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Development and Flight Testing of a Morphing Aircraft, the NextGen MFX-1
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2007
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EngineeringAerospace SimulationMechanical EngineeringAerospace SystemOperational AircraftAviation TechnologyAeronauticsAerospace SystemsMorphing AircraftSystems EngineeringAircraft Design ProcessFull-scale MorphingFlight ValidationWing DesignNextgen Mfx-1Morphing StructureFlight OptimizationExternal AerodynamicsApplied AerodynamicsAerostructureFlight TestingAerodynamic TestingMorphing Flight-vehicle ExperimentalAerospace EngineeringBusinessAeroelasticityAerodynamics
NextGen Aeronautics has been developing morphing wing technologies under DARPA’s N‑MAS program over the past three years. The flight test aimed to demonstrate in‑flight morphing and lay groundwork for future operational morphing wing development. The MFX‑1 was developed with design and fabrication details, low‑speed wind‑tunnel testing for stability and control data, and flight‑test procedures. Wind‑tunnel testing confirmed the full‑scale morphing wing’s performance, and flight tests of the 100‑lb MFX‑1 successfully demonstrated shape‑changing capabilities.
Over the last three years, primarily under a DARPA sponsored program called “Next Generation Morphing Aircraft Structures (N-MAS),” NextGen Aeronautics has been developing morphing wing technologies and designs. The current phase of this effort culminated in a high-successful wind tunnel test of a full-scale morphing wing under transonic Mach numbers; details of the wing model design and the wind tunnel testing is described in companion papers in this session. In addition to the wind tunnel model, NextGen developed and successfully flight tested a 100 lb jet-powered, remotely piloted vehicle (RPV), named the Morphing Flight-vehicle Experimental (MFX-1), with a shape-changing, morphing wing. The goal of this flight test effort was to demonstrate morphing in-flight and lay the ground work for future technology development and demonstration, ultimately leading to aerodynamically efficient, shape-changing, morphing wings on operational aircraft that would provide optimal, uncompromised performance during complex military missions. This paper describes the development of the MFX-1, including design details, fabrication processes, details of low-speed wind tunnel testing performed to obtain stability and controls data, flight test procedures, and results of the flight tests.