Defense Corporations
08-01-2009, 04:45
Introduction: We had wanted to build a carrier-capable version of the F-21, but weight estimates kept creeping up as design requirements mounted, and the F-21N had to be dropped. However, we kept some people working on a lightweight fighter, and they've come through with a new design: the F-7N Seagull. It's moderately stealthy thanks to its internal weapons bays, and it can operate from flight decks as short as 350m.
Airframe: To allow the F-7N to fly off even rather small carriers, we knew the airframe itself would be important. We went with a supercritical swept-wing design, which gives both better performance at transonic speeds and higher lift. We included chines (triangular pieces running from wing root to near the cockpit along the fuselage; effectively small delta wings) to both increase lift at high angles of incidence and reduce shoulder RCS. We added canards to shorten the take-off distance and improve maneuverability. We also only included internal weapons bays, so as to reduce drag; incidentally, this helped reduce the RCS. The engine is a single PW-1120 turbofan generating 60.1kN thrust dry, 91.6kN wet.
Avionics: In addition to its digital fly-by-wire flight control computer, the Seagull features the VE/AAR-71S AESA radar, a scaled-down version of the VE/AAR-71 found on the F-21 and the VE/DIC-11 nose-mounted small directional IR countermeasure system (which uses a single diode-based pump to direct pulses of IR energy in order to jam IR-guided munitions).
Armament: In addition to a nose-mounted Mauser BK-27 Linkless 27mm aircraft cannon (with 450 shells), the F-7N features two internal weapons bays, each with three 200kg pylons, and two 125kg wingtip hardpoints for short-range AAMs. It thus carries a warload of 2250kg.
Specifications
Length: 13.5m
Height: 4.45m
Wingspan: 12m
Wing area: 26 square meters
Wing loading: 375kg/square meter
Empty weight: 4000kg
Loaded weight: 9750kg
Max takeoff weight: 10000kg
Minimum fuel weight: 2500kg
Maximum fuel weight: 3500kg
Powerplant: 1 PW-1120 turbofan, 6137kgf thrust dry (9337kgf thrust wet)
Cruise speed: Mach 0.75
Max speed dry: Mach 0.95
Max speed: Mach 1.5
Take-off speed: 200km/h
Combat radius: 650km
Ferry range: 2100km
Service ceiling: 17500m
Rate of climb: 280m/s
Thrust-weight: 0.934
Variants: F-7NT (trainer; two-seat model with less fuel), F-7 Gull (land-based interceptor; new landing gear, slight weight reductions (and thus slight improvements in speed, thrust-weight, etc.)), F-7T (land-based trainer, based on the F-7NT)
Price: F-7N $58 million, F-7NT $59.5 million, F-7 $58.25 million, F-7T $59.75 million
OOC - see here (http://z4.invisionfree.com/NSDraftroom/index.php?showtopic=5190) for discussion on the Draftroom.
Airframe: To allow the F-7N to fly off even rather small carriers, we knew the airframe itself would be important. We went with a supercritical swept-wing design, which gives both better performance at transonic speeds and higher lift. We included chines (triangular pieces running from wing root to near the cockpit along the fuselage; effectively small delta wings) to both increase lift at high angles of incidence and reduce shoulder RCS. We added canards to shorten the take-off distance and improve maneuverability. We also only included internal weapons bays, so as to reduce drag; incidentally, this helped reduce the RCS. The engine is a single PW-1120 turbofan generating 60.1kN thrust dry, 91.6kN wet.
Avionics: In addition to its digital fly-by-wire flight control computer, the Seagull features the VE/AAR-71S AESA radar, a scaled-down version of the VE/AAR-71 found on the F-21 and the VE/DIC-11 nose-mounted small directional IR countermeasure system (which uses a single diode-based pump to direct pulses of IR energy in order to jam IR-guided munitions).
Armament: In addition to a nose-mounted Mauser BK-27 Linkless 27mm aircraft cannon (with 450 shells), the F-7N features two internal weapons bays, each with three 200kg pylons, and two 125kg wingtip hardpoints for short-range AAMs. It thus carries a warload of 2250kg.
Specifications
Length: 13.5m
Height: 4.45m
Wingspan: 12m
Wing area: 26 square meters
Wing loading: 375kg/square meter
Empty weight: 4000kg
Loaded weight: 9750kg
Max takeoff weight: 10000kg
Minimum fuel weight: 2500kg
Maximum fuel weight: 3500kg
Powerplant: 1 PW-1120 turbofan, 6137kgf thrust dry (9337kgf thrust wet)
Cruise speed: Mach 0.75
Max speed dry: Mach 0.95
Max speed: Mach 1.5
Take-off speed: 200km/h
Combat radius: 650km
Ferry range: 2100km
Service ceiling: 17500m
Rate of climb: 280m/s
Thrust-weight: 0.934
Variants: F-7NT (trainer; two-seat model with less fuel), F-7 Gull (land-based interceptor; new landing gear, slight weight reductions (and thus slight improvements in speed, thrust-weight, etc.)), F-7T (land-based trainer, based on the F-7NT)
Price: F-7N $58 million, F-7NT $59.5 million, F-7 $58.25 million, F-7T $59.75 million
OOC - see here (http://z4.invisionfree.com/NSDraftroom/index.php?showtopic=5190) for discussion on the Draftroom.