camelsho@doc.ksu.ksu.edu (James A Seymour) (08/08/90)
From: camelsho@doc.ksu.ksu.edu (James A Seymour)
Do any of you in the know have any details about Burt Rutan's
privately developed ground attack plane? I believe it is nick-
named MUDFIGHTER?
I have read the stuff in Popular Science and the Wall Street
Journal of several months past.
For those of you not knowing about it, I believe a high ranking
Army officer suggested the idea to Rutan. He had a few spare
parts laying around and begged/borrowed the necessary others.
Any info would be appreciated.
James Seymour (CAMELSHO@KSUVM.KSU.EDU)betz@marob.masa.com (Tom Betz) (08/17/90)
From: betz@marob.masa.com (Tom Betz) Quoth James A Seymour in <1990Aug8.030537.26069@cbnews.att.com>: | |Do any of you in the know have any details about Burt Rutan's |privately developed ground attack plane? I believe it is nick- |named MUDFIGHTER? I saw it fly at Oshkosh two weeks ago, and attended his forum on the subject. It's quite impressive. If you've ever seen a VariViggen fly aerobatically, you've pretty much seen how the ARES flies... only the ARES is capable of flying a whole bunch faster. It uses the same engine as a Cessna Citation II. Has a bay for a 25 mm chaingun under the nose. So far, its maneuvering envelope extends between 90 and 450 mph, and will extend above 500 as the flight tests continue. It will fly a 600 ft. diameter circle at 200 mph, pulling 6 Gs. The Army can't use it because the divorce decree between the Army and Air Force requires it not to fly any fixed-wing aircraft. The Air Force isn't interested in ground-support missions. So the Army will continue to fly $8 million-plus helicopters requiring $1 million-plus per year maintenance to do the job that ARES could do better and cheaper. The Marines have no such restrictions, and so they are planning field trials of the existing proof-of-concept prototype to demonstrate its capabilities. Biggest problem he has is the fact that he's located in CA. California law prohibits him from obtaining a chaingun, even though the mfr. has one wrapped and waiting for him. He's working on ways to overcome that restriction right now. During the forum, Burt asked "How many here would like us to use the ARES in the War On Drugs?" and a lot of people raised their hands. Then he asked, "On which side?" ARES has a miniscule radar signature, and a 600 pound payload bay in its fuselage. Now that Burt's built one, should be no trouble for the Colombia cartels to build one... or a hundred... Should the US armed forces turn him down, Burt has no qualms about building a fleet of them for any Central American dictator who wants some. Also, the way he's done it, it's very easy for him to scale it up or down, (don't forget, his company is called Scaled Composites) and arm it however the client wants it armed. Only about 12% of the cost of the prototype (which he has $1.5 million sunk into) is actual airframe materials and construction cost. Half of the cost is engine. If the pentagon were smart, it would remove the restrictions on the Army. Of course, it won't... -- -----------------------------------------------------| hombre!marob!upaya!tbetz "Ever since the fateful day when Al heard about | that `Follow Your Bliss' thing, it's been just | Tom Betz - GBS cannoli, cannoli, and more cannoli." - Peter Hannah | (914) 375-1510