McMillan P.1071 Redcap
Abstract:
The McMillan Redcap is a twin-engined CC Canard-compound delta wing multi-role combat aircraft. The Redcap can trace its origins back to 1983 with a private venture to offer a home grown competitor to the F-16 / F-18 series of aircraft. Whilst the project did yield some results it was decided to start anew with an aircraft of comparable quality and capability to the new "EuroCanard" designs. The first prototype flew on June 16th 1995.
The Redcap has yet to enter active service with any air arm around the world but several are used by the Atlantian equivalent to QinetiQ for DACT and as trials aircraft.
Design:
The Redcap like its European counterparts is an aerodynamically unstable agile design that uses a quadruplex fly by wire system to keep it in the air. Said FBW system also prevents any prospective pilot from over-stressing the airframe.
The design of the aircraft is that of a compound delta wing swept at 35° inboard and 53° outboard, the canards are of the close coupled variety and are all-moving. Swept at 45° with leading and trailing edge lift devices.
The Redcap makes use of the now fully developed engine produced by Babcock-Weisz known as the Enfield. The engine is a development of their earlier Hippogriff.
Whilst no orders have yet been penned McMillan remain confident that the future will bring at least one substantial order other than the development airframes.
Further Developments:
The Redcap has spawned further development in as much as trying to make it more coveted by potential customers. Some of these developments include;
- BW-130 engines to replace BW-125 with a revised hotter HPT constructed from more durable components and actively cooled yielding up-to a 20% increase in net thrust.
- BW-131 engines, supplementary to either BW-125 or BW-130 the BW-131 was envisaged for durability and service life over sheer performance for uses not requiring the latter.
- Project Neptune, in addition to the newer engines (which necessitated a revised intake layout) there were plans to increase the sensor power of the red cap. The new re-contoured nose and thus enlarged antenna has resulted in a 20% increase in T/R modules. Daywalker-I also features a revised back-end improved from experience gathered from Nightstalker and Daywalker operationally. In addition to Daywalker I there is now the customer defined option to include L band arrays on the 35° area of the wings and vertical stabiliser.
- Drogue parachute, with the relocation of the tail-boom countermeasure dispensers it is now possible to have a drogue fitted to cut runway landing length even further
- Improvements to ECM/EW system
- Navalised Redcap or P.1072S Bluecap. Much like the Typhoon and Gripen there has been a proposed carrier capable version of the redcap. Changes necessary for this have been reasonably minimal namely being a revised pattern of landing gear (necessitating fairings due to the size) a strengthened non retractable tail-hook, revised ventral strakes and larger vertical stabiliser and finally the revised pattern intake of the Block 20 redcap.
Drawings are subject to change
General Characteristics:
- Crew: 1 or 2
- Length: 16.7m
Wingspan: 11.1m
- Wing Area: 43.5m²
- Height: 5.06m (landing gear retracted)
- Empty Weight: 9950kg
- Loaded Weight: 15955kg
- Max. Takeoff Weight: 25550kg
- Powerplant: 2x Babcock-Weisz Enfield BW-125, 130 or 131 afterburning turbofans with 3D vectoring nozzles
- Dry Thrust: 189.7kN (Combined)
- Wet Thrust: 247.38kN (Combined)
- Fuel Capacity:
- 5000kg (internal)
- 7451kg (internal + conformal tanks)
- 10719kg (as above with the addition of two 2000L droptanks)
Performance Characteristics:
- Max. Speed (Hi): 2300km/h (@13716m)
- Max. Speed (Lo):1629km/h (@ Sea Level)
- Max. Sustainable speed: 2575km/h (@13716m)
- Max. Supercruise speed: 1960km/h (@13716m)
- Ferry Range: 3740km (with conformal tanks and two 2000l droptanks)
- Combat Radius: 1850-1875km (hi-lo-hi - with conformal tanks and two 2000l droptanks)
- A2A Combat Radius: 1350km (with 10m loitering time - 50% fuel, 4x MRAAMs and internal gun ammuntion)
- Wing Loading: 307.5kg/m²
- T/W Ratio: 1.212 (@ normal loaded weight at full military power)
- Rate of Climb: 315m/s
Avionics and Sensors:
- Radar: AAe Daywalker (downscaled Nightstalker variant - 1350T/R nodes with 120° azimuth control via a swashplate arrangement)
- AAe Daywalker-I - 1700T/R nodes with Lycanthrope L-band supplementary antennas on Project Neptune aircraft
- EO/IRST: AAe FLEO (Similar arrangement to Thales' FSO/OSF - 4 target tracking at 150km, 50km effective ranged FLIR and LRF)
- Electronic Warfare: AAe Phalanx (Multi-spectral system with a cacophony of receivers and emitters as well as integral chaff/flare dispensers and infra-red/laser jammers)
- Cockpit Systems:
- Elbit Cockpit NG system (Not dissimilar to upgrades proposed for Rhino and F-15)
- Side mounted HOTAS (for both crew members in the two-seater)
- Martin Baker Mk.16a 0-0 ejection seat(s)
Armament:
- Stations: 11(+2) (1x centreline (heavy), 2x centreline (flank), 2x inboard, 2x midboard, 2x outboard, 2x wing-tip rails - +2 sensor stations on the chin)
- Payload: Up-to 10500kg
- Fixed Weapons: 1 or 2 (Customer specified out of: BK-27, GIAT 30, Oerlikon KCA, Oerlikon KBA or Oerlikon KAA - with between 150 and 275rds per gun)
- Air-to-Air Missiles
- AIM-9 Sidewinder
- AIM-120 AMRAAM
- AIM-132 ASRAAM
- AIM-2000 IRIS-T
- Rafael Python 3,4 and 5
- Rafael Derby
- Meteor BVRAAM
- Air-to-Ground Missiles
- AGM-65 Maverick
- AGM-84 Harpoon
- AGM-84K SLAM-ER
- AGM-88 HARM
- AGM-154 JSOW
- MBDA Storm Shadow
- MBDA SPEAR
- MBDA Dual-Mode Brimstone
- Taurus KEPD350
- Taurus MP
- MBDA ALARM
- Kongsberg NSM
- Kongsberg JSM
- BAE Sea Eagle
- Boeing Harpoon
- Boeing SLAM-ER
- Saab RBS-15
- Guided Bombs
- GBU-10,12 and 16 Paveway II
- GBU-22, 23 and 24 Paveway III
- GBU-31, 32 and 38 JDAM
- GBU-54, 55 and 56 L-JDAM
- GBU-39 and 53 SDB
- CBU-103, 104 and 105 WCMDs
- Unguided Bombs
- Mk81, 82, 83 and 84
- MBDA BANG 125, 250 and 1000
- CBU-87, 89 and 97
- Rockets
- CRV7 in LAU-5002 / 5003 pods (Plus guided derivatives)
- Hydra 70 in LAU-61 / 68 pods (Plus guided derivatives)
- Zuni in LAU-10 pods (Plus guided derivatives)
- Thomson Brandt 100mm rockets in LR 100-4 or LR 100-6 pods
- SNEB 68mm rockets in Matra 155 or RL F2 pods
- Other Stores
- IAI Elta EL/L-8222 EW Pod
- IAI Elta EL/M-20600 Radar Targeting Pod
- Rafael Lite Shield EW Pod
- Goodrich DB-110 RECCE Pod
- Various droptanks including 1250L, 1750,L 2000L and 2275L capacity models
- Targeting Pods
- LANTIRN (Nav and Targeting Pods)
- Pantera / Sniper XR
- Litening III, G4 and SE
- Damocles
--------------------
- Yes the design is styled somewhat after the J-10 though I've tried to include various ideas from other designs
- I've put a lot of effort into all this as you might expect so please don't uneducatedly kitbash the hell out it like a certain someone did with one of my other designs
- The above mentioned, I'd love to see people's takes on them in their own AUs so long as they know what they're doing...
"For Fun"
Camo tint PRU pink just for you Rhade.
Interdictor scheme with PRU mauve undersides (Dk. green / Ocean grey over)
Desert pink for "Anatolian shield"
As the other interdictor but with PRU blue undersides rather than mauve.
Probably more livery options / ideas to come...
~Mark