BAE Systems will leverage its experience in the MAGMA programme (pictured) to help develop active flow control technologies for DARPA. (Photo: BAE Systems)
BAE Systems announced on 6 September that it will ‘progress the design and testing of revolutionary flow control technologies’ for future US military aircraft.
Under a contract from DARPA in the Control of Revolutionary Aircraft with Novel Effectors (CRANE) project, the company will design a full-scale demonstrator concept based on active flow control. The demonstrator aircraft will be able to manoeuvre in flight without conventional flight control surfaces and with ‘improved performance, maintainability, and survivability’, BAE Systems claimed.
The company will mature design, integration, and de-risking activities, including wind tunnel testing at its facilities in the UK in 2022.
CRANE aims to inject active flow control early in the aircraft design process to demonstrate significant efficiency benefits, as well as improvements to aircraft cost, weight, performance, and reliability.
Active flow control can supplement or replace conventional moveable control surfaces to improve the performance of an aircraft at various stages of flight, as well as reduce mass and volume compared to aircraft with conventional controls to enable greater payloads and greater flexibility to the operator.
The report comes as heads of industry bodies warn that the delayed defence spending plan has left smaller and medium sized businesses in stasis, unable to plan or seek out further investment.
Norway first scoped the requirement in 2022, and included it in a defence strategy document in 2023. The announcement of a new framework agreement appears to have breathed fresh life into the effort.
The effective use of the Shahed-136 in the Iran war has highlighted the need for countries to acquire a domestically produced, low-cost, long-range loitering munition, with the US, Turkey and European nations all at various stages of developing a similar capability.
The disagreement between French-German industry continues as both governments work to keep the programme alive and on track to develop and deliver a sixth-generation fighter jet.
The USAF is seeking on-the-move systems, subsystems or technologies capable of defending airbases and fixed and semi-fixed sites against small drone attacks.
Norway’s funding boost will help the country reach 3.5% of GDP on defence spending by 2035, with autonomous systems part of the long list of priorities alongside frigate acquisition and development of a new Finnmark Brigade.
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