Re: Ada Success Story II

["Marin David Condic, 561.796.8997, M/S 731-93" <condicma@PWFL.COM>]

Dale Pontius <pontius@BTV.VNET.IBM.COM> writes:
>There was a flyoff between the YF22 and the YF23, which the YF22
>won. What were they doing for flight software on the flyoff? I
>could believe hacked F16 software, or something like that, except
>isn't the F22 the first plane to use thrust vectoring?
>
    For the record, the Pratt engines used in both the YF22 & YF23 had
    engine controls programmed in Ada. The contract officer overseeing
    our development efforts looked at how we develop control software
    in Ada and pronounced himself "suitably whelmed" and in commenting
    on our use of Ada said words to the effect of: "to think, I had to
    see it from an *engine* company" (as opposed to an avionics
    company, most of whom were staying away from Ada in droves.)

    The F22 is not the first plane to use thrust vectoring. There were
    a number of research programs that mounted thrust vectoring
    nozzles on things like the F15. We've even built a 3-D nozzle for
    the F100 engines used by F15s and F16s - nicknamed "the eyeball"
    because of it's ability to swivel around and open&close much like
    the pupil of an eye. The Harrier most certainly does thrust
    vectoring. And if one would want to pick a few nits, the
    commercial airliners have been using thrust vectoring (thrust
    reversers) long before the Air Force was willing to take a chance
    on such technology.

    Still, it's pretty cool to watch them test the F119 engine and
    have it pull its thrust vectoring tricks on the stand. There's a
    lot of technological advancement in this particular engine.

    MDC

Marin David Condic, Senior Computer Engineer    ATT:        561.796.8997
M/S 731-96                                      Technet:    796.8997
Pratt & Whitney, GESP                           Fax:        561.796.4669
P.O. Box 109600                                 Internet:   CONDICMA@PWFL.COM
West Palm Beach, FL 33410-9600                  Internet:   CONDIC@FLINET.COM
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