The Advanced Lightweight Aircraft Structures (ALAFS) program is demonstrating cost and weight benefits obtainable for fighter fuselage structure using design concepts and manufacturing processes that enable the fabrication of more unitized structure. Most of these concepts and processes, although demonstrated to some degree in laboratory development programs, are not commonly applied to production aircraft. In order to demonstrate the benefits and identify the constraints of more integrated structural design in a realistic environment, the ALAFS program will design, manufacture, and test a new concept center fuselage and wing structure for the F/A-18 E/F. This design effort will address all aspects of the F/A-18 E/F structure, including the mission, performance, requirements, production manufacture of the aircraft structure, installation of the aircraft subsystems during manufacture, and inspection and repair of both structure and subsystems in the field. The specific goals for ALAFS are a 20 % reduction in structural weight and a 30 % reduction in the life cycle (production plus operation and support) cost for the same portion of the F/A-18 E/F structure. The approach to these goals will be to save weight through increased usage of advanced composite structure, and to reduce manufacturing cost by achieving the benefits of increased unitization.
An overview of the advanced lightweight aircraft fuselage structures (ALAFS) program
Überblick über das Programm der fortschrittlichen Flugzeugrumpf-Leichtbaukonstruktionen
1996
11 Seiten, 5 Bilder, 1 Tabelle
Conference paper
English
An Overview of the Advanced Lightweight Aircraft Fuselage Structures (ALAFS) Program
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