KB2008

The Killer Bee

The Killer Bee is a VTOVL high speed areial refuelable gunship, sort of a flying APC made of light weight composites. It has armored self sealing cellular fuel tanks.

It can land in narrow city streets unlike a helicopter with wide rotor blades and travel in ground affect mode.

Its lift fans are powered by the power turbine of a turboshaft engine. Steering is done by compressed air thrusters that take air off the jet engine compressor turbine.

Forward propulsion is achieved with a small turbojet on the topside.

It is my hope that this weapon will succeed at missions where helicopters have failed.

Sophisticated carbon nanotube composites may be needed to make this weapon feasible.

see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turboshaft

http://www.aerospaceweb.org/question/propulsion/q0209.shtml

The "Killer Bee" VTOVL gunship packs as much firepower as an A-10 or AC-130.
It can fly at over 300 mph, hover and turn on a dime. It has two side gunners, a rear gunner, forward guns and missles controlled by wire by the co-pilot and one pilot for a crew of five. It can carry up to ten men and some dogs for ground deployment missions. The ship should have no problem over cover of jungle and it can make risky insertions into urban streets unlike a conventional 'copter with wide rotors. Civilian versions can do flying ambulance duty and hi-rise fire rescue duty.

AFTERTHOUGHTS: There's far more of this in my mind that i have not pictured. Not pictured is the stabilizer/elevator atop the tail. Or the rudder or the ailerons for control during fast horizontal flight. The thrusters are mainly for yaw during hovering and they can move the ship laterally during hover mode. They can also pitch the ship a little. Perhaps even roll the ship a bit. Depends on how much air can be gotten off compressor.

A whole new turboshaft engine that is sort of a harrier/helicopter engine hybrid must be developed. It will have to be really powerful if it is going to get this ship off the ground without sacrificing ammo and armor. The fuel tanks will need some good armor so that this ship can't be blown up out of the sky with shoulder launched missles. Perhaps they will be titanium with a bullet absorbing gel and/or layers of kevlar.

I think the ship will be designed around the engine. So we have to estimate the weight of the ship and the power of the engine required then develop the dimensions of the ship.

I have had lots of daydreams about this ship and missions it could perfrom like landing a couple of blocks away from a target building, deploying troops and dogs, then ascending and providing air support for the boots on the ground.

The ship is solid and simple. No folding wings or tilt rotors. Don't forget Murphy's Law. Maintanence and reliability is improved over folding winged tilt rotors. Since the ship is fairly narrow it will be easier to store atop aircraft carriers and on towed sea-going barges.

Troops cannot jump from this ship unless the rear gun is sacrificed for a rear door, but why jump when you can land in a smaller clearing in the forest than a V22 can and hit the ground???

ABOUT CONTROLS: A joystick is used for aileron and elevator control. A pilot side lever is the throttle for vertical rotor control, direct ascent and descent, that has a grip throttle for horizontal jet control. Thrust reversers on the vertical jet engine make it possible to hover without moving fwd or back-the thrust reversers direct part thrust fwd and some backwards 50/50 and the ship can even fly backwards during hover. And the horizontal jet engine doesn't have to be deactivated during hover then reignited to move the ship. Rudder pedals move rudder and also yaw thrusters because it doen't matter what the rudder does during hover; however during fwd flight this could add too much yaw to a turn so pilots must pussy foot those pedals and ailerons are all that's needed for a fwd flight turn anyway. Lateral motion during hover is activated by buttons on the joystick that fire both yaw thrusters on one side simultaneously whereas diagonally located thrusters fire for hover yaw maneuvers. Electromechanical valves open and close to let compressor air fire the thrusters. The system is fairly simple. I don't see any reason to pitch or roll the ship during hover.

The lift fans will be cantilevered for pitch and roll stability. The vertical power turboshaft engine and tail mounted horizontal motion turbojet (with thrust reversers) must be located for good position of center of mass. The turboshaft will be heavier than tail jet because more power is nec. for lift than horizontal flight. The wings on which the missle pods are located will also be cantilevered. Crew and troops will not move around much during flight so CM doesn't change.

Driveshafts will be hollow titanium or steel tubes packed with grease that is propelled by centripetal force out thru holes in beveled gears for lubrication. Very simple and relibable. Grease fittings will be unscrewed and countersunk threaded plugs will be used so grease doesn't get spun out of fittings. How long will lubrication last? It's got to last for one mission at least.

GE turboshaft engine page: http://www.geae.com/engines/military/comparison_turboshaft.html

Getting 5 shp per pound of engine weight seems conservative enough. Elsewhere I read that a Harrier uses 1.11 hp/lb. for lift. Thus, if the ship weighs 80,000 lbs. (40 english tons) it would need about 90,000 hp for lift so it would use a 18,000 lb.
( 9 eng. tons) engine so 31 tons is left for armor, weapons, air frame, horizontal turbojet, lift fans, gears, crew+troops etc.

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN: If you think this ship has any potential, you run with the ball. In closing I can only say that the ship is stealthy and the whine of the lift fans is very high pitched at sonic frequencies that human ears are not very sensitive to so it is quieter than a conventional helicopter gunships.

I welcome comments by email:

to see the rest of moonminer.com just go back to HUMANITY INDEX
and from there go back to the L1 Spacestation for main menu.

http://www.aerospaceweb.org/question/propulsion/q0033.shtml
see how particles are separated and kept out of engine the engine must not eat sand during desert missions

fuel tanks are wrapped in self sealing gel and layers of bullet proof kevlar

Forty tons might be grandiose. Twenty tons or 40,000 pounds might be more realistic. In that case we need an engine that gives 45,000 shp. The GE T64-GE 100 gets 4330 shp, weighs 726 pounds, is 79 in. long and its max. diameter is 20.1 inches. That's about 6 shp per pound and i am being conservative with 5 shp/lb. so a 20 ton ship needs a 4.5 ton engine leaving 15.5 tons for everything from fuel and fuel tanks to weapons, armor, crew+troops, frame, gear system, lift fans, etc.

A 45,000 shp engine would need about ten times the throat area or about 3.126*20.1 = 63 inches diameter That's a little over five feet so it looks like an engine could be built that's about the size of things as i have eyeballed them by the seat of my pants. Two engines and a more complex gear system would provide redundancy and 2.236*20.1 = 45 inches diameter for both engines.

3.126 = SQRT 10 2.236 = SQRT 5

JUSTIFICATION OF THE KB CONCEPT

1) 1 out of 3 chopper pilots killed in Nam
2) iran hostage mission failure
3) "Black Hawk Down"
4) dangers of the V22 Osprey
5) Apaches repelled over Bagdad by shoulder fired rockeets
6) ???

Why does the Killer Bee have front, side and rear guns for 360 degree range of fire? And missle pods that fire fwds and backwards (tho i din't picture them that way) ??? because the best defense is a good offense. and this thing will only be lightly armored so it can get off the ground...but C60 nano-composites might save the day...

Also, the KB using lift fans gets some lift from stubby wings when flying so lift fans can be throttled back for fuel efficiency and also it can fly higher than a conventional helicopter and perhaps even glide down with wings and one engine running if one of the twin engines fails or at the very least give crew time to bail out and pilots to eject... you can't really bail out or eject from a helicopter cause the rotors would chew you up....however, troops can jump from a V22 Osprey....and the KB can be refueld in flight for excellent range and combat radius...

I find it hard to beleive nobody has ever thought of this somewhere and i can't find anything on the web like it.

Instead of a single tail, rudder, stabilizer and elevator, dual tail assemblies that can absorb more damage would be superior. Twin low bypass turbofans with afterburners and thrust reversers would be better than a single turbojet. These turbofans would also be more fuel efficient and quieter,

The ship could also have roll thrusters controlled by computer to keep the ship stable during hover and low speed flight in windy conditions.

Some of my inspiration for the Killer Bee comes from the A-10 Thunderbolt that has an impressive war time track record and the F-35 Lightning that will replace the A-10 after 2028. See:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A-10_Thunderbolt_II

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F-35_Lightning_II

With A-10s in service and F-35s coming into service, why would we need a KB? Killer Bee squadrons could fly over beaches and deploy troops behind enemy lines while hovercraft assault the beach. Similar to missions forseen for the V22 Osprey, but the KB has more fire power and armor. KB squadrons could surround hi-rise buildings where terrorists lurk and machine gun them in their windows and fire missiles at them. KBs could land in city streets to narrow for a chopper and deploy troops and dogs that enter the hi-rise while other troops enter through windows gunned out by way of a gang plank from a KB hovering closer to a building than any conventional copter could. It might even shoot a hole in the roof with missiles that troops could enter thru and then fight the terrorists or the dictator's loyalist forces holed up in the building. Troops would of course have personel armor for this close in fighting. Why invade a "giant beehive" of a hi-rise office or apartment building infested with terrorists and loyalists instead of just bombing it to pieces?? There could hostages in there, women, children, infants, and men who don't want anything to do with the enemy. We can't just bomb buildings and cause "collateral damage" if we don't have to. If our troops are righteous they will be protected by God. They have to be the best to do duty this dangerous.   Troops deployed on roofs could place grappling hooks and rapel down ropes and enter shattered windows if there is any reason for that stunt.

While fighter bombers can bomb radar stations, enemy bases, bridges, roads and fighting enemy jets in air-to-air combat and A-10s and/or F-35s are also knocking out enemy tanks, trucks, APCs and planes and destroyers and cruisers are launching missiles at military targets the KB squadrons could be approaching to invade the enemy's "beehives" after the enemy city has been pounded and softened up by air strikes by our jets and ship launched missiles.

Since the KB can be refueled in flight is has great range and a large combat radius.

It can also land in neighborhoods with streets at least 25 feet wide because that's my estimate of the KB's wingspan and troops can fan out and shake down the neighborhood in search of terrorists, loyalists, even the dictator himself.

Meanwhile our convoys of trucks, tanks and APCs will be approaching by land to take an inland city with more troops to weed out enemy combatants and the dictator or dictators plural.

Drones will be circling above at high altitude providing sensor data and AWACS planes will be scanning the theatre of war and advanced satellites will be watching also.

I think that the KB can replace helicopters for many missions, but conventional choppers will still perform many behind the front lines duties including cargo deliveries.

The KB could also do ambulance duty where helicopters can't get in. It could land in smaller clearings in the jungles or forests of future theatres of war. It could travel in ground effect mode just a few feet above the ground and it could deploy troops a few blocks away from enemy forces seen by circling drones and satellites without extending landing gear then ascend vertically to provide air-to-ground cover for the troops sneaking up on the enemy.

It could do daylight as well as night-time raids.

Cantilevered lift fans will resist rolling motions caused by wind gusts although the ship will slip slideways a bit.

Lift fans will also be cantilevered on the fore to aft axis to resist pitching motions caused by wind gusts.

Wings will also be cantilevered.

About those engines; i cannot locate the page where i found 1.11 hp/lb. for Harrier lift. The Rolls-Royce engine for the F 35 generates 28,000 hp to make 20,000 lb. thrust for the F35 lift fan. I don't know the engine's mass. Based on these numbers we'd need 56,000 hp to make 40,000 lb. thrust so we'd need about 60,000 hp to get better than a 1:1 lift to weight ratio. Since the GE T64- GE 100 makes 6 hp/lb. we'd need a 10,000 lb. turboshaft set of engines or 5 tons of them leaving 15 tons for the 20 ton "Killer Bee" flying APC. Perhaps an engine with a higher power to weight ratio could be developed.
When we look at helicopters we find that some really big ones use about 12,000 to 14,000 hp and it seems like the numbers don't fit. Methinks this is because conventional chopper blades are more efficient than lift fans, thus there could be room for improvement in the lift fan department. So we want lighter more powerful engines bigger than any made today and more efficient lift fans and that means much R&D needs to be done.

CREW and CONTINGENT will be short stocky lean muscular guys weighing about 130 to 150 pounds with 50 lb. packs. Got to keep weight down if the KB is to fly with armor. Crew wt. up to 750 lbs. and contingent up to 2000 lbs. with packs. They will be Army Rangers, Air Force Special Ops or Marine Special Ops. Only the best for dangerous "beehive" raids and jungle or desert terrorist base raids. We want to get some of "them" alive for interrogation and collect evidence like books, weapons and ammo, computers or just hard drives, CDs and DVDs, anything they keep records on of "their" activities, drugs to prove how "they" make their money, and we want to rescue hostages also.

I have not made any fuel calculations and i am not sure I can make any reasonable estimates. I know that many helicopters have ranges of about 300 miles and fly up to 200 mph but the KB will fly faster and refuel in air. We will fly in low, then go high for air refueling, then go in low, do the job, fly out low, go high for refueling and then fly home low.

The miracle I hope for is a carbon 60 (fullerene) type material for light weight armor that can bounce off a DU shell fired by the enemy by shoulder launched rocket or even a howitzer.

Controls are set up for two right handed pilots.

Downstream solenoid thruster valves will get stuck closed instead of open. Better to have no thruster than an out of control thruster. One thruster could still yaw ship. Roll thrusters are usually on auto to stabilize ship but manual override is possible so roll thrusters can be used to fly ship if ailerons get shot off. Pitch thrusters might also be installed and run normally on auto with manual override if elevators get shot off so we can still fly the ship.

LEFT: A small bomb bay with several small shrapnel bombs is located on the belly to kill anyone who tries to get under the KB and fire a rocket at the ship, especially its lift fans.

The thruster ports as I pictured above are fairly small. Three valves might be needed to get enough thrust and provide redundancy.

RIGHT; self explanatory. flat window = less distortion than that from a spherical window.

Guns will be cooled with air from from horizontal flight jet compressor and not from lift engine compressor because that would reduce lift and thruster power. Air from horiz. flight jet compressor will be sent thru solid steel tubes and the last few feet will be flexible steel braided hoses to the guns. Water cooling is undesirable because that would require pumps and radiators and would be prone to leaks. So air cooling is better. High pressure air from flight jet could also run an air driven motor to turn DC generator and hydraulix pumps.

FINAL POINTS: A) 40 lb. paks and 10 lb. chutes for crew+contingent? B) Two sliding side doors for regular use and one rear door operated electromechanically for emg. bailout. C) Extra KBs in each squadron with 5 crew and 2 or 3 medics to handle rescued hostages or prisoners.

ABOVE: Tail assembly with low bypass turbofan engines is about right. Lift fans are a bit small and missile pod is to large, but I am not that artistic...