A detailed study concluded that various problems, derived from the high altitude, high speed and high maneouvrability requeriments mixed with the large thrust and stringent fuel demands, all of them combined, gave a high gross weight. Therefore Armstrong Whitworth established that the actual weight grow factor rose too fast with increased military load and devoted much time to the restriction of this item which prevented the aircraft from being excessively large (even if it was already enormous), gross take-off weight finishing in the region of 54000lb(24494Kg).
At sea level the engine performance was limited to Mach 1 in order to maintain a reasonable structure and power plant weight in an aircraft intended basically for high altitude operations.
From the performance point of view, it could easily reach up to Mach 2.7 at any height.
The wings were very thin so any substantial fuel and storage capacity was limited and all of them were carried in the fuselage. The four Gyron Junior engines were to be slung in paired nacelles under the wings to keep complete continuity of the main spar structure. This particular engine layout gave a convenient location for the main undercarriage wheels between air intake ducts keeping, that way, drag to the minimum. Air intake had moving centre bodies with variable convergent-divergent nozzles. A Spectre rocket motor with variable thrust was installed under the fuselage to provide the thrust needed for high altitude acceleration and maneouvrability and the all-moving tail was located on the fin.
Wind-tunnel models were built and even a replica of the cockpit at the factory of Baginton. The main radar dish was on the nose which was an X band Air Interception radar system of 20miles (32km) range. It had an additional Q-band installation in one of the nacelle centre-bodies to give range information on a jamming target up to about 8 miles (13km) range. It would have carried only two missiles at the wing tips, which was considered the best position to reduce the drag.
Armstrong Whitworth considered that the proposal could be accomplished by 1962, but further developments delayed the design. From a January 1956 ITP first flight was predicted to be in June 1959 entering it into squadron service in April 1962. However it was delayed indefinitely.
It was expected that, if more powerful engines had been installed, and if it was made out of stainless steel, it could've achieved Mach 3.0.
Source:
1. Midland Publishing - British Secret Projects - Jet Fighters since 1950
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