23 Mar 2015, 22:26

F-22 weapons bay dimensions

13.4 inches tall x 33.9 inches wide x 156 inches long

just enough

AIM-120D in the F-22

33.9 inches of width

13.4 x 33.9 x156 inches (H/W/L)

MBDA Meteor in the F-22

17.7 x 46.1 x 156 inches (H/W/L)

2 meteors per bay

3 Meteors per bay

half

11.6 x 33.9 x 156 inches H/W/L

might

might

AIM-152 AAAM GD/Westinghouse in the F-22

11.25 x 26.3 x 144 inches H/W/L

Each bay is at least. That's the geometrically smallest box in which you can fit AIM-120D's 3-abreast and staggered. Add 4 inches of width and 3 inches of length for each inch of separation between missile/missile and missile/wall.Obviously, I don't need to know the true dimensions, but since Raytheon clipped the -120C's wingsto fit inside the raptor, we can assume for our arguments that the bay can't fit anything larger than the -120D.Each -120D measures 12 ft long, 7 inches wide, 19 inch wingspan, with 12 inch long fins. Each fits in a 13.4 x 13.4 x 156 inch box. The center missile is staggered forward 12 inches to make room so the fins don't overlap, allowing the triplet to nestle closer together, occupying onlyinstead of the 40.2" they would otherwise. Again, the box for all 3 isFor comparison, three 120C's would occupy 36.7 inches of width (and 14.8 inches of height) given their 21 inch wingspan. Presumably this makes them too large to fit.Each meteor measures 12 ft long, 7 inches wide, 25 inch wingspan, with 12 inch long fins. Each fits in a 17.7 x 17.7 x 156 inch box. Fitted 3-abreast and staggered like the 120's, they measure. (Again, add 4 inches of width and 3 inches of length for each inch of margin.) That's much too wide.The issue are the intakes, which protrude down and out, making the body effectively 10.75 inches wide (much wider than the 7 inch diameter casing of the main body), so the missiles can't sit as close to each other.Fitted with just, they occupy only 28.4 inches of width (less than -120D), but are still too tall at 17.7 inches, which again is taller than even the -120C.In order to fit(abreast and staggered), the fins would have to be clipped totheir span (4.7 inches vs 9 inches each), yielding a wingspan of just 16.4 inches (down from 25 inches). (Box =.) Unfortunately, that means the lower fins barely protrude out from behind the intakes. And the fins can't be lengthened (either much or at all) because that'll increase the length occupied.Thatbe too small, and the control issuesbe unacceptable. To offset the smaller, less effective fins, they could add another set of fins, or add strakes, or add jet vanes for thrust vectoring. All of these have their own issues.Or instead of clipping the fins, MBDA could slim down the intakes or even reorient/reposition them to narrow the body width. This will obviously reduce thrust and turning performance ... or require a major rework of the combustor (read: not going to happen).It's not clear which option MBDA will choose to fit the Meteor into the F-22 and F-35. For sure the fins will get clipped. Maybe the intakes will shrink, reducing speed and the NEZ a tad. Maybe they'll make folding fins strong enough to endure external carriage---very straightforward option with the least impact on the rest of the missile, but I've never heard anyone seriously consider this, so maybe it's impractical. Although Have Dash II tried it. Clipped wings with TVC also seem like a workable option.Each -152 measures 11.8 ft long, 7 inches wide (wings folded). Encapsulated, they fit in a canister 11.25 x 8.75 x 144 inches (H/W/L).Fitted abreast 3 per bay, they occupy a box. Far less than the 33.9 inch width "limit." You could almost fit four per bay (35.0 inches).In reality, you probably could fit four per bay, since the rounds are safely encapsulated (assuming the tube separated well and could launch the missile after being dropped, which they probably weren't designed to do). You could definitely fit four per bay if you strengthened it for internal carriage and launched without a tube, since the rounds are only 7 inches wide.---Approx dimensions of the meteor and aim-152 are taken from pics similar to the ones posted here.This questions crops up often enough, so here we go.