Airbus Reveals Blended Wing Body Aircraft Written 11 February 2020
In This Section
Airbus Executive Vice President of Engineering Jean-Brice Dumont reveals the company's MAVERIC (Model Aircraft for Validation and Experimentation of Robust Innovative Controls), a "blended wing body" scale model demonstrator, on day one of the Singapore Airshow. | Bryan van der Beek/Airbus
Reuters reports that on Tuesday at the Singapore Airshow, Airbus “unveiled a curvaceous aircraft design that blends wing and body, designed to slash carbon emissions by some 20%.” Airbus had been conducting flight tests of the plane “at a secret location in central France since last year.” Blended Wing Body Aircraft “are complex to control but produce less aerodynamic drag, making them more efficient to fly.” Airbus Executive Vice President of Engineering Jean-Brice Dumont said, “We believe it is high time now to push this technology further and study what it brings to us. We need these disruptive technologies to meet our environmental challenge. It is the next generation of aircraft; we are studying an option.” Dumont “said it was too early to say whether such shapes could contribute to the next generation of medium-haul planes, expected in the 2030s
Full Story (Reuters)