ARDA Mk 8 - The Northrop N9M-b
Advanced Reduced Drag Aircraft
By Jean-Louis Naudin
created on August
23h, 2001 - JLN Labs - Last
update March 3, 2002
The ARDA flying wing Mk 8, a 1/10 scale of the Northrop N9M-b, is a mockup used for validating the flight model in real conditions. On August 25th, 2001, the ARDA wing has been tested successfully propelled with two electric engines.
| " The
flying wing airplane is the most evocative shape in
aviation : a pure wing, unencumbered by tail surfaces or
a fuselage, producing lift over every square meter of its
surface. ". Richard P. Hallion (PhD), the US
Air Force historian. " L'aile volante repr�sente la configuration a�ronautique la plus aboutie : une aile dont la puret� n'est pas alt�r�e par des empennages ou un fuselage, et dont chaque m�tre carr� de sa surface g�n�re de la portance ". Richard P. Hallion (PhD), directeur du service historique de l'US Air Force. |
Notes from JL
Naudin : I
really enjoy to pilot the N9M-b flying wing. The flight of a
flying wing is always magic for the eyes !!!...
I am grateful to Laurent Buissyne for his wonderful design (
RCM-224 )
See the VIDEOS of the N9M-b tests flights
Click
on the picture above to see the videos
ARDA Project planning :
ARDA mk5 ( an UAV glider, 1.65 m wingspan ) :
- Flights
Tests successful on July 17th, 2001
ARDA mk8
"N9-M" (
twin electric engines UAV, 2 m wingspan ) :
- Flights Tests successful on August 25th, 2001
ARDA
mk9 ( The UAV/EHD demonstrator , 4 m wingspan ) :
- 1st test flight scheduled for May 2002 ( may be earlier.. )
The
Northrop Shock Wave Reduction experiment
Additional notes :
For
those are interested to know more about the air drag reduction
researches conducted by Northrop, I suggest to read :
- AIAA 6th Aerospace Sciences Meeting " Electroaerodynamics
in supersonic flow" by M.S.Cahn and G.M.Andrew from Northrop
Coporation - N�68-24 January
22-24, 1968
- AIAA 3rd Fluid and Plasma Dynamics conference" Recent
experiments in supersonic regime with electrostatic charges"
by M.S.Cahn and G.M.Andrew
from Northrop Coporation - N�70-759 June 29-July, 1970
You will find also some interesting informations about some
projects on Hypersonic experiments at Mach numbers from 8 to 25
don by the RPI (
Reensselaer Polytechnic Institute ) at : http://lightcraft.meche.rpi.edu/Facilities/hypersonic_shock_tunnel.html
- AIAA 98-0991 "Pressure Investigation of the
Hypersonic "Directed-Energy Air Spike" Inlet at Mach
Number 10 With Arc Power Up to 70 kW", Toro, P.G.P,
Myrabo, L.N., Nagamatsu, H.T., January, 1998.
Email : [email protected]
Return to the Advanced Propulsions Researches page