Digital FWB Flight Control and Related Displays

An exploratory definition study has been conducted for an Advanced Fighter Digital Flight Control System. The principal objective was to derive and evaluate custom multimode control laws, related displays, and multichannel digital fly-by-wire implementation schemes for advanced Air Force and Navy fighters.

Study results show that a triplex flight control system provides the lowest weight, the best maintainability, and the lowest cost of the candidate configurations considered. Results also indicate that mission-oriented flight control laws integrated with compatible displays and controllers can provide enhanced mission effectiveness and reduced pilot workload.

It is recommended that the concepts analyzed and simulated during this definition study be implemented and evaluated by flight testing.