Full military power
 

I'd be interested to know what this phrase means- is it a kind of permitted excess of power for a specified period, for example for a scramble takeoff?

Thanks in advance,

In most military fast-jets (those with afterburner, anyway), there are two types of takeoff settings/regions. Without trying to cover each and every type of aircraft, here's a reasonably simple explanation.

MIL ("military") power is full non-afterburner power. The throttle(s) is/are advanced until reaching a stop, and this stop is the threshold between full (non-afterburner) power and the afterburner region.

An AB takeoff is when the throttle(s) is/are moved past the stop into the afterburner region. The reason I use the term "region" is because there is a range between MIN AB and MAX AB. (The afterburner can have several stages, and the highest setting, reached at the final stop, would be referred to as MAX Power.) On some aircraft, you're required to use MAX AB on every takeoff, on others, the range could be anywhere from MIL to MAX AB, depending on weight, temperature, and other factors.

"Full military power" is the lowest power setting that would probably ever be used for a takeoff. (An exception would be for a wingman during a formation takeoff, but that's another story altogether.....)

[ 26 February 2002: Message edited by: McD ]</p>

Thanks, McD, very interesting, best regards.