tommow
Northrop Grumman F-53 Sparrowhawk
I thought I'd share some pictures of the Sparrowhawk I took while home from university.
The F-53 Sparrowhawk is a 6th generation Fighter/ interceptor developed by Northrop Grumman, She was designed with an emphasis on tried and tested all aspect "traditional" stealth technologies, but also newer radar and IR jamming systems. As an interceptor, her primary focus is speed. She has a maximum speed of around Mach 3.5, and a supercruising speed in the region of Mach 1.4. The focus on stealth above maneuverability lead to a decision not to include thrust vectoring in the design, instead relying on a bleed air fluidic flight control system. In normal flight, the control surfaces do not move at all. Only in High Alpha, or High- Gee maneuvers do they actuate. The fluidic control is a development of the BAE systems technology pioneered on the Demon drone, and works by blasting bleed air over the control surfaces to create pressure differences, and thus aerodynamic forces.
One might think the extreme rearward position of the main wing would create an undesirable pitching moment in flight. This is not the case with the F-53, as the center of mass lies just behind the rear weapons bay. This is to create an unstable configuration, and with the aid of flight computers, augment its handling characteristics.
This model features all standard features such as landing gear, opening weapons bays and moving control surfaces. She will be on display at Brick 2015 in London Excel this year, along with all my other models.
Thank you also to everyone who gave me help designing her, in particular the canards.
Northrop Grumman F-53 Sparrowhawk
I thought I'd share some pictures of the Sparrowhawk I took while home from university.
The F-53 Sparrowhawk is a 6th generation Fighter/ interceptor developed by Northrop Grumman, She was designed with an emphasis on tried and tested all aspect "traditional" stealth technologies, but also newer radar and IR jamming systems. As an interceptor, her primary focus is speed. She has a maximum speed of around Mach 3.5, and a supercruising speed in the region of Mach 1.4. The focus on stealth above maneuverability lead to a decision not to include thrust vectoring in the design, instead relying on a bleed air fluidic flight control system. In normal flight, the control surfaces do not move at all. Only in High Alpha, or High- Gee maneuvers do they actuate. The fluidic control is a development of the BAE systems technology pioneered on the Demon drone, and works by blasting bleed air over the control surfaces to create pressure differences, and thus aerodynamic forces.
One might think the extreme rearward position of the main wing would create an undesirable pitching moment in flight. This is not the case with the F-53, as the center of mass lies just behind the rear weapons bay. This is to create an unstable configuration, and with the aid of flight computers, augment its handling characteristics.
This model features all standard features such as landing gear, opening weapons bays and moving control surfaces. She will be on display at Brick 2015 in London Excel this year, along with all my other models.
Thank you also to everyone who gave me help designing her, in particular the canards.