[3e] F-111

[Phaelen Bleux]

General Dynamics F-111 "Aardvark"
As The F-105 Thunderchief was reaching its retirement, Tactical Air Command began looking for its replacement. Featuring a number of firsts in aviation design, such as variable-geometry wings, terrain-following radar, and supersonic flight without afterburning ("supercruise"), the F-111 seemed destined to be a cutting edge aircraft. The design was plagued with problems, however, and the -B version for the U.S. Navy never even made it into service. Nevertheless, the F-111 saw service in Vietnam and the Gulf Wars, performing reliable in both conflicts. For most of its career, the F-111 carried the unofficial nickname "Aardvark;" this was made official just before the plane's retirement in 1997.
The F-111 has a crew of two (pilot and tactical navigator) who sit side-by-side in the cockpit. Instead of ejection seats, the F-111 features an escape capsule that holds both crew members. It features an internal bomb bay that can be configured for a number of payloads. The bay can be fitted with a 20mm Vulcan cannon (which was never used in any F-111) and two 750-lb. bombs. More often, however, the F-111F is fitted with the Pave Tack pod containing FLIR, laser rangefinder, and laser designator. This pod is only semi-retractable, leading many pilots to call it "Pave drag." (Some GMs may wish to consider this a loaded hardpoint in planes so equipped.)
The F-111 is equipped with eight external hardpoints as well. The outermost two have never been used. The inner two are only used for two 600-gallon drop tanks. The remaining four hardpoints can be loaded with GBU-12 Paveway II 500-lb. bombs, GBU-10 Paveway II 2,000-lb. bombs, GBU-24 Paveway III 2,000-lb. bombs, GBU-28 Paveway III 4,800-lb. bombs, GBU-15 EO-guided 2,000-lb. bombs, plus an assortment of other "dumb" bombs and cluster weapons. Fort self-defense, the F-111F routinely carries AIM-9 Sidewinder missiles.
The F-111F burns 909 gallons of jet fuel per hour at routine usage. A full (internal) tank of fuel costs $15,075. The F-111 has a range of 2,925 miles on internal fuel alone. Ordnance costs vary by payload.

General Dynamics F-111F
Subassemblies: Body +5, STOL Wings with Variable Sweep +3, 3 retractable small Wheels +1.
Powertrain: Two 15,151-lb. thrust Turbofans with Afterburners, 2,300-kWs advanced battery.
Fuel: 5,025 gallons jet fuel (Fire 13) in standard self-sealing fuel tanks (Fire +0).
Occupancy: 2 NCS.
Cargo: 0.

Armor
All: 4/20

Weaponry:
31,500-lbs. of disposable ordnance [Body/Wings:U].

Equipment:
Body: Long range radio with scrambler, navigation instruments, inertial navigation system, IFF, autopilot, 2-person escape capsule with airbags, 50,000-lb. brake parachute, refueling probe, terrain following radar, 60-mile radar (Scan 21), advanced radar/IR detector, HUDWAC, decoy discharger with 6 chaff/flare reloads, flight recorder, datalink, two small computers with terminals, dedicated targeting computer, 20-mile thermograph, 20-mile laser range finder, 20-mile laser designator, military GPS, 0.5 man/days limited life support, 1,500-lb. bomb bay. Wings: 8 hardpoints.

Statistics:
Size: 73'x63'x17' Payload: 26.25 tons Lwt.: 50 tons
Volume: 1,366 cf. Maint.: 5.3 hours Price: $14,265,585

HT: 12. HPs: 3,792 Body, 1,971 each Wing, 344 each Wheel.

aSpeed: 1650 aAccel: 6/10 aDecel: 38 aMR: 9.5 aSR: 5
Stall Speed: 157 mph. Take-Off Run: 1,040 yards. Landing Run: 1,000 yards.
gSpeed: 394 gAccel: 20 gDecel: 10 gMR: 0.25 gSR: 3
Ground Pressure Extremely High. No Off-Road speed.

Design Notes:
Body is 1,080 cf; wheels are 54 cf; wings are 143 cf each. Wing volume was reverse-calculated from historical wing area. Structure is Extra-Heavy, Standard with Superior Streamlining. Armor is expensive metal. Electronic controls. Design Loaded weight is 113,977 lbs.; this was decreased 12% to the actual value. The design payload runs high; design empty weight was within 4% of the historical value of 47,481 lbs. Historical values for wing area and loaded weight were used for performance calculations. See p. VE160 for the effects of swept wings on performance. Design aSpeed is 1,327 mph, 1,705 mph with afterburner. Design stall speeds were 175 mph, or 157 mph with wings extended. The historical top speed, take-off run, and landing run are shown above. -32 mph to aSpeed per loaded hardpoint. Historical cost was $9.8 million in 1998.

Variants:
The F-111A (1967) featured two 18,500-lb. turbofans. It lacked many of the modern features shown above, including GPS, thermograph, INS, laser designator, and laser rangefinder. 141 built.
The F-111B was a failure to navalize the F-111. It was superceded by the F-14.
The F-111C were 24 -As exported to Australia.
The F-111D featured 19,600-lb. turnbofans and a high-maintenance and unreliable improved avionics package. 96 built.
The F-111E was similar to the -A, with a couple of minor upgrades. 94 built.
The F-111G were 51 airframes reworked for training purposes.
The F-111K was an order of aircraft for Australia that was canceled due to prolonged technical difficulties.