Military Procurement: Strategic Bomber Concept

[Aanker]

KAF Strategic Bomber Challenge

Air force officials began to suspect that their old fleet of KB-68 'Vanquishers' was long past the expiration date when museums began to hire thieves to steal entire engines and other essential components from the magnificent, but sadly antiquated aircraft. The military, of course, performed several raids against many of the involved museums, where they retrieved the lost equipment so that it - along with the planes - could be scrapped for good.

However, this left the air force without any form of strategic bombing capability. An untenable situation indeed. As such, a procurement process has been initiated wherein various different aircraft manufacturers will be allowed to compete over a single strategic bomber contract. Runner-ups may be allowed to further study their concepts. As long as they look awesome.

The selection process works as follows: entrants have to comply with the basic requirements set forth by air force officials. However, entrants may score points on top of these depending on a multitude of different testable factors. These may range from top speed, to number of engines, to a specific challenge, etc.

The basic goal is to construct a reliable, functional bomber.

Basic Requirements

Spirit of the challenge: build a modestly realistic design which could serve as a reliable and functional strategic bombing platform

A bomb is herein defined as a single FL-T400 fuel tank, filled maximally with oxidizer and liquid fuel. This is the only form of 'bomb' allowed. Because kaboom. It may however be outfitted with drone cores, wings, nose cones etc.

The full payload is the payload the entrant declares to be the maximum FLT400 bomb loadout (the base requirement included), and this is also used to calculate the 'more BOOM' score. The number of bombs may not be reduced from this maximum loadout in any of the sub-challenges where a 'full payload' is required.

Stock parts only, FAR may be allowed but such entrants will be listed as FAR users.

Part clipping per se is allowed, so long as its usage does not constitute an obvious attempt to exploit physics. Think in terms of the spirit of the challenge.

No other attempts to circumvent or exploit KSP physics are allowed. I may have missed some exact point but then refer to the spirit of the challenge.

- The Bomber must be able to take off and land, both with and without payload, on the conventional KSP runway without the assistance of rockets.

- The Bomber must at least carry six (6) bombs per the definition provided above.

- The Bomber must carry these six bombs internally, shielded from the airflow. A cargo bay is preferable. However, any bombs beyond the required six may be attached to outside hardpoints (see bonus objectives).

- The Bomber must be able to drop this payload safely, without any damage being inflicted on the airframe. Collisions between bombs, such that parts of the payload are destroyed during drop, should be avoided.

- The Bomber must be able to perform a simulated attack mission (takeoff, cruise, drop payload, return to KSP, land) against the peninsular landmass far to the east of KSP, see image:

Clock the mission if you want to win the fastest bomber award.

- The Bomber must have a crew of at least two (2) Kerbals. This crew must be able to enter and exit the bomber.

Bonus Objectives

More BOOM: +12pts per extra bomb stored internally, +5pts per extra bomb stored externally.

One hundred convincing arguments: +20pts extra for carrying at least 100 bombs (this time, the x6 required bombs are included in the count)

Swift payback: +0.1pts per m/s top speed at an altitude of 3 km (for instance, if aforementioned KB-68 Vanquisher top speed at 3 km is 200 m/s, total points for this: 20pts). The speed test is to be performed with the full payload and fuel, so perform it as soon after takeoff as possible.

Engine maintenance: -2pts per basic jet engine, -4pts per turbojet, -10pts per RAPIER engine. Rockets carry no penalty but, remember, they may not be used for takeoff.

Nuclear maintenance: -20pts per LV-N (nuclear) rocket engine (relevant for some of the challenges listed below)

Part maintenance: -0.02pts per part (bombs included) (calculate at end of construction for simplicity, example bomber has 400 parts which thus equals -8pts).

Fastest bomber award: an entrant may be awarded +10pts if it is the fastest bomber (as measured in time to complete the simulated attack mission, see above) amongst its competitors in the same category scoreboard. Note that the arrival of faster entrants or new time trials for previous entries may result in the award and its points being transferred to someone else. The currently fastest plane is denoted with a cool bolded F.

Airshow maneuverability: +10pts if the Bomber can execute a horizontal turn, with or without payload, with a peak force of 10Gs or more at an altitude between 100-300m.

Gentle giant: +20pts if the Bomber with full payload, at cruising speed and an altitude of 3 km, can maintain a prograde velocity vector within 5° of its level indicator.

Flashy technology: +30pts if the Bomber has VTOL capability, with payload.

You feeling lucky, VAB?/Dynamic Demonstration of Force: +10pts if the Bomber can successfully destroy the VAB, using a part or the entirety of its payload (but not by crashing into it). For this subchallenge only, the bomber may use another loadout than FLT400 bombs.

Where Eagles Dare: +30pts if the Bomber can land on top of the VAB

Career switch: +20pts if the Bomber can be used to launch a simple one-Kerbal crewed SSTO from underneath one or both of its wings (akin to the use of the B-52 for the X-15), no payload except the SSTO(s) is necessary

Worldwide coverage +20pts if the Bomber can perform a full circumnavigation around Kerbin's equator, without refueling, full payload required (for the whole trip). The circumnavigation must be performed at an altitude of no more than 25km

SPACE bomber: +20pts if the Bomber itself functions as an SSTO, with payload.

That's no moon... Not anymore: +80pts if the Bomber can enter and survive the battlefield of the Space Age and deliver the minimum x6 FLT400s onto the surface of the Mun. Refueling in Kerbin orbit is allowed. The bombs must be dropped from an altitude no lower than 10km (so achieving orbit is not necessary)

Service ceiling: +15pts if the Bomber can sustain level flight at an altitude of 12 km.

Field refueling: +10pts if the Bomber can be refueled on the runway.

Field rearming: +20pts if the Bomber can be rearmed (only the required six bombs have to be successfully rearmable for this objective to be fulfilled) on the runway.

Operational ability: +5pts for completing both 'Field refueling' and 'Field rearming'.

Battleduck: +20pts if the Bomber can safely land on and take off from water, with full payload

Such stealth, very sneak: +2pts if it can be argued that the shape of the aircraft resembles that of a flying wing.

Inspired shape: +2pts if the Bomber has a swept wing layout, similar to that of the B-52.

If you come up with any interesting side objectives on top of these, do let me know!

Good luck and let's build some awesome-looking aircraft!

SCOREBOARDS

The scoreboard is divided into severall different categories. First, vanilla entries are separated from those using mods (for now, only FAR has its own scoreboard, with extra modifications listed with the entrant name). Secondly, different classes of bombers are recognized to encourage the construction of a wide range of different vehicles. The classes are heavy (40+ bombs), medium (20-40) and light (6-20). For now, the same scoring system and modifiers apply to all classes.

Vanilla KSP - Heavy Class (40+ bombs)

1. Juzeris - Gaoro Baltro 8 - 592pts + 10pts (F) = 602pts, mission time 00:17:59

2. gigaboom2 - The Flying Narwhal Mk II - 554pts, mission time 01:00:57

3. Jakalth - B-095 Khermite - 477pts, mission time 00:31:14, available for download

Vanilla KSP - Medium Class (20-40 bombs)

1. hoioh - Hoioh Bomber - 380pts, mission time 00:44:39

2. juzeris - Jumborator 5U - 287pts + 10pts (F) = 297pts, mission time 00:28:10

3. gigaboom2 - The Flying Narwhal - 271pts, mission time unknown

4. Speeding Mullet - Mullet Dyne Advanced Operations K-5.2 Krappofortress - 247pts, mission time 01:00:00

5. ABalazs - XB-64E Pancake Bomber - 187pts, mission time 00:42:00

Vanilla KSP - Light Class (6-20 bombs)

1. s1l3nt_c0y0t3 - Bomb Bay - 92pts + 10pts (F) = 102pts, mission time 00:32:39

2. wossname - Fools Rush In - 97pts, mission time 00:40:15

3. wossname - Wossname Bomber - 26pts, mission time 00:42:00

4. The Mechanic - Orion Technologies Wraith - 12pts, mission time 00:36:34

FAR - Heavy Class

1. LtColTeddyBear (FAR, KJR, ATM) - Super-Bomber - 1374pts + 10pts (F) = 1384pts, mission time 00:22:31

Edited April 1, 2015 by Aanker

[HoloYolo]

Are we allowed to place a "enemy base" at the objective? Also, can the plane fly up into space and come down and bomb? If so, I got a great idea...

Edited March 7, 2015 by HoloYolo

[Aanker]

Are we allowed to place a "enemy base" at the objective?

Yes.

Also, can the plane fly up into space and come down and bomb? If so, I got a great idea...

You are, indeed one of the challenges is about reaching a service ceiling of at least 12km.

[HoloYolo]

Yes.

You are, indeed one of the challenges is about reaching a service ceiling of at least 12km.

BAM! I might attempt the SSTO part too. Very unique challenge. I'm sure you'll get a ton of submits.

[Teoman2]

I like the idea, might try right now!

[Frozen_Heart]

I'd just started working on a bomber. This challenge is perfect to motivate me!

Having trouble getting the Mk-3 parts to fly though... :/ Way to heavy for even 4 basic jets to lift.

[Frozen_Heart]

Misread the challenge and used 12 FL-T100 tanks instead of 6 FL-T400 ones. :/ Looks like another 45 mins of flying then.

Apart from that everything is working perfectly and changing the bombs will be easy.

[Pds314]

"-10pts per SABRE engine"

We are allowed to use B9 SABREs?

Or did you mean RAPIERs.

- - - Updated - - -

Disabling B9's jet rebalance for this.

[gigaboom2]

How high up can the SSTO be deployed from? Or do you need to demonstrate they can reach orbit separately.

Also, another bonus objective could be "Maneuverability: Can turn fast enough that 10 G's of force fan be felt by crew"

Edited March 7, 2015 by gigaboom2

[Aanker]

Oh yeah I meant the RAPIER, but I confused it with the SABRE which served as the inspiration lol

Good question on the SSTO. The important part is really the concept that you can use your unloaded bomber to deploy an SSTO, how you choose to do that is up to you I guess. Of course, the higher up you go, the lighter the attached SSTO can be (easier on the wings).

Hmm that is a good challenge but it must then be at a predetermined altitude like maybe 200-300 meters to avoid extreme reentry turns with high Gs.

Edited March 7, 2015 by Aanker

[Frozen_Heart]

Is the top speed at 3000m fully fuelled and armed?

Or nearly empty?

[Aanker]

Good point. I reckon it would be fully fuelled and armed as the point is to award bombers which can deliver their payload quickly.

I guess actually the test mission could be clocked, so the shortest run is awarded.

[Pds314]

Working on something, but since it has no vertical stabilizer, I keep accidentally taking out the lights at the end of the runway... which cause THIS:

Surprisingly, the lights are shorter than it's landing gear, so in theory, it might be able to drive straight over them.

[Pds314]

Haven't actually done the mission yet (or for that matter attempted to land the damned thing) but I've proven that it can fly.

It weighs in at a monstrous 541 metric tonnes, comparable to the Antonov-225 Mriya. It's powered by a whopping 12 turbos and 20 basic jets in FAR.

As distinguishing viewers may have noticed, I added two vertical stabilizers in order to prevent immediate yaw spins from killing the entire thing. Surprisingly, the thing is rock-solid as far as I an tell, with no visible flexing in the reinforced-to-heck wings. They really do need to add bigger control surfaces though, as these ones are not even remotely good for anything nearly this size.

EDIT: Pic of one possible (non-conforming) weapon loadout. You feeling lucky VAB? Also, I've discovered that it's trivial to convert this into a 32-bomb internal payload.

Edited March 8, 2015 by Pds314

[Speeding Mullet]

Mullet Dyne Advanced Operations presents Dinklestein's entry to the procurement challenge. The K-5.2 Krappofortress is an 8 engine workhorse, built to loft large payloads hugely inefficiently to a target. What it does do well is make things disappear. Seriously, there wasn't even a target when the crew reached the peninsula, so they just carpet bombed the whole place, landed for a photo and flew back.

Points Tally:

More Boom - payload of 24 FL-T400 bombs = 216 points

Swift Payback - 133M/s @ 3000 = 13.3 points

Engine Maintenance - 8 Basic engines = -16 points

Part Maintenance - 189 parts = -3.78 points

Career Switch = 20 points

Service Ceiling = 15 points

Inspired Shape = 2 points

TOTAL: 246.52 points

Bombing Run:

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Career Switch:

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Great challenge! In hindsight I could have replaced the nose cone with a shielded docking port and gone for the refuel points, but I didn't so there we are.

[Pds314]

On seconds thought... maybe I should go for something with more payload... I mean, internally.

Or maybe just convert what I have to allow more internal payload.

Ermagerd! This craft has virtually no pitch authority. It can be 5 kilometers up in a gentle downward glide and you may as well eject because it will crash.

Edited March 8, 2015 by Pds314

[TheManDownStairs]

So we can't use B9 Cargobays or are they stock with .90? I forgot

[hoioh]

There's a stock replacement for them, you find it in the utility tab.

[gigaboom2]

Here is my contestant.

[imgur-album]tV9Ay[/imgur-album]

P.S.

How do you post an imgur album?

Edited March 8, 2015 by gigaboom2
ERROR

[megatiger78]

might get to work on this....

[The Mechanic]

I took your challenge as reason to finally build a flying wing like aircraft. To be more precise it is based on the Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit.

However, I unfortunately forgot a screenshot showing the fuel in the bombs before dropping them. I made some screenshots afterwards in the SPH and on the flight back showing that crossfeed is disabled on the jr. docking ports and the fuel tanks are full.

Because of this, I leave it to you if you want to accept this entry since some proof of accomplishing necessary tasks is indeed missing.

Also, I have quite a lot of mods installed but this plane only used stock parts from the Mk.2 fuselage system, some 1.25m stuff, wings, intakes, docking ports, ladders and tons of struts.

Even though I forgot those screenshots I still want to show you the Orion Technologies Wraith.

The Wraith is actually the first armed plane I ever build and probably would be better suited for carrying cruise missiles or something like that but I think it looks pretty nice and since I wouldn't have build it if I hadn't seen the challenge it somewhat belongs here.

Javascript is disabled. View full album

In case you accept the entry:

Swift payback: 0.1pts*160 = +16pts

Engine maintenance: Four turbojets, therefore: -4pts*4 = -16pts

Part maintenance: -0.02pts*263 = -5.26pts

Service ceiling: +15pts (Unless it doesn't count. It did cruise above 12km after all.)

Such stealth, very sneak: +2pts (I guess it can be argued that the shape of the aircraft resembles that of a flying wing, right?)

In summary: 11.74pts (Not many points anyway but this plane was build more for looks than maximizing points anyway.)

I tried to reproduce the 11G turn around KSC at a lower altitude to achieve the airshow manoeuvrability, but that didn't really work out. If I'm in the mood I'll attempt field rearming (should be possible because the bombs are mounted using docking ports, only problem could be the ground clearance of the plane) and field refuelling sometime later.

On a side note: DRE made my time much worse. I tried to go higher and faster with previous prototypes but the heat burned the struts.

---

P.S. How do you post an imgur album?

Use (imgur) and (/imgur) and replace () with [].

Edited March 8, 2015 by The Mechanic

[gigaboom2]

Here it is, The Flying Narwhal

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Points

More BOOM: 12 x 22 extra bombs =264

Swift Payback: 0.01 x 110 = 11

Engine Maintenance: 6 x -4= -24 - 2 = -26

Parts Maintenance: about 400 x -0.02 = -8

Service Ceiling: 15 points (It topped out at about 12.05 km)

Field Refueling: 10 points

​Total: 266 Points

Edited March 12, 2015 by gigaboom2

[Aanker]

Good entries so far! Just remember to calculate your point tally.

@Mechanic: I list people based on the premise that they are interested in a fair challenge, so I take you by your word also that is one pretty plane actually

PS. Updated with scoreboard.

Edited March 9, 2015 by Aanker

[War_Lord_Kevin]

I have a flying wing prototype already made, just modifying it now to get a few more points.

[Jakalth]

Hmm, I may have gone overkill with the design I'm going to finish for this... 136 Tons atm, 420 parts, and cruises at 250.7m/s @ 3000m in level flight. has a few too many engines so far. I have to admit, this design used to be a massively overweight SSTO to be used to ferry refueling tanks to orbit. So I actually have to reduce the number of engines and make it slightly weaker... Otherwise... no efficiency. The design is also quite a bit different in looks from what is already submitted. think it's lifting payload capacity is somewhere near 180 Tons(more then it weighs) before I even change the engine setup...

I'll post it's info and how it performed once I'm satisfied with making it a bit weaker and have loaded it up with bombs.