The Pentagon chooses Boeing for its “landing craft of the future” | EUROtoday
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VS'is likely one of the most shocking initiatives carried out by Darpa, the well-known American navy analysis company. As a part of the Liberty Lifter program, the Pentagon has simply chosen Aurora Flight Sciences, a Boeing subsidiary, to develop an ekranoplane. It is a half-boat, half-seaplane system, able to flying at 500 km/h 5 meters above the waves. The solely different competitor, General Atomics, manufacturing Reaper and Predator drones, was excluded from the challenge.
With the prospect of whole battle within the China Sea and the Pacific, Darpa's goal is to supply the American military a lightning amphibious assault functionality, every plane with the ability to carry 100 tons of cargo or a number of a whole lot of outfitted troopers. Aurora Flight Sciences acquired an preliminary fee of $8.3 million to proceed improvement and fly a prototype in late 2027.
Long reside floor impact
Ekranoplanes exploit a bodily phenomenon well-known to pilots: floor impact. When flying at very low altitude, birds, planes or gliders profit from further elevate, as a result of the air below the wing can not escape downward. ” The trainee [toutes les forces qui le ralentissent, NDLR] is significantly reduced, up to 50%, while the lift increases accordingly,” Jean-Marc Moschetta, professor of aerodynamics at ISAE-SUPAERO, explained to us at the end of 2023.
READ ALSO “Doomsday Planes”: the US Air Force’s XXL order
A true gift of physics, ground effect is responsible for the lengthening of the flight of a paper airplane when it approaches the ground or the astonishing ease with which birds skim over waves, almost effortlessly. . Evil tongues assure that the first flight in the history of aviation, that of the Wright brothers in 1903, was only a result of ground effect…
Multiple propellers
“Complex sensors will need to be integrated and automated to provide pilots with the necessary assistance, including in rough seas, and the ability to avoid obstacles,” explains Christopher Kent, director of the Liberty Lifter program at Darpa. For him, the aircraft must necessarily have an “automatic altitude adjustment system, in order to precisely compensate for complex aerodynamic and hydrodynamic variations and the powerful irregular forces” which will be applied to its cabin.
READ ALSO “João II”, the ultra-innovative project of the Portuguese NavyPropulsion will be provided by small propeller motors spread across the wing, a system called distributed propulsion, more efficient than the current standard of one to four large motors. The fuel savings thus achieved should enable the aircraft to have a range of 12,000 km. Enough to reach Taiwan, Manila or Sydney from the Californian bases without refueling, provided that consumption is not increased by flying above a few meters of altitude, due to unpredictable weather or ground threats. -air.
“Landing craft of the future”
“If we had to do June 6, 1944 again, we would want to use these devices! The effect of surprise and saturation is enormous, these are the landing craft of the future,” enthuses Jean-Marc Moschetta. But there is no question of creating technological jewels at 100 million euros each, the price of an F-35 stealth fighter. New ekranoplanes should be easy to manufacture, with cheap materials. The name of the program, Liberty Lifter, is inspired by the Liberty ships of the Second World War, these low-cost, rustic cargo ships produced by the thousands to rally Europe at war.
READ ALSO How do plane service catapults work? The program additionally recollects the dream of inventor Howard Hughes, who in 1942 imagined a large picket seaplane, the H-4 Hercules. The problem was loopy: construct a large picket seaplane to move Allied troops to Europe and keep away from German submarines. The dimension of an A380 and able to carrying 750 outfitted troopers, the H-4 Hercules, nicknamed the spruce goose, solely made one check flight of some hundred meters… because of floor impact. The challenge was deserted simply after the top of World War II.
https://www.lepoint.fr/science/le-pentagone-choisit-boeing-pour-sa-barge-de-debarquement-du-futur-16-05-2024-2560277_25.php