Flight testing of fighter aircraft

Abstract : The scope of this paper is to give a realistic overall picture about flight testing of fighter aircraft today and trends for the future. It is shown whether, where and to what extent flight testing is and will be necessary. Especially the implications of advanced fighter aircraft concepts on the test program are discussed regarding the high technology standard of the complete weapon system and the operational requirements. It is concluded that best equipped facilities together with a well organized management are mandatory. The introduction of up-to-date scientific computer systems and the development of new software seems to be a permanent requirement to handle the streams of data which confront the flight test engineer. Early plannings and preparations are required to integrate as many tasks as possible per flight in order to save expensive flying time. Finally an overview of flight test disciplines is given. It is shown that flight test is an universal discipline. Consequently areas of main test effort only and corresponding test methods to be applied are discussed in more detail.