Diverterless supersonic inlet

Diverterless supersonic inlet
Testing of the F-35 Diverterless Supersonic Inlet on an F-16 testbed. The original intake is shown in the top image.

A diverterless supersonic inlet (DSI) is a type of jet engine air intake used by some modern combat aircraft to control air flow into their engines. It consists of a "bump" and a forward-swept inlet cowl, which work together to divert boundary layer airflow away from the aircraft's engine while compressing the air to slow it down from supersonic speed. The DSI can be used to replace conventional methods of controlling supersonic and boundary layer airflow for speeds of up to Mach 2, such as the intake ramp and inlet cone, which are more complex, heavy and expensive.^[1]

Research into the DSI was done by Lockheed Martin in the early 1990s. The first DSI was flown on 11 December 1996, installed on a F-16 Block 30 fighter and replacing aircraft's original intake diverter. The modified F-16 demonstrated a maximum speed of Mach 2.0 and handling characteristics similar to a normal F-16. It was also shown that subsonic specific excess power was slightly improved. A DSI was later incorporated into the design of the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II.^[1]

List of Aircraft with DSI

• Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II
• Chengdu J-10B^[2]
• Chengdu J-20
• Shenyang J-31
• JF-17 Thunder
• Guizhou JL-9^[3][4]

References

External links

• "JSF Diverterless Supersonic Inlet" - Code One magazine, Lockheed Martin