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In another seat dance, Aerion announced a partnership with Boeing to develop a supersonic civilian aircraft. The AS2 program predicts a business jet capable of flying above 1,700 km / h and having an intercontinental range, capable of flying between the Americas and Europe, non-stop.
The plane should be the first supersonic new generation to win. , but its development is marked by a series of changes of strategic partners.
Last October, at the world's largest aviation, NBAA-BACE, Aerion Corporation. announced GE's choice of engine development, which will be the program's main challenge in the coming months. Just like the entry of Lockheed Martin into the project, which replaced Airbus as a strategic partner. Under this agreement, Boeing is expected to make a significant investment in Aerion to accelerate the development of its technologies. Another important point of the agreement is that Boeing will provide engineering, manufacturing and flight test capabilities. "This is a state-of-the-art strategic investment for a supersonic technology of greater maturity," said Steve Nordlund, vice president and general manager of Boeing.
The two manufacturers hope to combine Aerion's current supersonic expertise with civilian projects, with the global industrial scale and Boeing's experience in the field of commercial aviation , in order to make the program viable.
ENGINE
Engineers recently completed the initial engine design, which is expected to reach Mach 1.4, about 40% faster than Boeing. the speed of sound, about 1,700 km / h. This new family of engines, called Affinity, will be optimized for flight under various regimes, in subsonic and supersonic phase. One of the challenges is to achieve balanced performance by allowing post-combustion supersonic flight up to Mach 1,15 (1,420 km / h) and with maximum efficiency over water exceeding Mach 1 4. The goal is to meet the stringent requirements for subsonic noise and to exceed current emission standards. "Over the last 50 years, the speed of commercial aircraft has increased by less than 10 percent," said Brad Mottier, vice president and general manager of GE's General Aviation and Corporate Services.
SINCE THE CONCORDE
Since the end of operations with Concorde in 2003, the aeronautics industry believes in the resumption of supersonic civilian projects. Four years later, Aerion Corporation launched the Aerion SBJ concept, which envisioned a supersonic business aircraft capable of flying between the east coast of the United States and any city in Europe at a Mach cruise speed 1.6.
The project started in 2002 and involved the construction of five prototypes, two for ground tests and two for flight tests. The engineers estimated that the aircraft could fly at a maximum speed of Mach 2.5, but with a very limited range. The differential would be the capacity of supercruiser now Mach 1.15 on the mainland without the use of afterburner and without the famous sonic boom. it is forbidden to fly in supersonic aircraft in mainland regions, with the exception of parts of Siberia, northern Canada and parts of the desert in Australia. According to the builder, the new design of the wing allows a cruising flight above 1.1 Mach, without sonic boom. The aerodynamic design of the wings should also significantly reduce noise emissions. At the time, the engines were supplied by Pratt & Whitney, based on an existing engine specification, possibly derived from the F119, designated by the manufacturer as the PW5000 and used in the US. F-22 Raptor fighter plane. The project was unsuccessful, leaving the aircraft without an engine supplier for several years, until the partnership with GE Aviation was concluded.
The first major announcement for Aerion took place at the Dubai Air Show in 2007, when the Swiss company ExecuJet Aviation obtained the exclusive rights to sell AS2 worldwide, with the exception of United States. Then Sheikh Rashid bin Humaid Al Noaimi signed a letter of intent to be the first to receive AS2, which should have been in 2014. Even a deposit of $ 250,000 was made. The aircraft, at that time, was worth $ 80 million, slightly above subsonic competitors like the Gulfstream G650ER and the Bombardier Global 7500, whose average cost was $ 65 million.
Even a few years ago, in the middle of In 1998, Gulfstream also announced the design of a supersonic aircraft for the business aviation market. The project was formally introduced in the late 2000s but was canceled soon after the 2008 international crisis.
Aerion started working at a slower pace in the project, looking for new partners. Airbus collaborated until 2017 in aerodynamic and structural studies. However, in December of the same year, Aerion announced the partnership with Lockheed Martin, which began as a first step to study the feasibility of aircraft engineering, certification and production processes.
"We are excited to be working with Aerion in the development of a new generation of efficient supersonic aircraft that will serve as a platform for the pioneering supersonic aircraft," said Orlando Carvalho, Vice President of Lockheed Martin Aeronautics.
Lockheed Martin arrived in the 1960s to study a supersonic civilian aircraft, but the US program STS Supersonic Transport was canceled even before the concept matured. But the builder followed his supersonic designs, having developed several military aircraft with such capabilities, such as the SR-71 Blackbird, which flew over Mach 3 (about 3,700 km / h), and more recently the F-7 22 Raptor and F-35 Lightning II
During the development phase of the basic design, Aerion adopted a new wing profile, based on a NASA project to avoid the use of a delta wing, as in the Concorde, which concentrates much of the pressure on the edge of attack, thereby reducing the resistance, as well as noise and fuel consumption [19659002] Another challenge was to obtain a profile capable of continuing to function well when the aircraft was flying at a speed lower than the speed of sound because Operation AS2 would take place in populated areas during take-off and flight. approaching the landing.
Although badysts believe that the AS2 will be a niche plane with a sales opportunity. "This aircraft incorporates the greatest technical achievements of the last decades," said Tom Vice, Aerion's CEO. Very limited, serving specific markets and customers, the possibility of resuming supersonic civil flight is viewed with optimism by the sector. "This is a fantastic opportunity to open a new aviation segment with Aerion," said Carl Esposito, President of Honeywell's Electronic Solutions, which will provide some of the systems from the plane.
Feasibility
is to solve a series of questions ranging from certification processes to the demonstration of the feasibility of the project, through the study of flight characteristics during different phases of flight. The first flight is scheduled for mid-2023 and the first delivery will take place two years later. "We overcame some major technical hurdles and progressed in structures and systems," said Tom Vice. "We must demonstrate [os avanços] to the market and stimulate the development of new engine technologies.
Aerion is aware that the most important technologies at the present time are essential engines, considered to be the most important engines. One of the most difficult and critical points of the project For the supersonic industry to progress, the engine must comply with the regulations regarding noise and emissions, as well as 39, with the ability to increase speed.
AERION AS2
Performance
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Long distance speed |
1,700 km / h |
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Maximum speed without post-combustors |
1,200 km / h |
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Maximum Mach Length 0.95 |
Pbadengers |
12 |
Exterior dimensions
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Length |
51., 8 m |
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