Compared to the cost of other aircraft and aircraft equipment... the F-117 is not nearly as expensive as it might seem. Think about it. A Beechcraft Duke with all Glass Cockpit is cheap at almost $500,000, and that aircraft is tiny in comparison. Check out the price tag that Lockheed Martin put on the F-22 that they are selling. Hefty to say the least, and it has been discounted for the military to buy. When most aircraft already cost in the millions and billions, yeah, I call it a few million.
Rachel
Student of Aviation
Actually the F1-17, Stealth, only costs a few million and those costs are not because of the airframe it is because of the computer technologies used therein. The stealth flies because of the computers in it and on the ground. Those instruments are the most expensive parts on just about any aircraft. While that did not used to be the case, it is the case, now, because of the "Glass Cockpit" make up of the commercial and military aircraft.
This product may take a while to get into the aviation industry for mere regulations from the FAA; however, if this material is still lighter than metals with the same strength and is either easy to maintain or just takes less maintenance, it may very well become the skin of the newer aircrafts being made. The drawbacks that I see to this material are not really cost or time to create (in relation to aircraft manufacturing), but are instead to do with strength against vibration, how much it expands or contracts do to heat or cold, and the strength of the material once it has been drilled into and has extensive amounts of weight baring against it.
So basically if it can be lighter than Carbon Fiber or Fiberglass and can hold up to the same standards as steel and aluminum in flight conditions, it will have plenty of funding, time, and man/robot-power to create as much as needed by the manufacturers of heavy, light, and very light aircraft.
Rachel Student of Aviation for Avionics Technician and Airframe & Powerplant Mechanic Redstone College of Aviation
Slashdot Mirror
Compared to the cost of other aircraft and aircraft equipment... the F-117 is not nearly as expensive as it might seem. Think about it. A Beechcraft Duke with all Glass Cockpit is cheap at almost $500,000, and that aircraft is tiny in comparison. Check out the price tag that Lockheed Martin put on the F-22 that they are selling. Hefty to say the least, and it has been discounted for the military to buy. When most aircraft already cost in the millions and billions, yeah, I call it a few million. Rachel Student of Aviation
Actually the F1-17, Stealth, only costs a few million and those costs are not because of the airframe it is because of the computer technologies used therein. The stealth flies because of the computers in it and on the ground. Those instruments are the most expensive parts on just about any aircraft. While that did not used to be the case, it is the case, now, because of the "Glass Cockpit" make up of the commercial and military aircraft.
This product may take a while to get into the aviation industry for mere regulations from the FAA; however, if this material is still lighter than metals with the same strength and is either easy to maintain or just takes less maintenance, it may very well become the skin of the newer aircrafts being made. The drawbacks that I see to this material are not really cost or time to create (in relation to aircraft manufacturing), but are instead to do with strength against vibration, how much it expands or contracts do to heat or cold, and the strength of the material once it has been drilled into and has extensive amounts of weight baring against it.
So basically if it can be lighter than Carbon Fiber or Fiberglass and can hold up to the same standards as steel and aluminum in flight conditions, it will have plenty of funding, time, and man/robot-power to create as much as needed by the manufacturers of heavy, light, and very light aircraft.
Rachel
Student of Aviation for Avionics Technician and Airframe & Powerplant Mechanic
Redstone College of Aviation