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AJACS Load: US Begins (Another) Next-Gen Tactical Transport Project

23-Apr-2007 09:04 EDT

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A400M: The real target?
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From “C-130J Acquisition Program Restructured”:

”[The C-130J Hercules] has since been deployed into theater by the USAF, where its vastly improved performance in “hot and high” environments has come in very handy. Unlike the pending Airbus A400M, however, the C-130J doesn’t solve the sub-survivable 20-ton armored vehicle limit that has stymied multiple US armored vehicle programs from the Stryker IAV to Future Combat Systems. As such, it represents an improvement that fails to address US tactical airlift’s key bottleneck limitation.”

A pair of recent contracts for something called the Advanced Composite Cargo Aircraft (ACCA) may – or may not – represent a first step toward addressing that issue. It may also represent a US aerospace effort to avoid a looming future in which the Airbus A400M would be the only available tactical transport for survivable armored personnel carriers. With the light transport JCA made up of entirely foreign designs, the 20-ton transport market beginning to crowd, and the heavy-lift C-17 production line headed toward shutdown, the US aerospace industry risks a slip from a 1980-1990s position of market dominance in the military transport space into near-irrelevance by 2015.

So where does ACAA fit in? And how is the Advanced Joint Air Combat System (AJACS) program to which it is connected shaping up?

The AMC-X Program: Intent and Issues

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YC-15 and F-4
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The USA has been here before, with the 1980s Advanced Medium STOL Transport competition that produced the Boeing YC-14 and McDonnell Douglas YC-15. Both planes were produced, met all tests… and ended up canceled.

In its Advanced Composite Cargo Aircraft (ACCA) RFP, the US Air Force Research Laboratory set out goals for a STOL aircraft that could fly 400kt (740km/h), pressurized and carrying 3 cargo pallets, 20 troops or 1 light-wheeled vehicle. This is obviously a scaled-down version of the eventual plane the Air force might want, but it does force the contractors to use appropriate designs as they work to address the cost and weight issues associated with “advanced structural design and manufacturing techniques integrated with advanced aerodynamic design.”

According to Flight International, Alenia North America, Lockheed Martin, Piasecki Aircraft and Dick Rutan’s Voyager Aerospace all expressed interest in the RFP.

Ultimately, however, the Advanced Joint Air Combat System (AJACS) requirements may be considerably more ambitious. A 2004 Air Force Magazine piece had this to say:

“Afghanistan and Iraq have underscored the need for a new tactical transport that would fulfill a variety of airlift and special operations roles, Air Force officials reported. The new aircraft – dubbed Advanced Mobility Concept, or AMC-X – would have about the same cargo capacity as a C-130 but be able to fly higher and faster, while operating from 2,000-foot runways. Moreover, the AMC-X would be stealthy.

“We’re talking about … airliner speed,” close to Mach 1, said Col. Marshall K. Sabol, Air Mobility Command’s deputy director of plans and programs. The C-130’s average speed is 345 mph.

AMC also wants an airplane that can fly at the altitudes used by airliners, with greater range and greater survivability, he said. Paramount for the new transport will be its ability to operate at austere locations and carry outsize cargo, said Sabol.

Moreover, the next tactical airlifter will have to be able to operate in blackout conditions at low level, perform paratrooper and equipment airdrop, operate in all weather, and be capable of accomplishing “autoland” – automatic, virtually hands-off landing, guided only by the runway and onboard navigation systems.

Such requirements are “not the future,” said Sabol, adding, “it’s where we operate” today.

AMC is also working with Air Force Research Labs and the Army to make sure that the tactical transport is compatible with the Army’s new Stryker vehicle. The Stryker was designed to be transportable on C-130s, but the vehicle’s weight has continued to grow.”

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C-130J Hercules
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According to Jane’s, potential competitors for the AJACS program could include Lockheed Martin’s MACK concept sketched out in response to Special Forces requirements, a modified Boeing C-17 Globemaster III, or a Boeing concept based on the company’s experimental X-48B blended wing body (BWB) design that offers higher lift, higher capacity in a given footprint, and even noise reduction.

Whatever the eventual platform looks like, in order to accommodate a Stryker vehicle in combat condition, as well as currently contemplated US and foreign armored personnel carrier designs with enough armor to be survivable on modern battlefields, a cargo capacity increase of at least 50% over the current C-130J (21.7 tons – 30-35 tons) would almost certainly be required.

One would think this imperative might be a higher priority than cost-turbocharging requirements like stealth and airliner-class cruise speed, but the 2004 Air Force Magazine article seems to suggest that it wasn’t. Those requirements make sense for Special Operations aircraft beyond 2015, as Robert Martinage’s CSBA presentation explains. They can add significant purchase and maintenance costs, however, that risk pricing aircraft intended for conventional military operations out of the market in exchange for capabilities that are rarely required.

In order for AJACS to emulate the C-130’s success and result in a competitive aircraft on the international market, as opposed to an aircraft that shares the fate of its AMST predecessors, it will have to be designed according to Army priorities rather than Air Force wish lists. The A400M’s focus on those needs, and smart international production arrangements, have booked it almost 200 orders before AJACS even has a notional design. If AJACS cannot compete on cost and capacity, countries that intend to transport survivable armored vehicles in their airlifters will have absolutely no option except the A400M. Especially if the (far larger and more expensive) C-17 production line shuts down.

Even if the C-17 remains in production, however, the combination of proliferating choices in the 20-ton airlift market (C-130J, HAL-Irkut MRTA, possibly Embraer 390), plus a practical 30-ton military requirement that must be met at or below the A400M’s $100-120 million cost, will leave large market slices without American coverage if AJACS is not thought through correctly at its earliest stages.

Contracts and Key Events

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X-48B in wind tunnel
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At this stage, the Air Force Research Laboratory Air Vehicles Directorate at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, OH is acquiring the design, development, and manufacture of a technology demonstration Advanced Composite Cargo Aircraft (ACCA) that features advanced structural design and manufacturing techniques integrated with advanced aerodynamic design. The purpose of this aircraft is to demonstrate the application of structural design and manufacturing technologies that can significantly reduce the structural weight and cost of future military transport type aircraft.

Oct 17/07: A Lockheed Martin release says that the USAF Research Laboratory (AFRL) has authorized them to proceed to Phase II of the Advanced Composite Cargo Aircraft (ACCA) Flight Demonstration contract. Lockheed Martin will build and flight-demonstrate an X-Plane type aircraft with emphasis on innovative structural configurations and concepts; its solution involves replacement of the mid/aft fuselage and empennage of a Dornier 328J aircraft with advanced composites within the required 12-month schedule. ”>The Lockheed Martin release adds that AFRL is currently investigating opportunities for Aurora Flight Sciences to collaborate with Lockheed Martin and AFRL in the demonstration of additional technologies and capabilities for future transport structures.

The integration of advanced composites on the ACCA flight demonstrator is intended to reduce the aircraft’s parts count by 80-90%, and dramatically reduce corrosion and fatigue issues, sharply lowering conventional maintenance costs. ACCA will also offer production traceability, allowing its key technologies to be used in a broad spectrum of next generation aircraft. On the flip side, battle damage to composite airframes can be more difficult to repair, depending on the exact composites and design. Frank Mauro, vice president at Lockheed martin’s famous Skunk Works, says:

“With ACCA we are attempting to reinvent the manufacturing paradigm through the strategic use of composite manufacturing technologies…”

April 20/07: Aurora Flight Sciences Corp. in Manassas, VA received a $46.9 million cost-plus-fixed-fee contract to provide for an ACAA flight demonstrator. At this time, $2 million have been obligated (FA8650-07-C-3700).

Aurora currently builds about 1/3 of the airframe for the large, composites-heavy RQ-4 Global Hawk UAV.

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not from Lockheed
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April 20/07: Lockheed Martin Corp. in Fort Worth, TX received a $49.1 million cooperative agreement contract to provide for an ACAA flight demonstrator. At this time, $2 million have been obligated. Solicitations began January 2007, and negotiations were complete April 2007 (FA8650-07-2-3745).

A 2005 Military Aerospace Technology article makes note of the Lockheed Martin Skunk Works’ MACK concept aircraft, proposed for Special Forces insertion, tanker, and gunship uses. It may exert a significant influence on Lockheed Martin’s ACAA/AJACS designs:

“Lockheed Martin Skunk Works has developed the concept of a modular large-body aircraft to undertake the range of roles listed. This aircraft, designated MACK, will be capable in M-X (special forces insertion), A-X (gunship), C-X (transport) and K-X (tanker) roles. Interchangeable modules can be fitted depending on the requirement.

MACK would have a tailless compound delta wing, with roughly the outer third bent upwards. Multi-spectral stealth characteristics would make it capable against both early warning and fire control radars. Its two engines would be installed inside the airframe. They would be high-bypass types, making them quieter and cooler.

The airframe itself would be made primarily of composite material, although existing composites would be employed in order to reduce costs. Like today’s dedicated strike/interdictor aircraft [DID: and all SOCOM fixed-wing aircraft], MACK would be capable of terrain-following and terrain avoidance flight. It would also be fitted with both offensive and defensive self-protection systems. Aircrew would include pilot, co-pilot and navigator. Gross take-off weight would be 230,000 pounds to 240,000 pounds The engines would each provide 63,000 pounds of thrust, and field length with a 22,000 pound payload would be 1,500 feet.”

Additional Readings & Sources

  • Air Force Magazine (October 2004) – Washington Watch section includes an entry covering the AMC-X.

Additional Readings & Sources: Related Technologies & News

  • Aviation Week’s Defense Technology International (Jun 13/07) – A400M Could Dominate Strategic Lift. Also covers the C-17 program, and C-5 AMP/RERP upgrades. “The trend in airlift demand is going to place a premium on aircraft that carry more than a C-130. The goal of carrying Future Combat Systems vehicles on the C-130 has been abandoned. Even the new Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles are so heavy that a C-130 will carry only one of them. And plans call for the Army to get bigger. If there is an airlift crisis in 2015-20, you read it first here.”
  • Military Aerospace Technology (March 16/05) – Next Generation Gunships. Includes significant details re: Lockheed Martin’s MACK concept, which may have a significant influence on its ACCA/AJACS entries.
  • Special Operations Technology (Oct 13/04) – The Next Generation. Covers more radical new helicopter and fixed-wing designs, including blended wing, quad tiltrotors, tilt-wings, gyrodynes, and compound helicopters.
  • AIAA – Applications of Circulation Control Technology book synopsis & order page. Based on papers from the 2004 NASA/ONR Circulation Control Workshop, this collection is an invaluable, one-of-a-kind resource on the state-of-the-art in circulation control technologies and applications. Filling the information gap between 1986—when the last such symposium was held—and today, it summarizes the applications, experiments, computations and theories related to circulation control, emphasizing fundamental physics, systems analysis and applied research.