Below is the uncorrected machine-read text of this chapter, intended to provide our own search engines and external engines with highly rich, chapter-representative searchable text of each book. Because it is UNCORRECTED material, please consider the following text as a useful but insufficient proxy for the authoritative book pages.
SUMMARY 9 and it would appear that the United States and Europe are about on the same trajectory for applying this technology, Avionics Advances in microcircuitry will permit the development of the ultrareliable, fault-tolerant electronic systems that are vital to implementation of active flight controls and computer-integrated flight management systems. Estimates of projected resulting improvements in fuel efficiency and weight reduction show considerable spread, but improvement in fuel efficiency could be up to 20 percent and weight reduction as much as 10 percent. Reduction in operating cost is projected to be 5 to 10 percent. Much of the historical electronics/avionics capability in commercial transports is a by-product of military technology. In military avionics the United States leads the world, and as long as we retain the close coupling between civil and military avionics technology, it is doubtful whether the United States will be overtaken in the broad field of avionics. It is important to note, however, that the Japanese have already developed advanced cockpit-display technology and that they have the development capability and the potentially lower costs to challenge U.S. leadership, given the opportunity. Propulsion The principal foreign competitor in jet engines is Rolls Royce, which has near parity in thrust and specific fuel consumption, but lags in thrust-to-weight ratio and turbine temperature. Rolls Royce has mounted an extensive program to overcome its deficiencies in turbine temperature and will likely have achieved parityâat least in application to enginesâby the mid-1980s. Overall, the United States has a lead in propulsion technology, but it is not unassailable. Furthermore, Great Britain has demonstrated a commitment to maintain a viable presenceâa position actively encouraged by her European partners. Facilities Aeronautical R&D requires massive and expensive facilities for test, experiment, and simulation. U.S. facilities are thought to be the best in the world; however, European facilities are such that effort is not handicapped. At this stage, Japan is seriously handicapped by the lack of such facilities and by the absence of a manufacturing industry to benefit from the technology.
