Boeing, Rockwell offer Enhanced Vision System for Jets

Boeing [NYSE: BA] Business Jets and Rockwell Collins today introduced an Enhanced Vision System (EVS) offering for Boeing Business Jet (BBJ) operators. The offering will be available to BBJ customers through Boeing and Rockwell Collins service bulletins, and certification for the system is expected by early 2008.

The Rockwell Collins EVS presents an image of the external environment on the Head-up Guidance System (HGS®) and head-down displays to enhance pilot situational awareness of terrain and the airport environment in low-visibility situations. When displayed on the HGS, EVS allows the pilot to descend below minimums, if the visual references to the intended runway are visible using the EVS.

"The EVS upgrade will increase safety and operational capability of the aircraft by enhancing situational awareness at night or in poor weather conditions," said John Desmond, vice president, Rockwell Collins HGS. "We look forward to working closely with Boeing to deliver this offering to their BBJ customers."

"Boeing is pleased to collaborate with Rockwell Collins to provide EVS capability on BBJs," said Boeing Business Jets President Steven Hill. "Boeing constantly evaluates and adds cutting-edge technology that brings value to our customers and enhances the performance and efficiency of a great product like the BBJ."

Rockwell Collins has teamed with Max-Viz to complete the certification of EVS on the BBJ. Rockwell Collins will incorporate a Max-Viz multi-wavelength infrared sensor into the Rockwell Collins HGS. BBJ operators that upgrade to the new EVS system will require an upgrade to their HGS 4000, as well as the infrared camera.

Video: Lockheed Martin swimming Cormorant submarine-launched UAV from Skunk Works

From Flight Global:

Lockheed Martin has released the first video sequence of the Cormorant submarine/sea launched multi-purpose unmanned air vehicle, showing the spyplane swimming in the ocean.

The amazing computer animation sequence shows the Cormorant firing from the Trident missile tubes of US Navy submarine before taking to the air. The lightly-armed stealth UAV will patrol the oceans in support of special missions forces.

The Cormorant is one of a package of UAVs unveiled by the Advanced Development Programs division of the Lockheed Martin known as Skunk Works at the Farnborough air show, breaking a previous silence on special missions UAVs.

Lockheed still working toward F-35 first flight

WASHINGTON, Dec 11 (Reuters) - Lockheed Martin Corp. said it was still working toward a first flight of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, possibly this week, but the maiden flight would not come on Monday.

Lockheed spokesman John Smith said the plane successfully completed a low speed taxi test last Thursday and received flight certification on Friday.

At a projected $276.5 billion, the planned family of radar-evading warplanes represents the Pentagon's priciest planned purchase, with more than 2,400 aircraft by 2027 for the U.S. Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps.

Before its first flight, the F-35 still needs to pass medium and high speed taxi tests. Rainy weather, wind and other factors delayed those tests at Lockheed's Fort Worth, Texas test site this past week, company and program officials said.

The supersonic, multirole aircraft's development has been co-financed by eight international partners -- Britain, Italy, Netherlands, Turkey, Canada, Australia, Denmark and Norway.

Smith said it was unclear exactly when those tests would now be conducted, making it difficult to predict the timing of the F-35's first flight. But he stressed that no unexpected problems had emerged.

"Everything's pretty much going along as predicted. When all the conditions line up, that's when they'll fly," he said.

Last week, Marine Brig. Gen. David Heinz, deputy director of the F-35 program, told Reuters the first flight of the next-generation fighter jet could come as early as Monday after a series of tests on the ground.

"We expect it to be this week," program spokeswoman Kathy Crawford said. "Technically there are no issues at this point."

Meanwhile, Pentagon officials have told the Navy and Air Force to fully fund the F-35 program in fiscal year 2008, according to defense analyst Loren Thompson of the Lexington Institute and a senior defense official.

If the White House agrees, the Pentagon will order six Air Force versions of the plane and six short-takeoff and vertical landing variants in fiscal 2008, said the official, who asked not to be named.

The Navy and Marine Corps had proposed cutting more than $1 billion of F-35 orders between 2008 and 2013, which would have delayed the airplane's initial operating capability.

"Now the program is back on track," said Thompson, who has close ties to Pentagon and Air force officials..

The single-engine F-35 is to replace aging F-16s, F/A-18 Hornets and a range of other fighter and strike aircraft for the United States and its allies over the next 30 years.

'Silent aircraft' plans released

New York Times 11/06/2006
Author: Associated Press
c. 2006 New York Times Company

BOSTON (AP) -- A U.S.-British team of researchers from academia and the aerospace industry believes the passenger aircraft of the distant future will not only be fuel efficient, but virtually silent.

Leaders of a long-range research venture called the ''Silent Aircraft Initiative'' were scheduled Monday to release a conceptual design for a plane they say could cut through the air with practically no sound bothering those below, thanks to its unique shape and design features to limit engine noise.

The design adds a new twist to aviation's long history of mixed success developing flying wings designed to be more fuel- and space-efficient than conventional aircraft with long, narrow fuselages.

The design, to be announced in a news conference at the Royal Aeronautical Society in London, would blend fuselage and wings together so that the entire airframe provides lift -- an approach that to date has been confined largely to payload-carrying military aircraft such as long-range bombers.

The body shape of the ''silent aircraft'' would allow for a slower landing approach and takeoff to cut airport noise -- a form of environmental pollution that makes it politically unpopular to expand airports and flight schedules.

''The 'silent aircraft' can help address this concern and thus aid in meeting the increasing passenger demand for air transport,'' said Edward Greitzer, and professor of aeronautics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Even if he's right, don't expect to see -- or hear -- such a plane anytime soon. The project is aimed at establishing research knowledge that could lead to development of an aircraft by 2030. And whether such a plane could become a commercial success is anybody's guess.

But the project, led by researchers at Cambridge, Mass.-based MIT and Cambridge University in England, has plenty of commercial interest so far. The two universities say more than 30 aviation companies from around the world participated in the design, including aircraft maker Boeing Co. and engine maker Rolls-Royce PLC.

Rolls-Royce wouldn't participate if the project didn't have potential to help shape future aircraft design, said Martin Brodie, a spokesman for the London-based company.

''We have a very strong record of involvement in environmental programs anyway, so this is just a logical thing for us to get involved in,'' Brodie said. ''This is really a clear-blue-sky thing for the moment, and we'll have to wait to see what develops.''

More than 40 researchers from MIT and Cambridge as well as engineers from the 30 companies have been collaborating on the design since the project's launch three years ago. Funding has come largely from the British government's Department of Trade and Industry, which committed money seven years ago to establish the Cambridge-MIT Institute, a joint venture between the schools that also has worked on other projects.

For now, the aviation project's goal is not to produce a marketable aircraft.

''The goal was to find out what technologies would be required, and what an aircraft would look like if a step-change in noise reduction was one of the key drivers for design,'' said Zoltan Spakovszky, an MIT aeronautics professor and a chief engineer on the project.

One aspect of the plane's sound-reducing design eliminates flaps -- hinged sections on the rear of each wing -- to reduce a major source of noise as the plane cuts through the air at takeoff and landing.

To reduce sound reaching the ground, the jet engines would be embedded into the plane's body, rather than hung from the wings as on conventional airliners. The engines would have variable-size jet nozzles, allowing slower jet propulsion during takeoff and landing but efficient cruising at higher speeds.

The proposed plane is designed to carry 215 passengers and achieve fuel efficiency of 124 passenger-miles per gallon.

By comparison, Boeing's 787 Dreamliner, a fuel-efficient airliner due for delivery in 2008, is expected to achieve 100 passenger-miles per gallon on a typical flight, Boeing spokesman Adam Morgan said.Financial Times 11/06/2006
Author: Clive Cookson
(c) 2006 The Financial Times Limited. All rights reserved

The cause of green aviation will receive a boost when researchers from Cambridge University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology unveil their futuristic design for a "silent aircraft" that is also ultra-fuel efficient.

The noise that people would hear on the ground has been cut by a factor of 3,000, says Ann Dowling, who headed the Cambridge team - so the aircraft would hardly be audible abovenormal background noise outside the airport perimeter. It would consume 25 per cent less fuel than today's most efficient airliners.

The Cambridge MIT Institute (CMI) has worked for three years with Boeing, Rolls-Royce, Nasa and other aerospace organisations on its Silent Aircraft Initiative, with total funding of more than Pounds 4m including industrial contributions. The 40 engineers and scientists on the project released a preliminary design last year but it has changed substantially ahead of its presentation to the Royal Aeronautical Society in London today.

The overall shape is a tail-less flying wing or "blended wing body", so that the whole structure provides lift. This enables it to make a slower, steeper and therefore quieter approach to landing than a traditional "tube and wings" aircraft. Conventional flaps and slats, which are usually a noise source, have been eliminated.

Three novel engines are mounted on the top of the aircraft, to screen noise from the ground. Unlike today's engines, they have variable-size jet nozzles to allow slow jet propulsion for low noise during take-off and climb - and then higher jet speeds optimised for maximum efficiency during cruise.

When the project started the emphasis was on silence, with fuel efficiency very much a secondary objective. But, as the global warming debate has heated up over the past three years, the public has been much more aware of commercial aviation as a fast-growing source of carbon emissions. So the CMI design team has paid more attention to reducing fuel consumption than it originally expected.

"On the whole, fortunately, fuel economy and quietness have gone together well," says Tom Hynes, head of engine design for the project. "We thought at the beginning that there would be more trade-offs between them than has actually been the case. But if we were to design this aircraft purely for fuel economy there would be some differences."

The passenger experience in a flying wing aircraft with a wide delta-shaped cabin would be very different to that in a conventional cigar-shaped body. For a start, there might be no real windows. Instead, "virtual windows" might be displayed around the cabin. But the design team has done no detailed work on internal design.

The main project is winding down but Prof Dowling says Cambridge and MIT will follow up several of the technological advances made during the design phase. So will their industrial partners. "The ideas are conceptual and could not be produced without much further work," says Colin Smith, Rolls-Royce engineering and technology director. "The practical versions of concept designs inevitably involve changes to the original ideas. The aircraft and engine designs that have been shown are not necessarily what a future product will look like - rather they are a valuable platform to capture the big ideas that we need to consider when working on the next generation of designs."Mithra Sankrithi, Boeing's chief product development engineer, adds: "They have certainly come up with several innovative ideas that we will be evaluating for incorporation into future Boeing products." But Mr Sankrithi does not envisage a passenger aircraft with such a blended-wing body flying in the near future. "There may be a military application," he adds, "but we cannot talk about that."

Boeing to Begin Ground Testing of X-48B Blended Wing Body Concept

In cooperation with NASA and the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory, Boeing Phantom Works will soon begin ground testing its X-48B Blended Wing Body concept in preparation for flight testing early in 2007. (Bob Ferguson photo)

EDWARDS, Calif., Oct. 27, 2006 -- In cooperation with NASA and the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory, Boeing Phantom Works soon will begin ground testing of its X-48B Blended Wing Body (BWB) concept in preparation for flight testing early next year.

The X-48B ground and flight testing will take place at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base in California, where two high-fidelity 21-foot wingspan prototypes have been delivered.

The prototypes were produced to explore and validate the structural, aerodynamic and operational advantages of the BWB concept. They were designated the "X-48B" by the U.S. Air Force based on its interest in the design's potential as a future military aircraft.

"Earlier wind-tunnel testing and the upcoming flight testing are focused on learning more about the BWB's low-speed flight-control characteristics, especially during takeoffs and landings," said Norm Princen, Boeing Phantom Works chief engineer for the X-48B program. "Knowing how accurately our models predict these characteristics is an important step in the further development of this concept."

X-48B Ship 1 completed extensive wind tunnel testing at the Old Dominion University NASA Langley Full-Scale Tunnel this summer before being shipped to NASA Dryden as a backup to Ship 2, which will be used for flight testing early next year.

In preparation for first flight, the X-48B Ship 2 will undergo ground testing to validate its engine- and fuel-system integrity, battery endurance, telemetry link communication, flight-control software, and low- and high-speed taxiing characteristics.

The X-48B's three turbojet engines will allow the 500-pound, composite-skinned, 21-foot wingspan prototype to fly up to 120 knots and 10,000 feet in altitude during flight testing.

The X-48B research project is led by Phantom Works, Boeing's advanced R&D unit chartered to provide innovative technology and system solutions to meet future aerospace needs. Cranfield Aerospace, Ltd., in the United Kingdom built the two X-48B prototypes for Phantom Works in accordance with Boeing requirements and specifications. NASA's participation in the project is focused on fundamental, edge-of-the-envelope flight dynamics and structural concepts of the BWB, while AFRL is focused on the BWB's potential as a flexible, long-range, high-capacity military aircraft.

787 full-scale static test facility takes shape

When complete, the 787 static test facility will surround a structurally complete 787 airframe, as depicted in the above artist’s rendering. The purpose of the test is to validate the static strength of the 787 by applying external loads to the 787 airframe using 160 computer-controlled hydraulic actuators.

Video: Amazing Russian aircraft moves

F-22 Video

Real Time Aircraft Damage Assessment

Dan Wilke demonstrates how to work DENT--a new Damage Evaluation and Notification tool being developed with the U.S. Army to help Apaches get repaired faster. [Mike Goettings photo]

Apaches, damaged during their tour of duty, will be ready to get back to the battlefield sooner thanks to a new invention masterminded by Dan Wilke.

Wilke, a structural engineer at the Rotorcraft Systems facility in Mesa, Ariz., and his manager and co-inventor Dennis McCarthy, have a patent pending on the new Damage Evaluation and Notification Tool, known more commonly as DENT.

DENT is being developed under a contract with the U.S. Army as the solution to the difficult and long-standing problem of the accurate reporting and rapid assessment of Apache field damage, Wilke said.

“The U.S. Army wants to provide timely repair of damaged aircraft,” said Wilke, an associate technical fellow. “The problem has been long cycle time required for identification of type, size, and location of damage on the airframe. It can take a week or more for engineering to receive the damage definition necessary to begin analysis. Additionally, tracking and documentation of aircraft damage, analysis, and repairs is currently insufficient.

DENT incorporates a web-based reporting and tracking system for ease of use by the aircraft maintainer and the engineer. The invention consists of four key elements: a method for the consistent identification of location, size and type of damage; an automated transmittal of damage details to the appropriate personnel; rapid assessment of damage using automated analysis techniques; automated storage of all damage related field and engineering data in a central location.

“The combination of a consistent damage assessment process with the automated analysis tools will provide an estimated 85 percent reduction in cycle time for the disposition of field damage resulting in increased aircraft availability,” Wilke said.

The near real-time availability of damage and repair information will provide savings to both the customer and The Boeing Company throughout the life cycle of the aircraft,” he added. “The patent pending process is the foundation of a new product line for The Boeing Company in a previously untapped market niche.”

Wilke said the U.S. Army has just begun using the tool in Iraq, and will make a make a major DENT in its operation by the middle of 2007.

Bell-Boeing Quadtiltrotor Completes First Wind Tunnel Testing

Bell-Boeing Quadtiltrotor Completes First Wind Tunnel Testing
Defense Daily 10/13/2006

The Bell Helicopter Textron [TXT]- Boeing [BA] quadtiltrotor (QTR), the heavy lift variant of the team's V-22 Osprey, completed its initial wind tunnel testing last month to demonstrate the impact of the front rotor and weight on the rear rotors, a Bell official said.

The test was conducted using a one-fifth scale model of the QTR, Alan Ewing, QTR program manager for Bell, told reporters during a briefing Tuesday at the annual Association of U.S. Army conference in Washington D.C.

"Testing showed those loads from that vortex on the rear rotor [are the] same as the loads we see on the front [rotors]," he said.

Aeroelastic stability of the wing looks exactly the same as the conventional tiltrotor, Ewing added.

The Bell-Boeing team is providing the government with a lot of data on the QTR, he said.

In the current test, Bell-Boeing used a variant with a three-blade rotor. Ewing said in the next phase of tests they will use a four-blade rotor.

"We expect to see the same results," he added.

Bell-Boeing hopes to get to a first flight of the QTR in the 2012 time frame, Ewing noted.

He also told reporters that the Systems Design and Development phase for a Joint Heavy Lift (JHL) aircraft could take place around 2013 with low-rate initial production (Milestone C) occurring in 2020.

The team is also working on eight variations, or excursion designs, of the QTR that includes a sea basing variant.

A primary accomplishment in the last year for Bell-Boeing was the completion of the baseline aircraft and finishing seven of the eight excursion designs, Ewing added.

The nominal payloads span from 16 tons to 26 tons and the mission radius ranges from 210 nautical miles (nmi) to 500 nmi, he said.

Bell-Boeing is working under an 18-month, $3.4 million government funded effort to develop a QTR for JHL. The current effort ends in March '07, Ewing said.

Under the effort, everything that falls under the parameters of the fuselage belongs to Boeing. For example, avionics, crew cabin, crew station design and the landing gear. Bell is in charge of everything having to do with the wings, from engines to gear boxes, rotors, as well as total system integration, Ewing added.

The QTR's rear wings' size is determined by the clearance distance between the rotor diameter and the fuselage. There is 18 inches of clearance at the closest point, Ewing said. The rear wings are also set higher than the front wings to help minimize the effect from the front wing and rotor, he added.
The overall length of the fuselage is set by a desire to keep a minimum of 36 inches of separation between the front to rear rotors, Ewing said.

On the baseline QTR, the proprotor has a 50-foot diameter compared to 38 feet on the V-22.

The baseline version also has an aerial refueling probe. The probe is fully retractable, Ewing noted. "We saved a couple of square feet in drag by making it retractable."

Fuel will be stored in both the forward and rear wings. However, the front wing fuel tanks will be filled first and then the rear tanks to balance out the aircraft. Ewing said.

The QTR also is being designed with an interconnect drive system. That will provide the ability to power one proprotor from any engine. Ewing said the system will add a bit more weight, but the capability it brings is worth it.

"If, for some reason, you had two engines inoperative on a single wing, you could pull one entire engine's worth of power [from] your operating wing," he said.

The size of the proprotors also drives the length of the cargo bay, he added. "We did not constrain ourselves in terms of the amount of cargo floor we put in. We used as much as possible. The JHL minimum requires 600 inches. The QTR baseline has 747 inches. It's a much more useful cargo box.

"Because we exceed that JHL requirement by 25 percent, we can get eight 463L pallets on the floor and an additional one on the [cargo] ramp," he said.

If Bell-Boeing limited the fuselage to 600 inches, Ewing said, the QTR would have then been limited to carrying only six 463L pallets.

The QTR can also carry up to 110 paratroopers and their equipment, but that is without a comfort station. Adding a comfort station would require removing six seats, Ewing noted.

The aircraft can also carry 150 passengers, he added.

One of the excursion designs calls for a larger QTR, what Ewing referred to as the "Big Boy." The floor width is expanded by 22 inches taking up to a total of 157 inches. The fuselage length is also increased from 747 inches to 815 inches to enable the QTR to carry one additional 463L pallet, he added.

The larger QTR is capable of carrying an armored Stryker vehicle or notional Future Combat System (FCS) vehicles with Non-Line-of-Sight Cannons, Ewing said. "Anything that normally doesn't fit into a C-130."

The "Big Boy" configuration adds another five feet to proprotors, taking them up to 55 feet in diameter, the largest Bell makes, Ewing noted.

While there is a requirement for a shipboard capable aircraft, there are challenges with that, Ewing said.

"It is still in the works. We have two concepts right now," Ewing said.

Once Bell-Boeing finishes the rest of the excursions, they will complete the sea base variant, he added.

"It will be a little problematic. We don't particularly care to fold this aircraft," Ewing explained.

The QTR does not have folding wings or rotors, he said. "It was not a requirement."

Even if Bell-Boeing designed the QTR rotors to fold, it still wouldn't fit on an aircraft carrier's elevators, Ewing said.

Bell-Boeing did a geometric layout of an aircraft carrier and both the LHD and LHA amphibious vessels. The study showed there was no gain by having the QTR live on board any of those ships, Ewing said.

One issue with the LHA is that because of the size of the QTR, the aircraft would not be able to taxi past the vessel's island, he added.

That limited the number of QTRs to two on a LHA. And Bell-Boeing recommended no more than three QTRs on a LHD, Ewing said.