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Air Force awards a start-up company $235 million to build an example of a sleek new plane

https://apnews.com/article/air-force-aviation-streamlined-plane-blended-wing-2a1704dbe8a3ac112f36220eafe291fa

The U.S. Air Force is throwing its support behind a program to develop a sleek, futuristic-looking jet that could provide greater range and efficiency for military tankers and cargo planes.

Air Force awards a start-up company $235 million to build an example of a sleek new plane

The U.S. Air Force will invest $235 million to help a start-up manufacturer build a jet with a blended-wing body that officials say could provide greater range and efficiency for military tankers and cargo planes and perhaps eventually be used to carry airline passengers.

14 comments

Amilo159

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Let's just hope that company isn't secretly owned by Mockheed Lartin.

RadicalCandour

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It would be nice to get out under the thumb of behemoths like Northrup and Lockheed. Motherfuckers build $1 proprietary bolts and charges the government $700 for that bolt. It’s fucking gross and it’s even grosser that it’s still going on. We need startups and new innovations to break to spending cycle STAT

here’s an interesting piece 60 minutes did on the subject https://www.cbsnews.com/news/pentagon-budget-price-gouging-military-contractors-60-minutes-2023-05-21/

Narte

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I'm curious how the public funding element of this works. Does the government end up owning/profiting off of the company or earn some form of royalties if this concept takes off?

GregorGizeh

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How it always works: someone keeps it and the public gets nothing, with the military getting a new toy they can spend more public money on.

gravitas_deficiency

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While I see your point, it’s also important to point out that a lot of technological advancement in human history has been spearheaded (ha) by military advancements, which eventually get developed at a far more reasonable cost for civilian use.

So the takeaway here: yeah, they’re throwing a few hundred million at this, but in terms of developing a brand-new, clean-sheet transport airframe in a style that’s never been done before - and which, if successful, will potentially lead to a diametric shift in civil aerospace design - it’s really not that expensive, and there is real potential benefit here.

Chocrates

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Same with medical research. You could argue that the the public having access to an otherwise unattainable medicine is the benefit even though we are charged out the nose for it, but I feel like medical company profits beg to differ.

GregorGizeh

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While it’s true that often military developments eventually make their way to civilian applications, imagine that money was spent directly on development of in this instance a new type of civilian aircraft.

The military could still adapt the frame to their needs, and it would most likely result in a cheaper and more useful vehicle outside of helping to kill people on another continent. This would also mean much earlier and more widespread adoption than yet another patented concept locked away because the military wants to keep it for themselves for a few decades (until it’s obsolete).

And even if that development somehow ended up being less optimized than one the military would make, it would most likely still be leaps and bounds better than the eventual commercial derivatives again sold by private entities, optimized for profit.

I_M_The_M

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I was (virtually) at the Aug 16 briefing. The AP article doesn't mention it, but they're calling the design the XBW-1. Cool stuff!

Steev

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This reminds me a bit of Thunderbird 2.

Chocrates

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We have been trying to make flying wings work for decades, since the jet engine I think. The stealth bomber is one, but afaik they are horribly unstable.
What makes this different from any other attempt?

Aliendelarge

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Blended wing is slightly different than flying wing but they both date to the early 20th century before jets even. Computer advancements in controls has generally been the change over the last few decades for control of the flying wings. Blended wings are a pretty wide range and include things like the SR-71, B1 Lancer, and quite a few UAVs.

Chocrates

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Oh interesting, what is the different? Blended wing has more of a fuselage?

Aliendelarge

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Exactly. The flying wing is a pretty specific design but the blended wings have a much broader spectrum of wing to fuselage ratio.

CaptainPedantic

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Cargo? Sure. Passengers? I'm not betting on it. I sure wouldn't want to the guy farthest from the center of the aircraft. Every banking turn would become a roller coaster ride. Plus airport infrastructure would have to change. And tubes are easy to build.