One new problem [with the Osprey] was discovered. The heat from the MV-22's gas turbine engines, which blow their exhaust right on to the deck of the LHD while waiting to take off, caused high enough temperatures to the steel under the deck plates, to possibly warp the understructure. This was already a known potential problem with the new F-35B. So now the navy has two hot new aircraft that require an innovative solution to the melting deck problem.Nobody thought to look at that? Heating of the deck of a ship by engine exhaust is not a new problem; the Navy had to deal with that when the SM-2ER missile was being fired from a twin-armed launcher, The later-model booster rockets that were being developed over 20 years ago could burn a a hole in a steel deck. The V-22 rotates its engine pods to the vertical and those big-ass 6,000+HP turbines are blasting exhaust straight down and nobody thought it might be a problem?
But, sad to say, this is not the first time that the Navy and the Marine Corps did not consult one another. The well deck of a certain amphibious ship that was under design a long time ago did not have enough reinforcing. It was possible to park a tank on it in such a way that the tank rested entirely on unreinforced deck plating, which did bad things to the steel deck once someone made up a test section and ran a tank onto it.
EBM:
ReplyDeleteQ: "Who the Hell is Running the Project Offices?"
A: The contractors.
Be of good cheer...
FVH
You mean the exhaust of a gas turbine engine is HOT? Well, I'll be dipped...
ReplyDeleteFVH, it's a problem.
ReplyDelete