Edwards Air Force Base Archives - FLYING Magazine https://cms.flyingmag.com/tag/edwards-air-force-base/ The world's most widely read aviation magazine Mon, 06 May 2024 19:36:50 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.4 Air Force Secretary Gets in Cockpit of Self-Flying Fighter Plane https://www.flyingmag.com/air-force-secretary-gets-in-cockpit-of-self-flying-fighter-plane/ Mon, 06 May 2024 19:36:41 +0000 https://www.flyingmag.com/?p=202318 The X-62A VISTA, a modified F-16 testbed aircraft, is helping the Air Force explore artificial intelligence applications in combat aircraft.

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U.S. Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall is putting his money where his mouth is.

Last week, Kendall got in the cockpit of a self-flying fighter plane during a historic flight at Edwards Air Force Base (KEDW) in California. The aircraft—called the X-62A Variable In-flight Simulator Test Aircraft, or VISTA for short—is a modified F-16 testbed and represents the Air Force’s first foray into aircraft flown entirely by machine learning AI models.

As Kendall and a safety pilot observed, the X-62A completed “a variety of tactical maneuvers utilizing live agents” during a series of test runs. Incredibly, the aircraft was able to simulate aerial dogfighting in real time, without Kendall or the safety pilot ever touching the controls. According to the Associated Press, VISTA flew at more than 550 mph and within 1,000 feet of its opponent—a crewed F-16—during the hourlong simulated battle.

“Before the flight, there was no shortage of questions from teammates and family about flying in this aircraft,” Kendall said. “For me, there was no apprehension, even as the X-62 began to maneuver aggressively against the hostile fighter aircraft.”

It wasn’t VISTA’s first rodeo. In September, the Air Force for the first time flew the uncrewed aircraft in a simulated dogfight versus a piloted F-16 at the Air Force Test Pilot School at Edwards. The department said autonomous demonstrations are continuing at the base through 2024. But Kendall’s decision to get into the cockpit himself represents a new vote of confidence from Air Force leadership.

“The potential for autonomous air-to-air combat has been imaginable for decades, but the reality has remained a distant dream up until now,” said Kendall. “In 2023, the X-62A broke one of the most significant barriers in combat aviation. This is a transformational moment, all made possible by breakthrough accomplishments of the ACE team.”

ACE stands for Air Combat Evolution, a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) program that seeks to team human pilots with AI and machine-learning systems. The Air Force, an ACE participant, believes the technology could complement or supplement pilots even in complex and potentially dangerous scenarios—such as close-quarters dogfighting.

“AI is really taking the most capable technology you have, putting it together, and using it on problems that previously had to be solved through human decision-making,” said Kendall. “It’s automation of those decisions and it’s very specific.”

ACE developed VISTA in 2020, imbuing it with the unique ability to simulate another aircraft’s flying characteristics. The aircraft received an upgrade in 2022, turning it into a test vehicle for the Air Force’s AI experiments. 

VISTA uses machine learning-based AI agents to test maneuvers and capabilities in real time. These contrast with the heuristic or rules-based AI systems seen on many commercial and military aircraft, which are designed to be predictable and repeatable. Machine learning AI systems, despite being less predictable, are more adept at analyzing complex scenarios on the fly.

“Think of a simulator laboratory that you would have at a research facility,” said Bill Gray, chief test pilot at the Test Pilot School, which leads program management for VISTA. “We have taken that entire simulator laboratory and crammed it into an F-16, and that is VISTA.”

Using machine learning, VISTA picks up on maneuvers in a simulator before applying them to the real world, repeating the process to train itself. DARPA called the aircraft’s first human-AI dogfight in September “a fundamental paradigm shift,” likening it to the inception of AI computers that can defeat human opponents in a game of chess.

Since that maiden voyage, VISTA has completed a few dozen similar demonstrations, advancing to the point that it can actually defeat human pilots in air combat. The technology is not quite ready for actual battle. But the Air Force-led Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) and Next Generation Air Dominance programs are developing thousands of uncrewed aircraft for that purpose, the first of which may be operational by 2028.

The goal of these initiatives is to reduce costs and take humans out of situations where AI could perform equally as well. Some aircraft may even be commanded by crewed fighter jets. The self-flying systems could serve hundreds of different purposes, according to Kendall.

Even within ACE, dogfighting is viewed as only one use case. The idea is that if AI can successfully operate in one of the most dangerous settings in combat, human pilots could trust it to handle other, less dangerous maneuvers. Related U.S. military projects, such as the recently announced Replicator initiative, are exploring AI applications in other aircraft, like drones.

However, autonomous weapons, such as AI-controlled combat aircraft, have raised concerns from various nations, scientists, and humanitarian groups. Even the U.S. Army itself acknowledged the risks of the technology in a 2017 report published in the Army University Press.

“Autonomous weapons systems will find it very hard to determine who is a civilian and who is a combatant, which is difficult even for humans,” researchers wrote. “Allowing AI to make decisions about targeting will most likely result in civilian casualties and unacceptable collateral damage.”

The report further raised concerns about accountability for AI-determined strikes, pointing out that it would be difficult for observers to assign blame to a single human.

The Air Force has countered that AI-controlled aircraft will always have at least some level of human oversight. It also argues that developing the technology is necessary to keep pace with rival militaries designing similar systems, which could be devastating to U.S. airmen.

Notably, China too is developing AI-controlled fighter jets. In March 2023, Chinese military researchers reportedly conducted their own human-AI dogfight, but the human-controlled aircraft was piloted remotely from the ground.

Leading U.S. defense officials in recent years have sounded the alarm on China’s People’s Liberation Army’s growing capabilities, characterizing it as the U.S. military’s biggest “pacing challenge.” The country’s AI flight capabilities are thought to be behind those of the U.S. But fears persist that it may soon catch up.

“In the not too distant future, there will be two types of Air Forces—those who incorporate this technology into their aircraft and those who do not and fall victim to those who do,” said Kendall. “We are in a race—we must keep running, and I am confident we will do so.”

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Joby Rolls Out Second Air Taxi Prototype, Breaks Ground on Expansion https://www.flyingmag.com/joby-rolls-out-second-air-taxi-prototype-breaks-ground-on-expansion/ Mon, 29 Apr 2024 20:16:00 +0000 https://www.flyingmag.com/?p=201588 The manufacturer has completed its second production prototype, which it says will join its initial prototype at Edwards Air Force Base in California later this year.

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Electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) air taxi manufacturer Joby Aviation on Monday rolled out the second prototype aircraft built on its pilot production line at Marina Municipal Airport (KOAR) in California, where it also broke ground on a previously announced expansion.

Joby rolled out its first production prototype from Marina in June, delivering it in September to Edwards Air Force base (KEDW) in California ahead of schedule. There, U.S. Air Force personnel are using the aircraft to conduct logistics and other missions during joint testing. Joby and AFWERX, the innovation arm of the Air Force, signed an aircraft development and flight testing contract in 2020 that has since been expanded multiple times.

Joby says it expects its second prototype, on display at Marina on Monday, to join its counterpart at Edwards later this year following final testing.

The manufacturer designed its flagship air taxi to carry a pilot and as many as four passengers on trips up to 100 sm (87 nm), cruising at 200 mph (174 knots). The company is targeting commercial launches in major U.S. cities such as New York and Los Angeles, where it will ferry customers to and from airports in partnership with Delta Air Lines, in 2025.

A groundbreaking ceremony for the Marina expansion, which Joby expects will more than double the facility’s production capacity, was attended by a who’s who of local stakeholders, including the city of Marina and the Monterey Bay Economic Partnership (MBEP), and Drone, Automation, and Robotics Technology (DART) groups. A representative of the company’s manufacturing partner, auto manufacturer Toyota, was also present.

“This facility will play a foundational role in our future success, and it is a privilege to once again be growing our footprint and our workforce in California,” said JoeBen Bevirt, founder and CEO of Joby. “I am grateful to the local community and our many supporters who have advocated on our behalf to reach this point and to Toyota for everything they continue to do to make manufacturing a success at Joby.”

Joby expects the expanded Marina facility to be open for operations by next year. The company is targeting a production rate of 25 aircraft annually as its scaled manufacturing plant in Dayton, Ohio, comes online.

The Dayton facility, selected in September, is expected to initially churn out 500 aircraft per year when full-scale operations begin in 2025. The 140-acre site has enough space for the company to one day fill it with more than 2 million square feet of manufacturing assets, which figures to expand capacity further.

However, Marina also has an important role to play for Joby. The company in its 2023 earnings report said a significant portion of the approximately $450 million in cash and short-term investments it projects for 2024 will go toward the site’s expansion. On Monday, it confirmed that a pilot training and flight simulation center as well as a maintenance hub, intended to support early operations, are among the planned facilities.

The expansion is funded in part by the California Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz), which in November awarded Joby a $9.8 million California Competes grant.

The prototype aircraft being built at Marina will further support Joby’s quest for type certification. The company’s initial prototype was responsible for its first $1 million in revenue, as reported in its 2023 earnings: early flight services provided to the Department of Defense, conducted at Marina Municipal Airport.

Since then, the manufacturer has committed to two more air taxi deliveries to MacDill Air Force Base (KMCF) in Tampa, Florida, in an expansion of its $131 million contract with AFWERX. The agreement calls for the delivery of nine aircraft, of which the company has now firmly committed to four.

Evaluations conducted under the contract figure to help Joby refine its air taxi design ahead of for-credit type certification testing with the FAA. The company in February said it is ramping up to for-credit testing following the regulator’s acceptance of the certification plans for its aircraft, components, and systems.

Following the rollout of its second air taxi prototype, Joby says another two aircraft are in the final assembly phase. Parts for “multiple subsequent aircraft” are in production at the company’s recently acquired facility in Ohio, from where they will be shipped to Marina.

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DARPA Achieves Major Breakthrough with AI-Controlled Aircraft https://www.flyingmag.com/darpa-achieves-major-breakthrough-with-ai-controlled-aircraft/ Wed, 17 Apr 2024 20:09:15 +0000 https://www.flyingmag.com/?p=200578 The agency says successful AI dogfighting trials could support the use of autonomous systems in other complex scenarios.

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The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, is a branch of the U.S. Department of Defense developing ambitious, outlandish aircraft designs, such as an airplane with no control surfaces or the Liberty Lifter seaplane. On Wednesday, the agency released critical details on what may be its most groundbreaking program so far.

For the past four years, DARPA has been developing its Air Combat Evolution (ACE) program, which seeks to team human pilots with AI and machine-learning systems in dogfighting scenarios. According to the agency, the initiative reached new heights in September with the first AI-versus-human dogfight conducted with actual aircraft.

During the test campaign, the agency says, the AI made no violations of training rules codifying airmen’s safety and ethical norms. In other words, it flew just as safely as a human pilot.

DARPA called the achievement “a fundamental paradigm shift,” similar to the inception of AI computers that can defeat human opponents in a game of chess. Chinese military researchers reportedly achieved a similar feat in March 2023, with one aircraft operated by AI and another controlled by a human on the ground.

Researchers also “pioneered new methods to train and test AI agent compliance with safety requirements, including flight envelope protection and aerial/ground collision avoidance, as well as with ethical requirements including combat training rules, weapons engagement zones, and clear avenues of fire,” the agency said.

This is significant because, according to DARPA, previous integrations of autonomy on crewed commercial and military aircraft have used heuristic or rules-based systems, which are designed for situations that are predictable or repeatable. More complex scenarios such as dogfighting are impractical for such a model because there are simply too many possibilities for which designers must account.

Machine-learning AI models are less predictable and explainable than rules-based models. But they are excellent for analyzing complex scenarios on the fly.

DARPA views AI dogfighting as “a means to an end,” in the sense that it intends for its findings to be applied to AI integration on military aircraft more broadly. Another goal is to foster trust in pilots toward machines. The idea is that if autonomy can operate in a scenario as dangerous as close-quarters combat, humans can trust it to work in less dangerous—but equally complex—situations.

“What is the most efficient and effective path to optimize the performance and safety of artificial intelligence in aerospace vehicles?” is the question the agency poses.

To evaluate AI for dogfighting, engineers developed the X-62A, a modified F-16 test aircraft also known as the Variable In-flight Simulator Test Aircraft (VISTA). Uniquely, VISTA is capable of simulating the conditions of other aircraft while flying.

“Think of a simulator laboratory that you would have at a research facility,” said Bill Gray, chief test pilot at the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School at Edwards Air Force Base (KEDW) in California. “We have taken that entire simulator laboratory and crammed it into an F-16, and that is VISTA.”

Personnel began in 2020 by testing AI systems in a simulated environment using computers, progressing over the course of 21 test flights to actual flight controlled by ACE algorithms. Two human pilots remained in the cockpit for safety purposes.

The AI was retrained on a daily basis—engineers updated flight control laws overnight and reprogrammed the aircraft to fly the following morning. More than 100,000 lines of software changes were made over the course of testing.

The first dogfight between a crewed F-16 and ACE-controlled VISTA took place in September. The self-flying aircraft performed both defensive and offensive maneuvers, getting as close as 2,000 feet to the crewed aircraft at 1,200 mph.

All autonomous demonstrations took place at the Air Force Test Pilot School, where DARPA says they are continuing in 2024. The hope is that the results can be repeated during future testing of other scenarios. And researchers believe they could.

“Every lesson we’re learning applies to every task we could give to an autonomous system,” said Gray.

Like DARPA, the Air Force is committed to exploring autonomous flight systems. In addition to participating in ACE, the department is developing such technologies through AFWERX, its innovation arm. Last week, Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall told U.S. lawmakers that he would get in the cockpit of a self-flying plane—which the Air Force on Wednesday confirmed to be VISTA—in the near future.

“The potential for autonomous air-to-air combat has been imaginable for decades, but the reality has remained a distant dream up until now,” said Kendall. “In 2023, the X-62A broke one of the most significant barriers in combat aviation. This is a transformational moment, all made possible by breakthrough accomplishments of the X-62A ACE team.”

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Joby Presents First eVTOL to Air Force Ahead of Schedule https://www.flyingmag.com/joby-presents-first-evtol-to-air-force-ahead-of-schedule/ https://www.flyingmag.com/joby-presents-first-evtol-to-air-force-ahead-of-schedule/#comments Mon, 25 Sep 2023 12:51:33 +0000 https://www.flyingmag.com/?p=180765 The aircraft will be used to demonstrate logistics and other missions during joint flight testing at Edwards Air Force Base in California.

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Ahead of the planned 2024 due date, Joby Aviation has delivered the first unit of its electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft to the U.S. Air Force at Edwards Air Force Base. The company is making the announcement Monday during a special ceremony at the base.

The air taxi marks the first such eVTOLs to enter testing with the Air Force—and it’s believed to be the first such aircraft delivered within the U.S. overall. The unit arrived last week under a cloak of secrecy ahead of the event this morning—and it has already taken to the skies above the desert base. Flight testing will be conducted by both Air Force and Joby personnel at Edwards in the coming months. A second aircraft will join this one in early 2024, according to the company.

It’s the first Joby aircraft built on the company’s Pilot Production Line in Marina, California—-where it began its first conforming production, though it plans to take expanded manufacturing elsewhere in the country.

The eVTOL will be used to both train pilots and ground personnel on the aircraft’s operations and capabilities, which will include logistics and other missions. The testing will be conducted in a purpose-built facility on the base produced by the Air Force for the project.

Joby delivered eVTOL aircraft to Edwards Air Force Base as part of its contract with the Air Force. [Courtesy of Joby Aviation]

“We’re proud to join the ranks of revolutionary aircraft that first demonstrated their capabilities at Edwards Air Force Base, including the first American jet fighter, the first supersonic aircraft, and many others that have pushed the boundaries of aviation technology,” said JoeBen Bevirt, founder and CEO of Joby. “The longstanding support of the DOD and NASA has been critical to the rapid development of electric aviation and eVTOL aircraft, and demonstrates how successful public-private partnerships can bring new technology to life at speed. Their work will have profound implications for continued American leadership in both commercial and defense aerospace technology.”

The operational experience will come in handy as Joby works quickly towards its planned entry into commercial service that it proposes will begin in 2025.

Agility Prime

The delivery marks an important milestone in the agreement between Joby and the Air Force, an engagement that began in 2016 with the Department of Defense’s Defense Innovation Unit. Joby gained critical funding as well as access to testing facilities early in its development process.

NASA will also join the partnership under the auspices of it AFWERX program, and the agency will provide NASA pilots, researchers, and key equipment as it develops its own fluency in the advanced air mobility space.

“NASA’s participation in the Joby and AFWERX project will provide our researchers with hands-on experience with a representative eVTOL vehicle, concentrated on how these types of aircraft could fit into the national airspace for everyday use, that will inform NASA’s effort in supporting the entire eVTOL industry,” said NASA research pilot Wayne Ringelberg in a statement. “The research will include a focus on handling qualities evaluation tools, autonomy, and airspace integration, which is all needed research to push the industry forward.”

The air taxi eVTOL from Joby Aviation joins several historic aircraft at Edwards Air Force Base. [Courtesy of Joby Aviation]

The Joby air taxi fits neatly into the Agility Prime mission, though it is far from the only AAM manufacturer to participate. Beta Technologies, Jump Aero, and Archer Aviation each have contracts related to AFWERX thus far. But by being the first to show up with a flying eVTOL ready to move forward, Joby takes a key position in the game.

“Agility Prime’s stated objective in 2020 was to work towards an operational capability for transformative vertical lift in the DoD by 2023,” said Colonel Elliott Leigh, AFWERX director and chief commercialization officer for the Department of the Air Force, in a press release. “The arrival of Joby’s aircraft at Edwards AFB is an important step towards achieving this objective.”

Said Major Phillip Woodhull, director, emerging technologies integrated test force, in the same release: “The delivery of this first eVTOL aircraft is the start of a new chapter in Edwards’ rich aerospace history. This partners private industry with the 412th Test Wing’s world-renowned test management execution. We are excited to agilely test, experiment with, and evaluate this new technology for potential future national defense applications.”

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The High Speed, Low Drag Northrop X-21 https://www.flyingmag.com/the-high-speed-low-drag-northrop-x-21/ Tue, 02 May 2023 16:45:37 +0000 https://www.flyingmag.com/?p=171051 The prototype's wing lift was artificially boosted by an extensive pattern of razor-thin slots in the upper wing surface to reduce drag.

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If an aerospace engineer was given their choice of time periods in which to work, it’s likely the 1960s would be a top pick. With swept-wing jets like the Boeing 707 and Douglas DC-8 having made their first flights just a few years prior, the decade ahead would see the introduction of such groundbreaking aircraft as Concorde, the Boeing 747, and the XB-70 Valkyrie. Research and development budgets were robust, competition was fierce, and a young engineer looking for employment must have felt like the proverbial kid in a candy store. 

While the majority of action in the U.S. centered around the production of civil airliners, military jets, and the space race, there were some less flashy but thoroughly intriguing programs taking place in some of the industry’s quieter, less-traveled corridors. One of which was a research program led by Northrop, the U.S. Air Force, and the U.S. Army. The objective? Explore how a wing’s lift could be artificially boosted to reduce drag and increase performance, particularly in large, long-range aircraft designs—some of which would be supersonic.

Drag reduction efforts were nothing new in those days. From simple efforts like flush riveting to more complex concepts like area ruling, massive progress was made in a relatively short amount of time. In the 1950s, boundary layer control (BLC) was integrated into a number of aircraft designs, a system in which compressed air was directed over sections of the wing and control surfaces to delay the separation of air over the airfoil’s surface, thus artificially increasing lift at lower airspeeds.

The team at Northrop opted to study and test something called laminar flow control, or LFC. The basic premise behind LFC is that a large number of tiny slots would be drilled into the upper surface of a wing, and a vacuum system would draw air inward through them. This would cause the thin film of air clinging to the surface of the airfoil to cling more effectively, thus reducing friction drag attributed to air turbulence over the wings by as much as 80 percent.

A rare underside view of the X-21 in flight, showing the unique engine placement on the lower aft fuselage. [Credit: NASA]

Because the program would be aimed at the development of civil airliners, the team chose an aircraft that would best replicate the category—the Douglas B-66 Destroyer. Specifically, it was the WB-66 weather reconnaissance version, of which 36 were built in the late 1950s. Using two examples as testbeds, the team modified them with all the necessary systems to test the LFC system.

The team began by cutting a vast series of ultra-thin slots in the upper surface of a newly-designed wing that was larger and less swept than the B-66’s original wing. These slots varied in thickness from approximately 50 percent to 200 percent of the width of the cutting edge of a razor blade. Perhaps drawing inspiration from the Bede XBD-2 that flew just a few years prior,  they utilized computers to drill an intricate pattern of 800,000 pin-sized holes beneath the slots and installed hundreds of small plastic ducts inside of the wing, each one carefully tuned to a specific length to ensure proper distribution of vacuum pressure across the entirety of the wing’s upper surface.

The X-21’s GE J79 non-afterburning turbojet engines—relocated to the lower aft section of the fuselage—provided bleed air to power special compressor pumps housed in a pair of sleek nacelles mounted beneath the wing. These pumps would draw air through the slots in the wing and through the ducting to activate the LFC system. Rather than simply ejecting this compressed air overboard, it was ignited and discharged through thrust-augmenting exhaust nozzles at the aft end of each nacelle.

The X-21 displays its unique engine placement and underwing pods that housed bleed-air pump and thrust augmentation components. [Credit: NASA]

By the time the X-21 was completed in 1963, only the landing gear and tail surfaces remained the same as the WB-66 once was. Even the engine intakes were altered, incorporating “egg-shaped forms” within each intake that could be moved forward and aft to alter the incoming airflow. This was in anticipation of developing movable inlet cones for supersonic flight—as would be utilized on the SR-71 the following year.

The X-21 proved docile to fly, and the LFC system worked as designed. Despite having no flaps, the modified aircraft demonstrated a ground roll of 2,600 feet—significantly shorter than the required takeoff distance of the standard B-66. But while a second X-21 was built, and both contributed valuable data to the program, the team discovered a number of concerns that would preclude the adaptation of LFC into operational aircraft fleets.

An overhead view of the X-21 in flight. [Credit: NASA]

As detailed in an October 1964 NASA report, the LFC system could not be relied upon during flight in clouds, haze, and high humidity. Because the tiny holes in the upper surface of the airfoils had to be kept perfectly clean and free of contamination, issues such as icing, moisture, and even insect buildup were anticipated, all of which would result in erratic performance of the LFC system. Additionally, such factors could create a dangerous asymmetric lift condition that would lead to controllability issues.

When the test program was completed, both X-21s were placed into storage at Edwards Air Force Base. Later, as their condition deteriorated, they were unceremoniously parked out in the desert, in the Edwards Photo Impact Range. There, they continue to be used to test cameras, mapping systems, and remote sensors.

One of the X-21s in its current, derelict state. Note the folded vertical stabilizer, a feature developed for the carrier-borne A-3 Skywarrior from which the X-21 and the B-66 are derived. [Credit: Air Force Flight Test Museum]

This is typically where the story of such unique aircraft ends. More often than not, the scrapper is the ultimate destination, and any physical examples of the aircraft are permanently erased from history. But in the case of the X-21s, there is hope. That hope comes in the form of the Air Force Flight Test Museum, also located at Edwards Air Force Base.

There, director George Welsh is keenly aware of the X-21s and their historical value. He has already begun laying the groundwork to one day recover both examples and eventually utilize parts from both to create one representative example for display in the museum. His team has even identified a number of missing parts and has proactively scavenged them from an unrelated donor B-66, to make the future restoration process go more smoothly.

As is typically the case with even the world’s most renowned museums, funding is the primary obstacle. Having begun construction of new museum facilities, the Flight Test Museum still has to raise millions of dollars to complete that project before embarking upon the transport, storage, and restoration of the X-21s. But the museum leadership has done its duty to ensure they will be spared from the scrapper.

For now, both X-21s remain out in the desert. With any luck, the museum will soon secure enough funding to complete the new facilities so the unique jets can be restored and put on display for future generations to appreciate.

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NASA X-57 First Flight on Track for September https://www.flyingmag.com/nasa-x-57-first-flight-on-track-for-september/ https://www.flyingmag.com/nasa-x-57-first-flight-on-track-for-september/#comments Mon, 27 Jun 2022 21:47:24 +0000 https://www.flyingmag.com/?p=146079 Engineers working on NASA’s X-57 Maxwell are closing in on the all-electric experimental airplane’s first flight test, expected as early as September 20.

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The development team working on NASA’s X-57 Maxwell are closing in on the all-electric experimental airplane’s first flight test, which the agency said could take place as soon as September 20, if all goes as planned. 

This initial flight will make the aircraft—named for the 19th century Scottish scientist James Clerk Maxwell—NASA’s first piloted X-plane in two decades.

The X-57 is basically a Tecnam P2006T twin with four seats, which has been modified to accommodate an integrated electric propulsion system powered by lithium-ion batteries. The first iteration of the airplane will be outfitted with two electric motors and propellers aimed at testing the X-57’s electric cruise propulsion system. This will be the version that is set to fly this fall.

The first flight is expected to be “very short and sweet,” said X-57 deputy chief engineer Claudia Sales. Once the airplane lifts off, test pilot Tim Williams will check for any anomalies and to see if the primary systems are functional. During the following flights, “we will slowly start expanding the envelope, both in terms of how much we accomplish per flight, and even how much power we allow ourselves to use,” Sales told FLYING.

An X-57 wing is rejoined with the aircraft’s fuselage in 2019. [Courtesy: NASA]

A later iteration will have 12 high-lift electric motors with propellers attached along the leading edge of the wing. Two additional motors will be mounted on the wingtips to help the airplane achieve higher speeds. 

The project, launched in 2016, aims to gather research data to help set certification standards across the emerging electric aircraft industry. 

In advance of the initial flight, Williams and other crew members have been practicing expected maneuvers and in-flight reaction time using an X-57 simulator. 

“What’s really important is that we learn from the fabrication, engineering, development, and airworthiness process,” said Sean Clarke, the program’s principal investigator, leading the mission. ”We will share that with regulators and standards writers so that aircraft of the future can take advantage of the research NASA is doing here in the next generation of electric aircraft.”

The program is located at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center at California’s Edwards Air Force Base, home to some of history’s most famous X-planes. Edwards served as the proving ground for the Bell X-1, North American’s X-15, and XB-70, as well as others. Although an all-electric airplane may not grab as many headlines as those aviation icons, the X-57 could play an important role in the future of environmentally friendly aviation. 

California-based Joby Aviation—which is separately developing an electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) air taxi prototype—has been collaborating with NASA on the X-57, helping to develop the airplane’s electric motor technology.

For its first flight, the Tecnam’s original 100-horsepower twin Rotax 912S engines are being replaced with two 60 kilowatt motors developed by Joby. The electric motors will cut the weight of each powerplant and propeller, although the accompanying batteries will also add additional pounds.

With the X-57, NASA aims to help set certification standards for commercial electric aircraft.  [Courtesy: NASA]
 

The project is part of a global movement aimed at developing more environmentally friendly aircraft. With civil aviation contributing an estimated 2.1 percent of carbon emissions worldwide, NASA hopes the Maxwell will help the industry develop effective zero-emission propulsion technology that can be applied to production airplanes in the not-too-distant future.

Currently the team is mitigating electromagnetic interference coming from specific components in the aircraft, including the cruise motor controllers. Troubleshooting these kinds of issues along with ground and taxi testing are just a few of the checklist items that will need to be finished before the first flight. 

The Final Iteration

The final iteration of the X-57 will include a skinny, high-aspect-ratio wing designed to increase efficiency by reducing drag. During takeoff, 12 motors across the wing’s leading edge are designed to activate and spin their propellers to create lift. During cruise mode those motors are designed to deactivate while a more powerful motor/propeller on each wingtip begins turning. Next, the propeller blades along the leading edge will fold into the motor nacelles, which also will help to reduce drag.

The wingtip motors are outfitted with five-foot diameter propellers to make use of energy that would otherwise be lost through wingtip vortices. 

Other details about the final iteration of the X-57 include:

  • Aircraft weight: up to 3,200 pounds
  • Maximum operational altitude: 14,000 feet
  • Cruise speed: 150 knots (173 mph)
  • Minimum flight speed: 58 knots (67 mph)

Batteries

  • Lithium ion
  • 860 pounds
  • 55.3 kilowatt hours (47 kilowatt hours usable during typical operations)

Cruise Motors and Propellers (2)

  • 72 kilowatts at 2,700 rpm
  • Air-cooled
  • 5-foot diameter, 3-bladed, controllable-pitch propeller
  • Out-runner, 14-inch diameter
  • 121 pounds each, combined weight (motor, controllers, propeller)

High-Lift Motors and Propellers (12)

  • 12.6 kilowatts at 5,460 RPM
  • Air-cooled
  • 1.9 foot diameter, 5-bladed, folding, fixed-pitch propeller
  • 16 pounds each, combined weight (motor, controller, propeller)

Even now, the X-57 team is sharing data with FAA regulators that could contribute to certification of future electric aircraft. “As we learn things, we’re sharing them,” Sales said. “So there’s nothing holding up our ability to do that knowledge transfer.”

If all goes as planned, Sales said the final iteration of X-57-with its custom wing and full array of 14 motors—could fly as soon as October 2023. 

The post NASA X-57 First Flight on Track for September appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

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