Combat aircraft Test flights

[HP1982]

Hi
This is my first post in this forum.
My general question is regarding Combat aircraft Test flight.

How many Test flights does it take before a combat aircraft can be declared combat worthy and undergo serial production ?

Also how many hours are logged during each test flight ?

(Iam just curious)
I was browsing through the ADA, MOD GOI website and it said the following
"LCA-Tejas has completed 313 Test Flights successfully.(10-Dec-04)"

http://www.ada.gov.in/others/Curren...-Dec-04_Tejas-LCA_/_10-dec-04_tejas-lca_.html

Also I read that number of hours needed to be logged is 2000 for the LCA. Again does this vary depending on the aircraft ?

Many thanks!
HP

 

[highsea]

Hi HP, welcome to DT.

Yours is a good question, but it does not have a simple answer.

It depends on the aircraft and the country developing it. Every country does things a little differently, and every aircraft has different requirements.

It is can vary depending on how much new technology is incorporated, what changes and modifications have to be done in the process, whether new weapons systems, engines, and avionics are incorporated, and many, many other factors. A new AC goes through several stages of design and concept evaluation. There is a great deal of computer simulation, wind tunnel testing, static testing of the engines, testing of every subsystem from flight controls to the ejection seat, and low and high speed taxi tests before a new aircraft can even take off on it's maiden flight.

Flight tests go through phases. Initial prototype tests prove the concept, top speeds, high alpha flight, manouvering, aerial refeuling, flight characteristics at various power levels and trim configurations. From there you go to higher altitude testing, formation flying, and the aircraft is usually ferried to a test center to continue the process. Each series of tests involves incorporating new systems and software packages. Initially you might just test flight controls, later the avionics are added, then later weapons, etc. Each block of tests adds a new capability to the aircraft.

In the case of the USAF F/A-22 Raptor, it was a very involved process. The first 9 F-22 Raptors went through over 2500 flight tests for over 4500 hours. This was before a final production configuration was even settled on. Then an additional 40 aircraft were built and split into 2 squadrons for further testing and training. The process is still ongoing, and the first fully operational squadron is scheduled to be implemented sometime next summer. The demonstration and evaluation phase began in 1986, and today the AC is in low rate production with 24 aircraft on order for 2005.

I gave an extreme example, but you see it is a very involved process, and the more complex the AC, the more complex the testing will be. It can take 15 to 20 years to develop a new fighter aircraft, and many thousands of hours of testing.

Here is a link with more detail about the flight test cycle of the F-22:

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/aircraft/f-22-testfly.htm

and some information on additional testing:

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/aircraft/f-22-test.htm