valens

Contract n° 4 Fourth generation jet fighter Valens/Kilatus F-5 "Cougar" Taking lessons from the development history of the F-14 "Tomcat", Kilatus, though a newcomer to the jet fighter business, decided to streamline the "Tomcat" design to the extreme, and delivered the "Cougar". Keeping the tandem pilot/interception officer as well as the lifting-body approach and discarding the variable geometry wing allowed Kilatus to develop a large, agile, polyvalent fighter that can complement and follow the F-14 in its role as fleet defense interceptor as well as polyvalent fighter. Furthermore, the use of mobile leading edge root extensions greatly enhances the manœuverability of the "Cougar". [Production notes: That one was fun ! "Cougar" (development codename "Schwalbe") started as a narrow-body one-seated fighter and had the moving LERXes from the start. However, the wing design, which was soon modified to its present configuration, meant that wing loading was way to large for dogfighting. So the centerline lifting body quickly became an efficient, if obvious solution, which allowed me to shake this birdie over 25G. It also keeps in touch with the "Tomcat" design which it should follow, while being substantially lighter (I looked at @Raptor9's excellent Sea Skimmer for weight reference). Additionally, static wings meant that the loadout could be increased. Fair warning if you want to fly the "Cougar", you should not exceed 30G-manœuvers, as some parts tend to break over 50G. This, as well as the slight flight instability, is why I recommend the use of a fly-by-wire system such as borisbarboris' AtmosphereAutopilot.]

Contract n° 3 (and also a bit of 4) Third generation jet fighter Valens/Kyasish'ev Model 3c and 4c "Buzzard" When the government opened contract bids for the development and production of a new fighter strike aircraft, Kyasish'ev's engineers came up with the Model 3c "Buzzard", an all-weather fighter-bomber that features an innovative slatted wing, extensive range and a two-kerbal team of pilot/interception officer allowing greater flexibility over a large range of tasks. The "Buzzard" is a large plane though (over 20 tons with missiles), and, although it can take off and land on relatively short terrain, a navalized derivative was thus created with the Model 4c. The 4c retains most of the layout, especially the wing design, but is ca 5 tons lighter than its big brother. It does not, however, seats an interception officer, and, with its single engine and reduced fuel reserve, does not retain the higher speeds and large range of the 3c. NB: The production models come with a twin gun. However, as these aircraft were first envisioned as missile platforms, these were added late in the design process. [Production notes: How to design a third generation jet fighter without having the F-4 "Phantom" in mind ? The first iteration (nicknamed "Opera") resembled so much the F-4 that I had to scrap it (of course, I still have it and might publish it someday...). A second iteration wound up closer to a beefed-up hybrid of F-86 "Sabre", F-9 "Crusader" and Fiat G91, had only mediocre TWR due to its single engine... I took a step back and looked at other airplanes from that era. So both iterations of the "Buzzard" have DNA from the MiG-23 "Flogger", the Mirage F1/F2, the F-111 "Aardvark" and the F-4. Looking at all these aircraft, one third generation innovation that was implemented and stayed with all these planes was the use of leading edge slats, which help on short take-offs and add pitch authority. Also, the "Buzzard" sees the introduction of a new type of landing gear-based rockets which is slightly lighter than the previous one.]

2nd Generation — Contract 002 valens/ FLOOYD Dynamics F99c "Adynaton" The "Adynaton" is designed around the Whiplash engine, as befits its role of bomber-hunter fast missile platform. Armed with six missiles and two guns, it can hit multiple targets from high altitude and still have a extensive range. In order to take off in less than ten seconds, it is fitted with two sets of JATO rockets. With a full load, the "Adynaton" reaches 12km altitude under two minutes and 18km under three minutes; the performances dramatically increase though as missiles are launched. Piloting this bird is not for the faint-hearted though, as acceleration and decelaration can be extremely violent, and maneuverability at high altitudes less than optimal. [Production notes : That one was a beast ! Two designs were competing in my head, and the first one (under Vac-Co's fictional supervision) was really small, but could not carry much in the way of armament, and displayed ridiculously high performances. FLOOYD's features a semi-angled wing in order to have a decent angle of attack, as well as flaps placed outboard of the wing (an afterthought, they were not supposed to be used), and a double delta wing reminiscent of the Saab Drakken. I also tested a Panther-powered version (which I might upload one day) but the performances when loaded were largely inferior to the Whiplash version ; interestingly, the former used a liquid fuel/oxidizer mix for fast take-off, similar to the Mirage III developed in the late 50s.] On a relevant matter, what do you guys use as stock missiles that do not massively hinder aerodynamics ?

Contract 001 First Generation Jet Fighter valens/Krumann Aviation P-34 "Comet" An all-around fighter-bomber that can carry two bombs and two unguided missiles, as well as having six guns on the nose. As a carrier-based fighter aircraft, it sports two engines (and can in fact fly on one) and a tail hook (tail hook is retracted on the KerbalX model). [Production notes : Due to the aerodynamics of KSP and missiles, four Junos have been clipped together two by two, and two air intakes have similarly been clipped together, in order to develop enough power to give the "Comet" acceptable performances. Otherwise it is a straightforward plane, inspired by staples of the late 40s and 50s such as the Lockheed P-80 or the Dassault Ouragan and Mystère, and its design actually started on paper and pen!] AG1 Toggle engines AG3 Toggle flaps AG4 Drop port bomb AG5 Drop starboard bomb AG6 Drop port rocket AG7 Drop starboard rocket AG0 Toggle ladder RCS Toggle reaction wheels

There and back again in 30:07, thanks to RAPIERs and a J-22-esque plane. Three mods were used, though the plane itself is completely stock : KER, Waypoint Manager and Atmosphere Autopilot.

From experience with a similar situation, I usually have to tweak the booster (Boreas-R, Twin-Boar-based recoverable booster) thrust during the flight in order to maintain acceptable manoeuvrability, but other than that, its profile is nothing fancy. Using Gravity Turn, I only have to act on booster thrust and roll (180 to 0) during the flight. Now, as is visible in the picture, this version of Boreas-R is specifically designed for greater pitch control (6 vernor RCS for pitch control, 2 for yaw), so RCS is necessary for the flight.

Might it be Airplane Plus ? IMHO one of the best airplane mods around.

For a challenge on the french community forum, I have developed a skydiving plane (this was still 1.3.x), somewhat inspired by the Pilatus Porter. STOL capabilities, easy handling, also able to act as a dropship for small payloads. KerbalX link here.

min je sais j'insiste ... Voui. En fait j'avais déjà repassé dans le .cfg, et j'ai du vous mettre la version où j'avais oublié de changer ceci.

Encore pour référence, @yrou avait commencé un tableur avec les VEN et VFR officielles de KSP côte à côte pour corriger quelques termes. Il serait peut-être utile de lui demander de mettre ce tableur à disposition des traducteurs... Quelqu'un peut/veut-il relire et corriger ma traduction du mod Astrogator par @HebaruSan ? Deux points particuliers me posent problèmes : Parle-t-on de noeuds ou de points de manoeuvre ? Il me semble avoir vu les deux. J'ai utilisé noeud parce que c'est ce que j'ai trouvé dans le tableur de @yrou. Je ne suis pas sûr de escape trajectory => trajectoire de libération. Quelqu'un a-t-il une meilleure idée ?

En effet, après vérification minutes s'abbrévie en min. Je vais contacter le moddeur pour faire cette correction. Sources à ajouter éventuellement dans vos outils : http://www.ilocis.org/fr/documents/ilo105.htm et http://www.guide-typographie.com/ab_unitemesure.htm.

Pour les traducteurs, voici quelques outils de référence : Arrêté du 20 février 1995 relatif à la terminologie des sciences et techniques spatiales : les termes très officiels, ainsi qu'une correspondance avec les termes anglais. Projet de glossaire astronautique sur Wikipedia : un autre glossaire, ainsi que des liens. Vocabulaire de l'astronautique - Agence spatiale canadienne : encore des termes, mais sans les correspondances anglophones.

In my preparations for my pending exploration of Duna, I have been inspired by @Frank_G's excellent mission report, especially his solar bird and MOLE crafts. I have then developed my own take on a high-altitude solar-powered ion propulsion plane for the exploration of atmospheres: HAAF. Not only is HAAF quite manoeuverable, but its large wing area means it can easily glide or aerobrake in the high atmosphere and ride the Karman line in search for atmospheric science. So far I have deployed one on a polar orbit around Kerbin in order to get missing high atmosphere science as well as a live test (I can already say that it lacks some electric storage, but that can be circumvented, around Kerbin at least). Further possible development could see the addition of a docking port for (partial) recovery, of more science instrument or a more efficient antenna. Now on to Duna!

@flart I'll gladly look into it. [EDIT] Quelqu'un veut-il le relire rapidement ?