Re: modern naval fighter procurement
- From: Dirk Bruere at Neopax <dirk.bruere@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 05 Nov 2005 13:44:58 +0000
dlwilson@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
Recently I read George Spangenberg's oral history at http://www.georgespangenberg.com and found it enlightening. Mr. Spangenberg was an aircraft engineer who worked for the US government in naval aircraft procurement from 1935 until the mid 1970s. He worked on the aquisition of dozens of naval aircraft in the 1950s and 1960s, which is the period I have always been most interested in. He answered several questions I have wondered about.
I have always wondered why the navy had so many different planes in the WW II era. Why didn't they standardize on one for each type? Mr. Spangengerg explains that it was because the US had many aircraft manufacturers and they wanted to keep them all at peak production. It was easier for each manufacturer to design and build their own planes, than to attempt to build a standard plane. I'm not sure I agree, but it certainly encouraged innovation.
In the post-war era, why did the Navy aquire so many different jet fighters and attack planes? Off the top of my head I can name the Banshee, Demon, Panther, Cutlass and Skyhawk. These planes wouldn't wear out in two or three years, but that was the length of the procurement cycle. Spangenberg says that it was to keep up with the advancements in jet engines. Engines were improving so rapidly that it was necessary to build new planes to take advantage of them. Apparently that was more practical than refitting existing planes with new engines.
The cycle slowed in the 1960s and 1970s as engines, missiles, and radar systems grew more refined. There was a hiccup with the F-111 program. The Phantom and Tomcat took significantly longer, as did the various incarnations of the Hornet, and the currently-in-development JSF.
This brings me to my real question. Is the JSF the end of the line for naval fighters? Is there no need to develop a successor? As context, I have seen estimates that the F-22 Raptor will be in service until 2050. The F-15 has been in production since 1973. I've seen estimates that it will be flying until 2030, to fill in gaps in the relatively small buy of the F-22. These two aircraft will serve as the high portion of the the USAF's high-low mix for the forseeable future.
Will the JSF be similar? Will it gradually replace the Hornet? Will the Navy keep the JSF in limited production for, well, forever? If the engines and the missiles are no longer evolving, and if there are no advancements in stealth technology, why build something new?
There will certainly be a lull in major development, with the possible exception of unmanned aircraft. However, engine developments might change that, specifically SCRAMJETs and Pulse Detonation Engines.
-- Dirk
The Consensus:- The political party for the new millenium http://www.theconsensus.org .
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