Aircraft design

Several significant milestones and a first ever occurred in the field of aircraft design this year. In addition, advances in computer science have been harnessed to improve the art of conceptual aircraft design. In January, the F-22A Raptor successfully completed follow-on test and evaluation and was declared mission capable by the Air Force. The Lockheed Martin F-22 design team had received the 2001 AIAA Aircraft Design Award, whose citation stated that Team Raptor demonstrated excellence by designing the worlds most advanced air dominance fighter, representing a significant advance in aircraft design technology. The design has been validated, and the worlds first operational fifth-generation stealth fighter operates out of Langley AFB, Va., in the 1st Fighter Wings 27th Fighter Squadron. The F-22A was declared overwhelmingly effective in its air-to-air performance during operational testing and will ensure air superiority for the U.S. during any future conflicts. Another fifth-generation stealth aircraft, the F-35 Lightning II, is scheduled for first flight before the end of this year. First flight of the conventional takeoff and landing variant was scheduled for August but has slipped to as late as this month. The X-35 Joint Strike Fighter design team had received the 2002 AIAA Aircraft Design Award, and the first flight milestone will represent a significant step toward transforming the successful X-plane into an operationally suitable and effective weapons system. At the other end of the spectrum from fifth-generation stealth fighters, an interesting first-ever event took place in May: A UAV made the first fully autonomous landing on water in the U.S. The Sea Scout UAV has been under development for nearly two years by Oregon Iron Works, under a Small Business Innovative Research Phase III contract from the Naval Air Systems Command. The UAV flew at a gross weight of 300 lb and carried 25 lb of ballast to simulate a payload. Powering the vehicle, which has a 10-ft wingspan, is a 38 HP Wankel engine.

The Sea Scout program is planned as a spiral development effort intended to provide the Navy with a sea-based tactical UAV that minimizes the need for extensive launch and recovery equipment. Contemporary advanced military aircraft development programs are complex and challenging. Cost increases and schedule slips seem to occur inevitably, on both these and many other types of acquisitions programs. Independent program reviews repeatedly identify a common theme: a lack of up-front technical fidelity underlying cost, schedule, and technology assumptions, resulting in program requirements that are out of step with budget and schedule realities.
An F-22A Raptor from the 1st Fighter Wing cruises over Fort Monroe in Hampton, Va.

In an AIAA paper, CFD Needs in Conceptual Design, James R. Snyder wrote, In a very real sense, the conceptual design process is a tool that is used to design an acceptable set of mission and airplane requirements. Aircraft design tools and methods, particularly those that are applicable to the early conceptual phases, are the focus of ongoing R&D aimed at improving our ability to provide critical up-front technical fidelity to the decision-makers. This year brought many advances in design tools and methods, notably in the area of integration frameworks. One example is the release of Phoenix Integrations Unified Toolset, Phoenix Suite 2006 software. Other companies such as Engineous Software and Technosoft offer similar products. Aircraft conceptual design organizations are now utilizing these software integration environments to connect their in-house design and analysis tools to support rapid multidisciplinary and multifidelity analysis and optimization. Improving up-front technical fidelity by itself certainly cannot mitigate all acquisition program mishaps. However, by improving the conceptual design process, programs should be able to build more solid foundations through better cost, schedule, and technology assumptions.

In May a Sea Scout made the first autonomous landing on water for a UAV.

by the AIAA Aircraft Design Technical Committee 25

AEROSPACE AMERICA/DECEMBER 2006