DARPA wants aircraft that can maneuver with a radically different method

[red750]

The Pentagon's R&D wing is taking the next steps towards developing airplanes that don't use traditional control surfaces like ailerons.

 

Read article here.

 

[facthunter]

   The MU-2 had no ailerons  (only spoilers) and fell out of the sky when it accumulated any ICE. Controlling a plane of any larger size in severe gust conditions needs a lot of control power and to be able to achieve and reverse it  quickly. Quick  largish thrust changes also coordinated with the pitch to stay on slope and speed..  Can't see it doing what they claim.  All landings are at the slowest safe speed and that's not where the Plane works best at. Nev

[onetrack]

The ideas must have promise, or DARPA wouldn't be throwing mega-millions at it. The idea of having a wing surface full of holes, that pump air out via jets, to alter the pressure effect on the wing, is intriguing.

 

Edited January 31, 2023 by onetrack

[rgmwa]

34 minutes ago, red750 said:

The Pentagon's R&D wing is taking the next steps towards developing airplanes that don't use traditional control surfaces like ailerons.

 

Read article here.

 

Current prototype (artist's impression):

[facthunter]

It's been used in slats and boundary layer control for ages. How good do VTOL contraptions handle severe gusting  winds?  Nev

[spenaroo]

So basically its wing warping without the actual wing changing shape.
using the same idea as blown flaps

[old man emu]

Calling out from the back of my mind is a memory of having read about boundary layer control by introducing jets of air into the upper surface airflow. I think that work was done ling ago before aeronautical technology was anywhere near the level it is today. Those bat-like stealth planes are flown by the use of rapid computer control response. I can't see why computer-controlled air jet insertion would not work. If you think about how moveable control surfaces work, it's all down to altering the amount of lift developed by the control surface. 

 

If inserting pressurised air into the airflow over, say, the outer trailing edge of one wing increased the amount of lift generated there, then would that not induce a rolling motion resulting in a turn? 

[facthunter]

Depends on what the magnitude of  the force is and what control and LIFT it will provide at the lower speed end of the flight envelope This where most vectored thrust vehicles come to grief. The force needed has to come from somewhere, Ultimately it will be provided by the engine(s). Any one can get these things to work at cruise speeds.  Nev

[old man emu]

Once upon a time, people used wing-warping to effect change of direction in the rolling axis although hinged surfaces were used for yaw and pitch control.

 

 

[facthunter]

A WW2 exHurricane pilot I flew with a lot insisted when they got rid of wing warping things only went downhill from there..  Nev