This progress comes after completing a conceptual design review for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) program, Speed and Runway Independent Technologies (SPRINT).  

The design envisioned by the Boeing subsidiary integrates vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) capabilities with high-speed flight. It features a low-drag, fan-in-wing (FIW) demonstrator incorporated into a blended wing body platform.  

Aurora and Boeing aim to complete the preliminary design review in 12 months and achieve the first flight within 36 months.  

鈥淭he team精东影业 approach seeks to set the program on the path to successful flight and demonstrate game-changing capability for air mobility and Special Operations Forces (SOF) mission,鈥� Aurora explained in a . 

The company shared renderings of the FIW demonstrator, which depicts three lift fans, a refined composite exterior, and an uncrewed cockpit. Although the current design is uncrewed, Aurora claims the technology can be adapted for traditional crewed aircraft. 

The SPRINT project, a collaborative effort between DARPA and the US Special Operations Command, aims to create, construct, and test-fly an X-plane that combines speed and independence from traditional runways. The envisioned aircraft must be able to maintain speeds between 400 and 450 knots (740 to 830 kilometers per hour) at relevant altitudes and take off vertically from unprepared surfaces. 

The Liberty Lifter is designed to be a 鈥榣ong-range, low-cost X-Plane capable of seaborne strategic and tactical heavy lift鈥�. 

鈥淲e are excited to kick off this program and look forward to working closely with both performer teams as they mature their point-of-departure design concepts through Phase 1,鈥� DARPA Liberty Lifter Program Manager Christopher Kent said in a statement. 鈥淭he two teams have taken distinctly different design approaches that will enable us to explore a relatively large design space during Phase 1.鈥� 

The industrial team, led by General Atomics, chose a twin-hull reminiscent of the Stratolauch built by Scaled Composites to carry air-launch-to-orbit rockets, plus a mid-wing. According to DARPA, this design optimizes on-water stability and seakeeping performance. Twelve turboshaft engines will power the aircraft.鈥� 

As for Aurora Flight Sciences, the design resembles a more traditional seaplane design with a singular hull, a high wing and eight turboprops for propulsion. This design is close to the Boeing Pelican ULTRA imagined by Aurora精东影业 parent company in the early 2000s.

DARPA unveils new heavy-lift ground-effect seaplane concept

• Defense

byClement Charpentreau

2022-05-19

What is the Liberty Lifter? 

Much like the Soviet-era ekranoplans, the Liberty Lifter will be able to take advantage of the 鈥榞round effect鈥�, which results in an increase in lift and a decrease in drag when an aircraft flies at very low altitude, making it capable of highly controlled flight close to turbulent water surfaces. This type of flight also keeps the aircraft below radar coverage for stealth-like insertion into a contested environment. 

But unlike the ekranoplans, the aircraft envisioned by DARPA will also be capable of sustained flight at mid-altitudes and thus will not be restricted to calm waters. It will be similar in size and capacity to the C-17 Globemaster III transport aircraft, carrying over 100 tons of cargo. 

Such an aircraft would be particularly useful in Southeast Asia. The region, notably the South China Sea, is a site of constant geopolitical tensions between China and neighboring countries, many of them supported by the US.鈥�� 

鈥淣ew classes of Navy and Marine Corps WIG [wing-in-ground-effect – ed. Note] craft could dramatically increase the intratheater mobility of expeditionary forces in the Pacific and improve resupply from the United States and allies,鈥� explained Joshua Taylor, the Chief of South Asia Division of US Indo-Pacific Command, for the . 鈥淲hile not invulnerable, WIG craft offset many of China精东影业 anti-access/area-denial (A2AD) investments.鈥� 

The capabilities of the Liberty Lifter would negate the need for maritime transport, which is slow and vulnerable to threats such as submarines, or聽for traditional airlifters that require an operable runway and are detectable by radars or聽real-time satellites.聽

C-130 on floats: Can we expect a seaplane renaissance?

• Defense

byValius Venckunas

2021-12-23

DARPA精东影业 Control of Revolutionary Aircraft with Novel Effectors (CRANE) program aims to develop an X-Plane without moving control surfaces.  

Instead, the aircraft would rely on active flow control (AFC), maneuvering by use of air drawn from its engine, expelled from several exhausts over its airframe at different speeds. This would reduce the aircraft’s weight, simplify its maintenance and reduce its radar signature as much as possible. 

Aurora Flight Sciences, an aviation and aeronautics research subsidiary of Boeing, had already completed the preliminary design and conducted wind tunnel testing in the first phase of the program. Now DARPA has selected the company to proceed with the second phase, with the detailed design of a demonstrator. 

鈥淥ver the past several decades, the active flow control community has made significant advancements that enable the integration of active flow control technologies into advanced aircraft,鈥� CRANE Program Manager Richard Wlezien said in a statement. 鈥淲e are confident about completing the design and flight test of a demonstration aircraft with AFC as the primary design consideration.鈥� 

For the third phase of the program, DARPA intends to fly a 3-ton (7,000-pound) X-Plane that will incorporate AFC technology for flight testing. 

Active Flow Control, a sought-after technology 

Though it has only been used on unmanned aircraft so far, the low-observability and increased operating range properties offered by this maneuvering method could find applications with the sixth generation of fighter jets currently being developed.  

DARPA is not the only party interested in this new technology. In 2010, BAE Systems presented a similar aircraft, called the Demon, as part of its Flapless Air Vehicle Integrated Industrial Research (FLAVIIR). Another technology demonstrator – MAGMA, developed in partnership with the University of Manchester – successfully carried out a series of flight tests in 2019. 

MAGMA, a flapless aircraft tested by BAE [Video]

• Defense

byClement Charpentreau

2019-05-10

Three more Russian airlines serving the country精东影业 far-East regions are going to be merged into a joint company, Russian media reports. 

Under the agreement, which was VAH</a>)-Galactic-Selects-Boeing-Subsidiary-Aurora-to-Build-New-Motherships/default.aspx”>announced by Virgin Galactic on July 6, 2022, Aurora Flight Sciences is committed to building two new carrier planes, which will carry a spaceship to its release altitude of approximately 50,000 feet. 

The so-called 鈥榤otherships鈥� will be manufactured at four Aurora facilities in the US located in Columbus, Mississippi, Bridgeport, and West Virginia. However, the final assembly will take place at the Virgin Galactic facility in Mojave, California. 

Virgin Galactic delays commercial space travel launch until 2023

• Space

byVyte Klisauskaite

2022-05-09

According to Virgin Galactic CEO Michael Colglazier, the next generation motherships will accelerate the company精东影业 operations and will help to perform substantially more flights each year.  

Virgin Galactic精东影业 manufacturing strategy is designed 鈥渢o leverage third party suppliers to improve efficiency, access innovation and technology, and tap into existing highly skilled labor pools,鈥� the company wrote in the statement. 

鈥淪upported by the scale and strength of Boeing, Aurora is the ideal manufacturing partner for us as we build our fleet to support 400 flights per year at Spaceport America,鈥� the CEO said. 

The first new mothership is expected to enter service in 2025, while Virgin Galactic精东影业 first Delta-class spaceship is also scheduled to launch revenue payload flights the same year. 

Virgin Galactic cleared for further missions after FAA concludes probe

• Space

byVictoria Bryan

2021-09-30

鈥淎urora is designed for aircraft-like take-off and landing on conventional runways anywhere in the world, including Germany and Europe, and features global autonomous ferry flight capability for operation base relocation,鈥� Polaris explains. 鈥淎urora offers unique capabilities in addressing various commercial as well as defense-related suborbital/hypersonic mission scenarios, with a payload capacity of several tons.鈥�

In collaboration with the Institute of Aerospace Engineering of the Technische Universit盲t Dresden, the study will also investigate the potential of fitting the Aurora with rocket engines fitted with aerospike nozzles. 

Unlike conventional 鈥渂ell鈥� nozzles that let burnt gases run free, aerospike nozzles channel combustion gases against a ramp to optimize the efficiency of the propulsion. Thanks to this method, aerospike rockets use 25-30% less fuel at low altitudes, making them a perfect solution for single-stage orbital launchers. 

In April 2020, Polaris successfully flew a technology demonstrator of the Aurora, called the Stella. It should later be used as a testbed for the development of automated flight control systems.

Following in the footsteps of its allies, Germany recently increased their interest in space. On July 13, 2021, the German armed forces put their space command into service to regroup all their spatial activities.

German armed forces enter the space battlefield

• Defense

byClement Charpentreau

2021-07-16