RAe Corsair

The RAe Corsair, a carrier-based stealth fighter which has been developed with the aim of creating an aircraft that can demonstrate extreme performance. Developed by Rhodesian Aerospace in the Northern Gondwana Union. Featuring an all-moving tail, canards and unique vectoring nozzles, it is capable of excellent maneuverability.

In many respects, the design of the craft is revolutionary. A notable external feature would be the horizontal 2D Thrust Vectoring nozzle. It is powered by a Turbo-Ramjet engine. The Corsair is conceived under a philosophy of "not choosing the battlefield." Capable of operation in all fronts from the extreme heat of deserts to the extreme colds of the arctic circles. Several rumors have come forth of it being capable of High Stratospheric Flight, although government officials have denied it.

Development

In 2002 the Northern Gondwana Union's Navy developed a requirement for an Advanced Heavy Fighter (AHF) as a new air superiority fighter to replace the F-14 Tomcat. Code named "Sky High", this program was influenced by the emerging worldwide threats, including development and proliferation of Mach 2+ capable fighters. It would take advantage of the new technologies in fighter design on the horizon, including composite materials, lightweight alloys, advanced flight control systems, more powerful propulsion systems, and stealth technology. The request for proposals (RFP) was issued in July 2002 and two contractor teams, Rhodesian Aerospace (RAe) and Johannes Industries, were selected on 31 October 2003 to undertake a 6-year demonstration phase, culminating in the flight test of two technology demonstrator prototypes, the RAe Corsair and the JI Mannus.

Each design team produced two prototype air vehicles, one for each of the two engine options. The RAe-led team employed thrust vectoring nozzles on the Corsair for enhanced maneuverability in yawing. The AHF's increasing weight and cost overruns caused public scrutiny,but the project continued. Side-looking radars were included, and the dedicated infra-red search and track (IRST) system featured a multi-color detection spectrum.

After the flight test demonstration and validation of the prototypes, on 23 April 2010, Secretary of the Navy Ronald Magdel announced the Corsair as the winner of the AHF competition. The Corsair design was considered faster while the Mannus was more maneuverable.

Design

The RAe Corsair is a sixth generation fighter that is considered third generation in stealth aircraft technology by the NGUN. It is the first operational aircraft to combine supercruise, stealth, and sensor fusion in a single weapons platform. The Corsair features variable geometry wings that swing automatically during flight. For high-speed intercept, they are swept back and they swing forward for lower speed flight. Four empennage surfaces and a retractable tricycle landing gear are present. Flight control surfaces include leading and trailing-edge flaps, ailerons, rudders on the canted vertical stabilizers, canards, and all-moving horizontal tails; these surfaces also serve as speed brakes.

The Corsairs's aerodynamic performance, sensor fusion, and stealth work together for increased effectiveness. Altitude, speed, and advanced active and passive sensors allow the aircraft to spot targets at considerable ranges and increase weapons range; altitude and speed also complement stealth's ability to increase the aircraft's survivability against ground defenses such as surface-to-air missiles.

The Corsair is among only a few aircraft that can supercruise, or sustain supersonic flight without using fuel-inefficient afterburners; it can intercept targets which subsonic aircraft would lack the speed to pursue and an afterburner-dependent aircraft would lack the fuel to reach. The Corsair's high operating altitude is also a significant tactical advantage over prior fighters. The lack of internal weapons bays limits the aircraft's capability to maintain higher performance over most other similar fighters due to aerodynamic drag from external stores. The Corsair's structure contains a significant amount of high-strength materials to withstand stress and heat of sustained supersonic flight. Respectively, titanium alloys and composites comprise 49% and 34% of the aircraft's structural weight.

Engines

The aircraft's dual Wey-Yu Industries P-1400 afterburning Air Turbo-Ramjet engines are closely spaced and incorporate pitch-axis thrust vectoring nozzles with a range of ±20 degrees; the engines performance are classified. Maximum speed without external stores is estimated to be Mach 2.32 during supercruise and greater than Mach 3 with afterburners. This capability was demonstrated in 2014 when General John T. Thumper exceeded Mach 2 in the Corsair without afterburners.

The Air Turbo-Ramjet engine is a combined cycle engine that merges aspects of turbojet and ramjet engines. The Turbo-Ramjet is a hybrid engine that essentially consists of a turbojet mounted inside a ramjet. The turbojet core is mounted inside a duct that contains a combustion chamber downstream of the turbojet nozzle. The turbo-ramjet can be run in turbojet mode at takeoff and during low speed flight but then switch to ramjet mode to accelerate to high Mach numbers.

The operation of the engine is controlled using bypass flaps located just downstream of the diffuser. During low speed flight, controllable flaps close the bypass duct and force air directly into the compressor section of the turbojet. During high speed flight, the flaps block the flow into the turbojet, and the engine operates like a ramjet using the AFT combustion chamber to produce thrust. the engine would start out operating as a turbojet during takeoff and while climbing to altitude. Upon reaching high subsonic speed, the portion of the engine downstream of the turbojet would be used as an afterburner to accelerate the plane above the speed of sound. At lower speeds, Air passes through an inlet and is then compressed by an axial compressor. That compressor is driven by a turbine, which is powered by hot, high pressure gas from a combustion chamber.[3] These initial aspects are very similar to how a turbojet operates, however, there are several differences. The first is that the combustor in the turboramjet is often separate from the main airflow. Instead of combining air from the compressor with fuel to combust, the turboramjet combustor may use hydrogen and oxygen, carried on the aircraft, as its fuel for the combustor.

The air compressed by the compressor bypasses the combustor and turbine section of the engine, where it is mixed with the turbine exhaust. The turbine exhaust can be designed to be fuel-rich (i.e., the combustor does not burn all the fuel) which, when mixed with the compressed air, creates a hot fuel-air mixture which is ready to burn again. More fuel is injected into this air where it is again combusted. The exhaust is ejected through a propelling nozzle, generating thrust.

The Corsair is highly maneuverable at both supersonic and subsonic speeds. Computerized flight control system and full authority digital engine control (FADEC) make the aircraft highly departure resistant and controllable. The relaxed stability and powerful thrust-vectoring engines enable the aircraft to yaw tightly and perform very high alpha (angle of attack) maneuvers.