gardnerdesign
New Member
I propose bringing back the interceptor aircraft. An aircraft like the YF-12, MIG-31 or F-14, only take the concept of an interceptor and adapt it to current threats and trends. I would designate my concept as a Strategic Multi-role Interceptor. We already have low altitude air superiority fighters (the F-15 and F-22) as well as capable strike aircraft (F/A-18, F-16 and F-35) we need to develop next gen craft that can take the fight to extremely high altitudes and speeds. There are several capabilities that are on the DARPA wish list that can be encompassed by this concept.
The military is looking to further its capabilities in theses area:
Ballistic Missile Defense - an aircraft with powerful engines would be ideal for boost, midcourse and terminal interception depending on where it was located in the world.
Prompt Global Strike-an aircraft that was suborbital capable, especially flying a near hypersonic or hypersonic depressed ballistic trajectory would be able to meet the militaries requirement of hitting any target in the world in two hours.
Anti Satellite Warfare- an aircraft that can achieve suborbital altitude and can carry weapons capable of hitting ballistic missiles, would also make an ideal anti satellite platform.
High Altitude on Demand Recon- the ability to request up to date images of a battle field or warzone has long been desired by the military and has been a traditional role of this type of aircraft.
Orbital Capabilities- An aircraft that can meet those requirements can easily achieve orbit with little or no assistance which only strengthens its abilities to perform the for mentioned roles.
First we must think about the engines, as any good interceptor is designed around its engines. The engines need to be able to efficiently operate at a broad range of altitudes including in a vacuum. The ability to utilize atmospheric oxidizer is important in achieving a useful specific impulse. Finally running on molecular dense and energy dense fuels is important to reduce size, this is essential because drag becomes just as much of a hindrance as gravity when trying to achieve high supersonic and hypersonic speeds.
Technologies needed to achieve such an engine:
Hybrid rocket: Allows for easy throtalability and utilizes solid fuel which will reduce the overall volume of the vehicle and allow easy use of molecularly dense and energy dense fuels, such as powdered aluminum.
Oxidizer drop tank: Oxidizer used during takeoff is held in a drop tank and jettisoned when the vehicle reaches a speed were drag starts becoming a significant factor, as well as sufficient speed has been attained to open air inlets.
Variable geometry air Inlet: Allows the engine to take in atmospheric oxidizer when sufficient speeds are reached. Variable geometry air Inlet is closed during takeoff to allow engines to utilize pressurized oxidizer. Also variable geometry compressor surfaces in the air inlet would allow more efficient transitions from RAM to SCRAM speeds.
Internal oxidizer supply: After leaving the atmosphere the vehicle can switch back to a pressurized oxidizer carried internally for further acceleration or maneuvering. As well as providing a sort of after burning capability in atmospheric flight by allowing for oxidizer enrichment of the engines airflow.
Torodial aero-spike nozzle: The unique shape of this nozzle allows for efficient engine thrust at all atmospheric pressures. Necessary for a craft that is going to be operating in such a huge flight envelope.
Next we can begin to look at the design of the vehicle as a whole. Shape is a very important aspect to take in to consideration as well as internal technologies that improve flight performance. The vehicle will be subjected to high heat and high G forces on every flight. The ability to operate at high altitudes in the suborbital or orbital regions is required. It will require a robust avionics system that includes 360 degree battle space awareness and powerful communication capabilities.
Avionics: A combination of robust radar and IRST systems would be ideal for such a vehicle. Specifically a robust IRST system would be most useful, especially if it included infrared laser illuminators for active search and targeting, unjammable communication and infrared jamming (for more info see my post on IRST capabilities)
Regenerative Cooling: This is essential for a vehicle operating at high speeds and in orbit, (especially reentry) were a vehicle tend to collect large thermal loads. This is not only a structural integrity advantage but would also make a craft harder to detect by thermal sensors reducing it infrared cross section as well as providing a capability to deal with future tactile and strategic laser systems as these weapons work by overloading a vehicles thermal tolerance. This thermal mitigation technique would also make passive infrared sensors far more effective by cooling them to very low temperature, increasing their range and resolution. Using the liquid oxygen reserves of my proposed propulsion system would also be far more effective than regenerative cooling systems that have been designed, as liquid oxygen has a far lower temperature and therefore a greater ability to mitigate heat than a liquid hydrocarbon based fuel.
Weapons: Mini-missiles such as the multiple kinetic energy interceptors would provide effective offensive and defensive weapons capable of taking on all high altitude high speed targets and threats (including the ability to target weapons that are attempting to intercept the vehicle or vehicles it is protecting such as satellites or bombers). This system would be very interesting if it was pared with a set of turreted recoilless cannons. If flying in the atmosphere one would be oriented forward and one to the rear covering the most likely areas a missile will be coming from and in orbit or sub orbit were there will be less resistance from air flow the system could utilize its turrets more effectively.
Re-entry technique: If the vehicle is to be capable of reaching orbit than I think it is important to address how it would re-enter the atmosphere. I think it would be highly advantages to utilize a conical main fuselage and two conical nacelles. This would allow not only a very effective hypersonic shape wile in the atmosphere but the ability for all three pieces of the ship to separate and reenter tale first utilizing a much safer ballistic reentry technique (compared with the belly first techniques space plane like the shuttle utilize). This also reduces the amount of thermal shielding (especially when coupled with regenerative cooling) by reducing the surface area that will be exposed to the extremely high thermal loads experienced during reentry.
The military is looking to further its capabilities in theses area:
Ballistic Missile Defense - an aircraft with powerful engines would be ideal for boost, midcourse and terminal interception depending on where it was located in the world.
Prompt Global Strike-an aircraft that was suborbital capable, especially flying a near hypersonic or hypersonic depressed ballistic trajectory would be able to meet the militaries requirement of hitting any target in the world in two hours.
Anti Satellite Warfare- an aircraft that can achieve suborbital altitude and can carry weapons capable of hitting ballistic missiles, would also make an ideal anti satellite platform.
High Altitude on Demand Recon- the ability to request up to date images of a battle field or warzone has long been desired by the military and has been a traditional role of this type of aircraft.
Orbital Capabilities- An aircraft that can meet those requirements can easily achieve orbit with little or no assistance which only strengthens its abilities to perform the for mentioned roles.
First we must think about the engines, as any good interceptor is designed around its engines. The engines need to be able to efficiently operate at a broad range of altitudes including in a vacuum. The ability to utilize atmospheric oxidizer is important in achieving a useful specific impulse. Finally running on molecular dense and energy dense fuels is important to reduce size, this is essential because drag becomes just as much of a hindrance as gravity when trying to achieve high supersonic and hypersonic speeds.
Technologies needed to achieve such an engine:
Hybrid rocket: Allows for easy throtalability and utilizes solid fuel which will reduce the overall volume of the vehicle and allow easy use of molecularly dense and energy dense fuels, such as powdered aluminum.
Oxidizer drop tank: Oxidizer used during takeoff is held in a drop tank and jettisoned when the vehicle reaches a speed were drag starts becoming a significant factor, as well as sufficient speed has been attained to open air inlets.
Variable geometry air Inlet: Allows the engine to take in atmospheric oxidizer when sufficient speeds are reached. Variable geometry air Inlet is closed during takeoff to allow engines to utilize pressurized oxidizer. Also variable geometry compressor surfaces in the air inlet would allow more efficient transitions from RAM to SCRAM speeds.
Internal oxidizer supply: After leaving the atmosphere the vehicle can switch back to a pressurized oxidizer carried internally for further acceleration or maneuvering. As well as providing a sort of after burning capability in atmospheric flight by allowing for oxidizer enrichment of the engines airflow.
Torodial aero-spike nozzle: The unique shape of this nozzle allows for efficient engine thrust at all atmospheric pressures. Necessary for a craft that is going to be operating in such a huge flight envelope.
Next we can begin to look at the design of the vehicle as a whole. Shape is a very important aspect to take in to consideration as well as internal technologies that improve flight performance. The vehicle will be subjected to high heat and high G forces on every flight. The ability to operate at high altitudes in the suborbital or orbital regions is required. It will require a robust avionics system that includes 360 degree battle space awareness and powerful communication capabilities.
Avionics: A combination of robust radar and IRST systems would be ideal for such a vehicle. Specifically a robust IRST system would be most useful, especially if it included infrared laser illuminators for active search and targeting, unjammable communication and infrared jamming (for more info see my post on IRST capabilities)
Regenerative Cooling: This is essential for a vehicle operating at high speeds and in orbit, (especially reentry) were a vehicle tend to collect large thermal loads. This is not only a structural integrity advantage but would also make a craft harder to detect by thermal sensors reducing it infrared cross section as well as providing a capability to deal with future tactile and strategic laser systems as these weapons work by overloading a vehicles thermal tolerance. This thermal mitigation technique would also make passive infrared sensors far more effective by cooling them to very low temperature, increasing their range and resolution. Using the liquid oxygen reserves of my proposed propulsion system would also be far more effective than regenerative cooling systems that have been designed, as liquid oxygen has a far lower temperature and therefore a greater ability to mitigate heat than a liquid hydrocarbon based fuel.
Weapons: Mini-missiles such as the multiple kinetic energy interceptors would provide effective offensive and defensive weapons capable of taking on all high altitude high speed targets and threats (including the ability to target weapons that are attempting to intercept the vehicle or vehicles it is protecting such as satellites or bombers). This system would be very interesting if it was pared with a set of turreted recoilless cannons. If flying in the atmosphere one would be oriented forward and one to the rear covering the most likely areas a missile will be coming from and in orbit or sub orbit were there will be less resistance from air flow the system could utilize its turrets more effectively.
Re-entry technique: If the vehicle is to be capable of reaching orbit than I think it is important to address how it would re-enter the atmosphere. I think it would be highly advantages to utilize a conical main fuselage and two conical nacelles. This would allow not only a very effective hypersonic shape wile in the atmosphere but the ability for all three pieces of the ship to separate and reenter tale first utilizing a much safer ballistic reentry technique (compared with the belly first techniques space plane like the shuttle utilize). This also reduces the amount of thermal shielding (especially when coupled with regenerative cooling) by reducing the surface area that will be exposed to the extremely high thermal loads experienced during reentry.