NationStates Jolt Archive

OOC: This is the Research and Development thread for my new Joint Multirole Tactical Fighter. If you wish to take part in the project, you are welcome to telegram me or post in the OOC thread (PLEASE, for the love of God, do not post any OOC Notes (http://www.forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=527690) in this thread or I will be ripping your head off.) and I will decide from there.

Aequatian Republic Government Secured Research Facility, Codename: Dark Basin, somewhere in the Western Desert

Eugene Dellport awoke to see the same sandy wasteland he had witnessed when taking off in the Republic Airlines Gulfstream V executive jet from San Allimos International Airport. Tired from the flight and still seeing much more to go before their arrival, Eugene tagged the flight attendant as she passed by and retrieved a chilled DV™ Orange soda and glass with ice cubes as he watched the sand berms roll by underneath. The Aequatian Military Industries had contracted him out from his cushy management position at Arrio Heavy Manufacturing Corporation to help head the newest aircraft project they were running, which would act as a replacement for almost every fighter in service with the Aequatian armed forces other than the new F-28, which was to be upgraded with the new technologies incorporated with this program.

Another thirty minutes and he would be on the ground and ready to see nothing but desert sand for months and ensure that the entire project ran smoothly, the Aequatian armed forces were not people you wanted to keep waiting for anything.

Colonel Joachim "Calico" Hartmann sat in the cockpit of the F-1E tactical fighter and examined the differences in its cockpit layout than his duty F-1T Supertutor aggressor plane. One of the most formidable pilots in the Aequatian Republic Air Force, so valuable that he was reassigned to a training unit rather than serve in combat again, he would now support the new Project: Constellation by acting as its chief evaluation pilot, among his numbers were both Navy and Marine Corps pilots, coming from the Carrier and Marine Expeditionary Wings respectively, they would be supporting the project in their own methods, including the twin-seater variants which would act as both airborne forward air controllers and electronic attack aircraft, among others.

The white gloss finish on the Experimental Modular F-1E gleaned in the desert sun as Colonel Hartmann lifted off the tarmac and brought the aircraft into its orbit around the base as he ran diagnostics on the aircraft's weapons software, which was one of the first improvements made for the coming project, after twenty minutes, his radio chirped, "Okay, Colonel, you can come down from heaven now," Said the air control officer as with a heavy sigh and almost no effort, the aircraft banked back, revealing its blood red, white and black roundel of the Air Force alongside the bold letters "ARAF", as he brought the plane down onto the runway before the engines sputtered as a bout of wind kicked up a wall of sand that was ingested into the aircraft's intakes and it rolled to a halt with its engines smoking and the veteran officer climbing down from the aircraft as the ground support crews rushed over and recovered him and the plane. "Bloody useless Thanatos," He muttered the aircraft model's old name as he walked off to the waiting humvee.

The Gulfstream executive jet rolled to a halt as the staircase dropped down and Eugene was greeted by one of the liaison officers who would be bringing him to the base commander, Air Force Major-General Neville Caldwell, to examine the work already completed by his predecessor. The base was a drab as the desert itself, the hardened hangers protruded from the tarmac and asphalt along with the simple buildings that passed for housing on base, but he knew from the old news stories that a majority of the base consisted of a complete networked underground facility which could be sealed from the outside world. This could also prove to be an important security feature, as the Republic wished to keep away the prying eyes of other nations.

Caldwell never liked the corporate types that were always attached to the projects, he liked them even less than the Navy and Marine aviators that were also there, "Squiddies and gyrenes have no place in the air," The old officer thought as he greeted the new project head, "Hello, Mister Dellport, I was glad to read in your e-mail that you were prepared to get right to work upon your arrival, so shall we?" Eugene nodded as he accepted a bottle of water from an assistant as the general produced a number of folders from his desk and slid the pile to him, "For the most part, we have everything still performing on schedule, with only a few delays concerning the construction of prototypes."

"I'd like to get a feel for the facility and the different divisions," Dellport said as he examined the titles of the folders, "Meet with the heads and generally understand what's going into my project now."

"My project," Thought Caldwell as he cursed the civilian contractor, "I've been trying to get funding for this project for years and it is his project as soon as he walks in the door?" He nodded as he secured the folders, "Absolutely, your office will have copies of all project files and you will be given your access information for the base network, for now, we can get you your access card and input your information into the biometrics network as well."

"Excellent," He replied as they both rose to leave the office, much work was to be done in the coming months for the project and as the aircraft slowly moved from design concepts to a tangible fighter.

The Air Force was generally considered to be the "cleanest" of all the Russkyan service branches. While Infantrymen, especially regular force, VDV, and Naval Infantry, considered it a point of pride to be able to quickly construct "Triple Layer" insults in their native tongue, the Air Force generally refrained from such excessive vulgarities.
Indeed, with the Army and Navy, several times historical documentation of soldiers had to be scrapped as it was considered that their language was too invective-laced to be appropriate under any circumstances. Generally camera crews operating alongside such units learnt to keep their mouths shut, lest they be the target of some very creative swearing indeed.

This however, did not stop the Loadmaster of the An-225 heavy lift transport from swearing fluently and excessively as he swung his way down the central aisle like a flightsuit-clad monkey, clambering onto the top of a wooden crate and seizing the loose lashing, wrenching it violently up towards the ceiling of the cargo bay, and then securing it in place again before making his way back to his post at the front of the bay.

Sitting strapped into their seats, none of the technicians and engineers aboard had seen anything wrong with the strap. They attributed it to the loadmaster's eccentricity and "the Force," which seemed to let all chief engineers and loadmasters know when something was even slightly awry with their bird. Often, pilots thought that the aircraft was theirs. This was only true if there was no loadmaster or flight engineer, as the technicians from the RMSMC knew, this not being their first time on a heavy-lifting aircraft by a long shot.

Completely unprepared for the burst of swears, Anyuta Vitonaya felt blood rush to her face, something exacerbated further when her stomach seemed to drop away underneath her. Several of the pale engineers and technicians became even more pale, one turning slightly green before burying his face in a rubberized paper bag. Swinging up from his seat again, the loadmaster pounded on the hatch to the flightdeck, screaming through the communications headset at the flight crew as they seemed to be pretending that they had control of a nimble Sukhoi instead of a lumbering bastard like the Antonov. Despite the ear defenders they'd been issued, one engineer laughed at the stream of swears and several felt their faces redden further, Vitonaya amongst them.

Levelling out to a more reasonable descent, the heavy aircraft touched down on the runway. Engines screamed as they were reversed, and after a short bit of taxi'ing the loadmaster unstrapped himself from his seat and swung down the aisle again, singing loudly to himself. Vitonaya quickly undid her harness and was first out the passenger hatch, leaving the sound of the loadmaster and two loadcrewmen's singing echoing inside the aircraft's fuselage. Removing her ear protection, she handed it to the flight engineer at the base of the stairwell, catching the vulgar lyric: "Fell on her back, lifted her skirts," and mercifully was away from the aircraft before the loadcrew broke into the chorus again.

Swinging back on quiet servomotors - though quiet was a relative term, as the engines were still spinning down - the clam-shell doors at the rear of the aircraft opened. Down came the ramp, and medium trucks were loaded with the longish wooden crates, carefully marked in Russkyan Cryllic and English. Vitonaya and her staff of fourteen (herself excluded from this count) stood on the tarmac, blinking in the sunlight, looking for the Aequatian guides and escorts. Hanging half from the passenger hatch, a loadcrewman bellowed the chorus in heavily accented English before disappearing from the hatch, hauled inside by an unseen hand except for his boots, hanging on the edge of the hatch. They turned over, toes towards tarmac as he was flipped onto his stomach, and those development staff who'd been nearest the hatch looked upwards as they heard a meaty thud, just in time to see the boots disappear from the hatchway as he was dragged fully inside the aircraft.

As much as the servicemen might dislike the "techies," there was a limit to everything. In this particular case, the loadmaster's limit was when the loadcrewman had switched to English instead of Russkyan. It was one thing to sing such songs in Russkyan, but not in a language readily understood by nearly all Aequatians to his knowledge, as that would embarass the techs, him, and thus the aircraft - and by the transitive property of embarassment, that meant the unit as a whole would be embarassed, and thus, the slap to the back of the head and the two or three punches to the ribs.

The Russkyans would be surprised in being greeted by two sets of liaisons, one from the Aequatian Republic Air Force, who were responsible for the base and its security, and from Aequatian Aerospace Industries, who would be working alongside them in the test chambers and laboratories below ground at the desert base. Each of the personnel that were to begin working on the base were each issued a pair of file folders, one from the Air Force labeled: "Security is EVERYONE'S Responsibility" and contained the usual information regarding industrial security along with specific information concerning the base, while the other from AAI would contain mostly information on their living arrangements, project timeline, salary, personal and confidentiality contracts, food credit and security access cards, the latter to be used around the base to arrive at work, on the train network and in their home, the former for the various Delicious Vendables™ machines that populated the base and the cafeterias and cafes.

There was a bell ring as Dellport produced his crimson adonized-aluminum shell Razzberry™ wireless device as an electronic message reached him about the arrival of the RMSMC Weapons Division subcontractors at the base and that they would be immediately oriented as to life on the base and their workspaces. Pleased with the news, he rose to his feet as the small electric tram came to a halt at the station and a pleasant female voice chirped, "Remember to claim all of your belongings and mind the gap as you exit the train. Thank you and have a nice day," It said as he rolled his eyes and stepped off the train and pressed his card against the magnetic reader and then his thumb against the biometric reader before the door opened and allowed him access. The reception desk was occupied by a young woman, an Air Force sergeant, her desert uniform seeming out of place in the dull grays and blues of the underground facility. The small headset, which was connected wirelessly to the desk's massive telephone digital switchboard, sat secured to her head and the black plastic frame almost disappeared on her dark chestnut hair. She looked up from the desk work and greeted him, "Afternoon, sir, how can I help you?"

"I'm looking for the Composites division labs," Dellport replied, double checking his Razzberry for the proper listing, "They're here in sector, correct?"

"Yes, sir, just follow the signs in the corridors and you won't miss it," She explained, "There will be another guard at the door and he'll direct you through into the labs."

He thanked her as he left the reception's hub and started down one of the corridors, following the signs which directed him throughout the sector and to the different laboratories currently housed there. He presented his access card to the sentry and inserted it into the small hand-held reader, a green LED lighting up as it approved him and the guard opened the door with his thumb against the small wall reader. With a nod, Eugene entered and was greeted by an invisible voice, "Salutations, Mister Dellport, I am Doctor Chesterton," Came the voice from behind a workbench.

"Hello, Doctor, I'm here to see your department's work so far," Eugene replied as he stepped forward into the lab, carefully examining the room so as not to touch and potentially damage or offend the busy scientists as they went about their work. Chesterton emerged from his station and shook hands with the project leader, "Do you have your report for me?"

"Even better!" Said the researcher as he turned to the desk, motioning Dellport forward.

The scientist led the administrator through the laboratory littered with desks covered in files, schematics, computers and empty take-out food containers as he pointed out one of the technicians was working with a mixture, examining its contents unaware to the presence as Chesterton picked up a fifty by fifty centimetre square of material and held it out for Dellport, "Here's the new composite material for the aircraft's skin, in place of traditional titanium alloys."

Dellport took the material in hand and was surprised at its weight, remembering a point in which he had a chance to see the composite tank armour for the M20 series when he was working at AHMCorp, "Most impressive," He said, returning the square to the doctor as he replaced it on the desk, "How much of the aircraft will be using that material?"

"Nearly ninety five per-cent of the aircraft's fuselage, wings and stabilizers will be constructed with the composite material, allowing for a reduction in weight when compared to the older aircraft such as the Thanatos or the Arrow," He explained, "It allows us to maintain the same strength in the design with reduced weight, allowing an increase in the amount of fuel or ordinance taken aboard."

"When will it be ready for a prototype?" He asked, ever diligent in the project's timeframe, "I'd like to know so I can push ahead the other divisions."

"I'd say a month more of materials testing before we could use it for construction," Chesterton said with a smile.

"Excellent, I will speak with you later, doctor, I must be checking in with the Powerplant Division on the new engines," Said Dellport as they shook hands and the project leader exited into the corridors, finding his way back to the tram station and waiting for the train back to the central hub.

Heading out from the Central Hub of Dark Basin towards the underground range, five technicians and one engineer from the RMSMC Weapons Division (Cannon & Machinegun, Aerial Subdivision) had between them one large toolkit, measuring about a meter long by a quarter of a meter wide, made of thin steel and fitted with synthetic rope handles on all four sides, featuring a locking single-piece cover. Besides this long dark grey metal box, there was also the smaller, more conventional toolkit and then the laptop in its carry-bag. Passing through security, a sentry let them through into the range where they came face to face with Prototype 09, a single barrel 30mm automatic cannon of theoretically improved design over the Gryazev-Shipunov weapon fitted to a large number of Russian and Russkyan aircraft.

Sitting on its test bed, the breech was open and ammunition racked alongside in the horizontal feed, the 30mm HE-T rounds that would be used for this test sitting neatly in their disintigrating belts, feeding from a massive ammunition can with the Cryllic stencil for "30mm, High Explosive, Tracer, 500 Rounds"). The trolley used to carry the rounds from their storage space was left alongside the back wall, and sitting in the blast shield protected test compartment with high speed cameras filming the gun. Slepkinan walked up to the gun, lifted the lock-open wooden dowel out of the breech, and let the gun load itself with the first 30x164mm round. Stepping away smartly, he activated the wires that would allow the gun to be fired, raising and then dropping his left hand from above his head to signal that the gun was ready.

When Slepkinan was safely behind the protective barrier, all personnel donned hearing protection and the "Firing" light went on above the entranceway to warn those of operations in progress. For the sake of documentation, Vitonaya spoke into a microphone: "Prototype Zero-Nine, two hundred fifty rounds continous fire, high explosive tracer, target range one thousand meters, large aircraft of bomber type and one smaller armoured fighter mockup as targets, time fifteen hundred forty three hours local. Firing."

In just under twelve seconds at the maximum cyclic rate, the ammunition belt was expended, the roar of the weapon was still fading within the concrete confines of the range, and two hundred and fifty lacquered brass cartridge casings were resting in pile underneath and to the right of the gun. The barrel, being ridged for additional effectiveness in cooling and serviced by a bore evacuator to keep the stellite-lined barrel cleaner than it otherwise would be, would have a life approximately twice that of its Russian brother with no real decrease in accuracy. Downrange, the targets were quite simply obliterated as was a large portion of the backstop. That said, the gas-operated action of the AAC/PT-09 had functioned flawlessly even though intentionally dirtied, and next they would test the dual-hopper ammunition feed, which would allow a pilot to switch between two different ammunition types. A large steel box of 30mm AP-I ammunition was wheeled down from ammunition storage, and the second hopper fixed in place to the gun.

"This is Juliet-Golf One-Four-Seven coming in on final approach.", Captain Anthony Peterson announced through his headset to the control tower at Dark Basin. He eased on the throttle, and brought his IAL-4 level as he gently decreased altitude. Soon enough, the rear wheels made contact with the runway, and Peterson began to taxi off the runway to clear it for the oncoming Gulfstream ferrying in the senior development staff.

Already the unloading process began, however what came off was mostly smaller equipment boxes and crates, most marked as fragile. The IAL-4 had carried in all sorts of gadgets and gizmos under development by the Cravanian military and contractor Hunter-Sergon Aerospace Industries for use in the JMTF project. Peterson watched as the loadmaster directed the group of Imperial Air Force personnel in unloading the equipment for pickup by an Aequatian transport to be moved into the facility. The hot desert sun came down on the young transport pilot, and he took out a handkerchief to wipe the sweat which ran down his forehead. Looking up at his aircraft behind him, he could see the unique diamonds and wings which made up the Cravanian roundel. Two small green diamonds flanked a large blue diamond, and the grouping was set over a pair of white and silver wings. A majestic sight in the middle of this drab wasteland.

Peterson turned his attention to the now landing Gulfstream, touching down and moving on the tarmac into position next to the IAL-4. The hatch opened, and down the built-in staircase came a group of three men and two women dressed in both suits and lab coats, and one of them in the brown and gray Cravanian desert digital pattern, the pins of a Colonel on his collar. They were followed by four rather large men in Cravanian desert BDUs, unloaded CR20A2 carbines slung over two of the men's shoulders while a C1210 combat shotgun rested on another's shoulder and a CR20A2 DMR on the other. The four wore berets with the insignia of the Imperial Guard on the crest, identifying them as the elite of the Cravanian military. They remained on the alert, yet comparatively relaxed due to the fact they were on quite possibly the most secure military base in all of Aequatio.

The group of scientists and officials approached the unloading operation, waiting for an Aequatian transport to arrive to take them across the tarmac to the central facility. Already the desert heat was taking its toll on the Cravanians, who were more accustomed to the cool and wet climate that was home.

The Air Force Technical Sergeant rangemaster inspected the damaged backstop as the Russkyans loaded the weapon with a fresh box of the armour-piercing rounds before making his way back to the weapon from the range, "I'd hate to see what those babies will do to my concrete after what the High-Ex did." However, the Air Force and Naval aviator officers watching from the protected area were most impressed with the weapon's performance against the simulated aerial targets, although it were the Marines that wished to see the performance of the AP rounds versus an armoured target, such as the surplus M20 Mackall that had been brought in specifically for the evaluation. The Aequatians prepared their hearing protection as the Russkyans readied the weapon again.

The Cravanians were greeted in the same fashion as the Russkyans earlier, those staying on the base provided with the necessary resources as Air Force vehicles, mainly civilian sedans or sport utility vehicles, the vehicles moving through the base's infrastructure to the central facility where they would be assigned their designated areas within the base's offices and testing facilities, along with their residential housing addresses.

Dellport passed through the Central Hub Station before stopping and inserting a one Markes coin into a DV™ machine followed by pressing a button while the machine almost instantly produced the 355mL Cola as he picked it up and continued to his train. The can opened with a pop as the carbonation met the open oxygen and he drank from it as the train moved along the rail, taking him to the sector in which the aircraft's engines were being developed and tested. The can would be empty and within the tram's bright blue recycling basket when Eugene stepped off the train and followed the same security procedures as before as he entered the test chamber, one of the pre-production engines sitting in the wind tunnel, the beastly machine being fed by tubing coming from a resting fuel tank as technicians readied the device for an evaluation, Accelerated Simulated Mission Endurance Testing, as one of the project engineers had mentioned as he spoke with the project head, "What can you tell me about the engines?"

The project head brought Eugene to one of the desks and picked up a model of the engine as he started to explain, "The aircraft will be powered by engines evolved from those originally used on the F-1 Thanatos. They are the same size as the older engines, which is a factor which seriously minimized the number of structural design changes in the aft fuselage. The architecture comprises of a three-stage fan, seven-stage compressor and a single-stage high and low pressure tubine developing almost one hundred eleven thousand Newtons of thrust."

"I've read the specifications for the F-1C, that's considerably less powerful than the former's thrust output," Said Dellport, "Or is that because of the new composite materials used in its construction?"

"Bingo," Replied the scientist as he continued his explaination of the propulsion, "They have improved bird strike and foreign-object damage resistant characteristics over the older models. A tandem blisk... er, integral blades and disks, is used for the second and third stages, this improves durability, by eliminating life-limiting dovetail joints which are traditionally used between each blade and the disk, reduces weight and increases performance compared to similar sized engines," The scientist then opened the outer casing of the model and set it down as he spoke, "The engine core comprises of a compressor, combustor and high-speed turbine, the compressor is a seven-stage design with the first three stages of 'blisk' construction. The combustor has an annular design with almost thirty thousand laser-drilled holes to tailor the cooling flow through the combustor liner, this then generates an even temperature distribution from the unit, which minimizes the impact of temperature variation on the turbine blades immediately behind it. Mono-crystal blades and thermal barrier coated airfoils are features of the engine's turbines. The materials help to extend the life of the components from the high temperature environment. The turbines also have a boltless retainer construction, which eliminates the need to use life-limiting boltholes in the disks to improve durability and overall maintenance life cycle costs."

"The latter will prove most useful in getting the aircraft adopted by the pennypinching, numbercrunchers in Magna Casa," Said Dellport as he examined the engine in the test chamber as it started its evaluation, the hot exhaust firing from the rear as its whine picked up through the protective glass.

"The afterburner has an air-cooled, radial, segmented flame holder system comprising of a dozen individual segments bolted to the inside of its casing. Cooler air passing through fan is ducted between the outer casing and the liner to cool the components. Some of the cool air passes through the individual segments of the flame holder maintaining a relatively constant temperature and minimizing thermal shock against the spray bars inside the holders," He explained, pointing to the rear of the model, "In older engine designs the mix of the afterburner's high temperatures with the cold temperature of the fuel caused thermal quenching during each engine cycle that causes cracking and a require maintenance session on the ground. The engine has a variable exhaust nozzle to optimize performance. Flaps in the V.E.N. slide across each other as the nozzle opens and closes to maintain the flow path. Durability is achieved in the very high temperature environment by using ceramic matrix composite material, thanks to our friends in the composites lab."

The Cravanians had settled in quite well, and had immediately set to work on the tasks lined up to work on the various electronic control systems which would bring all of the components together to function as one finely tuned killing machine.

Professor Miranda Carson, Ph.D., sat at her work station while toying with the internal circuitry of a display screen. She carefully worked the wires into position, deftly soldering them into place and quickly running a basic test to ensure the screen was in working order.

"What have we here?", Colonel James Canterbury asked while strolling over, watching with awe as the woman before him worked effortlessly to test the concepts.
"Our team has decided to try out OLED for this project.", Carson replied while brushing a strand of brown and silver hair from her eyes. The aging electronic engineer still had every bit of skill left in her hands, blessed by having been affected very little by arthritis.
"Interesting.", the Colonel replied. "Don't OLED's usually burn out quickly, though?"
"Not with the little workaround that was discovered recently.", she said with a smile while spinning back around on her stool. She returned to work while continuing the conversation with the representative from the Cravanian military. "Technically it's a PHOLED, a sub-type of OLED. Near perfect energy efficiency."
"Excellent."

At this, Miranda spun back around, lifting her goggles.

"Not completely... Problem is, blue has the shortest life span of all the colors with PHOLED. Initial concepts called for alot of blues. Easier format to read when its a darker blue with a lighter color, and somewhat better contrast than the old green on black."
"So how many hours do they offer?"
"Right now? About eighteen thousand. Red, on the other hand, offers up to about three-hundred twenty thousand. Problem with that? Red's not easy on the eyes. We would make the displays red, but that would probably just make pilots go blind after staring at them for too long."
"Especially after you've been in a cockpit for hours on end."
"Precisely. There is, however, a little workaround we came up with that keeps it cheap, easy to read, and easy to use."
"Which is?"

Carson rose from her stool, leading the Colonel through the lab as the team worked tirelessly on the electronic systems.

"Since OLEDs can be printed on almost anything...", she said while drawing a semi-transparent blue sheet of composite material out of a pile. "We'll print it on this. It has a slight blue tint printed on it already, and lays across a black background with a slight gap between it and the background. White OLEDs are among the most efficient, hence they easily contrast this background with little conflict and stay easy to see for longer periods. White will be used the most, while the other colors will be used for other parts of the displays. TOLEDs, or OLEDs and PHOLEDs such as this printed between transparent cathodes, are the best for producing a contrast. With the black opaque background set behind it, all the light will be forced out the top."
"So how often do you think the screens will have to be exchanged?"
"At least every forty thousand hours. That's about the life span of green and orange. To replace it, all you gotta do is take out the old sheet and throw a new one in. Cheap, easy, and effective."
"Well now that you're done with your little advertisement, I'll leave you alone and go bother someone else.", the Colonel replied with a chuckle.
"Aye to that, Jimmy. I'll continue my work over here."

Colonel Canterbury walked over to a group of technicians who were beginning to run diagnostics on the various types of sensory systems which could be used in the aircraft, feeling rather useless seeing as he was only acting as the Cravanian military's representative here, most of the scientists' conversations going straight over his head.

Well... he thought to himself. "I always wanted to see a desert before I died. Perhaps I'll go find some Aequatian officers to hang out with later.

"Before we brought the Cravanians in to work on the avionics and some of the electronics systems for the aircraft, we worked with the A.A.I. people with the throttle and the fly-by-wire system, which would send signals to the original dual-channel F.A.D.E.C. or Full-Authority Digital Engine Control to request the required power level and it would respond appropriately. The systems controls the variable geometry of the engine's fan and compressor, V.E.N. actuators and fuel supplied for the main and augmenter combustion. The F.A.D.E.C. is also integrated with the aircraft control system to perform special functions, suc as Reduced Authority Thrust System, or R.A.T.S. as we like to call it, used for landing with a limited arrestor cable landing... on the Navy and Marine variants," Explained the scientist.

"Obviously, what have we done with this F.A.D.E.C. system anyway?" Asked Dellport.

"We managed to retain it from the original division along with a few key personnel in its development, as it is necessary for the completion of the engines so that we may install them into one of the prototype aircraft," Answered the specialist as he continued, "The dual channel means the system can use two separate computers in one box, with an active/standby configuration where one channel is in control, with the other in standby mode. The standby channel will automatically assume full control should a failure of the active channel occur, providing the aircraft with a good contingency in case of an accident or damage. The system also functions as an integrated part of the aircraft providing troubleshooting, fault detection and isolation capabilities to component level. Engine fault codes are displayed in the cockpit for the pilot's attention, the same codes are also displayed on a screen within the wheel well for maintenance crews after the flight."

"Speaking of maintenance, the engine seems advanced enough, how difficult or cost intensive will this entire system be in field conditions?" Eugene questioned.

"Hardly, there are six interchangeable modules to the entire engine; fan, compressor, combustor, high pressure turbine, low pressure turbine and afterburner. They are all mounted at the base of the engine, making maintenance easy and most cost effective. Each engine is also interchangeable with its left and right counterpart and can be changed out completely within thirty minutes, even less with a well-trained crew. We have also set out specifications on Reliability-centered maintenance to be required every 2,400 operating hours and to make these efficient, the engine has eight bore-scope inspection ports and an In-Flight Engine Condition Monitoring System or I.E.C.M.S."

"Most impressive, I'm sure that it will perform well once it is installed on one of the test planes, kudos, doctor," Said Dellport as he checked the messages on his handheld device, "I must be going though, I shall speak with you later," He said leaving for the exit of laboratory and into the corridors towards the tram stop.

Given the damage done by the weapon to the range's rebar concrete backstop with only high explosive rounds, Slepkinan watched the backstop carefully as the weapon was made ready to fire. Standing by a group of aviators, the technician leant forward over the control panel to plug the connector into the back of the system, declaring "System active" as he stepped back and resumed his watch on the range's rear.

A very simple system was being used to control the gun. Electrically fired as was the requirement, the weapon also featured two ammunition hoppers which could be selected between at the flick of a switch. Both hoppers had a capacity of three hundred rounds of any 30x164mm ammunition, for a total of six hundred ready rounds. Belt capacities for the disintigrating link belts were 50, 100, and 150 rounds, which could be linked together to the desired length. Simple addition then gave you the number to input to the computer through the control panel, where the programs involved then tracked the number of rounds fired and subtracted that number from the known stored number of rounds, thus giving the flier an exact count of the number of remaining rounds. Simple.
This system however was simply a rough mockup intended for demonstration of concept, it was believed that the Cravanians - responsible for avionics design to the knowledge of the aerial gunnery development team - would develop a more ergonomic system that would mesh neatly with the existing cockpit displays and the like.

Loaded with fifty rounds of APDS and fifty rounds of APFSDCS into each hopper, the gun was again made ready with the APDS rounds selected initially. The breech closed, ramming the round into the chamber, and a technician looked about the firing line to ensure all hands were behind protection. Earlier in development a slight design flaw in the recoil absorption system had resulted in a rupture of the recoil cylinders during a stress of sustained firing test, which had ruptured one cylinder and buried a fragment of it deep inside the shoulder of a technician who was still in hospital. This problem, needless to say, had since been corrected. Almost over-corrected, as the recoil system was now sufficiently efficient and reliable that it was the least concerning part of the weapon.

Initial target would be the flank armour plating of the disassembled Mackall MBT. Second target would be the roof armouring, third target would be the rear plating, and final target would be the frontal hull plating. This cycle of targets would be repeated for the APFSDCS rounds as well - the Armour Piercing Finned Sabot Discarding Combustible Sabot rounds were somewhat expensive, but it was believed that performance would be superior to that of conventional 30mm APDS rounds. The combustible sabots would also disintigrate after firing, before even leaving the muzzle blast-effect area of the weapon, thus protecting from having the sabots sucked into an engine intake.

Again, the characteristic roaring of the weapon, this time broken down into three to five round bursts. A quick switch between each ammo type between bursts, and when the weapon ran out of ammunition it locked forward on an empty chamber. Slepkinan whistled softly at the destruction wrought on the backstop from overpenetrating ammunition, and sighing heavily, Vitonaya asked the Aequatian technical SGT how much it would cost to replace that backstop. The ARMC fliers should be happy, as the perforated flank, rear, and roof armour plates were carted forward off the range. The heavily dented and scarred frontal plate was carted off later, after a measurement had been taken showing a remarkable amount of penetration. The casings and belt linkings were swept up and the range was cleared, technicians returning to their quarters for multiple reasons, not the least of which was continually reviewing and updating the design of the automatic cannon.

The desert sun was unforgiving as the heat weighed heavily on all activities done under it, mere breathing, let alone any work, became a difficult chore to those unacclimatized to the environment. Eugene found it hard to function on the surface, more inclined to the underground complexes of Dark Basin, he sat in the passenger seat of the Air Force humvee as it brought him to the hanger where most of the advanced systems were being demonstrated by Colonel Hartmann and his experimental F-1E fighter.

Joachim spoke with one of the technicians who had taken his standard flight helmet as she attached what appeared to be a large pair of sunglasses to it and handing it back, explaining the device and its functioning, "Colonel, this is thee Joint Helmet-Mounted Queuing System, or J.H.M.Q.S., which will increase effectiveness in both air combat and ground strike missions. It comprises of your regular helmet and a Helmet Display Unit, which I just attached. Each visor is formed around the specific dimensions of your helmet so it fits best and is locked in place. Now the J.H.M.Q.S. senses where you are looking using magnetic mapping... essentially tracking the distortions in the visor's magnetic field by merely the movement of your eyes," She said with a smile at the colonel's reaction, "The display unit projects an exact representation of the HUD onto the visor in front of your primary eye, in this case, your right, and then it blanks out once you look back at the HUD inside the cockpit, allowing you to acquire targets with the new AIM-X short-range, all-aspect missile. Software is also included to control the forward-looking infrared targeting unit with the helmet, allowing you to designate targets on the ground as well."

"Most impressive, Miss White," Said the colonel as he put the helmet on and fastened the chin strap.

"The system functions differently for the tandem 'B' variants, it reduces the amount of communication and avoids mistakes when determining who is looking at what between the pilot and weapon systems officer, increasing the crew's situational awareness. A small star is projected on the visor showing each other's line of sight, wherever the pilot looks, the weapons officer can see the pilot's star in his helmet's field of view and vice versa. A small cross hair projected on visor marks the spot where the crewmember is looking, when both the star and cross hair line up, both crewmembers are looking at the same spot."

"How exactly does this improve weapons use though, compared to using the FLIR and HUD separately?"

"Now, the J.H.M.Q.S. is integrated with both the aircraft's radar and FLIR-T pod, if you look at an adversary, the radar slews to it for a lock-on. Similarly, the FLIR-T is also slaved to the unit, the visor presents a field of view and a small box used to zoom in and out during target acquisition. Either crewmember can slew the the FLIR-T onto the target, 'come in' to the cockpit and view the FLIR-T video feed, tighten it up and link the video target designation to a ground forward air controller who can assign another aircraft to strike it if the plane is unable to do so itself."

Dellport arrived at the hanger where Hartmann, the AAI technicians and Air Force ground support crews were working around the white-painted F-1E fighter, he watched as a pair of enlisted men in their uniforms attached a large pod to a hardpoint on the underside of the aircraft's wing, a technician directing them alongside his work at a makeshift computer terminal, Eugene approached him as they worked, "What's this thing here?" He asked, pointing at the pod.

The technician looked up from his terminal at the project head, "That would be the ASQ-337 Foward-Looking Infrared Targeting Suite, used to designate ground targets. The system consists of a three to five micron staring focal plane array targeting FLIR, an electro-optical camera, a high-power laser rangefinder and designator and a laser spot tracker, a navigation FLIR system and a C.C.D. television camera. The latter has different fields of zoom that are also incorporated with the FLIR itself."

"How does it work exactly?" Asked Dellport, feeling rather uneducated.

"There are three modes of operation - point stabilize mode, seen-track mode or automatic track mode - all incorporate a laser for target tracking, ranging and target designation. The entire system can generate real-time target updates and link them to the JDAM weapons in-flight using the Digital Communication System, keeping the weapon's strike point within two metres of the target. The pod also has a real-time data link, an image taken by the FLIR's camera can be annotated and linked to ground troops who can view it in real-time. Instructions from the ground Joint terminal attack controller can be sent to the cockpit advising the pilot or weapons officer of where the soldiers or marines on the ground need the weapon to strike, this then eases target acquisition, avoids confusion and prevents fratricide incidents."

The aircraft was cleared for launch as Colonel Hartmann climbed into the cockpit and ran the diagnostics after the ground crews had attached the four 950-kilogram Joint Direct-Attack Munitions to the hardpoints as the F-1E rolled out of the hanger and taxied towards the runway. Monitored from the ground by the AAI technicians, "Calico Jack" as he had been named after his callsign, ran the course set for him and all weapons releases were successful, each weapon striking their respective targets, including two remote-controlled, moving M113A5 Centaur armoured vehicles, thanks to the use of the JHMQS and ASQ-337 FLIR-T pod.