Продолжение:
“Israelis Producing New Version of the Kfir”
by Keith Mordoff
AW & ST of May 30, 1983.
IAI has made a modification to the General Electric J79-J1E turbojet engine
called Combat Plus that provides an extra 1,000 lb thrust during afterburner opera-tions. The modification increases the Kfir’s available takeoff weight by 3,400 lb with a 4% increase in thrust to weight ratio.
Pratt & Whitney already has signed a contract to allow Bet-Shemesh Engines, Ltd, to produce under license the PW1120 for the Lavi (AW & ST of Feb. 8, 1982 p. 15). The PW1120 develops 20,620 lb thrust at sea level with afterburner and so far has completed 320 hr. of tests at Pratt & Whitney outdoor test facility in Palm Beach County, Florida.
Structural integrity tests have been confirmed by the two test engines and both have been run at maximum and intermediate thrust levels. Two additional PW1120s are scheduled to join the test program by the end of this year. A prototype Lavi will fly with a prototype PW1120 after the engine passes flight clearance tests in April, 1984, according to Pratt & Whitney. Final qualification tests for the engine are scheduled for October, 1986.
Iscar Blades, Ltd., of Naharya, Israel, will manufacture some of the turbine blades for the PW1120 as a part of the licensed production contract. Iscar Blades currently produces turbine blades and vanes for the General Electric CF6 and J79, Pratt & Whitney JT8D, PW2037 and F100, CFM International CFM56, Garrett TFE731 and Snecma Atar. Production capacity of Iscar Blades is more than 600,000 airfoils per year and the company exports about 90% of its products.
“IAI Updating F-4 Fighter With Pratt PW1120 Engine for Israeli Air Force”
AW & ST of April 1, 1985.
Work is under way at Israel Aircraft Industries to modernize the McDon-nell Douglas F-4 by retrofitting it with the Pratt & Whitney PW1120 engine, fol-lowed by airframe and avionics modernization. The Israeli air force has delivered an F-4 from its operational force to the manufacturer for installation and flight test work with the new engine. The PW1120 also will power the new Lavi strike fighter under development by IAI (AW & ST of March 25, 1985, p.18).
The engine will have components produced by Bet-Shemesh Engines, initial-ly and is to be assembled completely by Bet-Shemesh within several years.
“PW1120 Tests Planned in F-4 Phantom”
AW & ST of December 16, 1985.
A single Pratt & Whitney PW1120 engine is being installed for flight-test in an Israeli F-4 Phantom early next year. The engine installation is part of a Boe-ing/Pratt & Whitney project to extend the useful life of the F-4 into the next cen-tury. A twin-engine PW1120 demonstration is scheduled for late 1986.
Re-engining the F-4 with the 20,600-lb thrust PW1120 is expected to inc-rease aircraft acceleration by 50% and increase the thrust-to-weight ratio to greater than one.
The 60-hr. engine test program was designed to qualify a new, increased-
-length augmentor required to make the engine compatible with the F-4 airframe. Production engines are to be delivered in 1987.
The PW1120 is a derivative of the F100 engine. It has about 70% parts commonality with Pratt & Whitney’s improved F100 and incorporates the F100 –
- PW220 engine’s increased life core and full-authority digital electronic engine control technology. Components unique to the PW1120 include a new low-pres-sure compressor and low-pressure turbine in addition to the new augmentor’s nozzle assembly.
- The PW1120 has also been selected to power the Israeli Lavi fighter.
“Lavi Thrust Test”
AW & ST of May 12, 1986, p.27.
The IAI’s Lavi fighter prototype completed the first maximum thrust run of an installed engine last week, about a month ahead of schedule at the company’s development center at Lod. The fighter/attack aircraft is powered by a single Pratt & Whitney PW1120 turbofan engine, which is to be produced under license in Israel by Bet Shemesh Engines, Ltd. First flight of the Lavi is expected to be in September or October.
“Israeli Air Force to Decide On F-4 Conversion by Next Year”
by David Brown
AW & ST of June 22, 1987.
The Israeli Phantom 2000 testbed with two Pratt & Whitney PW1120s was displayed at Le Bourget during the Paris Air Show. It is being used to develop a modernized version of the Mcdonnell Douglas F-4. The aircraft made its first flight in its present configuration only on April 24. It previously had been flown with one PW1120 and one initial J79.
IAI’s work in this area has convinced company officials that IAI could guarantee a modified F-4 that would have the necessary combat capability and could be operated with fewer technical maintenance hours per flight hour than is possible with the present F-4.
Itzhak Geva, general manager of IAI’s Bedek Aviation Div., which is performing the work, said that the change involved installing new engine attach points, an engine duct to compensate for the shorter length of the PW1120, and mo-difications to the fuel, lubrication, hydraulic and electrical power systems. He noted that none of these changes were major. The engine duct, he said, was design-ed and fabricated by Bedek. A new accessory gearbox was adapted from the gear-box used on the General Dynamics F-16 and installed.
Lt. Col. Shmuel Goldshmid, Israeli air force F-4 modernization program ma-nager, said that the subsonic flight envelope up to about 50,000 ft altitude was cleared. “We checked the engine response at many points in the subsonic region, as well as afterburner operation, and we demonstrated the engine air inlet’s capability to operate with the PW1120. There was no need to change the inlet cont-rol. We had a very smooth operation. [ The test program showed that ] there are no engine limitations on the PW1120 in the subsonic region for either the Lavi or the Super Phantom. We also opened the restart envelope and even achieved one restart from zero rpm.”
The second phase of the test program will be conducted after the Paris air show ends and will concentrate on the supersonic flight envelope. No supersonic flying was done before the Paris show. The Super Phantom to date has achieved a top speed of Mach 0.98.
Since the PW1120 runs at considerably higher temperatures than the J79 en-gine originally installed in the F-4, a modification to the environmental control system (ECS) has been necessary. A pre-cooler was added to accommodate the increased temperatures, and further work on this problem is planned for the next phase of the test program. “Performance to date is more than we expected,” Gold-shmid said. “In fact, according to published data, it is better than some current first-line U.S. fighter aircraft. Theoretically, it is possible for the Super Phantom to accelerate to supersonic speeds without the use of afterburners. There is no re-quirement [for this capability, but we are going to test that.]
After the flight test work is completed in about six months, a decision will have to be made on whether to proceed with a development program aimed at re-engining the IAF aircraft.
“The Super Phantom Conversion Would Boost F-4E Performance.”
[ The replacement of the two original J79 engines in the F-4E with the PW1120s will improve the Phantom’s thrust-to-weight ratio by 51% and it will reach 1.04. This means that the performance capabilities of the Super Phantom will approach those of the F-18 with its ratio of 1.1 and the F-16 (ratio 1.12).
The aircraft’s maximum sustained turn rate will increase by 15% compared to the original rate.]
The unmodified F-4 has a thrust-to-weight ratio of 0.86. The new engine will provide a maximum thrust of 20,600 lb. and a non-augmented thrust level of 13,550 lb., which should increase the Super Phantom’s acceleration by 27% at me-dium altitudes and 18% at high altitudes compared with the unmodified F-4. The Super Phantom will also have a 36%-increased rate of climb to 36,000 ft and an improved turn rate from 11% at 10,000 ft to 13% at 30,000 ft.
The increased power will permit an increase of up to 50 kt. in low-altitude penetration speeds with the aircraft carrying [4,250-lb. ordnance]. According to Is-raeli estimates, the Super Phantom’s penetration speed while carrying 18 Mk. 82 bombs will jump to 605 kt. CAS from the standard F-4’s penetration speed of 565 kn. CAS. High penetration speed is one of the IAF’s priority requirements for the aircraft modernization program.
“Initial Phantom 2000 Operations Validate Israel’s F-4 Update Program”
by Michael Mecham
AW & ST of June 17, 1991.
Improving the Phantom’s performance was a major goal of the Phantom 2000 program. The PW1120 was expected to cut takeoff distances by 21%, pro-vide greater maneuverability and increase ordnance loads. The IAF expected a 15% boost in afterburner performance and 25% increase in military power.
The re-engining cost was to be driven down by spreading it with the Lavi strike fighter. But when the Lavi was canceled, the hope of using its Pratt & Whit-ney PW1120 engine as a replacement for the original General Electric J79 died with it as financial constraints prevented Israel from installing PW1120 engines.
Это сообщение редактировалось 26.12.2005 в 11:42