If we cant get to that tet, then why dont we develop variable cycle engine with 1900k blades.
by this method we can get somewhat closer to the next gen performance ??
Quoting David Tweedie, GE Edison Works’ General Manager of Advanced Combat Engines "There is no overnight success in this business- worked over a decade with Air Force partners (footing the bill) so we had the technology at the right risk level before we made the commitment to put it out into the field.
Historically we've had to design fighter engines really to maximize thrust and fuel burn was the fall out- now with the tyranny of distance in some of the theatres that we operate in the warfighter needs to have the ability to go far and then when they are there to have the thrust when they need to have effective combat performance.
- adaptive engine
- 3rd stream (thermal management system to put more & more mission systems)
- advanced materials and manufacturing technologies including CMCs ('00s of degrees of increased temperature capability, lighter weight & durability) & additive manufacturing (to print any part you need without being constrained by limits of traditional manufacturing & design)
all these come together in a single engine for a 25% more fuel-efficient engine 10-20% more thrust & over 2x thermal management capacity of conventional architectures.
For the warfighter it means more range & better combat effectiveness.
What are adaptive cycle engines?
Throughout most of aviation history, engine design has always been about compromise. Commercial, cargo, and many reconnaissance aircraft usually leverage engines that were designed to offer excellent fuel efficiency at the expense of top-end performance, while tactical jets like fighters carry engines that are designed primarily for maximum performance at the expense of fuel efficiency.
The aim of adaptive cycle (sometimes called variable cycle) engines is to eliminate this compromise and offer superior performance
and efficiency in a single power plant. In order to do so, these engines are designed to operate in different “modes.” When the pilot needs the engine’s peak performance in combat, he or she can lean hard on the throttle and the engine’s management system will take its cue to switch into its heavy-burning high-thrust mode. Conversely, while on a patrol, the engine would stay in its high-efficiency, low-burning mode to stretch the mileage or loiter time provided by each gallon of fuel. “The mode transition is seamless to the pilot, and they won’t even know when it happens,” Tweedie said. “They will control engine power using the throttle the way they always have, and the engine schedule will determine the appropriate operational mode.”
The need?
While the Air Force is now exploring the idea of sticking these engines under the hoods of F-35As, that boost in range would be especially valuable to the Navy. The F-35C has a total range of approximately 1,200 nautical miles, giving it a 600 mile combat radius in the best of times. That’s not far enough to launch sorties at China without putting America’s carriers in range of China’s hypersonic anti-ship weapons. A 25% boost in range, say to 750 miles, isn’t enough to eliminate this capability gap, but it’s a step in the right direction.
GE tested their XA100 at their high altitude test cell in Evendale, Ohio over the span of more than three months, starting at the tail end of 2020. According to their reports, their XA100 actually exceeded their performance targets on top of successfully demonstrating its ability to operate in both high-thrust and low-burn modes. The engine produces a total of 45,000 pounds (200 KN) of thrust, slightly better than the 43,000 pounds offered by the F-35’s current Pratt & Whitney F135-PW-100 afterburning turbofan.
“Not only are we meeting that, we’re actually exceeding that pretty much everywhere in the flight envelope—and in a few places—up to 20% [more thrust],” Tweedie said. “We are very happy with where we are from thrust in terms of over-delivering versus the program requirement.”
“When you translate that to what it means to the platform, it’s
30% more range or 50% more loiter time depending on how you want to utilize that fuel burn improvement. It’s a significant increase in acceleration and combat capability with the increased thrust,” he added.
While this new engine’s ability to seamlessly transition between tearing through the sky like a top fuel dragster and minding the fuel gauge like a Toyota Prius might catch the attention of aviation enthusiasts, it might be the
engine’s thermal management and use of advanced component technologies that really make the XA100 a huge leap forward in fighter engines.
According to Tweedie, the XA100’s “three-stream architecture” enables a doubling of thermal management capacity, or in other words,
a real reduction in the heat created by the engine’s operation. Heat is currently a limiting factor in power production for fighters, which have to limit their output to avoid damaging the aircraft itself. That will no longer be the case with the new generation of adaptive cycle engines, meaning
fighters will have more electrical power to run systems.
Adaptive cycle engines may be the future of air combat
More power means the ability to run more advanced systems too, like directed energy weapons and even exotic new countermeasure systems like the Navy’s recent patent for “
laser-induced plasma filament” holograms, effectively projecting the heat signature of another aircraft hundreds of feet away to distract inbound infrared-guided (heat-seeking) missiles.
The result combination of power, fuel efficiency, heat management, and resilient but lightweight construction make the XA100 the physical embodiment of a fighter engine wish-list. While any of these improvements in capability would be welcome in most fighter designs, the collection of them in a single system could well make for a power plant that is even greater than the sum of its parts.
The Air Force is looking into an incredible new adaptive cycle engine that would give the F-35 a huge boost in capability.
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