closer to the aircraft lateral center of gravity (CG) location, the gun is sub-merged as deeply as practical into the right side of the fuselage. Also, the fuselage is not centered about the aircraft centerline, but is offset to the left by . This results in the firing barrel of the gun being only about from the lateral CG. This minimizes the yaw movement caused by the recoil of the gun. The aircraft fuselage is almost completely made of fiberglass composite material installed over the foam core. The fabrication technique of composite aircraft fuselages has been perfected by Scaled Composites in previous aircraft. To assure a low cost and high reliability of the components ARES primarily includes off-the-shelf aircraft systems. The engine is the Pratt and Whitney Canada JT15D with 2,900 lb (13.2 kN) of thrust at sea level. The hydraulic system, used for spoiler flaps and landing gear actuation, uses a Piper Malibu hydraulic pump, which operates at . Instrumentation for the demonstrator consists mainly of standard general aviation equipment. In addition there is a head-up display which currently displays only a fixed reticle to aim the gun but is capable of displaying the complete data range of an F-16. The pilot sits in a Universal Propulsion Company SIIIS-3ER ejection seat with zero-zero capability. The fuel system consists of auxiliary wing tanks feeding an armored, fuselage-mounted main tank, which sits just forward of the engine and behind the firewall. The main tank can feed the engine in all attitudes. This tank is continuously refilled from the main wing tanks with no fuel management duties required of the pilot. By feeding the main tank from the two auxiliary wing tanks, the size of the fuel tank in the fuselage was effectively halved, creating a large space behind the pilot empty of any tanks or other aircraft systems. This bay had no dedicated function on the demonstrator, but was intended to be left available for any additional equipment which the Army might wish to install in the production version. The main flight controls are completely mechanical and the engine has a backup mechanical fuel control so the aircraft can retain control even if the electrical system fails. The controls were specially designed to minimize the forces on the stick. Besides the GAU-12 gun, there are additional pylons to carry another ordnance (Hydra 70 FFAR, for example). The ARES has very good