Development and testing of the F/A-18 replacement MIL-STD-1760 umbilical

The U.S. Navy F/A-18 aircraft currently uses a generic weapon umbilical cable with the new MIL-STD-1760 interface weapons. The existing cable has been shown problematic during weapon separation/integration testing and general fleet use. Modification of the existing cable was not feasible so redesign was required for replacement. The goals of the replacement cable design were to fix the specific problem areas of the existing cable as well as improving overall performance and service life. The service life goals for the umbilical were to be suitable for reuse for at least 25-30 releases. Naval Air Warfare Center-Aircraft Division (NAWCAD) 4.11.2 developed a testing approach for qualification of the umbilical and to credibly assess service performance potential without specific airborne release tests. The qualification effort is discussed from an overall perspective as well as details of the lightning testing of the connector, static and ejection testing, and captive flight testing of the cable.