British major aerospace and defence group BAE Systems (BAES) announced on the first day of this month that its MAGMA unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) had become the first aircraft ever to be manoeuvred in flight using ‘blown air’. The MAGMA has been designed and developed by University of Manchester researchers and BAES engineers, with the test flights taking place from Llanbedr Airfield in north-west Wales.

The MAGMA actually successfully tested two blown air flow control technologies during its test flights last month. These were wing circulation control and fluidic thrust vectoring. Wing circulation control draws air from the UAV’s jet engine and blows it, at supersonic speed, through narrow slots in the specially shaped trailing edge of the wing. This technology replaces the mechanically operated ailerons and flaps on conventional aircraft. Fluidic thrust vectoring deflects the flow of the jet engine’s exhaust by blowing air jets into this exhaust. This technology replaces the elevators found on conventional aircraft.

Blown air flight control technologies would eliminate complex mechanical flight control systems, making aircraft lighter, more reliable and thus cheaper to operate. For military aircraft, these technologies would increase stealth by reducing the number of gaps and edges on the airframe, created by control surfaces, which, in turn, reduce the stealthiness of current aircraft.

MAGMA is part of a long-term cooperative programme (on the development of flap-free flight technologies) between BAES, UK universities and the British government. The data from the MAGMA trials will be used to develop subsequent research projects, while helping to ensure that the UK has the right aerospace technologies and skills for the future, and could be incorporated into Britain’s Future Combat Air System (a separate project, on which BAES is also working, under a UK Ministry of Defence contract).

“MAGMA is a great example of how collaborating with bright minds at British universities can deliver ground-breaking research and innovation,” affirmed BAE Systems air chief technologist Julia Sutcliffe. “Our partnership with the University of Manchester has identified cutting-edge technology, in this case flap-free flight, and turned what began as a feasibility study into a proven capability in just a number of months. It demonstrates how STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) can be applied in the real world and I hope the success of these trials inspires the next generation of much-needed engineers and scientists.”

“We are excited to have been part of a long-standing effort to change the way in which aircraft can be controlled, going all the way back to the invention of wing warping by the Wright brothers,” enthused University of Manchester MAGMA project leader Bill Crowther. “It’s been a great project for students to be part of, highlighting that real innovation in engineering is more about finding practical solutions to many hundreds of small technical challenges than having single moments of inspiration.

“The partnership with BAE Systems has allowed us the freedom as a university to focus on research adventure, with BAE Systems providing the pathway to industrial application,” he added. “We made our first fluidic thrust vectoring nozzle from glued-together bits of plastic and tested it on a hair drier fan nearly 20 years ago. Today, BAE Systems is three-dimensionally printing our components out of titanium and we are flight-testing them on the back of a jet engine in an aircraft designed and built by the project team. It doesn’t get much better than that.”

BAE Systems reported that the blown air flight control technologies were the most recent technological breakthrough to come from its collaborative projects with academia and other companies in industry. These are allowing the UK to achieve more advanced technologies, more rapidly, by means of shared investment. There are also other technology projects under way, aimed at improving aircraft performance, which are being conducted in collaboration with the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation’s Science and Technology Organisation.