Boeing’s stealth cargo plane concept

Plus: A UK-startup unveils VTOL aircraft with an 800-mile range.

Jan 31, 2023

Boeing is back with a new design that they don’t really want you to notice.

Because the company has just unveiled its tactical, stealth-capable cargo plane with a blended wing body, or BWB.

BWB features a blended wing and fuselage rather than a traditional cylindrical fuselage with separate wings. The wings wrap around the plane's body, making it more aerodynamic.

But before you marvel at the stealthiness of that, marvel at a vengeful act that really sparkled. This video shows a former NASA engineer getting back at thieves with glitter bombs. It’s a bright, shiny idea.

Good morning. I’m Alice, an Editor at IE.

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How Oracle's test smart city may pioneer bold ideas for construction. How do drones, the internet of things (IoT), robotics, and reality capture (to name just a few) make construction sites safer, more predictable, sustainable, and effective?

VIDEO OF THE DAY

Former NASA engineer gets back at thieves with glitter bombs.

Revenge is a dish best served sparkly.

MUST READ

Boeing unveils stealth cargo plane concept for high-end conflicts.

Boeing has unveiled its tactical, stealth-capable cargo plane with a blended wing body, or BWB.

BWB features a blended wing and fuselage rather than a traditional cylindrical fuselage with separate wings. The wings wrap around the plane's body, making it more aerodynamic.

The newly announced airlifter idea is a "significant departure" from the company's previous BWB projects. This has two completely internal jet engines and stealthy design features, like a fuselage with at least some chined edges and a snout that looks more like a beak.

Earlier Boeing BWB ideas, like the X-48 series, had fuselages and noses that were wider and more rounded, and the engines were in pods on top of the center of the rear fuselage.

This new BWB airlifter design uses partly serpentine ducting in its engine inlets. This helps to hide the turbine fan blades, which, if exposed, are very radar-reflective. When used in conjunction with fan-face baffles, they can reduce the radar cross-section from the (most important) straight-on angle.

→ Notable examples of BWB-designed aircraft include the B-2 and B-21 “stealth” bombers, NASA's X-48B research aircraft, Boeing's X-48C research aircraft, and Northrop Grumman's X-47B unmanned combat air vehicle (UCAV).

TRANSPORTATION

A UK-startup unveils VTOL aircraft with an 800-mile range.

ARC Aerosystems, a UK-based aviation startup, has unveiled its new VTOL passenger aircraft. The nine-seater model, Linx P9, is pitched as a “cost-effective, low-carbon solution to intercity travel.”

The aircraft, which offers vertical take-off and landing capabilities, is touted to have the “flexibility of a helicopter, with the performance of a fixed-wing utility aircraft.” With it, the company plans to address the challenging needs of regional air mobility.

It’s comparatively lightweight and slim at just 4,255 lb (1,930 kg) — the main wing measures 41.3 ft (12.6 m).

INNOVATION

MIT's latest drone propellers are very quiet and efficient.

MIT has produced some new devices for aircraft and drones that not only make impressive efficiency gains but are also radically quieter.

The toroidal propeller allows a small multirotor unpiloted aircraft, or drone, to operate more quietly than current drones that use propeller forms unchanged since the beginning of aviation.

It consists of two blades that loop together so that the tip of one blade curves back into the other. This closed-form structure reduces and controls the drag effects of swirling air tunnels (i.e., vortices) created at the blades' tips and strengthens the propeller's overall stiffness.

SCIENCE

Iceberg the size of Greater London breaks away from Antarctic ice shelf.

A giant iceberg the size of Greater London has calved from the Brunt Ice Shelf in Antarctica. The event took place during a spring tide on January 22, between 19.00 and 20.00 UTC.

Unlike iceberg D28 though, it didn’t catch scientists by surprise. The Brunt Ice Shelf is one of the most closely monitored ice shelves on the planet. As many as 16 instruments keep an eye on the deformation of ice on this shelf and report back on an hourly basis.

Among the satellites keeping a tab on the shelf is the Sentinel 2 from the European Space Agency, Worldview satellite from NASA, Landsat 8 from the US, and TerraSAR-X from Germany.