DARPA Works With Aurora Flight Sciences on Phase 2 of X-Plane Development

Planned test aircraft will replace moving control surfaces active flow system.

Jonathan Welsh

Wednesday, January 18, 2023 at 04:56 PM ET

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DARPA's latest X-plane project uses active flow control instead of moveable control surfaces. [Courtesy: DARPA]

Key Takeaways:

DARPA has selected Aurora Flight Sciences for the next phase of its CRANE (Control of Revolutionary Aircraft with Novel Effectors) project, aimed at developing aircraft that can fly without traditional movable control surfaces.
The project utilizes Active Flow Control (AFC), a technology that manipulates airflow around the aircraft using methods like suction and air jets to generate control forces for maneuvering.
AFC offers potential advantages such as more efficient maneuvering, reduced drag, and the ability to fly at lower speeds and higher angles of attack than aircraft with conventional control surfaces.
Phase 2 will focus on detailed design and software development for an X-plane demonstrator, with a potential third phase involving flight testing a 7,000-pound demonstrator.

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The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) said it chose Aurora Flight Sciences to begin the next phase in development of an aircraft that can fly without using moveable control surfaces.

The project, which DARPA calls CRANE, for Control of Revolutionary Aircraft with Novel Effectors, is aimed at using active flow control, or AFC, to generate the control forces necessary for maneuvering. The latest announcement regarding Aurora Flight Sciences follows completion of Phase 1, which included development of a test aircraft that demonstrated AFC in a wind tunnel.