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 Posted: Sun Oct 07, 2012 4:59 pm
General characteristics
Crew: 1
Length: 62 ft 1 in (18.90 m)
Wingspan: 44 ft 6 in (13.56 m)
Height: 16 ft 8 in (5.08 m)
Wing area: 840 ft² (78.04 m²)
Airfoil: NACA 64A?05.92 root, NACA 64A?04.29 tip
Empty weight: 43,430 lb (19,700 kg[6][321])
Loaded weight: 64,460 lb (29,300 kg[N 5])
Max. takeoff weight: 83,500 lb (38,000 kg)
Powerplant: 2 × Pratt & Whitney F119-PW-100 Pitch Thrust vectoring turbofans
Dry thrust: 23,500 lb[324] (104 kN) each
Thrust with afterburner: 35,000+ lb[6][324] (156+ kN) each
Fuel capacity: 18,000 lb (8,200 kg) internally, or 26,000 lb (11,900 kg) with two external fuel tanks Performance
Maximum speed:
At altitude: Mach 2.25 (1,500 mph, 2,410 km/h) [estimated]
Supercruise: Mach 1.82 (1,220 mph, 1,963 km/h)
Range: >1,600 nmi (1,840 mi, 2,960 km) with 2 external fuel tanks, or
Combat radius: 410 nmi (with 100 nmi in supercruise) (471 mi, 759 km)
Ferry range: 2,000 mi (1,738 nmi, 3,219 km)
Service ceiling: Theoretically unlimited
Wing loading: 77 lb/ft² (375 kg/m²)
Thrust/weight: 1.09 (1.26 with loaded weight & 50% fuel)
Maximum design g-load: -3.0/+9.0 g
Armament Guns: 1× 20 mm (0.787 in) M61A2 Vulcan 6-barreled gatling cannon in starboard wing root, 480 rounds Air to air loadout:
6× AIM-120 AMRAAM
2× AIM-9 Sidewinder
Air to ground loadout:
2× AIM-120 AMRAAM and
2× AIM-9 Sidewinder for self-protection, and one of the following:
2× 1,000 lb (450 kg) JDAM or
8× 250 lb (110 kg) GBU-39 Small Diameter Bombs Hardpoints: 4× under-wing pylon stations can be fitted to carry 600 U.S. gallon drop tanks or weapons, each with a capacity of 5,000 lb (2,268 kg).
Avionics RWR (Radar warning receiver): 250 nmi (463 km) or more[163]
Radar: 125–150 miles (200–240 km) against 1 m2 (11 sq ft) targets (estimated range)[154]
Chemring MJU-39/40 flares for protection against IR missiles.
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Posted: Sun Oct 07, 2012 5:19 pm
Hydrogen Power
The vehicle is almost exactly similar to the F-22 in most aspects except for the fact that it uses hydrogen fuel. The primary advantage of this type of fuel being used over traditional aircraft kerosene is energy density, although this advantage is primarily translated into on board oxygen supplies to allow for extremely high altitude flight.
Hydrogen has 123 MJ per kilogram, compared to roughly 43 for Kerosene, or traditional Jet Fuel; this translates to about 2.85 times the energy as Kerosene per pound. However, at 700 BAR (or atmospheric pressures) it only has about 5.6 MJ per liter, as compared to 33 for Kerosene, or it takes up 6 times the space. Due to the fact it's a gas, it's harder to transport and fuel vehicles using this fuel and simply more of a hassle with leaks, attacks, and other issues. Hydrogen has a much larger potential oxygen to fuel ratio, around 4-75%, compared to Jet fuel at around 6-12%, and can be set off by sunlight, potentially making it significantly more hazardous. Transporting, containing, and obtaining the fuel can be a significant issue as well; much of the energy is wasted extracting the hydrogen from the fuel, and it must be stored under pressure, through hoses and into the vehicle, at all times. Hydrogen also requires a container 6 times the size of kerosene, making transportation difficult, and requiring over sized fuel tanks on the vehicles, storing them at relatively high pressure.
When combined with oxygen in the air in the regular fuel engine (although with greatly modulated fuel injectors, to provide the most accurate supply of hydrogen since it can burn at many oxygen levels), it can theoretically achieve roughly 3 times the range of current jet fuel modulated vehicles.
This is rarely performed, however; due to the oxygen fuel levels of hydrogen, much of the fuel is combined internally, to disallow large levels of oxygen variance and to allow for proper fuel injection to prevent unwanted burning.
In addition, the vehicle is intended for extremely high altitude flights, potentially into the sub-orbital or orbital zone. At higher altitudes, the efficiency of the vehicle decreases due to the lessened aerodynamic drag that allows the vehicle to fly efficiently; however, with decreased gravity at high enough levels this issue is mostly alleviated. This vehicle is capable of reaching satellites, the International Space Station and flying within the orbital zone for brief periods of time.
The range of the vehicle depends on the method of operation. If the vehicle flies high enough, within the orbital zone it may be capable of a full global flight without much difficulty; with gravity assisted falling, this can also potentially increase speed and range (although too much would cause the vehicle to burn up or be damaged by the air resistance of the atmosphere, which can be a significant issue if proper paths are not taken to the ground). Theoretically, the vehicle can travel 3 times the distance of a normal F-22, if the oxygen tanks are completely filled with hydrogen instead, and can achiever slightly faster speeds, although at higher altitudes the vehicle relies primarily on it's on board oxygen supply. Oxygen's weight to hydrogen is roughly a 4 to 1 ratio, making the range of the F-22 at higher altitudes without entering space significantly limited, at half it's usual range, due to the only double amount of oxygen used to limit fuel supplies required.
On board life support capacity is mostly isolated to the pilot and pressurizing the entire cockpit is unnecessary. With the pilot, this allows for over 120 hours of life support capacity; however, other issues, associated with range and fuel, and falling to the surface once ejecting, are far more important issues than generally experienced with regular aircraft.
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