Kalistani Major History

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AeroKal and KALMILINCO test new afterburner at National Proving Grounds
Kalistani designers declare successful test to be foundation of new Lightweight Fighter Program
Sulari, Suldanor
October 18, 5097


AeroKal and KALMILINCO's experimental Light weight Fighter design, tentatively titled EF-18

New AeroKal T340 Afterburner Turbofan Engine, to form the powerplant of a new Lightweight Fighter

The new centerpiece of the revitalized Kalistani Airforce has been revealed. Tentatively called the EF-18, the new multi role fighter will be prototyped within the next year for extensive testing and refinement. "We expect to go into production of the new jet within the space of 5 years, and expect to field a fleet of these multipurpose fighters before 7 years," said Defense Ministry Representative Justin Tran, who was responsible to brief the Republican Press on the progress of the designs.

The design, completed by a cooperative effort between AeroKal and KALMILINCO aims at creating a versatile, durable, and easily replaceable fighter that can act as a "LAFA of the Sky." "We want to be able to produce these fighters cheaply and quickly. The Ministry required a few things of the design team: They must be able to match the speed of the most advanced modern carrier based fighters in service, at least match the maneuverability, and perform both air to air interception and air to surface attack. The Design team came back with two design variants, the Single Seat A and double seat B variants. The A variant would be armed for air-to-air combat, while the B variant would be armed to attack ground targets, especially floating targets." Tran noted the small size and lightweight of the fighter, when built, will easily permit speeds up to Mach 1.5, or possibly beyond. The design was based on an earlier Likatonian fighter jet, the HF-18L, and is expected to greatly exceed the performance of the earlier jet.

"As the earlier Likatonian Model was designed for carrier Launch, and Kalistan does not pursue forward projection," said Tran, "we needed a model which can take out without catapult assistance. Therefore, we needed to add a greater fuel capacity, and designate a lighter weight airframe for the plane. We will reap the benefits of this, however, as we expect a noticably greater range over the plane's earlier counterparts. We also wanted a fighter that resolves some of the weaknesses of foreign fighter models, such as fuel compressor stalls, where the plane will enter a steep climb or dive and the fuel compressor will lock up due to gravity, and one which improves flight control responsiveness, to make our pilots more nimble in the air. All of these conceptual concerns are addressed in designs and models that KALMILINCO has created."

Tran also noted that the new aircraft will be designed to allow rapid interchange of parts by small crews requiring no special tools. "Easy repair and replacement of parts is paramount to the functioning of this fighter jet," said the spokesman. "A competent and small ground crew should be able to turn around service on these planes in a matter of minutes rather than hours, and have them back in the sky as soon as possible. This includes engine and avionics service and maintenance, rearmament and refueling." The new jet will feature simple flight controls and design innovations (such as canted vertical stabilizers) that will reduce training times while maximizing maneuverability, common sense HUDs, external computer port to allow updates to avionics and a state of the art radar system that will allow Kalistani Pilots to detect incoming threats in the air and on the ground which will be on par with the more advanced militaries. "We have the Lourennais to thank for that," said Tran, noting the limited but important contribution made by Lourennais engineers while they were in Kalistan.

"When built, this plane will be able to swarm ground forces at dive angles up to 70 degrees, deliver their payload to enemy surface forces, and be out of the area before the enemy can respond," said Tran. Such a high angle will help protect the fighters from ground fire, by presenting a smaller profile, and preventing the operation of all but specifically high-angle guns."

The EF 18 will feature two AeroKal T340 turbofan afterburner engines, one of which was tested this afternoon for the Press. The Defense Ministry was thrilled to demonstrate the new design and said it is a key to the realization of the new jet. "We do not have a lot of jet engines designed for supersonic performance," said Tran. "Our engineers have experience with these types of engines, but AeroKal usually designs for the commercial market. But this is not an entirely bad thing: Many of the safeties and efficiencies that are built into civilian engine construction have found their way into the T340 engine. The result is a focus on dependability, at the expense of at least a little performance. But as the jet is intended to be lightweight, this should make up at least a portion of the performance deficit."

"We are very excited to begin building and testing this weapon system" said Tran. "Construction is already proceeding on the first of several prototypes, which will eventually be fitted with avionics, radar and armaments. Following windtunnel testing and refinement, as well as testing with various construction materials, we expect to have a pilotable jet by next year at this time, and from there, we will have more idea as to the actual performance specs of this plane. Until then, stay tuned."