Re-posting of the image above and the Press Release
below, at my web site, used with permission and courtesy
of Pratt & Whitney
Press Release
Contact: Mark Sullivan
(860) 565-9600
Pratt &
Whitney F119 Engines Certified to Power F-22
Raptor
WEST PALM BEACH, FL, Oct. 13, 1999 – Pratt &
Whitney's F119-PW-100 engines have been certified to power the
F-22 Raptor through its formidable full flight envelope, a
milestone that means the F119 Engineering and Manufacturing
Development (EMD) program is well on the way to completion.
U.S. Air Force certification that P&W has met all Full
Flight Release (FFR) criteria follows by two months a
demonstration of the Raptor's ability to "supercruise," or fly at
speeds of Mach 1.5 or greater without the use of fuel-guzzling
afterburners.
The speed of sound (Mach 1) varies with
atmospheric pressure and temperature. At 59°F and sea level,
sound travels about 760 miles per hour.
"Supercruise"
occurred July 20 in the skies above Edwards AFB, Calif., when a
combat-configured Raptor flew at sustained speeds above Mach 1.5
without using afterburners. Most recently, the F-22 flew in
excess of 60 degrees angle-of-attack during flight testing on
Aug. 25.
The ability to supercruise "will allow the
F-22 larger patrol areas, and permit it to enter and exit hostile
areas in quick fashion, reducing the time a pilot spends over an
enemy's territory," said Brig. Gen. Michael Mushala, F-22 program
director at the USAF Aeronautical Systems Center.
As of
Sept. 30, P&W's F119 engines had logged:
- More than 370,000 engine component, subsystem and rig test
hours
- More than 384 flight test hours in 163 flights
- Total engine run time in excess of 10,000 hours
FFR/2
"As the second of four EMD milestones, achieving
FFR is an essential step toward our ultimate goal of having the
engine released for production," said Tom Farmer, P&W's F119/F-22
program manager.
The F-22 air superiority fighter will
replace the aging F-15. It combines stealth technologies,
advanced avionics and supercruise, while reducing support and
maintenance requirements. Deliveries will begin in 2002.
The four milestones in the engine maturity process are
Initial Flight Release (IFR); Full Flight Release; Initial
Service Release (ISR), and Operational Capability Release (OCR).
Each milestone builds on the prior one. FFR, for
example, includes the IFR requirement that the engine meet all
safety of flight requirements as well as the ability to power the
aircraft throughout its full flight envelope.
FFR also
affirms that the F119 has a demonstrated durability of at least
half the engine's hot section life of 1,000 engine flight hours
and 2,150 total accumulated cycles (TACs). The ISR milestone
doubles these numbers and OCR adds, among other requirements,
cold section life durability of 4,000 flight hours and 8,600
TACs.
"When we hit OCR we will have accumulated close
to 11,000 hours of engine run time, significantly more than on
previous engine programs," according to Farmer.
Farmer
said a new initiative, the Propulsion and Power Systems Integrity
Program (PPSIP), better integrates increased analysis and
additional material, subsystem and engine testing. The goal, he
said, is to identify and resolve potential component problems
before engines get into the field.
"It's working well,"
Farmer added. "With this volume of testing and analysis, we've
been able to identify a range of modifications that have provided
better durability, stability or overall performance."
FFR/3
Pratt & Whitney's Large Military Engines unit,
based in West Palm Beach, Fla., designs, develops, tests and
supports military jet engines. Pratt & Whitney is part of United
Technologies Corporation of Hartford, Conn., USA.
This article is permanently archived at the following web
address:
http://
www.pratt-whitney.com/news/1999/1013.html
