MBB Lampyridae
| Lampyridae | |
|---|---|
.JPG)
|
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| Type: | Stealth plane |
| Design country: | |
| Manufacturer: | |
| First flight: |
"Wind tunnel flights" 1987 |
| Number of pieces: |
Models only |
MBB Lampyridae (Latin for " Firefly ") or MRMF ( Medium Range Missile Fighter , German : " Medium-range fighter armed with rockets") was an aircraft technology project operated by Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm in the 1980s for the "radar visibility of combat aircraft".
history
The program ran from 1981 to 1987. The focus was on the development of an aircraft concept that had the smallest possible radar cross-section and which should also be able to be used as a fighter aircraft. Two scale models (one in 3/4, one in 2/7 of the planned size), a mock-up for radar tests in original size and various wind tunnel models were made. In 1987 the model flew on a scale of 3: 4 (length: 12 m, wingspan: 6 m) manned in the German-Dutch wind tunnel , which has a cross-section of 9.5 by 9.5 m. Over 15 flights confirmed the good-natured flight characteristics of the model. In the same year the project was shown to American officers in an MBB factory in Ottobrunn . The federal government stopped the project, unofficially the Americans are said to have put pressure on. In February 1995 the secrecy was partially lifted. A total of 8,993,000 German marks were invested in the project.
DASA (aerospace company) has developed a successor called TDEFS (Technology Demonstrator for Enhancement and Future Systems) with a wind tunnel model FTT (Flying Technology Carrier), but the technology was already out of date in the 90s and the project was ended .
construction
The contours of the aircraft were designed according to the polyhedron principle, similar to the surface of the F-117 , and had no right angles or rounded surfaces. The designers under the direction of G. Löbert interpreted the polyhedron principle even more strictly than the F-117 developers, so that the Lampyridae showed better stealth properties than the F-117 in calculations and in experiments with the 1: 1 mock-up, although it had less than half as many facets. The machine should be able to reach supersonic speed .
Whereabouts
A model is now in the Gerhard Neumann Museum in Niederalteich . MBB's successor, DASA , also carried out stealth projects. The old project data was probably adopted for the later project.
In the Bundestag printed matter 13/2113 of August 4, 1995 it says:
“As part of the defense technology program aircraft of the Federal Ministry of Defense, stealth investigations are carried out on component levels in the area of radar, infrared and acoustic signatures for manned and unmanned applications. The findings from the Lampyridae project will be used. "
See also
literature
- Andrzej Jeziorski: Germany Reveals Secret Stealth Fighter Research. In: Flight International , March 8, 1995.
- Klaus Müller: Secret project fireflies. A stealth technique was also developed in Germany. In: Die Welt , March 2, 1995 ( digitized version ).
Web links
- Website of the Gerhard Neumann Museum
- MBB Lampyridae at rp-one.net
- Lampyridae 3-view.jpg Sectional drawing
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Bundestag printed matter 13/2113 of August 4, 1995
- ↑ Large low-speed facility (LLF) wind tunnel in Marknesse
- ^ Richard Pawling, 2006, rp-one.net
- ↑ https://www.aviationsmilitaires.net/v2/base/view/Model/2367.html
- ↑ https://www.flightglobal.com/FlightPDFArchive/1997/1997%20-%201652.pdf
- ^ Rudolf Storck: Flying wings, The historical development of the flying wings of the world , Bernard & Graefe Verlag (Bonn), p. 145
- ↑ "Germany reveals secret stealth fighter research" on defenceaviation.com