Free Republic
Browse · Search
Bloggers & Personal
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Patent Lifts Veil on Boeing's Speed Agile
Aviation Week and Space Technology ^

Posted on 07/04/2010 8:39:52 PM PDT by ErnstStavroBlofeld

I am researching something on future airlifters and wanted artwork on the stealthy super-STOL tactical transport Boeing windtunnel tested under the US Air Force Research Laboratory's Speed Agile program. I asked Boeing if they had a releasable image. No, they said. I asked AFRL. No, said they. So there I was passing the time browsing the US Patent and Trademark Office website and what do I find but this:
The patent is here and it's Speed Agile, or close to it based on the one image of a 2008 windtunnel model that I do have, from a presentation by the Boeing program manager at an AIAA conference. Speed Agile involved low- and high-speed windtunnel tests of a stealthy airlifter concept that could take off in 1,500ft and cruise at Mach 0.8. Usually STOL aircraft aren't that fast. Boeing's design achieves this "speed agility" using a "propulsive wing" - engines embedded in the wing exhaust throught slots at the trailing edge to provide lift as well as thrust.

(Excerpt) Read more at aviationweek.com ...


TOPICS: Military/Veterans; Politics; Science
KEYWORDS: aerospace; boeing; c130; pipedream; speedagile; stealth; stol; usaf

1 posted on 07/04/2010 8:39:57 PM PDT by ErnstStavroBlofeld
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

This craft is supposed to be a replacement for the C-130.


2 posted on 07/04/2010 8:41:33 PM PDT by ErnstStavroBlofeld
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: sonofstrangelove

We will see how fast it is after landing on gravel and dirt like the C-130 does.


3 posted on 07/04/2010 8:47:31 PM PDT by 999replies (Thune/Rubio 2012)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: 999replies

Its still on the drawing board. The one thing going for it is the STOL capability.


4 posted on 07/04/2010 8:48:54 PM PDT by ErnstStavroBlofeld
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: sonofstrangelove
Hmmm....

This is a blended wing body with a fuselage and a slight dihedral V tail for Pitch and Yaw control.

Interesting....

Even more interesting is a Boeing Engr once telling me BWB's weren't all they were cracked up to be.

Hmmm can you say diversion!

5 posted on 07/04/2010 8:54:04 PM PDT by taildragger ((Palin / Mulally 2012 ))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: taildragger

Yes, but is great to look at.


6 posted on 07/04/2010 8:56:27 PM PDT by ErnstStavroBlofeld
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: 999replies

A C-130 landed and took off from a carrier in some special tests. Without assist. USS Forestall...

“Altogether, the crew successfully negotiated 29 touch-and-go landings, 21 unarrested full-stop landings, and 21 unassisted takeoffs at gross weights of 85,000 pounds up to 121,000 pounds. At 85,000 pounds, the KC-130F came to a complete stop within 267 feet, about twice the aircraft’s wing span! The Navy was delighted to discover that even with a maximum payload, the plane used only 745 feet for takeoff and 460 feet for landing roll. The short landing roll resulted from close coordination between Flatley and Jerry Daugherty, the carrier’s landing signal officer. Daugherty, later to become a captain and assigned to the Naval Air Systems Command, gave Flatley an engine “chop” while still three or four feet off the deck.”

http://www.theaviationzone.com/factsheets/c130_forrestal.asp


7 posted on 07/04/2010 9:12:10 PM PDT by GGpaX4DumpedTea (I am a tea party descendant - steeped in the Constitutional legacy handed down by the Founders)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: sonofstrangelove

Are you working with that red headed Russian lady????


8 posted on 07/04/2010 9:31:58 PM PDT by org.whodat
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: sonofstrangelove

It seems to me that well before that would see production, the . . . very exotic . . . craft would be overtly on the scene.


9 posted on 07/04/2010 10:03:18 PM PDT by Quix (THE PLAN of the Bosses: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/religion/2519352/posts?page=2#2)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: sonofstrangelove

Look at the way the engine exhaust is designed on this model—it uses the same Coanda technology that Boeing developed for the YC-14 back in the 1970’s. That means the plane could have surprising amount of lift from the engine exhaust, which would make it possible for very short takeoffs and landings, possibly under 1,200 feet for a fully-loaded plane.


10 posted on 07/04/2010 10:04:37 PM PDT by RayChuang88 (FairTax: America's economic cure)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: RayChuang88

Nothing more than a B-2 with a conventional aft fuselage and tail. Done.


11 posted on 07/04/2010 10:20:54 PM PDT by historyrepeatz
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: sonofstrangelove

bflr


12 posted on 07/04/2010 10:25:15 PM PDT by Captain Beyond (The Hammer of the gods! (Just a cool line from a Led Zep song))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: org.whodat

Who is that?


13 posted on 07/04/2010 10:28:11 PM PDT by ErnstStavroBlofeld
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: org.whodat

If you want to know who wrote the article is Graham Warwick of Aviation Space. Any complaints go to him.


14 posted on 07/04/2010 11:06:33 PM PDT by ErnstStavroBlofeld
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: org.whodat

In his dreams, maybe....:)


15 posted on 07/05/2010 4:09:16 AM PDT by RightOnline
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: sonofstrangelove

Perhaps the MC-130 and it’s cousins but this’ll be prohibitively expensive for routine theater airlift.


16 posted on 07/05/2010 7:49:55 AM PDT by paddles ("The more corrupt the state, the more it legislates." Tacitus)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
Bloggers & Personal
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson