US Military News, Reports, Data, etc.
- Thread starter tphuang
- Start date
Too little, too late.
There have already been "Sputnik " in recent years as far as Sino-American competition is concerned.
At this point, what USAF Secretary Troy Meink is really waiting on is the Chinese "Sputnik moment" that his bosses and mainstream American media won't be able to ignore.
First time in history where engines are ready before the airframe.
In the US that was quite common. Funding of the engine program starting way in advance of the fighter.
Really? Is XA103/102 ready?
Exactly. They screwed up by changing the engine parameters.
not yet.
Critical design review of the XA103 was completed in February 2024, and flight testing is expected to begin in the late 2020s.
So anyone wants to bet of the possibility of the engines, which have barely started building this year, will be built, carry the necessary testing inherent in such new designs, and also be reliable/safe enough to power the F-47 in 2028? Yeah me neither. I think they floated the idea of taking F-119s off F-22 to put on the first F-47s so i would not be surprised if this happens.
It was a bad idea to change the specs from the XA100/101.
Those engines were dimensioned to replace the F-35's F135 engine. By changing to engines with smaller dimensions in the XA102/103 they not only delayed the F-47 engine program but this also precludes using these engines on the F-35 in the future to fix its engine performance issues.
I doubt they can get the XA102/103 operational in less than 5 years.
It typically takes 1 year to build a protype engine, 1 year ground testing, 1 year air testing, plus 2 more years to fix issues. And that is assuming nothing goes wrong.
Those engines were dimensioned to replace the F-35's F135 engine. By changing to engines with smaller dimensions in the XA102/103 they not only delayed the F-47 engine program but this also precludes using these engines on the F-35 in the future to fix its engine performance issues.
I doubt they can get the XA102/103 operational in less than 5 years.
It typically takes 1 year to build a protype engine, 1 year ground testing, 1 year air testing, plus 2 more years to fix issues. And that is assuming nothing goes wrong.
Last edited:
I always figured it would have different engines to start and then move to the XA102/XA103 depending on who wins the contract (or maybe they go with dual engine suppliers).
I thought those were designed for F-35? Would you not need a different engine design for a dual engine design over single engine?