YUKIKAZE (35 page)

The aircraft has two seats, with the pilot in the front and the electronic warfare officer/flight officer in the rear. Both seats recline to relieve the flight crew’s burden during high-G maneuvering. Directly in front of the pilot’s seat is the HUD (head-up display). Below that is the multi-function display, flight instrumentation, and the BIT (built-in test) system display. On the pilot’s right is the side stick flight controller. On the side stick are mounted the dogfight switch, gun trigger, missile release, side force/pitch controls, and G-limiter switch, all of which enable the pilot to control the plane without removing his hand from the stick. On the pilot’s left is the throttle, on which are mounted the target management switch, radar mode selector, and armament selector. The rear seat has no flight control instruments and is equipped instead with the ECM controls, ECM display, electronic data collection controls, IFF display, and communications/ navigation display.

The engine air intakes and exhaust ports utilize a two-dimensional design. Their cross-section shapes can be automatically manipulated by the air intake and nozzle controllers. Variation of the exhaust nozzle area is used to steer the plane and to improve maneuverability. High-maneuverability mode is selected by turning the dogfight switch to ON.

2. AVIONICS AND ENGINE SYSTEMS

The Sylphid’s static stability margin is negative. The pilot’s instructions, as input via the side stick controller, are input into an integrated avionics system that includes the flight control computer, the aircraft’s central computer, and the direct control unit. Under normal flight, the flight control computer combines the input from the side stick with the flight data from a multitude of sensors to control the hydraulic actuators of the aircraft’s control surfaces. If the flight control computer is rendered inoperative, the central computer and direct control unit will compensate, controlling the direct control assemblies set on all control surfaces. The direct control unit can also operate independently of the flight computer and central computer so that flight stability may be maintained even in the unlikely event of a central computer failure. In this case, advanced flight control of the automatic landing, tactical guidance, and supersonic bombing protocols is impossible. However, by interfacing the inertial guidance and aircraft attitude sensors, altitude and course may be automatically maintained.

The engines are twin FNX-5010-J axial compression turbofans equipped with afterburners. These were later replaced with the FNX-5011-B, commonly known as the Phoenix Mk-XI. (The FRX99 and FRX00 are equipped with the FNX-5011-C and FNX-5011-D variants, respectively). The 5011 (Mk-XI) line of engines can burn hydrogen fuel as well as standard jet fuel. When burning hydrogen fuel, it can operate as a ramjet. To select ram air mode, the pilot must slide the throttle past the MAX position to the MR position. However, below speeds of M2.0 and an altitude of 18,000 meters on Faery, it will not operate. The pilot can move the throttle freely between the MAX and MR positions—there is no stopper between the positions—but regardless of the individual lever setting the pilot must maintain a constant fifteen pounds of pressure on the throttle to hold it at the MR position. Selecting the MR mode automatically switches over the fuel system, intake configuration, and engine operation. MR mode should yield a thrust increase of 160 percent over the regular afterburners, although the exact increase will vary according to indicated air speed and altitude.

When the afterburners are engaged, once the fuel level in the feed tank drops below a certain point the afterburner shut-off valve closes and they are no longer usable. It is possible to override this by turning the V-max switch to ON, but because the fuel consumption rate is significantly higher when using afterburners, the danger of running out of fuel also increases significantly.

Switching to V-max will simultaneously cut out all engine system limiters as well as the aircraft’s G-limiter. It should not be used except in emergencies. When the auto-maneuver system is on it may also automatically engage V-max if prompted to do so by the central computer. In that situation, it is impossible to manually switch V-max off. Once the central computer confirms that the emergency has ended, it will automatically return to normal engine mode.

Engine control is executed via an integrated electronic control system based on data provided to it by the flight control computer, various sensors, and the central computer. The engine controller of the 5011 line (the Mk-XI) is programmed to realize maximum efficiency not only in the atmosphere of Faery but also in Earth’s atmosphere, with the flight control computer automatically selecting the appropriate mode.

3. WEAPONS SYSTEM

The Sylphid’s fire control system consists of the FCR (fire control radar), IR (infrared) receivers, passive airspace radar, passive wide-area search radar, the fire control computer, navigation computer, and so on, all under the integrated command of the tactical computer, with the central computer acting as backup.

The fire control computer will automatically select the pulse Doppler FCR mode and then identify and track the target, determine target range, calculate attack vectors, select armaments, determine missile launch timing, number of missiles, guidance data for active homing missiles, and so on.