Re: Fuerza Aérea de los EE.UU. (USAF)
Publicado: Jue Jun 11, 2020 11:13 am
Poli, precisamente sobre "iteracionar" o desarrollar tecnología más rápidamente. Pongo extractos, pero leedlo entero:
The US Air Force (USAF) is looking to the automotive manufacturing industry for inspiration on how to build next-generation fighter aircraft.
The service wants to mimic the way the car industry makes small improvements to car models year after year using digital design and engineering tools, says Will Roper, assistant secretary of the USAF for acquisition.
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The USAF believes by holding a series of competitions, one about every five years, it can break free of decades-long aircraft design and manufacturing programmes. The service wants to use shorter design and manufacturing cycles to take advantage of new technologies faster than rivals China and Russia.
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Roper expects the USAF to order 50-70 examples of the first aircraft in the Digital Century Series. Aircraft after that will evolve slowly. It would be “very similar to the way the automotive industry slowly changes their [cars’] outer mold line, but not significantly.”
To keep commonality between the evolving aircraft, and thus keep maintenance and manufacturing tooling costs down, the service wants to see prime manufacturers sharing suppliers and adhering to common supportability requirements. Across the series, aircraft might also use the same simulators, same cockpit design or standards, says Roper.
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Ultimately, the service plans to scrap and replace airframes with new iterations instead of maintaining and upgrading legacy aircraft for decades. Given that aircraft manufacturers typically bid for contracts at a loss and then make a profit by generating revenue from MRO services, the USAF is having to think hard about how much aircraft really cost.
“When you sum it all up, you’re looking for how much should you pay per year on average for relevancy,” says Roper. “If we can show that the Digital Century Series is less than an in-depth mass production [programme], then hurrah for our country.”
https://www.flightglobal.com/fixed-wing ... 86.article