Effects of the Litening and ATFLIR External Targeting Pods on F/A-18C Hornet Weapons Release

摘要

In this paper we compare developed pitch and yawing moments on a Mk-82 500 lb bomb from the Advanced Targeting Forward Looking Infrared (ATFLIR) pod and from the geometrically different and physically larger Litening Pod, with both targeting pods mounted externally on the fuselage of a F/A-18C fighter attack aircraft. Both Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations and limited wind tunnel testing show that the Litening Pod, as compared with the physically smaller ATFLIR, has reduced pitch and yaw moments on a Mk 82 bomb released and descending from an adjacent under wing pylon. The consistent trends between the CFD simulations and wind tunnel testing support the general value of CFD simulations for store separation analysis.