This article first appeared in Aerospace Daily & Defense Report.
Aurora Flight Sciences is developing technology demonstration plans for the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) with the target of identifying ways to reduce air mobility fleet fuel usage 90 percent by 2030–2035.
The study is being conducted under the Revolutionary Configurations for Energy Efficiency (RCEE) program, which is being funded with Recovery Act stimulus money. In June, Boeing and Lockheed Martin were awarded RCEE contracts to study aft-body drag reduction.
Aurora says its study begins with an analysis of airlift and tanker aircraft “to determine the best fleet composition, aircraft performance attributes and technology requirements to meet the aggressive goals.“
Technologies will be evaluated in aerodynamics, structures, propulsion, subsystems and operations. Downselected technologies will be modeled with increasing fidelity, with the goal of drawing up plans to guide AFRL research.
Aurora says it is evaluating multiple aircraft configurations and propulsion-airframe integration alternatives, including distributed multi-engine propulsion systems. The company is part of an MIT-led team studying similar configurations for NASA, for 2030–2035-timeframe commercial transports.
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– Christian
Too ambitious, seems to be biting more than it could chew, I have my doubts it will do a third of what it intends.
> identifying ways to reduce air mobility fleet fuel usage 90 percent by 2030–2035.
this is a very easy goal to accomplish:
reduce air mobility flights by 90%
This is a great idea. I think the largest amount of savings is going to come from optimizing fleet composition and distribution of those aircraft. 90% is probably lofty, but its worth it in the long run if they can get anywhere near that. This really strikes me as a tranformative project, that if successful will make substantial impacts.
I was thinking about this, if they went the radical approach of utilizing something like the Walrus, that would certainly achieve the goal, if you could over look the short comings of derrigables.
I can save AFRL $10 million dollars and 2 years of wasted time. If you want to save that much fuel, use dirigibles and WIGEs instead of C-130s and C-17s. Now AFRL can spend that money figuring out how to keep dirigibles from being shot down by MANPADS, rifles, and kids with slingshots.