SAWE Report - Cal Poly San Luis Obispo

11.7 Alternate Missions
In addition to the design mission, the Vendetta shows great performance on alternate missions.
The multi purpose rotary launcher (MPRL), shown in Figure 11.8, carried by the Vendetta allows
it to carry a total of 8 × 2,000 lb (907 kg) bombs compared to the 4 required for the design
mission (no AMRAAM’s can be carried in this configuration.) Compared to an earlier custom
designed rotary launcher, the MPRL has only a 4 in (10 cm) greater diameter. The extra cross
sectional area due to the MPRL only adds approximately 1,300 lb (590 kg) of fuel consumption
for the design mission. The performance of the Vendetta over three alternate missions was
calculated. Fully loaded missions and subsonic missions flown at Mach 0.8 and an altitude of
approximately 30,000 ft (9,144 m) were considered. The results shown in Table 11.XII indicate
that only a small loss of range occurs due to the additional weight of 8 × 2,000 lb (907 kg)
bombs, and the range of the aircraft can be greatly extended by flying subsonic (although it
extends the mission to 11 hours long.)
Figure 11.8 - MPRL with 8 × 2,000 lb (907 kg) JDAM’s
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