JetZero is working on the subscale BWB aircraft demonstrator, named “Pathfinder,” while Northrop Grumman’s Scaled Composites division is fabricating the full-size airplane and has already produced test articles of components.
The U.S. Air Force is collecting data from flight tests of a subscale version of its BWB (Blended-Wing Body) demonstrator to inform the full-scale aircraft’s control software and final configuration, recently reported Air and Space Forces Magazine. A USAF spokesperson revealed several updates about the project, confirming that it remains on track for a first flight in 2027.
The BWB project saw the Department of the Air Force select aerospace startup JetZero on Aug. 16, 2023. The company subsequently revealed a 12.5% scale version of the future full-size aircraft in Apr. 2024. The subscale aircraft has a 23 feet wingspan.
Among the details, the spokesperson mentioned that the demonstrator, nicknamed “Pathfinder”, confirmed that the concept being developed by JetZero has similar flight dynamics to the last such BWB subscale project, the Boeing Phantom Works’ X-48.
BWB aircraft, a sort of a mix between a “flying wing” like the B-2 Spirit and conventional fuselage-and-wing configurations, have more space in the middle for payload and reduce drag by providing greater lift, allowing to cut fuel use by 30%. The reduced cost and easier logistics have cascading benefits for both military and civilian passenger, cargo aviation, which is also why the project is led by the Air Force Assistant Secretary for energy, installations and environment.
美军部长弗兰克·肯德尔 宣布，加州初创公司 JetZero 已被选中在 2027 年之前建造一架具有BWB混合翼身 (翼身融合) 的XBW-1验证机。BWB 的主要优势是燃油效率，其翼型机身可以让整个飞机产生升力，减少至少30-40%燃油消耗。使用持续航空燃料 SAF，碳排放可下降 80% 以上。取消尾翼，顶部安装发动机 https://t.co/BF4YZp39GY pic.twitter.com/KTfQriGNql
— 极光 (@Aurora107E) August 17, 2023
Under a cost-sharing agreement for the BWB program, the Air Force will front $230 million, with private investors having pledged roughly $300 million, according to industry officials. The FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) granted the airworthiness certification in Mar. 2024 for the 1:8 scale aircraft to begin flight tests.
The test flights were originally planned to begin in 2023, but were pushed back due to supply chain issues. While 2026 will see fabrication of the full-scale aircraft, ground testing will start in Apr. 2027 and the first flight is expected by Sept. 2027.
Subscale model informing full-scale design
As per the spokesperson, the subscale aircraft initially flown at Crow’s Landing in California “has similar flight dynamics to previous BWB subscale aircraft, namely X-48.” The NASA-Boeing program concluded the test flying of the remotely piloted X-48B and X-48C Hybrid/Blended Wing Body research aircraft after what has been defined as a highly successful and productive flight test campaign at the Dryden Flight Research Center by early-2013.
The current project sees JetZero working on the subscale BWB aircraft while Northrop Grumman’s Scaled Composites division is fabricating the full-size airplane. Scaled Composites “has begun manufacturing full-scale parts for testing purposes,” said the spokesperson.
To that effect, the company built “a wing test article” that will be used to “refine and validate structural models for the full-scale aircraft.” JetZero also made “significant progress in its integrated test facility…which enables systems integration testing to begin well before initial manufacturing of the full-scale aircraft.”
Tests of the Pathfinder subscale demonstrator is also enabling “refinement of flight control laws applicable to the full-scale demonstration aircraft,” added the spokesperson. “Further flight testing will serve to validate [Computational Fluid Dynamics] models and performance characteristics of the outer mold line,” she said.
As Tom O’Leary, co-founder and CEO of JetZero, told CNN, the main technical challenge is the “pressurization of a non-cylindrical fuselage.” A tube-shaped plane can better handle the “constant expansion and contraction cycles that come with each flight.”
“If you think about a ‘tube and wing,’ it separates the loads — you have the pressurization load on the tube, and the bending loads on the wings. But a blended wing essentially blends those together. Only now can we do that with composite materials that are both light and strong,” O’Leary said in the report.
JetZero also announced, on Nov. 4, 2024, its partners for the flight control systems of the full-scale BWB aircraft. BAE Systems, Moog, Thales, and Woodward would supply the Active Control Sidesticks, Flight Control Actuators, Pilot Controls and Flight Control Computers respectively.
The X-48 program
In the X-48 project, according to NASA, primary changes to the C model from the original B variant “were geared to transforming it to an airframe noise-shielding configuration.” “External modifications included relocating the wingtip winglets inboard next to the engines, effectively turning them into twin tails.”
“The aft deck of the aircraft was extended about two feet to the rear,” continued the report. “Finally, the project team replaced the X-48B’s three 50-pound thrust jet engines with two 89-pound thrust engines.”
“The manta-shaped X-48 Hybrid Wing Body technology demonstrator flew a total of 122 flights, 30 of them as the C-model,” says NASA. The last flight of the X-48C occurred on Apr. 9, 2013, while the first flight was only eight months earlier on Aug. 7, 2012. At the time, Fay Collier, NASA’s manager for the Environmentally Responsible Aviation project, said they established a “ground to flight database” and proved “low-speed controllability of the concept throughout the flight envelope,” with both variants being “very quiet and efficient.”
#NEWS: BAE Systems is providing actuator control units for JetZero’s sustainable jet demonstrator. The advanced actuation electronics will deliver high-performance control for next-generation aircraft.
Learn more: https://t.co/SXEKtF3Rzd pic.twitter.com/9WF5fdTTAT
— BAE Systems, Inc. (@BAESystemsInc) December 19, 2024
BWB and future Air Force mobility
Though not officially connected with the Air Force’s Next-Generation Air refueling System (NGAS) program, “BWB concepts are likely to inform NGAS analysis efforts as well as discussions regarding next-gen airlift,” said the spokesperson to ASF. However, the BWB project is “independent” of the NGAS, which is currently a PoR (Program of Record). The 2023 National Defense Authorization Act allocated $235 million to be spent on the project over the next four years.
At the time of awarding the BWB contract to JetZero, Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said that BWB aircraft “have the potential to significantly reduce fuel demand and increase global reach.” He also added “Moving forces and cargo quickly, efficiently, and over long distance is a critical capability to enable national security strategy.”
The increased efficiency of the BWB will enable extended range, more loiter time, and increased payload delivery efficiencies, capabilities that are vital to mitigating logistics risks. The report also noted the present engineering advances “in structural design, materials technology, manufacturing,” that would enable finally bringing the decades-old BWB aircraft concept to fruition.
Bridges the logistical and cost gaps in the Pacific
As the ASF report subsequently noted, this project relates to the broader effort to bridge the ‘logistical gap’ in sustaining a high-end war with China in the western Pacific. This theater is, in fact, characterized by vast distances between the operational zones and far-flung bases in the island chains.
The fuel and aerodynamic performances also complement the ACE (Agile Combat Employment) concept the service is practicing in that theater, where mobility and fighter aircraft operate from dispersed, austere airfields, with little to no supporting infrastructure.
As reported in The Aviationist, Air Force officials said that the conversion of the Air Mobility Command’s and Global Strike Command’s fleets to the BWB design would reduce annual fuel costs by $1 billion compared with kerosene at current prices.
Logistics aircraft types account for approximately 60% of the Air Force’s total annual jet fuel consumption, making the BWB’s capabilities a huge boon. “This transformational technology could be vital for a fight in the Pacific, giving us the operational edge we need,” said the USAF spokesperson to ASF.
