1/19/2024 0 Comments X plane 12 betaAll would share the same tilt rotor-esque basic shape and the folding rotor concept that Bell is presently experimenting with in New Mexico. It envisions a possible family of HSVTOL aircraft of different sizes with potentially different propulsion configurations. The company has been at work on what it calls an HSVTOL (High Speed Vertical Takeoff and Landing) concept for several years. That leaves Bell, the only firm among the four awardees with an operational medium speed tactical transport (the V-22) and a relatively high-speed future operational tactical transport, the V-280 Valor. Piasecki is also participating in ANCILLARY and has experimented with unmanned ducted-fan VTOL prototypes but it’s not clear if such a configuration figures in their SPRINT design. Northrop Grumman's autonomous vertical lift aircraft concept for DARPA's ANCILLARY project. Little information is available on the UAV but it looks to be a sort of tilt-rotor design. It’s possible that Northrop Grumman may leverage design work it has done for DARPA for an unmanned AdvaNced airCraft Infrastructure-Less Launch And RecoverY ( ANCILLARY) demonstrator. Neither Northrop Grumman nor Piasecki has so far revealed information on the designs they will submit for SPRINT. Neither firm has the operational lift fan experience that Lockheed has gained. One will surely center on the design’s suitability to VTOL operation in austere environments where dirt, dust, debris, heat and other impediments challenge integrated engine/lift-fan configurations.Īurora has some experience with lift fans via its Excalibur UAS and its partner, Boeing BA has previous experience with its own X-48 blended wing body aircraft which featured external engines. The arrangement looks like it could be effective in high-speed cruise flight but there may be questions about the weight and complexity of a blended wing body aircraft with multiple lift fans. The embedded lift fan feature that Aurora mentions has already long been flying in Lockheed Martin’s LMT F-35B Lighting II though the concept here places the fans in the wings rather than the fuselage a la F-35. While blended wing body designs are generally thought to offer significant cargo volume, none has been physically executed at scale yet to prove that assumption. Despite the presence of twin vertical tails in the concept drawing Aurora provided, it shares the familiar basic stealth shape of the B-2 and B-21 bombers and other experimental aircraft. The design potentially offers low-drag, yielding speed and range but it also may confer stealth to the concept. demonstrator aircraft with embedded engines and a vertical flight design comprised of embedded lift fans linked to the engines via mechanical drives. Aurora Flight Sciences SPRINT design concept is a blended wing body drag fan-in-wing (FIW).
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