed rotors: In most stages, disks and blades are made from a single piece of metal for better performance and less air leakage.
Long chord, shroud less fan blades: Wider, stronger fan blades eliminate the need for the shroud, a ring of metal around most jet engine fans. Both the wider blades and shroud less design contribute to engine efficiency.
Low-aspect, high-stage-load compressor blades: Once again, wider blades offer greater strength and efficiency.
Alloy C high-strength burn-resistant titanium compressor stators: innovative titanium alloy increases stator durability, allowing the engine to run hotter and faster for greater thrust and efficiency.
Alloy C in augmentor and nozzle: The same heat-resistant titanium alloy protects aft components, permitting greater thrust and durability.
Floatwall combustor: Thermally isolated panels of oxidation-resistant high cobalt material make the combustion chamber more durable, which helps reduce scheduled maintenance.
Fifth-generation full-authority digital electronic engine control (FADEC): Dual-redundant digital engine controls - two units per engine, two computers per unit - ensure unmatched reliability in engine control systems. The same experience that introduced full-authority digital control to fighter engines works with the aircraft system to make engine and aircraft function as a single flight unit.
No visible smoke: Reduces the possibility of an enemy visually detecting the Za-34.
Improved Supportability: All components, harnesses, and plumbing are located on the bottom of the engine for easy access, all line replaceable units (LRUs) are located one deep (units are not located on top of one another), and each LRU can be removed with just one of the six standard tools required for engine maintenance.
Characteristics:
Wing Area: 840 sq ft
Total Length: 62.08 ft
Engine Thrust Class: 40,000 lb
Maximum Speed: Mach 3+
Crew: 1
G Limit: +10 G
Dealer and manufacturer (production) rights are reserved to Geforce4 only!
Thank you for your understanding.©
Za-34
Cost:
Naval version 55 million [it can withstand the high loading of catapult assisted launches and tailhook arrested landings. The aircraft has larger wing and tail control surfaces for low speed approaches for carrier landing.]
Non naval variant: 50 million
http://www.digikitten.com/playhousev2/files/pixelmonkey/Zaunamed.jpg
Outer Surface Components:
39% Titanium
24% Composite
16% Aluminum
01% Thermo-plastic
Stealth
RAM
RAM, or Radar Absorbing Material, is covering the entire fuselage of the Za-34. This material is made to absorb and kill radio waves instead of reflect them.
Scattering
Heat Reduction
To be stealthy, a plane must not give off too much heat. The heat not only makes it stand out on thermal imaging, but makes it a prime target for missiles. The engines of the Za-34 are made to make as little exhaust and heat as possible.
Turbulence Reduction
The turbulence of a plane is caused by the movement of the craft disrupting the air around it. The shape of any stealth plane is made so that is EXTREMELY aerodynamic, having the least amount of air resistance. This minimizes the turbulence, and the fuel costs, since the plane is not creating so much drag. The less turbulence, the less likely it is that the enemy's sensitive laser detection equipment will pick up on the plane.
Visual Detection:
*Smoke Contrails
Smoke Contrails are caused when the engine(s) of a plane spurts out extra power. Any contrail (smoke or air) is something that a pilot does not want following his plane if he is going into the enemy territory, after all, it is a tell tale sign of his presence. The Za-34 and many other planes were created in such a way as to reduce this problem. Tests were once conducted to stop or reduce contrails on planes. The Za-34, because of the super cruise ability, is able to avoid the smoke contrail problem fairly well.
* "Air" (moisture) Contrails
"Air" Contrails are the most commonly seen type of contrail. These come from the moisture in the air being disturbed by a wing. When these contrails are created, the pressure of air surrounding the wing is disturbed and unbalanced, causing the moisture to form trails. The Za-34 has been able to decrease the likelihood of these contrails because of the horizontal stabilizers located on the aft part of the aircraft. These stabilizers help evenly distribute the lift of the aircraft so that contrails are avoidable.
*Low Visibility
The Za-34 was painted with a medium gray. This gray matches the sky closely enough to fool the naked human eye enough to not stick out like a sore thumb.
*Low Level Flight
This is a somewhat dangerous, yet old and effective way of avoiding radar detection. This method is used to fly below radar cover, basically, flying so low to the ground, that all the trees and obstacles (hills, buildings, etc.) scramble the radar waves (remember that radar bounces off of everything).
This method is beginning to age. With new detection methods, the radar is able to pick out the plane from the ground clutter.
Following from Za-34
"Stealth features of the Za-34
Taking a look at the Za-34, quickly reveals the fundamental principles of a stealthy design as discussed earlier.
Airframe features
The Za-34 has a low height triangle appearance from the front. This physical cross sectional view ensures a small signature from the front and low observability touches such as paint and materials, as well as little "W" shapes where straight lines might have appeared, all tend to break up the signature by absorption or redirection.
The "W" shapes are found at numerous places on the stealth aircraft. For instance, in the forefront of the cockpit glass, there is a very apparent "W" shape. This reduces the radar energy reflected during a head-on pass to the radar emitter. The "W" shape is also found on landing gear doors, engine inlets and outlets, as well as other openings.
The leading and trailing edges of the wing and tail have identical sweep angles (a design technique called platform alignment). The fuselage and canopy have sloping sides. The vertical tails are canted. The engine face is deeply hidden by a serpentine inlet duct and weapons are carried internally.
Engine nozzles
Reduction of radar cross section of nozzles Is also very important, and is complicated by high material temperatures. The approach taken at Lockheed is to use ceramic materials. The ceramics may be either lightweight, parasitic sheets mounted on conventional nozzle structures or heavier structural materials forming saw-toothed edges.
Cockpit
The pilot's head, complete with helmet, is a major source of radar return. This effect is amplified by the returns of internal bulkheads and frame members. The solution is to design the cockpit so that its external shape conforms to good low radar cross section design rules, and then plate the glass with a film similar to that used for temperature control in commercial buildings. Here, the requirements are more stringent: it should pass at least 85% of the visible energy and reflect essentially all of the radar energy. At the same time, one would prefer not to have noticeable instrument-panel reflection during night flying.
Antenna
On-board antennas and radar systems are a major potential source of high radar visibility for two reasons. One is that it is obviously difficult to hide something that is designed to transmit with very high efficiency, so the so-called in-band radar cross section is liable to be significant. The other is that even if this problem is solved satisfactorily, the energy emitted by these systems can normally be readily detected. The work being done to reduce these signatures is classified.
Paint scheme
In order to make the Za-34 disappear for the human eye on the ground, when in flight, special camouflage schemes have been developed. This way the plane will blend with the background sky as much as possible viewed from the bottom and disappear in the ground texture when seen from above."
Avionics And Radar:
http://www.digikitten.com/playhousev2/files/pixelmonkey/radarb5.jpg
the weapons management system, electronic warfare system and the EN/GPA-90 radar work as one, giving the pilot unprecedented situation awareness.
The EN/GPA-90 radar is designed for air-superiority and strike operations and features a low observable, active aperture, electronically-scanned array with multi-target, all-weather capability.
The radar is key to the Za-34's integrated avionics and sensor capabilities. It will provide pilots with detailed information about multiple threats before the adversary's radar ever detects the Za-34. This is also called BVR, or Beyond Visual Range capability.
It will give an Za-34 pilot the possibility in air-to-air combat, to track, target and shoot at multiple threat aircraft before the adversary's radar ever detects the Za-34 .
The avionics software is to be integrated in three blocks, each building on the capability of the previous block. Block 1 is primarily radar capability, but Block 1 does contain more than 50 percent of the avionics suite's full functionality source lines of code (SLOC) and provides end-to-end capability for the sensor-to-pilot data flow
This Block 1 software enables the basic operation of the radar and its initial mode complement, including the simultaneous operation of search and track modes and systems health and maintenance or built-in-test modes.
At the Boeing Avionics Integration Laboratory the Za-34 radar was integrated with the avionics mission software and other aircraft avionics sensors such as the electronic warfare system, and the communications, navigation and information systems.
Internal Weapon Bays:
http://www.digikitten.com/playhousev2/files/pixelmonkey/missza1.jpg
The Za-34 is capable of carrying existing and planned air-to-air weapons. These include a full complement of medium-range missiles, advanced medium range air-to-air missile, and short-range missiles.
The Za-34 has four internal weapons bays for its main armaments. Two at the bottom of the mid-fuselage and two on the air intake sides. 5 underwing hardpoints are mainly meant for fuel tanks on ferry flights, but can also carry a weapon load. Below the different weapons configurations are shown:
Air-to-air configuration; 2 missiles in the side bays + 6 missiles.
Air-to-ground configuration; 4 missiles in the side bays + 2 missiles + 10 500 pounds bombs. (or 5 1000 pound bombs and no Long range AA missiles)
External combat configuration; 4 fueltanks + 4 missiles.
Ferry configuration; 5 external fuel tanks + 12 missilesBelow, If the pilot decides to fire a missile, the beapons bay door of the referring missile will open, the mechanism will carry the missile outside the plane, the missile can lock and it is fired. When the missile is away, the ejection system will retract into the weapons bay again and the bay door closes to preserve the fighters stealthyness.
http://www.digikitten.com/playhousev2/files/pixelmonkey/weapbm.jpg
Cockpit:
http://www.digikitten.com/playhousev2/files/pixelmonkey/zacockpit.gif
The Za-34 features a side-stick controller in addition to two throttles that are the aircraft's primary flight controls. Located on the right console, the GEC-built stick also serves as a swing-out, adjustable arm rest. The stick is force sensitive and has a throw of only about one-quarter of an inch. The throttles are located on the left console.
During air combat, both the stick and the throttles are high-use controls . To support pilot functional requirements, the grips include buttons and switches (that are both shape and texture coded) to control more than 60 different time-critical functions. The buttons are used to control the offensive (weapons targeting and release) and defensive systems, (although some, like chaff and flares, can operate both automatically and manually) as well as display management.
The Heads Up Display or (HUD) server as the primary flight instrument for the pilot. It will have a viewable area of 30 degrees horizontally and 25 degrees vertically. Developed by the Air Force Instrument Flight Center, the GEC HUD will use standard symbology and be 4.5 inches in height. Unlike the HDD's, the GEC HUD will not be in color. However, the symbology will be exactly the same as the Head Down Displays. As a shock absorber from bird strikes, the windshield will be protected by a rubber buffer strip placed on the HUD combiner glass. During initial bird strike tests, the HUD would routinely shatter. Precautions were taken at all costs to avoid this from happening. The buffer strip would shield the polycarbonate glass by allowing it to flex during a strike. Design is underway for a collapsible HUD that would fall but not break. In addition, the Za-34 design also features a sort of laminate that eliminate glass from shattering in the cockpit.
The Integrated Control Panel (ICP) will be the main location where the pilot can manually input data for communications, autopilot and navigation. The ICP will be located below the HUD, underneath the glare shield and in the center top of the instrument panel. Additionally, the ICP will have "double click" features which are similar to a PC mouse in functionality. The double click feature will allow the pilot to input data more rapidly. Six Liquid crystal color displays will be housed in the cockpit. The LCD's will be fully readable in direct sunlight. Notable improvements of LCD's when compared to the older generation displays of CRT's are a lower weight, less size and a lower power consumption. The LCD's are inherently more reliable because of the lower power consumption. Two Up Front Display's (UFD)'s are located to the left and right of the ICP. They measure 3x4 inches. The primary function of the UFD's are to provide the pilot with cautionary information/warning/advisory, data communications/navigation/identification (CNI)data and act as the serve as the Stand-by Flight instrumentation Group and Fuel Quantity Indicator. A maximum of 12 messages can appear on the UFD's at any given time, and remaining faults can be indexed as sub pages.
Engines:
http://www.digikitten.com/playhousev2/files/pixelmonkey/zaengine.jpg
it uses G-50FU Pulse detonation engines for propulsion
the G-50FU pulse detonation engines are similar in size to modern turbojets (a bit smaller) but are more efficient because detonations create higher pressures and travel faster than turbojet combustion. This means more power, higher efficiency.
The 3-dimensional nozzle vectors thrust 20 degrees up down left and right for improved aircraft agility. This vectoring increases the roll rate of the aircraft by 50 percent and has features that contribute to the aircraft stealth requirements.
Heat-resistant components give the nozzles the durability needed to vector thrust, even in afterburner conditions.
With precision digital controls, the nozzles work like another aircraft flight control surface. Thrust vectoring is an integrated part of the Za-34's flight control system, which allows for seamless integration of all components working in response to pilot commands.
the G-50FU engines also feature:
Integrally bladed rotors: In most stages, disks and blades are made from a single piece of metal for better performance and less air leakage.
Long chord, shroud less fan blades: Wider, stronger fan blades eliminate the need for the shroud, a ring of metal around most jet engine fans. Both the wider blades and shroud less design contribute to engine efficiency.
Low-aspect, high-stage-load compressor blades: Once again, wider blades offer greater strength and efficiency.
Alloy C high-strength burn-resistant titanium compressor stators: innovative titanium alloy increases stator durability, allowing the engine to run hotter and faster for greater thrust and efficiency.
Alloy C in augmentor and nozzle: The same heat-resistant titanium alloy protects aft components, permitting greater thrust and durability.
Floatwall combustor: Thermally isolated panels of oxidation-resistant high cobalt material make the combustion chamber more durable, which helps reduce scheduled maintenance.
Fifth-generation full-authority digital electronic engine control (FADEC): Dual-redundant digital engine controls - two units per engine, two computers per unit - ensure unmatched reliability in engine control systems. The same experience that introduced full-authority digital control to fighter engines works with the aircraft system to make engine and aircraft function as a single flight unit.
No visible smoke: Reduces the possibility of an enemy visually detecting the Za-34.
Improved Supportability: All components, harnesses, and plumbing are located on the bottom of the engine for easy access, all line replaceable units (LRUs) are located one deep (units are not located on top of one another), and each LRU can be removed with just one of the six standard tools required for engine maintenance.
Characteristics:
Wing Area: 840 sq ft
Total Length: 62.08 ft
Engine Thrust Class: 40,000 lb
Maximum Speed: Mach 3+
Crew: 1
G Limit: +10 G