DARPA plans to brief interested bidders on a new program to build and test a novel aircraft designed around active flow control (AFC) technologies.
The goal is to demonstrate an aircraft that can fly and maneuver with no moving control surfaces.
“Decades of investment have matured AFC component technologies and the ability to predict aerodynamic effects for a range of flow control actuators,” the Pentagon advanced research agency says, announcing an Aug. 26 proposers’ day in Washington for the Control of Revolutionary Aircraft with Novel Effecters (CRANE) program.
Previous research has tested active flow control on existing designs, augmenting or replacing mechanical flight controls. “By optimizing an aircraft for AFC from a clean sheet approach, CRANE matures and demonstrates new trade spaces for future aircraft designs,” DARPA says. The agency is seeking $13 million in 2020 to begin the preliminary design phase.
“Some of the envisioned AFC applications include: elimination of moving control surfaces for stability and control, takeoff and landing performance, high-lift flight, thick airfoil efficiency, and enhanced high-altitude performance,” DARPA says.
A NATO task group that studied active flow control for tailless unmanned combat air vehicles (UCAV) concluded the technology is “feasible and reasonable” for flight control, at least for the ingress phase of a strike mission when fluidic control could increase stealth.
Magma, an unmanned aircraft designed by the University of Manchester and BAE Systems under the NATO effort, tested two “flap-free” flow control technologies during flights in April from Llanbedr, Wales. Magma is based on an existing Boeing UCAV design.
The flights of the flying-wing UCAV model demonstrated wing circulation control using supersonic blowing through narrow slots in the trailing edge and fluidic thrust vectoring for pitch control using distributed air jets in the engine exhaust nozzle.