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Dispatch → Account → Military
by 
The Unitary Technocracy of Etoile Arcture.
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F-40A Whirlwind
F-40A Whirlwind |
|
(LJF-1 Vârtej)  LJF-1 Vârtej of the Forțele Navale Damirez seen at Delos Naval Air Station in 2018 | |
Role | Multirole fighter, |
National origin | |
Manufacturer(s) | Aerodyne Inc. |
First flight | 20 January 2006 |
Introduction | 28 November 2010 |
Status | In service |
Primary users | See Operators |
Produced | 2005-present |
Number built | 70,000+, plus |
Unit cost | US$140 million |
Variants | F-40A Whirlwind |
Developed from | YF-40 Whirlwind |
The LJF-1 "Vârtej" (F-40A "Whirlwind" in Etoile Arcture, Korrodosian and Lamonian service) (export designation: aeronautical complex "Vikhr") is a 5.5 generation single-seat, twin-engine, swing-role, naval fighter/interceptor designed to perform day/night all-weather precision ground attack, maritime strike, air interdiction and fleet air defence roles. It is among the top-tier of NationStates high performance 5+ generation carrier-based twin-engine multirole aircraft that include the Lyran Arms LY-910 Shadowhawk (
Lyras), Ares F/A-77A Sea Kovas (Space union and Soviet bloc), 
Wayford Belmont F3 Mk.II Corsair (Tippercommon), Altman Urbauer (UNADS) F-29A Warrior (Virana) and SDI AEJ 36C Sea Seraph ( Arcaenia). It combines offensive counter-air and deep penetration strike capabilities in a single platform with a heavy emphasis on very low observability (VLO) and interoperability among Delian League member nations. It is fully rated for operation from STOBAR (Short Take Off But Arrested Recovery) and CATOBAR (Catapult Assisted Take Off But Arrested Recovery) equipped large deck aircraft carriers, possessing excellent wind over deck (WOD) and crosswind landing performance with enhanced control authority during carrier landings, and is fully rated for safe single-engine launches and recovery at maximum bring back weights. It can deliver a wide range of munitions and is rated for delivery of nuclear gravity bombs. The F-40A/LJF-1 can undertake all the following missions and roles:
Air-to-air (including Air Superiority, Force Protection and Combat Air Patrol);
Air-to-Surface (including Air Interdiction, Close Air Support, Maritime Strike, Suppression of Enemy Air Defences, and Destruction of Enemy Air Defences);
Intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (including over-the-horizon targeting, multispectral sensor fusion and network-enabled operations).
The LJF or League Joint Fighter program is a 40-year, US$25 trillion dollar investment by the Delian League and its partner nations to design, develop, produce and sustain a next generation multirole fighter. Designated the LJF-1 "Vârtej" (Atrean for "whirlpool") it will replace thousands of legacy aircraft in service with over a dozen navies and air forces' of the alliance. Selection of the LJF-1 was on the basis of an open competition for international suppliers held during 2010, with Aerodyne Inc. eventually winning against stiff competition with their F-40A "Whirlwind" multirole fighter. It entered full scale production in 2012 and is produced by the League Joint Fighter Consortium that includes Aerodyne Inc. (Etoile Arcture), Aerostar Damirez), Commonwealth Aircraft Wagdog) and GHAS Aviation Katonazag) in Nova and LAIX Arms (Lamoni) in Greater Dienstad.
The basic requirements set out for the LJF-1 were for a highly survivable first-day-of-war deep strike platform able to defend itself by out-flying and out-fighting any current or projected threat aircraft. Aerodyne leveraged much of its experience from their line of successful low observable fighters including the F-26A Tempest air domination fighter and the F/A-38A/B Sentinel family of multirole aircraft during the design process. In the LJF-1 the company further advanced the state-of-the-art into the region of all-aspect broadband stealth thanks to shaping, planform arrangement and conformal antennas; supermanoueverability and high angle-of-attack (AOA) (known as high Alpha) agility through continuous aerodynamic control surfaces and three-dimensional thrust vectoring; and high range and endurance by virtue of a low-drag/low observable aerodynamic configuration and highly responsive adaptive cycle engines.
The LJF-1/F-40A has been designed around the concept of all-aspect broadband stealth and is especially stealthy against modern low-frequency radar operating in X-band and VHF frequencies due to shaping, planform alignment and materials. The aircraft features a low drag all-wing tailless airframe that enhances range, endurance and payload, with a complex structural shape to achieve instability and low radar cross-section (RCS). High survivability is achieved through low-observable technology incorporated into the airframe, inlets and exhausts; electronic countermeasure (ECM) resistance achieved through an integrated electric warfare system (IEWS) that can detect, deceive and defeat enemy electronic warfare systems; careful control of electromagnetic emissions by a signature management subsystem part of the avionics suite; and a clean low-observable aerodynamic configuration with large volume twin parallel internal weapon bays, conformal antennas and flush sensor bay windows to minimise radar reflections, weight, and drag. Twin V-tail ruddervators (combined rudder/elevator) grant the aircraft a flat visual profile which is harder to detect optically, and masks the infrared signature of the engine nozzles from most aspects.
To achieve the design goal of very low observability (VLO) the airframe incorporates masking, shaping, serrated panel lines and saw-tooth edged doors, precisely aligned edges, seamless mould lines, a chined forebody, vortex generators, bandpass resonant radome, conformal antennas and apertures, and dielectric materials to attenuate radar reflections. The outer mould line (OML) is smoothed to reduce drag and minimise radar reflectivity, with gaps around access panels, landing gear and weapon bay doors, and wing and flap hinges blended into the mould line using conductive form-in-place (CFIP) sealant, with flexible conductive blade seals on leading and trailing edges to eliminate radar reflective gaps, with corrosion-resistant multi-layered radar-absorbent material (RAM) used to reduce scattering from surface breaks and radar-absorbent structure (RAS) to minimize scattering from hard edges. The aircraft has a trapezoidal fuselage with cheek-mounted diverteless box inlets with serpentine inlet ducts S-ducts) that hide the engine axial compressor faces, and low-observable three-dimensional thrust-vectoring engine nozzles. Forced ventilation of the engine bays and nozzles significantly reduces overall aircraft thermal signature in combination with engine fuel system oil heat exchangers that cool hydraulic fluid to reduce heat stress on engines, generators and electronics.
The internal structure including fuselage and wing subframes, ribs, spars, stringers, bulkheads, longerons, intakes, ducts, plus the landing gear bays and weapon bays are forged from scandium aluminium alloys of low density, high specific modulus and excellent fatigue strength. Hardened areas including the forward fuselage, around the cockpit, wing spars, landing gear, fuel tanks and fuel lines are made from heat treated Ti-6A1-4V titanium alpha-beta alloy light in weight with very high tensile strength. Heat, shock and impact resistant bismaleimide (BMI) matrix resin pre-impregnated prepreg is used in the engine bays, engine nozzles and for some injection moulded engine components. The aircraft has a semi-monocoque fail-safe pressured stressed-skin fuselage fabricated using resin transfer moulding (RTM) techniques from high heat and oxidation resistant polyimide-quartz honeycomb sandwich panels of superior hot/wet performance, with control surfaces and the bandpass resonate radome fabricated from polyimide-quartz prepreg unidirectional tape. Thermoplastic-matrix composites are used in the gun bay, landing gear bay and weapon bay doors, and all conformal radio frequency (RF) apertures, while optronics bays are covered by furnace-grown single-crystal sapphire glass flush windows. All exterior surfaces are treated with a conductive primer and dielectric nanocomposite film topcoat that is rain erosion and salt air corrosion resistant, has low infrared emissivity, high resistance to nuclear flash, and radar-absorbent to minimise RCS signature.
The aircraft features a near-lambda wing of modified cranked-arrow delta planform with a highly swept leading edge allowing good area ruling and low supersonic drag that enhances supercruise performance, and a low sweep cranked trailing edge with aft-rounded tips that produces high lift at low wing loadings for enhanced cruise and loiter performance. The wing has a low induced drag and aeroelastic properties that produce high subsonic turning performance without affecting performance in other regimes. Rudimentary chines on the forebody blend into the wing leading edge producing vortex lift and directional stability for high agility at increasing angles of attack. Pitch and roll control is provided by full span leading and trailing edge double-slotted flaps on the wings, and yaw control by split ailerons at each wingtip, with independent upper and lower surfaces that act simultaneously as both drag rudders and ailerons.
The aircraft is powered by dual side-by-side Powerdyne F155-PWR-203VCE augmented turbofans spaced 50 cm off the aircraft centerline and producing 177.9 kN (39,993.51 lb/f) in static thrust each. The F155 powerplants, updated versions of the variable cycle engines used on the F-26A "Tempest" Air Dominance Fighter, are capable of adjusting their bypass ratio to the optimum for a given flight regime using a double bypass concept in concert with a core-driven fan stage. The engine can operate in double bypass mode at low power when high fuel efficiency is required, and single bypass mode to achieve high specific excess power to supercruise on dry non-reheat thrust. Thrust control is provided by a triple-redundant full authority digital engine control (FADEC) system, with 32-bit PowerPC MPC5554 based electronic engine controller (EEC), that is mounted on each engine casing and constantly monitors and adjusts performance to ensure stable stall-free operation throughout the operating envelope.
A high manoeuvre envelope and short take-off and landing (STOL) performance is achieved by independent three-dimensional multi-axis thrust vectoring that suffers none of the flow and performance losses associated with more common two-dimensional pitch angle only thrust vectoring systems. The basis of this is an Axisymmetric Vectoring Exhaust Nozzle (AVEN) that swivels on a three-bearing joint to deflect or reverse thrust. The exhausts have three-dimensional convergent-divergent nozzles with universally pivoting joints between each divergent and convergent flap to vector the exhaust flow in any direction at a maximum ±20° deflection angle. Slot type ejectors induct ambient cooling air from the atmosphere to supplement engine supplied cooling air to minimise thermal signature, and sawtooth edges on the nozzles reduce RCS signature.
The aircraft has a fully retractable tricycle-type undercarriage consisting of a cantilevered nose gear and semi-levered main gear with shock absorbers to handle hard landings on aircraft carrier flight decks, with a retractable launch bar that attaches to the shuttle on a catapult launcher, and a arrester hook system. The landing gear, launch bar, stinger tailhook and bay doors are hydraulically operated and electrically controlled and sequenced, with the landing gear locked in the extended position by drag braces. Lightweight carbon brakes of superior heat resistance, wear and braking efficiency are fitted to all wheels augmented by an adaptive electric powered and microprocessor controlled anti-skid system that prevents wheel locking in wet and icy conditions. Emergency brake pressure and nose wheel steering can also be supplied by an emergency accumulator fed by redundant hydraulic lines. The system is ruggedised with kevlar-reinforced high pressure hydraulic tubing and brake cables. The landing gear is fully compatible with modern all-electric induction motor powered setups including the Electro-Magnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS) and Advanced Arresting Gear (AAG), and certified for launches by C13 steam-driven catapults and the tailhook for arrested recoveries by MK 7 Mod 3 hydraulic arresting gear and runway installed arrestor cables.
The aircraft is unstable in the pitch (longitudinal) and yaw (directional) axis with negative static stability and is flown using a fault-tolerant dual-redundant four-axis digital autopilot system with fibre-optic through-beam air data sensors providing feedback. Stabilisation is provided by a Vehicle Management System (VMS), a four-channel architecture i.e. quadruplex-redundant full-authority digital automatic flight control system that differentially operates the aerodynamic control surfaces, vectored thrust system and nosewheel steering. Stick and throttle commands are interpreted by an Intelligent Flight Control System (IFCS) that uses adaptive reconfigurable control laws based on neural networks to allow hands off/carefree flying including automatic terrain-following, relaxed static stability (RSS) augmentation and gust alevation. The flight control actuator system uses lightweight electro-hydrostatic actuators driven by linear output actuators that convert electrical input energy into hydro-mechanical power, with control signals transmitted across a quadruplex-redundant optical (fly-by-light) system based on FireWire-based MIL-1394 (SAE AS5643) Fibre Channel optical databuses. The system offers attributes including volume efficiency, radiation tolerance, electromagnetic interference (EMI) immunity, low power requirements, low thermal footprint, low mass, low latency and high bandwidth.
The flight control system allows a high angle of attack (AOA) agility across the full flight envelope including instantaneous rolls, rapid decelerations, zero side-slip, and high stall recovery. Thrust vectoring combined with the all-moving V-tail ruddervators provides strong pitch, roll and yaw control authority at up to ±70° AOA at low and high speeds. It can maintain a pitch nose-up attitude without climbing or yawing left or right without turning or drifting allowing off-axis pointing of the aircraft towards an enemy without closing distance and flight path decoupling by pointing in one direction while flying in another. It provides enhanced post-stall supermaneuverability for a variety of aerobatic manoeuvres including the Herbst manoeuvre or J-turn (a reverse 180° spin without changing the direction of travel), helicopter manoeuvre (a controlled flat spin), bell (a 360° loop with negligible altitude change), Pugachev's Cobra (90-120° extreme AOA pitch for dumping airspeed), Cobra Turn (a variation on the above but exiting the pull-up with a downward turn), Kulbit manoeuvre or Frolov's Chakra (a tight diameter loop to cause a pursuing aircraft to overshoot its target.) Thrust vectoring can also be used to augment the aerodynamic controls and compensate for battle damage of control surfaces to maintain acceptable handling qualities. In single-engine out situations or an engine nozzle has become locked in a fixed position the IFCS can compensate by automatically vectoring the surviving engine obliquely off the centerline to minimise the undesirable yaw and drag effects from an off-centreline origin of thrust.
The avionics system architecture is based on rugged fault-tolerant hardware consisting a quartet of Vehicle Management Computers (VMC) that operate in parallel or redundantly to handle all aspects of flight management, including fuel, electrical and hydraulic system control; and twin Aircraft Mission Computers (AMC) that provide dual redundancy for the processing, fusion and display of data from sensor, communications, navigation, defensive aids, and weapons management. They are all based on commercial off-the-shelf (COTS), open architecture, modular, flexible, upgradeable, line-replaceable unit (LRU) computer modules with combined processor, power, and cooling capacity. The computers are networked by a quadruple-redundant multi-mode optical fibre avionics bus that uses multiple high-speed point-to-multi-point (P-t-MP) serial interconnects using 3.4 gigabit/sec FireWire-based MIL-1394 (SAE AS5643) Fibre Channel links and transceivers to provide full-duplex, multi-mode, robust, deterministic, fault-tolerant, reliable performance that can handle high volumes of data and graceful degradation to reconfigure/reroute signals around failure and battle damage. Circuit card assembly (CCA) boards that control utilities and subsystems equipment also communicate through the main avionics buses. A pair of low latency, bi-directional, high throughput 8.5 gigabit/sec Fibre Channel-based ARINC 818-2 Avionics Digital Video Bus (ADVB) point-to-point (P-t-P) networks transport processed radar video and electro-optic/infrared (EO/IR) channels from all sensors to the mission computers and cockpit displays.
The vehicle management and mission computers consist of compact high performance single board computer (SBC) modules containing field programmable gate array (FPGA) custom logic processors and high density Flash memory hardened against ionising radiation, plugged into 3U form-factor VME64x monolithic backplanes that provide high-bandwidth fabric with fibre-optic interconnects and PCI Mezzanine Card (PMC) expansion slots. The processors are based on the Freescale QorIQ AMP (Advanced Multiprocessing) platform that embeds a quad-core PowerPC e6500 multi-threaded processor with AltiVec floating point/vector processing unit and six-core StareCore digital signal processor (DSP) on to a single low power 64-bit multi-processor system-on-chip (MPSoC) integrated circuit. Each processor core runs its own instance of INTEGRITY-178B, a safety-critical ARINC 653-2 and POSIX-compliant time and memory partitioned fault-tolerant Unix-like real-time operating system (RTOS) certified to DO-178B Level A, EAL6+ and IEEE POSIX.1 avionics reliability standards. Safety-critical flight and avionics software written in the Ada 2005/2012 structured, statically typed, imperative, wide-spectrum, and object-oriented high-level computer programming language are hosted on Type 1 hypervisors running directly on the processors. The avionics software contains 100 million source lines of code (SLOC) and took 30,000 man years to write, though for comparison this is still a third fewer lines of code than is contained in a modern version of Microsoft Office for Windows.
Communication, navigation and identification
A Synergy Electrodynamics AN/ASQ-236(V) Integrated Communications, Navigation and Identification System (ICNIS) provides centralised, dual-redundant, management and control of aircraft radio frequency (RF) apertures to provide communications, navigation and identification (CNI). The core mission system is a Synergy Electrodynamics AN/ARC-242(V) Multi-Band Radio Communications System (MBCS) that provides information/sensor fusion, shared situational awareness and intra/inter-flight intercommunications (voice, data and video.) It is Based on the Synergy Electrodynamics JEWEL Waveguide/Airwave modular wideband secure electronic countermeasure (ECM) resistant digital radio transceiver system that features a software defined radio (SDR) wideband radio frequency (RF) front end architecture with multiple, multi-protocol, programable baseband DSP processors (BDP). The radio communication transcievers include dual high frequency/ultra high frequency (HF/UHF) line-of-sight voice and data radio modems, dual very high frequency (VHF) tactical datalink modems and beyond line-of-sight UHF satellite communications (SATCOM) terminal. all software configurable across multiple waveforms including support for Delian League Common Data Link (CDL), Link 16 Fighter Data Link (FDL) and Link 22 digital communications and other standards. They are protected by anti-tamper proof FIPS 140-3 Level 1-4 cryptographic modules and integrated with a realtime identification friend-or-foe (IFF) subsystem with MK XII transponder and interrogator and realtime Blue Force tracker. These allow the datalinks to exchange data with off-board targetting sources and be used for cooperative tactical operations including situational awareness (threat tracking, system status), offensive operations (attack planning, missile handoff), and defensive operations (electronic warfare, missile warning). The navigation functions are handled by a GPS/INS (global positioning system/inertial navigation system) suite that pairs an anti-jam capable 99-channel differential GPS receiver protected by a selective availability/anti-spoofing module (SAASM), tactical air navigation (TACAN) receiver, dual-redundant solid-state inertial measurement unit (IMU) with ring laser gyroscopes and three-axis accelerometers, and low probability of intercept radar altimeter (LPIA) using GaN-on-SiC MMIC technology operating at a nominal frequency of 4.3 GHz.
The primary fire-control radar is a Synergy Electrodynamics AN/APG-84(V)2 Advanced Multifunction Integrated Radio Frequency System (AMIRFS), a 33 kW peak radiated power, liquid-cooled, solid-state, 8-12.5 GHz frequency range (IEEE X-band, NATO I/J-band) ultrawide band active electronically scanned array (AESA) coherent pulse-Doppler multimode radar. It combines an integrated radio frequency (RF) subsystem with a multifunction array that offers digitised channels with advanced digital beamforming (DBF), space-time adaptive processing (STAP), and agile wideband waveforms including multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) techniques, to generate multiple low peak power waveforms and modulations across a wide range of microwave frequencies and unpredictable pulse patterns. The radar provides three-dimensional (i.e. bearing, elevation and range) multi-channel precision tracking with high resistance to interference and jamming, clutter rejection filtering, target/decoy discrimination, and low probability of detection (LPD)/low probability of interception (LPI) performance to limit counter-detection by enemy electronic warfare (EW) systems.
The APG-84(V)2 features a large 90 cm planar array antenna containing 2,200 gallium nitride on silicon carbide (GaN-on-SiC) monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) amplifiers with a transmit output ranging from 3 to 15 watts at a maximum 35% duty cycle, arranged in a brick architecture of transmit/receive (T/R) integrated multichannel module (TRIMM) subarrays. The radar aperture has a 120° field-of-regard and ±60° elevation providing full look up/look down and shoot up/shoot down capabilities, via hundreds of electronically steered agile beams generated by X-band digital receiver/exciter (DREX) modules through transmit/receive module (TRM) beamformers. The back-end radar processing system, comprising a 6U rack VME64x backplane, clusters eight replaceable single-board computer (SBC) modules populated with a total of 32 quad-core 64-bit PowerPC processors and 32 six-core 64-bit StarCore digital signal processors to create a 2,000 gigaflop massively parallel processing "supercomputer-in-a-box". The processors are housed in a rugged shock resistant liquid-cooled chassis, the large heat flux and thermal load of the radar and computers being controlled by a actively pumped two-phase liquid cooling system using synthetic polyalphaolefin (PAO) nanofluid, a highly efficiently heat transfering dielectric coolant, circulating in a closed-loop liquid flow-through (LFT) capillary system around the solid-state electronics.
The system has frequency-agile pulse Doppler track-while-scan (TWS) capability to detect, locate, track, classify and identify up to 250 moving targets at 360+ km ( 194+ nmi), and prioritise and engage 40 air targets or 20 ground or sea targets simultaneously at the full engagement envelope of air-to-air and air-to-surface weaponry with enhanced weapon aiming for multiple kills in a single pass. Fuzzy logic-driven non-cooperative target recognition (NCTR) algorithms can identify air targets by classifying powerplants through jet engine modulation of radar returns (aka fan blade counting). Multifunctional apertures, adaptive processing and automatic target recognition (ATR) algorithms enable long range, beyond visual range (BVR) first shot/first kill capability, all-aspect (nose-on, tail-on, crossing) and all-altitude (look-up, look-down), non-cooperative identification of conventional and low observable air, ground and sea targets operating in severe jamming and ground and wave clutter environments, decoy descrimination and foilage penetration. It has synthetic aperture radar (SAR) modes including strip-map, spotlight and scan, inverse synthetic aperture radar (ISAR) modes for superior range resolution, multiple air, ground and sea surface search modes with high sea state/high clutter rejection filters, Doppler beam sharpening (DBS) terrain mapping modes, simultaneous air and surface fixed and moving target indication modes, and provides an adjuct capability to the electronic warfare suite including sidelobe nulling, interference blanking and jammer classification, and support for communication and datalink waveforms.
Passive 360° full spherical situational awareness is provided by an Emerson Optronics AN/ASQ-251(V) Distributed Aperture Ranging and Targeting System (DARTS). It provides 4π steridian passive sensor coverage of all four quadrants, and dorsal and ventral aspects by six multispectral staring-type focal plane array (FPA) sensors with very large format (768×576 pixel) galium arsenide (GaAs) quantum-well infrared photodetector (QWIP) thermal imagers. Operating in dual-band 3-5 µm medium wave infra-red (MWIR) and 8-12 µm long wave infra-red (LWIR) and the 320-380 nm near ultraviolet (UV) spectral ranges they can see through specific atmospheric windows i.e. wavelengths transparent to weather and other environmental effects, obscurants and optical clutter. DARTS offers continuous passive omni-directional surveillance of the battlespace with fire control quality tracking of multiple, simultaneous threats, using IR/UV sensor fusion and two-colour discrimination to detect and track laser, infrared and ultraviolet energy from missile seekers, detect and track track jet engine exhaust and missile plumes (missile approach warning and launch point detection), cue countermeasures effectors and weapons, and provide all-weather day/night vision for precision pilotage. The high sensitivity sensors can operate over extremely long distances with performance limited only by slant range and the visual horizon. They can detect and classify IR band 1/II (hot metal/airframe heated) targets at 1,500 km (810 nmi), IR band IV (jet engine plume) targets at 800 km (432 nmi) and provide solar-blind UV (missile plume) and low light/daylight (aircraft) detection at 300 km (162 nmi).
A second complimentary passive optronic system comprises an Emerson Optronics AN/AAQ-249(V) Forward Looking infrared Search and Track (FIRST) system consisting of dual stereoscopic electro-optic (EO) sensors situated in the port and starboard wing roots. They are protected behind flush conformal facetted furnace-grown single-crystal sapphire glass windows that offer a 70° field of view and use paralax to produce range estimates at long distances, increasing in accuracy as range decreases, with a multiple target tracking (MTT) capability and embedded 66-channel all-in-view GPS receiver module that generates geo-coordinate positions of all targets. The sensors consist of indium gallium arsenide (InGaAs)-based megapixel (1280×1024 pixel) format voltage-tunable quantum-well infrared (QWIR) focal plane array (FPA) staring type photodetectors that use simultaneous dual-band imaging in the 3-5µ medium wave infrared (MWIR) and 8-12µ long wave infrared (LWIR) atmospheric windows to see through weather and obscurants. Operating modes include a high spatial resolution single-channel scanning infrared search and track (IRST) air-to-air mode for wide area air surveillance at 150 km (81 nmi), and dual-channel forward looking infrared (FLIR) air-to-air and air-to-surface mode that uses narrow-beam interleaved search and track (NBILST) (aka synthetic pseudo-imaging) to recognise air and surface targets, discriminate targets from decoys, and defeat camouflage and concealment, at a focused 35-40 km (19-21˝ nmi) range. Boresighted to each passive sensor is a separate Sigleuir AES-108 "Profile" eye-safe three-dimensional active light detection and ranging (lidar) system based around a diode-pumped Q-switched Nd:YAG (neodymium-doped yttrium aluminium garnet) solid state coded scanning laser that performs designation, ranging and marking in cooperative engagements to a range of ~20 km (~ 10.8 nmi). It has a dedicated GaAs FPA large format (640×512 pixel) 800 nm-2.5 µm short wave infrared (SWIR) multi-band laser spot tracker and provides target marking and cues (STANAG 3733 compliant coded signals) for laser-guided weapons, measurement of three-dimensional wind profiles for wind-corrected delivery of weapons and cargo.
Electronic countermeasures are based around a high gain X-band Radio Frequency Threat Warning and Countermeasure System (RFTCM) fully integrated with expendable countermeasures (EXCM) to provide full spherical coverage and threat detection, deception, disruption and defeat against enemy target acquisition systems. These include radio frequency (RF) source detection and jamming, radar warning, cueing anti-radiation missiles with home-on-jam targeting, mid-wave laser warning receivers and missile approach warners, coded pulsed directional IR and optical UV missile seeker jamming, launched expendable countermeasures and decoys, and a programmable miniature fibre-optic towed decoy (FOTD) using digital radio frequency memory (DRFM) to capture and retransmit hostile RF signals to fool and spoof enemy sensors and weapon seekers. It is based around the:
Synergy Electrodynamics AN/ALR-99A(V) Multi-Purpose Passive Receiver System (MPPRS): A conformal multi-aperture 0.5-40 GHz multifunction passive radio frequency (RF) detection, intercept and tracking system that provides geo-location of ground radar and fire-control quality tracking of VHF fighter radar and radar cueing at ranges of 463 km (250 nmi) while limiting own radar emissions, as well as false target generation, range-gate stealing and electronic attack capabilities. It has twelve conformal apertures: six on each wing leading edge, four on each wing trailing edge and two on the trailing edges of each ruddervator.
Synergy Electrodynamics AN/ALQ-216 Defensive Electronic Radio Frequency Countermeasure (DERFCM): A 1-35 GHz active/passive multimode digital radio-frequency memory (DRFM) based deception-repeating self-protection jammer that captures and retransmits hostile RF signals to fool and spoof enemy sensors and weapon seekers by generating complex ECM waveforms for supression, deception or seduction. Capabilities include:
range-gate pull-off (RGPO)
velocity-gate pull-off (VGPO)
pulse repeater deception jamming
angle deception jamming
crosseye jamming
sidelobe jamming
anti-phase jamming
Emerson Optronics AN/ALQ-226 "Eminta" Directional Directed Energy Countermeasure (DDECM): A closed-loop dual-band EO/IR active laser jammer with quadrant mini-pointer/tracker turrets with quantum cascade laser (QCL) jamming heads that produce coded pulsed directional IR and optical UV missile seeker jamming signals.
Sequoia Dynamics AN/ALE-53 Expendable Countermeasures Dispensor (EXCMD): A multi-spectral chaff and flare countermeasure dispenser system with four dispensing switch assemblies that launches the Airborne Multispectral Tactical Decoy (AMSTD) that emits IR and RF (multispectral) signatures to deceive and decoy enemy target acquisition systems and dual-mode missile seekers.
Synergy Electrodynamics AN/ALE-60 Towed Radio Frequency Expendable Decoy (T-REX): A self-contained towed multimode fibre-optic towed decoy (FOTD) stand-in jammer and self-protection deception/seduction jammer/decoy consisting of a Reel-Out Reel-In (RORI) mechanism on the aircraft, reinforced Kevlar fibre-optic tow and signal cable, multimode electronic frequency converter (EFC) and active radio frequency countermeasure (RFCM) payload with microwave monolithic integrated circuit (MMIC) solid-state RF power amplifier. Threat RF signals are received and analysed by the electronic signals processor (ESP) of the IDECS suite and tactics chosen and implemented through its techniques generator (TG). The decoy can perform three defensive functions effective against monopulse and home-on-jam (HOJ) threats: (1) noise jamming (suppression) to confuse acquisition and tracking radar; (2) pulse repeater jamming (deception) through retransmission of tracking radar signals to break radar lock; and (3) active decoy (seduction) to lure missiles safely away by simulating the radar cross-section (RCS) of the aircraft, combined with aircraft avoidance manoeuvres.
The cockpit is enclosed by a panoramic clamshell canopy that is high mounted for good sight lines during takeoffs, approaches and landings. The canopy is a clear piece of injection moulded Zone 1 optical quality monolithic polycarbonate that offers impact resistance against bird strikes, structural strength to resist aerodynamic loadings, has low flammability and dielectric properties that screen electronic emissions generated in the cockpit. The transparencies are treated with anti-reflective sun glare and laser protective coatings, and features sloping to match the angle of the fuselage to minimise RCS signature. The canopy is hinged behind the pilot, actuated by a hydraulic mechanism, securing to the fuselage by pins and an inflatable seal that retains cockpit pressure and resists chemical/biological and environmental agents. The environmental control system (ECS) provides engine bleed air for the canopy seal, windshield anti-fog and anti-ice system, cockpit pressurisation, and anti-g suit pressure, with breathable air is supplied by a separate AC-powered On-Board Oxygen Generation Systems (OBOGS) provides a continuously available supply of 95% oxygen-rich gas for the pilot to breath produced from engine bleed air using molecular sieve technology and passed through heat exchangers for temperature regulation.
The pilot wears a dual visor flight helmet (with inner clear and outer tinted visors), chemical biological (C/B) goggles and hood, and breathing mask and hose; a liquid cooling and ventilation garment (LCVG) underneath a chemical/biological/cold-water immersion (CB/CWI) protection ensemble of anti-exposure coverall/immersion suit worn over a Nomex fire-resistant flight suit; and upper body anti-g vest and five-bladder skeletal anti-g pressure trousers to provide fatigue resistance while flying high-g manoeuvres. An integrated breathing regulator/anti-g valve (BRAG) electronically controls the flow and pressure to the mask and pressure garments. To help reduce heat stress and fatigue during long sorties and encourage proper hydration for high g tolerance and peak cognitive performance aircrew wear under their flight gear a fully sealed self-contained through-the-suit hands-free in-flight bladder relief system with cup liner system, pump system and collection bag.
The pilot is seated in an articulating United Technologies/Collins Aerospace Advanced Concept Ejection Seat (ACES 5) zero/zero (i.e., zero altitude and zero airspeed) high speed ejection seat that incorporates a fully automatic rocket-boosted emergency escape system and parachute descent system controlled by digital event sequencer. The canopy jettison system uses pyrotechnics to eject from the aircraft during an escape. The seat is mounted in an electric motor-driven articulated mechanism allowing adjustable seat back angles between 15° (semi-upright posture) and 55° (reclining posture). The seat automatically reclines as g rises during agile manoeuvring, working in unison with the full coverage anti-g flight suit to mitigate a key human factor constraint on aircraft performance by protecting the pilot from A-LOC (Altered Level Of Consciousness) and G-LOC (g-force induced Loss Of Consciousness). The system allows for a manual override by the pilot for setting an optimal seat back angle for comfort (most expressing a preference in the 34-45° region), and is equipped with a pyrotechnic retract mechanism to instantly return the seat to the upright position on activation of the escape system.
The lightweight bucket-type seat itself weighs only 89 kg constructed from aluminium and composites. It conforms to MIL-STD-1472H human factors/ergonomic standards to accommodate the 3rd-97th percentile of estimated aircrew sizes (male, female and transgender) for maximum crewing flexibility. It is well cushioned with head and neck support while wearing helmet-mounted displays and night vision goggles, and ergonomically designed for comfort to enhance pilot endurance. The seat assembly consists of an underseat ejection gun/rocket motor, lateral thrust motor, ejection control handle, safe/armed handle, arm and leg restraint webbing snubbers, emergency restraint release handle, shoulder harness control lever, seat height actuator switch, pin puller, and lower harness release mechanism. The parachute assembly includes the parachute container and parachute canopy and drogue. The seat survival kit assembly includes automatically activating emergency oxygen system, CBRN ventilator and radio locator beacon, and a rucksack that contains an automatically inflating single seat life raft and survival aids.
The cockpit instrument panel features only four head-down displays (HDD): a panoramic bezel-less full-width 20.32 × 50.8 cm (8 × 20 in) Multi-Function Touch Display System (MFTDS) as the primary display and three smaller 15.9 cm (6Ľ × in) diagonal Multi-Function Secondary/Standby Displays (MFSSD) with integrated switch bezels in the centre column and left and right side consoles. The primary display has an active-matrix organic light-emitting diode (AMOLED) screen of high-luminance, high-contrast, high-resolution, unlimited viewing angle and low power consumption and heat generation, with infrared LED detectors that accurately track gloved hands with ten points of contact for high accuracy and responsiveness. The display can be divided into a main image, four planes or into six smaller full motion images, or combinations of these elements. Beneath the primary display is an Integrated Up Front Control Panel (IUFCP) with a 7.6 cm × 10.2 cm (3 x 4 in) LCD, 16 function keys, 12 line-select keys and 40 alphanumeric keys. It provides easy data entry and input of parameters into the digital autopilot/flight director and avionics computers, and access to communications, navigation and identification (CNI) functions. A data port on the panel can upload/download operational and mission parameter information from a secure rugged handheld fill device e.g. AN/PYQ-10 Simple Key Loader (SKL) portable computer. Instrumentation, caution warnings, annunciations, advisory data, communications, digital moving-map, sensor channels and all other systems and subsystems are viewable at both the primary and secondary displays. Above the instrument panel is the Panoramic Heads-Up Display System (PanHUDS) utilising a single curved wide-angle holographic combiner with a 20° x 30° total and instantaneous field of view. It displays altitude, heading, airspeed, angle-of-attack (AOA), bank angle, pitch scale, load factor (g), etc, along with enemy tracking information.
The Air Warfighter Interface 2.0 (AWI 2.0) is at the heart of the avionics system providing automation to ease pilot workload, using both high-throughput mission computers and shared low latency real-time datalinks to fuse on and off-board flight, system, sensor and weapon information. To aid the pilot in the observe, orient, decide and act (OODA) loop sequence the primary flight display instrument is a Morpheus Mark 2 Helmet Mounted Display and Cueing System (MK 2 HMDCS), a lightweight integrated flight helmet system superior to all other binocular head-mounted displays having fully eliminated all bulk, neck strain and centre-of-gravity (cg) issues and preserving full pilot periheral vision. It features a conformal image source and relay optics (ISRO) module and visor-projected single spherical holographic synoptic display with panoramic 60° field-of-vision and high eye relief. Using Hall Effect magnetic head trackers and infrared retina trackers it can accurately track the pilot's gaze and project collimated colour-coded symbology and superimposed (1:1) realtime imagery and synthetic vision into their field-of-view. This allows the pilot to see through the aircraft like it is a glass-bottom boat to track targets with full 360° situational awareness. The system employs a Gaze-based Point And Click (GPAC) and Cursor On Target (COT) interface to reduce crew workload that fully supports audible and visual cues, designation of targets over-the-shoulder at high off-boresight angles by eye movement, and access to common aircraft functions without having to break visual contact with an adversary. The pilot can use either the PanHUDS or HMDCS but not both at once as they severely interfere with each other, with either system providing a failsafe in event of malfunction/failure of the other.
The "office" has a clean, uncluttered, highly ergonomic configuration with all cockpit displays and controls always within easy sight and reach for the pilot at maximum recumbent seat angles. Primary flight controls are arranged as a Voice, Throttle And Stick (VTAS) system. This consists of a Direct Voice Input (DVI) interface that provides instant access to key aircraft functions via a highly accurate speech recognition module using hidden Markov model (HMM) pattern matching algorithms, while the intercommunication system incorporates a synthetic voice module that provides concatenative voice synthesis with pre-sampled words and phrases and pulsed tonal alarms for clear pilot feedback and caution warnings; and a Hands On Throttle-And-Stick (HOTAS) with side-stick controller (SSC) and split throttle that use high sensitivity magnetic sensors. The controllers can be swapped for either side of the cockpit and offer adjustable haptic feedback with 14 user-programmable buttons. The side-stick has a pitch and roll trim hat switch, weapon release pickle button, gun/missile trigger, target management button, countermeasures management button, nosewheel steering button, display management selector, air refuelling release switch, air-to-air/air-to-ground mode toggle switch, autopilot/nosewheel steering disengage paddle switch and expand/field-of-view pinky switch. The split throttle has a grip and a finger lift to control the left and right engine thrust levels, communications toggle switch, speed brake switch, throttle designator controller, sensor toggle switch, slew controller hat switch for pointing sensors, target designation controller, countermeasures management switch, velocity vector cage/uncage button, speed brake switch, exterior lights pinky switch and automatic throttle control (ATC) engage/disengage switch. Left and right adjustable rudder pedals provide yaw/roll inputs, and nosewheel steering and braking.
Safeguards are provided by the "Philomena" Pilot Health Monitoring System (PHMS) that gathers health informatics and uses rule-based expert system algorithms to determine whether a pilot has become spatially disoriented, extremely fatigued or dehydrated, fallen into deep unconsciousness, or is otherwise incapacitated or expired in-flight. Optical sensors built in to the flight helmet and contact sensors in the flight suit monitor the pilot's vital signs and physiological functions, including real-time measurement of blood flow (perfusion), pulse rate, and SpO₂ (peripheral capillary oxygen saturation) to detect life-threatening situations such as hypoxia, A-LOC (Altered Level Of Conciousness) and G-LOC (g-force induced Loss Of Consciousness); and infrared eye trackers measure visual and proprioceptive responses for pilot equilibrium and orientation. All data on a pilot's physiological condition can be transmitted by secure datalink to a home base (carrier or airbase) or other centre to be assessed by flight surgeons throughout a mission.
A Disorientation Recovery System (DORS) also monitors for extreme control inputs by the pilot including departure from controlled flight at very low airspeeds and at high and low angle of attacks, excessive rate of roll, excursion to an unsafe altitude, and other uncontrolled manoeuvres, and the pilot will receive audio-visual caution warnings through the helmet mounted display and clear voice instructions piped through the audio system. If the pilot fails to take corrective action (due to sensory illusion) or is detected as no longer fit or able (due to temporary unconsciousness, incapacity or even death), DORS assumes control of the aicraft to recover it to a stable flight condition until the pilot is fit or able to resume control.
A separate Automatic Integrated Collision Avoidance System (Auto-ICAS) also protects the aircraft from CFIT (Controlled Flight Into Terrain) and mid-air collision by engaging the flight control system's stall/departure and spin prevention/recovery control laws to return to a level flight condition. Both DORS and ICAS systems operate nuisance free by reacting only in the last tenth-of-a-second before a predicted loss of control, stall, minimum altitude descent or near-miss, with the pilot able to manually initiate a pilot-activated fly-up (PAFU) for automatic recovery from spin/stall states and terrain/aircraft avoidance. If sensors indicate the pilot still remains incapacitated after an aircraft recovery incident a flight surgeon can declare an in-flight emergency and the unit commander can remotely activate an Autonomous Return-to-Base System (ARBS) as a final safeguard. Using sophisticated guidance, navigation, and control (GN&C) algorithms the ARBS can fly and land the aircraft back at its home base by use of the autopilot/flight director and autoland functions of the flight control system.
The F-40A/LJF-1 is armed with a single medium-calibre aircraft cannon with gun door/gun port and gas purge system, linkless ammunition feed and storage subsystem housed integrally in a ventral bay under the belly, using electro-optics, laser rangefinder and a predictive radar gunsight for aiming at all speeds. The standard gun system is based on the Sequoia Dynamics AMG250B Quick Draw four-barrel 25 mm rotary cannon with electric priming system that fires combustible cased telescope (CCT) multi-purpose semi-armour piercing high explosive incendiary (SAPHEI) ammunition. The gun bay was originally designed for the General Dynamics M61A2 air-cooled, electrically-driven, six-barrel 20 mm Gatling gun firing high explosive incendiary (HEI) ammunition, which remains the primary gun armament option on all non-Delian League export aircraft.
A wide range of stores, to a total of weight of 2,994 kg (6,600 lb), can be carried on six internal hard points with no provision made for external stores carriage as even a single store can increase overall aircraft RCS by as much as 1 m˛ which will significantly compromise low observable characteristics and degrade kinematic performance by increased drag. Stores are carried internally in twin parallel deep ventral weapons bays aft of the gun bay in the space between the air intakes. Each bay is covered by an outwardly swinging door hidden behind sawtooth edged door seams for a clean low observable configuration. Event sequencing of the bay door open/close cycle and munition ejection cycle is under two seconds to minimise aircraft RCS exposure during weapon employment. All weapons in the internal weapon bays are rated for supersonic release and high-g turns for off-boresight launches, using non-pyrotechnic pneumatic trapezoid ejectors to safely clear the bays with plume deflectors on the bay doors protecting the aircraft from rocket exhaust flames. The ventral gun and weapon bay positions allow for simultaneous gun ammunition upload and download of empty casings, and upload/offload of missile reloads for rapid turn-around, and high sortie generation rates.
Each weapon bay is 4.35 metres long (15 cm longer than on the YF-40 prototype) with a centre bulge to accommodate a single outsized store. There is sufficient volume to fit either six air-to-air weapons with clipped wings on up to three ejector racks (inside door rail, twin rail and triplex rail with space saving staggered layout), or a single 2,000 lb munition or 330 US gallon fuel pack on a 'wet' (i.e. plumbed for fuel) centre bay hard point, and a single self defence air-to-air weapon on an inside door launch rail. Each stores station is controlled by an Electronic Control Unit (ECU) that automatically sequences weapon releases. The ejector racks have MIL-STD-8591 aircraft store interfaces that include Zero Retention Force Arming Unit (ZRFAU) installations with electro-mechanical suspension devices and arming/fusing solenoids. These interfaces can be modified when handling non-MIL-STD stores for Delian League customers using physical adaptors and software transliteration, including a GOST R 52070-2003 serial interface converter and simulation of the complete Sukhoi Su-35S armament computer in a virtual machine (VM) sofware hypervisor running on the Stores Management System (SMS) computer.
The LJF-1/F-40A has been designed around the concept of all-aspect broadband stealth and is especially stealthy against modern low-frequency radars such as advanced X band and VHF radar due to shaping, planform alignment and materials. High survivability is achieved through low-observable technology incorporated into the airframe, inlets and exhausts; and ECM resistance achieved through an integrated electric warfare system (IEWS) that can detect, deceive and defeat enemy electronic warfare systems.
To achieve the design goal of very low observability (VLO) the airframe incorporates masking, shaping, serrated panel lines and saw-tooth edged doors, precisely aligned edges, seamless mould lines, chined forebody, vortex generators, bandpass resonant radome, conformal antennas and apertures, and dielectric materials to minimise radar signature. The outer mould line is smoothed to reduce drag and minimise radar cross section (RCS), with gaps around access panels, landing gear and weapon bay doors, and wing and flap hinges blended into the mould line using conductive form-in-place (CFIP) sealant and flexible conductive blade seals on leading and trailing edges to eliminate radar reflective gaps using corrosion resistant multi-layered radar-absorbent material (RAM) to reduce scattering from surface breaks and radar-absorbent structure (RAS) to minimize scattering from hard edges.
A clean configuration using internal-only stores, conformal antennas and flush sensor bay windows achieves further reduced radar reflections, weight, and drag. Electro-magnetic emissions are also carefully controlled by a signature management subsystem that is part of the avionics suite. Divertless box inlets and serpentine inlet ducts (S-ducts) hide engine axial compressors from radar waves and twin V-tail ruddervators (combined rudder/elevator) grant the aircraft a flat visual profile that is harder to detect optically, and masks the infra-red signature of the engine nozzles from most aspects. Forced ventilation of the engine bays and nozzles significantly reduce overall aircraft thermal signature in combination with engine fuel system oil heat exchangers that cool hydraulic fluid to reduce heat stress on engines, generators and electronics. All exterior surfaces are treated with a conductive primer and topcoat that is rain erosion and salt air corrosion-resistant, has low infrared emissivity, high resistance to nuclear flash, as well as radar absorbent to minimise RCS signature.
- The LJF-1 Vârtej was the original Full Scale Production (FSP) model for Delian League member nations. It is based on the YF-40 and including a number of refinements based on user input during the critical design review (CDR). These include a reduced span to improve spot factor on aircraft carriers; lengthened internal weapon bays with centre bulge for outsized weapons to improve stores carriage; and avionics changes including Air Warfighter 2.0, Delian League Common Datalink (CDL), Disorientation Recovery System (DORS) and Autonomous Return-to-Base System (ARBS). Achieved initial operating capability (IOC) in the latter part of 2010 with EAMF operational conversion wings; sold to a number of Delian League nations or under licensed production, with a production run expected to run into the tens of thousands of airframes.
- Current production version of carrier-borne single-seat fighter for Etoile Arcture Maritime Forces. Near identical to the LJF-1 bar some minor differences in electronics and software to meet specific EAMF service requirements.
- Selected by the Etoile Arcture Aerospace Forces (EAAF) in 2014 as the new long-range interceptor aircraft to supplement the F-26A Tempest Block 20 fighter aircraft in the air domination role. To meet EAAF requirements a number of airframe changes have been made including swapping of the probe inflight refuelling receptacle for a dorsal boom receptacle, installation of a drag chute system in the rear fuselage (the retractable tailhook is retained for emergency situations in event of wheel brake failure).
- Advanced concept demonstrator aircraft originally developed to Etoile Arcture Maritime Force (EAMF) requirements and using avionics from the F-26A Tempest, first flying in 2006 and entered into the League Joint Fighter (LJF) competition by the manufacturer in 2010. Slightly larger and heavier than the final production models; 10 built during the Engineering and Manufacturing Design (EMD) phase of the original program.
Etoile Arcture Maritime Forces operates 10,000 F-40A Block 10 as a primary carrier-borne multirole fighter with deliveries beginning in 2012.
Etoile Arcture Aerospace Forces operates 10,000 F-40A Block 20 as primary air defence interceptor with deliveries beginning in 2016.
Forțele Navale Damirez operates an unspecified number of LJF-1 Vârtej as part of the League Joint Fighter Program, all aircraft being domestically manufactured under license by Aerostar.
Forțele Aeriene Damirez operates an unspecified number of LJF-1 Vârtej as part of the League Joint Fighter Program, all aircraft being domestically manufactured under license by Aerostar.
Service Aéronavale operates 240 F-40A Block 10 aircraft from its Souveraineté class aircraft carriers delivered since 2018.
Wagdian Air Revolutionary Guards operates 13,000 F-40A Block 20 as air superiority fighters, all domestically manufactured under license by Commonwealth Aircraft.
Wagdian Revolutionary Navy operates 13,000 F-40A Block 10 as naval multirole fighters, all domestically manufactured under license by Commonwealth Aircraft.
Imperial Navy has ordered 7,500 F-40A Block 10 aircraft with options for 3,500 more, to be delivered over 20 years starting in 2012.
Imperial Air Force has ordered [classified] Block 20 aircraft to be delivered over 20 years starting in 2022.
Lamonian Air Force recieved 10 F-40A Block 10 aircraft in 2012 for test and evaluation purposes.
Lamonian Navy operates an unspecified number of F-40A Block 10 aircraft from the Luna class aircraft carrier, with all aircraft being domestically manufactured under license by LAIX Arms.
Hunnic Confederate States of Katonazag (HCSK) Navy operates an unspecified number of LJF-1 Vârtej as part of the League Joint Fighter Program, all aircraft being domestically manufactured under license by GHAS Aviation.
Royal Krommindy Navy operates an unspecified number of LJF-1 Vârtej as part of the League Joint Fighter Program, with all aircraft manufactured under license by GHAS Aviation.
Monavian Imperial Navy operates 640 F-40A Block 10 aircraft as primary carrier-borne multirole fighter with deliveries beginning in 2020.
Monavian Imperial Air Force operates 320 F-40A Block 20 aircraft as air defence interceptors with deliveries beginning in 2020.
Locharian Air Force operates 500 F-40A Block 20 aircraft with deliveries beginning in 2020.
Rocky Canadian Air Force operates 10 F-40A Block 20 aircraft delivered in 2021.
Territorial Defence Army
Lodhs beard
operates 10,000 F-40A Block 20 aircraft with deliveries beginning in 2022.
Seorabeol Federation Air Force
Seorabeol Federation
operates 60 F-40A Block 20 aircraft delivered in 2022.
Imperial Navy
Norway-sweden-finland
operates 1,080 F-40A Block 10 aircraft delivered in 2023.
Royal Joseon Air Force operates 560 F-40A Block 20 aircraft delivered in 2023.
Armed Military of the Bagazian Army
Rapaldegia Bagazis
operates 380 F-40A Block 20 aircraft delivered in 2024.
New Chinese Air Force
New Chinese Federation
operates 1,000 F-40A Block 20 aircraft delivered in 2024.
Svetvostok Air Force operates 120 F-40A Block 20 aircraft delivered in 2024.
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Specifications (F-40A Block 10)
Data from Aerodyne specifications.
General characteristics
Crew: 1
Length: 22.58 m
Wingspan: 16.55 m
Height: 3.13 m
Wing area: 60.38 m˛
Empty weight: 14,061 kg
Loaded weight: 22,498 kg
Max. takeoff weight: 27,941 kg
Powerplant: 2 x Powerdyne F155-PWR-203VCE variable-cycle augmented turbofan, three-dimensional thrust vectoring nozzles
Dry thrust: 111.2 kN (11,340 kg/f) each
Thrust with afterburner: 177.9 kN (18,144 kg/f) each
Internal fuel capacity: 10,886 kg
Wingspan, wings folded 11.3 m
Performance
Maximum speed:
At sea level: 802 knots
At altitude: Mach 2.699
Supercruise: Mach 1.54
Combat radius: 1,667 km (900 nm) on internal fuel
Ferry range: 3,334 km (1,800 nm) with internal fuel packs
Service ceiling: 19,812 m (65,000 ft)
Rate of climb: 360 m/s
Wing loading: 372 kg/m˛
Thrust/weight: 1.29:1
Maximum design g-load: -5.0/+11.0 g
Armament
Guns: 1 × 25 mm Sequoia Dynamics AMG250B Quick Draw 4-barrel rotary cannon (Delian League only) or 20 mm General Dyynamics M61A2 Vulcan 6-barrel Gatling cannon in gun bay
Stations: 2 x internal weapon bays with 3 x internal hardpoints
1 wet rated @ 1,587 kg (3,500 lb) per bay
1 dry rated @ 998 kg (2,200 lb) per bay
1 dry rated @ 295 kg (650 lb) per bay
Stores: maximum weapon load of 2,994 kg (6,600 lb)
Air-to-air loadout:
6 × AIM-222A "Ambush" Joint Multi-Role Air Dominance Missile (JMRADM), RB-101 Meteor, AIM-120D-3 Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM), AIM-260A Joint Advanced Tactical Missile (JATM) or 2 × AIM-255A "Sledgehammer" Joint Tactical Airspace Denial Missile (JTADM)
8 × AIM-221A "Loki" Compact Omni Range Tactical Missile (CORAAM) or 4 × RB-98 IRIS-T, AIM-9X-2 Sidewinder, AIM-132A Advanced Short Range Air-to-Air Missile (ASRAAM)
Air-to-surface loadout:
8 × 284 lb (129 kg) "Decimator" Metric Small Diameter Gliding Bomb (MSDGB), or 250 lb (113 kg) GBU-39/B Small Diameter Bomb, GBU-53/B "Stormbreaker" (Small Diameter Bomb II), or 4 × 750 lb (340 kg) "Pugilist" Precision Universal Gliding Bomb (PUGB), or 500 lb (230 kg) Paveway IV, or B61 series tactical variable yield nuclear bomb, or 2 × 1,100 lb (500 kg) "Pugilist" Precision Universal Gliding Bomb (PUGB), 1,000 lb (450 kg) Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM), or AGM-154 Joint Standoff Weapon (JSOW), AGM-158 Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM), AGM-184A Joint Strike Missile (JSM), AGM-220A "Tiamat" Precision Intelligent Strike Missile (PrISM)
Ferry flight loadout:
2 x 1,200 L (330 US gal) internal fuel pack
Avionics
Sensors
Synergy Electrodynamics AN/APG-84(V)2 Advanced Multifunction Integrated Radio Frequency System (AMFIRFS): 360 km (194 nm) against 1 m˛ targets
Emerson Optronics AN/ASQ-251(V) Distributed Aperture Ranging and Targeting System (DARTS): 300 km (162 nmi) or more detection range
Emerson Optronics AN/AAQ-249(V) Forward Looking infrared Search and Track (FIRST): 180 km (97 nmi) or more detection range
Electronic warfare
Synergy Electrodynamics AN/ASQ-238(V) Integrated Defensive Electronics Countermeasures System (IDECS)
Synergy Electrodynamics AN/ALR-99A(V) Multi-Purpose Passive Receiver System (MPPRS): 463 km (250 nmi) or more detection range
Synergy Electrodynamics AN/ALQ-216 Defensive Electronic Radio Frequency Countermeasure (DERFCM)
Emerson Optronics AN/ALQ-226 Directional Directed Energy Countermeasure (DECM)
Sequoia Dynamics AN/ALE-54 Expendable Countermeasures Dispensor (EXCMD): multispectral RF/IR protection against missiles
Synergy Electrodynamics AN/ALE-60 Towed Expendable Radio Frequency Decoy (TEXRFD)
Navigation aids:
BAE Systems Low Probability of Intercept Altimeter (LPIA-232R)
Communications and navigation:
Synergy Electrodynamics AN/ASQ-236(V) Communications, Navigation and Identification System (CNIS)
Synergy Electrodynamics AN/ARC-242(V) Multi-Band Radio Communications System (MBRCS): VHF/UHF LOS (line-of-sight) and DAMA (Demand Assignment Multiple Access) SATCOM (satellite communications)
Military aircraft of
Etoile ArctureFighters
Strike/ground attack
Bombers
Airborne early warning
Command and control
Electronic warfare
Maritime patrol/sea control
Trainers
Transport
KC-16A Cargoship - MV-28A Peregrine - MV-44A Pegasus - C-75A Albatross - C-75B Super Albatross - KC-99B Majestic
Helicopters
AH-79C Anaconda - MH-80A Barracuda - MCH-120A Pelican - CH-151A Titan Skyscrane
Unmanned
RQ-13A Vulture - AQ-20B Renegade - RAQ-39B Clarion - MQ-45A Privateer - AQ-46A Storm Petrel - BQ-50A Dominator - MQ-59A Mosquito
