MBB Lampyridae

MBB Lampyridae (Latin for "Firefly " ) or MRMF ( Medium Range Missile Fighter, German: " with missiles armed intermediate-range hunter " ) was a run by Messerschmitt -Bolkow -Blohm aircraft technology project in the 1980s to " radar visibility of combat aircraft ."

History

The program was conducted from 1981 to 1987. The focus was on the development of an aircraft concept, which have a very low radar cross section and in addition should also be usable as a fighter. There were two scale models (one in 3/4, one in 2/7 of the planned size) made ​​a mock -up for radar tests in original size and various wind tunnel models. 1987 flew the model in scale 3:4 (length: 12 m, range: 6 m) in the German - Dutch wind tunnel, which has manned a cross section of 9.5 times 9.5 m. Flights About 15 confirmed forgiving flight characteristics of the sample. In the same year, the project American officers was shown in a factory MBB in Ottobrunn. The federal government decided to terminate the project, unofficially, Americans are supposed to have pressure. In February 1995, the secrecy was partially lifted. A total of 8.993 million German marks were invested in the project.

Construction

The contours of the aircraft were designed according to the Polyederprinzip, similar to the surface of the F -117 and had no right angles or rounded surfaces. The designers under the direction of G. Löbert laid the Polyederprinzip from even more severe than the F -117 developer, so that the Lampyridae showed as the F -117 in calculations and in experiments with the 1:1 mock-up better stealth characteristics, even though they had fewer than half as many facets. The machine should be able to reach a supersonic velocity.

Whereabouts

A model is now in the Gerhard Neumann Museum in Niederalteich. The successor of MBB, DASA, also led by stealth projects. Probably the old project data for the subsequent project were taken.

In the Bundestag printed paper 13/2113 of 4 August 1995 states:

" As part of the Bundeswehr Technical Technology program aircraft of Ministry of Defense Stealth examinations are performed at component level in the field of radar, infrared and acoustic signatures for manned and unmanned applications. The findings from the Lampyridae projects will be, used. "