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The Next DARPA X-Plane Won't Maneuver Like Any Plane Before It
- ledauphin 5y agothis sounds entirely plausible, except for the leadoff suggestion that it "could also have lower weight, size, complexity and cost" than traditional aircraft. There's no way on earth this will be less complex or less expensive in its first or second iteration.
- sandworm101 5y agoIf they want to fly without control surfaces I would start with those aircraft that are already doing so. Hand gliders have no control surfaces. They maneuver by the pilot shifting their mass. Build a fixed-wing craft with two internal pipes, one for-aft and another left-right. Inside those pipes mount dense weights. Maneuvers are then accomplished by moving that weight along the pipes to create pitch and roll moments. It might not win any dogfights, but a slow and stealthy drone should be able to navigate relatively easily. Yaw would be an issue, but that should be easy enough via differential thrust between a pair of engines. No super advanced tech needed.
- micah94 5y agoNo other plane...except for the very first one the Wright Bros made? No "hinged" control surfaces there either. Snark aside, I'm surprised this article doesn't mention bendable and reshaping wings to achieve some of this.