AE February 2021 ROSPACE THE GREAT US-CHINA RESET DOES EUROPE NEED A CIVIL X-PLANE? THREATS TO PRECISION TIMING www.aerosociety.com F ebruary 2021 V olume 48 Number 2 SOLO FLIGHT UK AEROSPACE TAKES OFF FOR BREXIT SKIES Royal A eronautical Society FEB 2021 AEROSPACE COVER.indd 1 21/01/2021 14:53 RAeS Careers Service The RAeS Careers Team – We are here for you! Established in 1997, The Royal Aeronautical Society Careers Team are your one-stop-shop for FREE impartial and specialist advice. While the service has lived through many crises, Covid-19 sees the industry’s biggest challenge yet and we are here to provide specific support. We have a vast range of resources and materials on careers in aerospace and aviation – from civil, military, engineering and maintenance through to pilots, cabin crew, business and operations. We are here to support anyone, whether you are new to the sector or an experienced professional looking for further development. FREE 1-2-1 careers advice available online via webinar or by phone, with impartial advice on aerospace & aviation careers routes, CVs and job hunting advice. Our team are available Monday to Friday to provide specialist advice, prepare for the upturn in our sector by contacting us to arrange an appointment Annual recruitment fair dedicated to aerospace and aviation - Careers in AEROSPACE & AVIATION LIVE taking place on the 6th November 2020 (subject to the Covid-19 situation) Apply for financial support for tuition fees from Centennial Scholarship Fund Join our first Careers Webinars The Careers Team, along with experts from the Society’s membership, will be running a series of FREE online webinars throughout the year Find out more: careersinaerospace.com Get in touch: [email protected] +44 (0)20 7670 4326 @RAeSCareers Careers 7_2020 280x210 Adv FINAL update.indd 1 17/07/2020 15:36 Volume 48 Number 2 February 2021 EDITORIAL Contents Digital twins vs flying Regulars 4 Radome 12 Transmission prototypes The latest aviation and Your letters, emails, tweets aeronautical intelligence, and social media feedback. Increased computer processing power and higher fidelity modelling offer analysis and comment. hope to aircraft designers that the big-data revolution is set to supercharge 58 The Last Word 11 Pushing the Envelope Keith Hayward analyses the the development of new types of aircraft and dramatically slash development Rob Coppinger on the logistics required to operate costs and time (See ‘Pushing the Envelope’, p11). Yet we have been here implications of the digital the Royal Navy’s new before. CAD (computer-aided design) is not new and promises of reduced engineering revolution. supercarriers. cost and time have been broken. However, today two things make digital twins Features more critical than ever before. The first is that, at least from Airbus or Boeing, Alfonso Eguino there are no new civil airliners as yet at the design stage and, without new 24 High Five, H145 An analysis of Airbus programmes, there could be an expanding gap in knowledge and skills. One Helicopters’ re-engineered solution might involve designers and engineers working on military projects to H145 helicopter. hone these digital skills, while another is that of ‘digitising’ some of these skills 14 and knowledge, so that they could be maintained in ‘virtual warehouses’ ready 28 United Airlines to be used as and when they are needed. The next generation of airliners in Brexit at arrivals the 2030-40s could feature radically different configurations, propulsion and Keith Hayward considers the fuels, as the industry addresses the challenge of sustainable aviation. Yet how implications for aerospace of well digital tools and AI that have been optimised around refining tube-and- the recent Brexit deal. Tearing up the rulebook wing configurations might perform, for say hydrogen-powered flying wings 17 Time to secure time To meet the ambitious with distributed propulsion, is as yet unclear. These new green airliners may The national strategic challenges of zero-carbon need de-risking with flying, piloted prototypes. For digital engineering there is importance of satellite aviation – is it time for industry navigation to precision timing. also another challenge. How does one communicate the progress of a project to be even more disruptive? if different parts are moving concurrently at different speeds – and exist only Airbus 30 Climate control in the virtual digital space? It may be that, even in the 21st century, there will Report on the first RAeS conference on climate change. still be a need for full-scale flying prototypes. 18 Animal Dynamics Tim Robinson FRAeS, Editor-in-Chief 36 [email protected] @RAeSTimR Creative construction Correspondence on all aerospace matters is welcome at: [email protected] Does Europe need a new civil aircraft demonstrator Engineering nature Editor-in-Chief Editorial Office 2021 AEROSPACE subscription project to de-risk future green Aeronautical engineers have Tim Robinson, FRAeS Royal Aeronautical Society rates: Non-members, £190 airliners? created new designs and +44 (0)20 7670 4353 No.4 Hamilton Place To place your order, contact: modes of operation inspired [email protected] London W1J 7BQ, UK Wayne J Davis 22 Can President Biden by the natural world. +44 (0)20 7670 4300 Deputy Editor +44 (0)20 7670 4354 reset relations with China? [email protected] Bill Read, FRAeS [email protected] Richard Aboulafia assesses 38 Cabin fever +44 (0)20 7670 4351 www.aerosociety.com Any member not requiring a print one of the biggest aerospace How Covid-19 will change [email protected] AEROSPACE is published by the Royal version of this magazine should challenges in the new US aircraft cabin design and the Aeronautical Society (RAeS). contact: [email protected] Production Manager president’s in-box. air travel experience. Wayne J Davis Chief Executive USA: Periodical postage paid at +44 (0)20 7670 4354 Sir Brian Burridge CBE FRAeS Champlain New York and additional [email protected] Advertising offices. +44 (0)20 7670 4346 Afterburner Publications Executive Postmaster: Send address changes [email protected] Chris Male, MRAeS to IMS of New York, PO Box 1518, 44 Message from our President Champlain NY 12919-1518, USA. +44 (0)20 7670 4352 Unless specifically attributed, no [email protected] 45 Message from our Chief Executive material in AEROSPACE shall be taken ISSN 2052-451X Production Executive to represent the opinion of the RAeS. 46 Book reviews Annabel Hallam Reproduction of material used in this 49 Library Additions +44 (0)20 7670 4361 publication is not permitted without the [email protected] written consent of the Editor-in-Chief. 50 New Member Spotlight Book Review Editors Printed by Buxton Press Limited, 51 Obituary Palace Road, Buxton, Derbyshire Tony Pilmer and Katrina Sudell 52 UK’s first virtual Cool Aeronautics [email protected] SK17 6AE, UK Original artwork 53 RAeS Diary ©Wayne J Davis/RAeS Distributed by Royal Mail 56 Elections Additional content is available to view online at: aerosociety.com/aerospaceinsight Read AEROSPACE and the insight blog on your Including: Waiting for the eVTOL-taxi ranks, The UK’s Brexit deal for aerospace, In the January issue of AEROSPACE, Aerospace book choices for Christmas 2020, The long road to recovery, smartphone or tablet with the AEROSPACE app Online Revolutionising flight test and evaluation, Virtual collaboration, New Member spotlights. APP available on iTunes and Google Play @aerosociety i Find us on LinkedIn f Find us on Facebook www.aerosociety.com FEBRUARY 2021 13 Contents Feb.indd 1 21/01/2021 13:36 Blueprint INTELLIGENCE / ANALYSIS / COMMENT Load alleviation Active load and gust alleviation technologies would reduce the limiting wing load and allow for a lighter wing to be used. Laminar fl ow for wing and fuselage The SE2A design would use a combination of natural and active laminar flow technology to reduce drag. The foward swept wing and boundary-layer suction would see laminar flow extended up to 80% of the chord, while suction applied to the foward fuselage would extend laminar flow to reach the wing-body fairing. Specifi cations Wing aspect ratio 16 MTOW 69,696kg Range 3,320nm Cruise Mach number 0.78 AIR TRANSPORT Hybrid-electric trijet From Germany’s Technical University of Braunschweig comes this concept for a single-aisle airliner that could be 43.5% more fuel-effi cient than an Airbus A320. The concept is part of the Research Cluster of Excellence Sustainable and Energy Effi cient Aviation (SE2A) – a seven- year project begun in 2019 by the Technical University of Braunschweig, German Aerospace Research Center (DLR) and the Leibniz University Hannover to investigate technologies for sustainable and eco-friendly aviation. The aircraft, designed by Prof Dr Ali Elham, Chair of Aircraft Conceptual Design, with assistance from PhD researcher Stanislav Karpuk, incorporates a number of innovative features, including hybrid-electric propulsion, rear- mounted boundary-layer ingestion fan and high-aspect forward-swept wings. TU Braunschweig 4 AEROSPACE February 2021 News.indd 2 21/01/2021 14:52:10 Advanced materials New composite materials and structural design reduce the airframe weight by 19% compared to an all-metal aircraft. Boundary layer ingestion Using hybrid-electric architecture, the SE2A would feature ultra-high bypass ratio engines mounted above the wing, giving a reduction in fuel consump- tion by 25%. Meanwhile, a rear-mounted ducted fan would feature 360° boundary layer ingestion, improving fuel efficiency by 5%. High-aspect folding wing The high-aspect, forward-swept wing brings high efficiency. An outer folding portion, like the Boeing 777X, allows it to fit within current airport gate regulations. FEBRUARY 2021 5 February 2021 News.indd 3 21/01/2021 14:52:15 Radome COVID-19 AEROSPACE AIR TRANSPORT Airliner deliveries nosedive UK mandates Covid tests for in 2020 international arrivals Airbus and Boeing have meanwhile, delivered published details of their 157 aircraft, compared orders and deliveries to 380 deliveries in for 2020, all of which 2019.