FLIGHT SYSTEM PASSES TESTING.

Byline: Jim Skeen Daily News Staff Writer

A test program for a lighter, more battle-tolerant flight-control system wrapped up Tuesday and now Air Force officials are eyeing its use for future aircraft.

Under an Air Force Research Laboratory program, a ``power-by-wire'' flight system passed a robust test program.

Unlike a fly-by-wire system, which transmits electric signals from the pilot's controls to a hydraulic actuator that moves the ailerons, power-by-wire sends a signal to an electric actuator. The idea is to reduce the amount of hydraulic equipment in an aircraft.

``This will enhance reliability and safety; it eliminates the numerous requirements posed to maintain a central hydraulic system and it greatly reduces the weight of the aircraft,'' said Lockheed Martin Corp. program manager Walt Porter. ``All these enhancements will work together to increase performance and translate directly to significant cost savings over the life of an aircraft.''

The program, called Electric Starlifter, was conducted at Edwards using a modified C-141 cargo aircraft. Testing began in April 1996 and included more than 1,000 hours of operational testing - routine cargo and passenger missions for the Air Force's Air Mobility Command.

``The program's major objective was to increase the confidence of the aerospace community in electric actuation,'' said Col. John Rogacki, director of the Air Force Research Laboratory's Propulsion Directorate. ``With the successful completion of the Electric Starlifter program, I believe we can confidently state the electric actuation is a viable technology for future aircraft.''

Among the possible candidates to use the power-by-wire technology is the joint strike fighter. Teams led by Boeing Co. and Lockheed Martin are competing for the right to build the JSF, which will replace the Air Force's F-16, the Navy's F/A-18 and the Marine Corps' AV-8B.