Image: BAE Systems.
Robert Beckhusen, National Interest: What Is The Future Of Stealth Fighters? This Picture Is Your Clue.
Will stealth survive in the age of artificial intelligence?
Key point: It’s long been a goal of aerospace developers to eliminate moving control surfaces from airplanes.
Researchers at BAE Systems and The University of Manchester successfully test-flew an experimental unmanned aerial vehicle with no moving control surfaces, BAE Systems announced in December 2017.
The 12-foot-span, jet-propelled MAGMA drone could help BAE develop stealthier warplanes. Control surfaces account for a significant portion of an airplane’s radar signature.
Instead of rudders, ailerons and other conventional control surfaces, MAGMA relies on two new technologies for maneuverability. Wing circulation control “takes air from the aircraft engine and blows it supersonically through the trailing edge of the wing to provide control for the aircraft,” according to BAE Systems.
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WNU Editor: The BAE news release on this new technology is here .... Successful first flight trial completion of unmanned aerial vehicle, MAGMA (BAE Systems).
