[AR] Re: some interesting developments
- From: Henry Spencer <hspencer@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: Arocket List <arocket@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 5 Jan 2016 19:05:17 -0500 (EST)
On Tue, 5 Jan 2016, George Herbert wrote:
At Space Access, Mitch said that ALASA is about 7klb. He added that
"the usual centerline tank" is about 6klb, and that folks have
considered putting 10klb stores on the centerline station...
?? Are you sure he said the usual tank was 7k?
As per quoted text above, my notes do say 6klb. Conceivably that could be
a typo for 5klb, or Mitch may have said it wrong. Not numbers I've worked
with, so I probably wouldn't notice an off-by-one error by him or me.
(Perhaps his numbers included the pylons?)
It's possible but not documented the E model centerline was beefed up.
I wouldn't have expected them to develop a slightly larger tank just for
it, though.
(While I think of it: for those who weren't there, the reason for using
an F-15E in particular is that it has a very nice feature, the Universal
Armament Interface -- a digital link to attached weapons that lets the
weapon describe itself to the aircraft. The result is that the F-15E can
carry and drop something new and odd, like ALASA, with *no* custom mods to
the aircraft software. Being able to use an absolutely stock aircraft --
they weren't even going to have a dedicated test aircraft -- saves a lot
of hassle and delay, and a not-insignificant amount of money. So it's
definitely the carrier aircraft of choice, for things that will fit.)
Henry
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