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Old 8th Feb 2008, 21:27
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Jetex Jim
 
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indeed, didn't it have good provision for a forward looking radar too, purportedly for terrain following?
Yes it did and with a digital computer taken from the Vigilante to tie the TFR into the flight control system, there being no British made computer capable at the time.

One wonders just what fun and games would have been involved getting that system working, had the project got that far. Certainly getting the Tornado digital intake scheduling going about 10 years later was no picnic. Digital computers in aircraft control systems is today a non-trivial problem, in 1965, it would have been a major issue for an industry with zero experience, in that discipline.

Arguably it was the addition of kit like this, to relativly simple airframes, that transformed new aircraft development from a task that could be completed in months- as it was in the fifties-, to endeavours that take years, as now. - This I would suggest is what eventually caused the demise of Britains independent aviation industry, not government interference.

Last edited by Jetex Jim; 8th Feb 2008 at 21:51. Reason: clarity
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