Difference between revisions of "J-404 "Panther" Afterburning Turbofan"

Latest revision as of 20:54, 22 December 2019

J-404 "Panther" Afterburning Turbofan
Jet engine by C7 Aerospace Division
Radial size		Small
Cost	(total)	2 000.00
Mass	(total)	1.200 t
Drag		0.2
Max. Temp.		2000 K
Impact Tolerance		7 m/s
Research		Supersonic Flight
Unlock cost		9 000
Since version		1.0.5
Part configuration		jetEngineAfterburning.cfg
Maximum thrust		85.00 kN
Isp	(max)	9000 s
Fuel consumption		0.19 /s
Intake air consumption		7.70 /s
Thrust vectoring		10 °
Maximum thrust		130.00 kN
Isp	(max)	4000 s
Fuel consumption		0.66 /s
Intake air consumption		7.95 /s
Thrust vectoring		10 °
Electricity generated		5.0 ⚡/s
Electricity generated		3.0 ⚡/s
Testing Environments
On the surface		Yes
In the ocean		Yes
On the launchpad		Yes
In the atmosphere		Yes
Sub-orbital		No
In an orbit		No
On an escape		No
Docked		No
Test by staging		Yes
Manually testable		Yes
Packed volume		None

The J-404 "Panther" Afterburning Turbofan is a jet engine added in version 1.0.5. It has two modes: The first, Dry mode, is similar to that of the J-33 "Wheesley" Basic Jet Engine, with a bit more thrust. The second, Wet mode, uses the afterburner to produce thrust almost equal to the J-X4 "Whiplash" Turbo Ramjet Engine, but at a considerably reduced fuel efficiency. This can make it a good alternative for when you want something that can be controllable and doesn't need excessive heat shielding, but still need to be able to go incredibly fast if necessary, at the expense of increased fuel consumption. It seems to be based on the General Electric F-404 Afterburning Turbofan, which shares the same name and maximum thrust (85 kN dry).

Performance and usage

Visualization of the thrust multiplier curves for velocity

Visualization of the thrust multiplier curves for atmospheric pressure

Note that you need to activate the afterburner ("Wet Mode") manually. You can do that by right-clicking the engine and clicking "Toggle Mode." Alternatively, you can assign the afterburner toggle (labelled "switch mode") to an action group if you wish to activate it with a hotkey. This is particularly useful for pairs of engines, since this makes it possible to keep the thrust equal when activating the afterburners. Be aware that heat buildup can gradually become a problem when the afterburners are used in sustained flight.

A well-designed jet with this engine and with the afterburner lit, flown properly, can momentarily climb to 30,000 m altitude. Or it can supercruise at three times the speed of an equivalent Wheesley jet (with nearly equal fuel efficiency) at 15,000 m altitude. Which makes this engine ideal for those missions which require doing many science activities above particular altitudes.

It's also worth noting that this engine has the widest thrust vectoring range of all of the jet engines, with a full 10-degree range in all directions. This makes jets built using this engine considerably more maneuverable. For comparison, the second most maneuverable engine is the CR-7 R.A.P.I.E.R. with a thrust vectoring range of only 3 degrees. Under some circumstances, you may want to reduce the engine gimbal range or disable it altogether, particularly when flying at high speeds (e.g. 600+ m/s) and low altitudes (e.g. below 5,000 m), since the engine's extreme maneuverability may allow the aircraft to perform turns sharply enough to break up in flight.

Product description

Changes

1.0.5

• Initial release