ULTRA-LIGHTWEIGHT ADRANCED COMPOSITE EJECTION SEAT

The Navy desires to reduce the weight of its current generation of metal structured aircraft ejection seats by 20 to 30 percent. KCI, with its team partner Northrop Grumman Corporation, will develop at least three differnt seat concepts during Phase I. Each alternative will investigate a particular cost, weight and performance corner of the ejection seat design envelop. Seats will be designed with at least the following three philosophies: - maximum component interchangeability with current metal seats, - minimum weight with litter emphasis on cost, and - "balanced" cost, weight, producability and performance. All designs will emphasize application of composite materials. Heavy emphasis will be placed on the design of parts for eventual use of low cost automated manufacturing technologies such as pultrusion, RTM, braiding and filament winding whenever possible. The program team is fortunate to have Mr. Armand Aronne as a member. Mr. Aronne has been involved with Navy ejection and escape technology since 1941, and worked on the team that installed the first ejection seat in a Naval aircraft in 1946. His experience will allow the KCI/NGC team to focus on structures, manufacturing and performance-related issues with assurance that human factors and other important requirements will be adequately addressed.