Airbus viser Blended Wing modell i Singapore - Airbus / Curt Lewis

Som du har lest her på bloggen, så har Boeing/NASA jobbet med konseptet i mange år. Airbus følger opp i fin Kina kopieringsstil. (Red) Airbus has revealed MAVERIC (Model Aircraft for Validation and Experimentation of Robust Innovative Controls) – its “blended wing body” scale model technological demonstrator  Singapore, 11 February 2020 – Airbus has revealed MAVERIC (Model Aircraft for Validation and Experimentation of Robust Innovative Controls) its "blended wing body" scale model technological demonstrator. At 2 metres long and 3.2 metres wide, with a surface area of about 2.25m², MAVERIC features a disruptive aircraft design, that has the potential to reduce fuel consumption by up-to 20 percent compared to current single-aisle aircraft. The “blended wing body” configuration also opens up new possibilities for propulsion systems type and integration, as well as a versatile cabin for a totally new on-board passenger experience. Launched in 2017, MAVERIC first took to the skies in June 2019. Since then the flight-test campaign has been on-going and will continue until the end of Q2 2020. “Airbus is leveraging emerging technologies to pioneer the future of flight. By testing disruptive aircraft configurations, Airbus is able to evaluate their potential as viable future products,” said Jean-Brice Dumont, EVP Engineering Airbus. “Although there is no specific time line for entry-into-service, this technological demonstrator could be instrumental in bringing about change in commercial aircraft architectures for an environmentally sustainable future for the aviation industry.” Airbus is using its core strengths and capabilities of engineering and manufacturing, in close collaboration with an extended innovation ecosystem, to accelerate traditional research and development cycles. By doing this Airbus is able to achieve proof of concepts, at a convincing scale and speed, thereby driving forward maturity and increasing their value. Through AirbusUpNext, a research programme, Airbus is currently working on a number of demonstrator projects in parallel; E-FAN X (hybrid-electric propulsion), fello’fly (v-shaped “formation” flight) and ATTOL (Autonomous Taxi Take-Off & Landing). * * * For further information about the MAVERIC story,  please click here Airbus unveils 'blended wing body' plane design after secret flight tests SINGAPORE, Feb 11 (Reuters) - Airbus on Tuesday unveiled a curvaceous aircraft design that blends wing and body, designed to slash carbon emissions by some 20%. The European planemaker has been carrying out flight tests of a 3.2-metre-wide (10.5 feet) technology demonstrator, code-named Maveric, at a secret location in central France since last year. It lifted the veil on the design at the Singapore Airshow. The concept of a "blended wing body" design has been around since the 1940s and led to the U.S. B-2 bomber, as well as the X-48 research project between Boeing and NASA a decade ago. Such aircraft are complex to control but produce less aerodynamic drag, making them more efficient to fly. Planemakers are revisiting such designs as the passenger jet industry tries to commit to more environmentally friendly aircraft. "We believe it is high time now to push this technology further and study what it brings to us," Jean-Brice Dumont, executive vice-president of engineering at Airbus, told reporters. "We need these disruptive technologies to meet our environmental challenge. It is the next generation of aircraft; we are studying an option." He said it was too early to say whether such shapes could contribute to the next generation of medium-haul planes, expected in the 2030s. Since the previous generation of tests, aerospace has seen improvements in materials that make such aircraft lighter, and computing power has increased, improving flight controls, Dumont said. Airbus is now studying how the cabin would work and how the aircraft would be integrated into airports. One unresolved question is whether such a plane would have windows or use video screens to give passengers a sense of their surroundings. Another issue that has dogged such experiments in the past is how to handle sensations of movement. Because passengers would be sitting further out from the centre of the aircraft, compared to the classic 'tube and wings' model, they would move further when the aircraft turns. Rival Boeing has put more weight on a potential cargo role.