Non-Subscriber Extract
Northrop to build oblique wing demonstrator
- Article Tools
| 27 March 2006 |
By Stephen Trimble JDW Americas Bureau Chief
Washington, DC
Northrop Grumman has been selected to build a new X-plane with a tailless oblique flying wing (OFW) shape in hopes of solving an old aerodynamic problem: how to design an aircraft that is as efficient flying low-speed surveillance orbits as performing a supersonic strike mission.
The US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) awarded the project, named Switchblade, to Northrop Grumman on 17 March. The manufacturer will develop a preliminary design and address controllability issues over 20 months under a USD10.3 million Phase 1 contract.
A subscale Switchblade prototype with a wingspan of at least 12 m (40 ft) is expected to fly in 2010, according to DARPA.
The OFW shape allows the aircraft to vary its sweep angle with Mach number. There would be little or no sweep in low-speed flight, in which drag due to lift is the bigger problem. At supersonic speed, one end of the flying wing would be swept almost completely forward. This is an oblique angle, which is intended to counter the high-speed problem of wave drag.
173 of 475 words