Another Kartveli design for Republic circa 1960: the AP-100. Capable of 1,500 miles per hour, this plane featured six turbojets both for forward propulsion and to serve as gas generators, powering three centrally located lift fans. This strike fighter was single-seat and could pack a nuclear bomb in the bay near the extreme tail. Note that just aft of the bomb there is a fourth smaller lift fan; this would have been a definite requirement. The bomb bay located so far from the CG would mean that considerable pitching moment thrust would be needed to offset it.
A modern update of this design could be interesting. Get rid of the vertical tail and do something about the inlets, and it seems like it could be quite stealthy. Modern turbojet engines would be smaller and lighter for the same performance; perhaps four or even two could do the job. And put thrust vectoring nozzles at the trailing edge, as on the F-22. With modern materials, the wings themselves might become surperfluous (lift being generated by the body), or nearly so, reducing them to small, low-radar-cross-section stubs. Perhaps replace the wings andvertical tail with two small V-tails.
2 Responses to “Republic AP-100 VTOL fighter: 1960”
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The big problem is that once you devote that much of the interior volume of the fuselage to the VTOL lift system, you run into real problems as to where to store enough fuel to give it good range.
It would have made a lot more sense to stick the lift fans inside the wings, like in the Ryan XV-5.
As a side-note, the artists illustration shows it to be a two-seater :o)
Randy