New details regarding the aircraft have emerged.
The contracts for the Detail Design and Clarification Phase, which is planned to be completed by the last quarter of 2028, are expected to be signed at the DSEI 2023 fair to be held in England in September, when the CDR process of the Block 10 aircraft will be completed. It is anticipated that the Detail Design and Clarification Phase and IOC/FOC will cost approximately $7.3 billion, with an additional $14 billion required for mass production of the 5th generation MMU/TF-X warplanes. While the unit cost for prototype aircraft is estimated at 120 million dollars, it is estimated that mass production TF-X aircraft will cost 80 million dollars.
The materials used in the under structure of the MMU/TF-X aircraft are as follows:
-Forward Fuselage: 7050 T7451 aluminum alloy
-Forward-mid Fuselage: 7050 T7451 aluminum alloy. It is 5 meters wide, 4.2 meters long and 2.2 meters high, with a structural weight of 1470 kilograms.
-Wing Module System: Titanium. This section of the fuselage of the MMU/TF-X aircraft was built vertically and manufactured in one piece with the wings. Total weight of the structure is 2125 kilograms.
-Aft Fuselage System: Titanium. Its total weight is 3945 kilograms.
As things stand, the TF-X is larger and lighter than the Raptor.
In the MMU/TF-X aircraft, composite materials, namely UD, Uni-Directional epoxy resin impregnated Carbon Prepreg is used as the Body Shell. The design of the monolithic air intakes of the aircraft, which is made of composite materials using the hand layup method, features an S-duct geometry. It starts from the front body and extends to the rear engine section, 6 on the left and right, a total of 12. There are two Horizontal Stabilizers on the aircraft. A single one of these control surfaces is as large as the wing of an F-16. It is 2.9 meters wide, 4.1 meters long, 0.4 meters high, and weighs 235 kilograms.
In the information sharing about the MMU/TF-X GTU/P0 prototype, it was stated that they do not have any definitive data on the size and weight of the aircraft, because the figures supposedly emerged as the design got finalized and the domestic subsystems used in the aircraft were delivered. For instance, since the main and nose landing gears used in the aircraft have not been produced before, there is no weight information available for the landing gears, as the weight may increase or decrease when the quality of the material changes during the production, testing and delivery processes. Therefore, it is possible that there will be differences between the previously shared technical specifications of the aircraft and the technical specifications of the GTU/P0 and the next 7 prototypes. In the posters in the MMU hangar, the maximum speed of the aircraft was specified as Mach 2, the max altitude as 60,000 feet, the service ceiling as 55,000 feet, the maximum weight as 20,000lb, the G limits are +9/-3G, the turning performance is mach 0.9 and 9G at 15,000 feet, and 4G at 0,9 mach and 30,000 feet.
thx to İbrahim Sünnetçi
tradingeconomics.com
