 "Farnborough Air Show a testbed for aviation industry's wilder imaginings")
The Farnborough air show, best known as the year’s biggest marketplace for passenger planes, also acts as a testbed for the aviation industry’s wilder imaginings.
Vying for attention with billions of dollars in jetliner deals at this year’s expo is a smorgasbord of new technologies, many seemingly intent on eliminating the human from the equation. Here are some highlights:
Insect Engineers
Boffins at UK engineering giant Rolls-Royce proudly displayed an array of miniature robots designed to speed up engine overhauls by removing the need for powerplants to be detached from the aircraft during shop visits.
Cockroach-like “swarm” bots less than half an inch across will roam the turbine in gangs beaming pictures back to inspection crews after being deposited by so-called “snake” hosts that work their way through the engine.
Black Swan
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If the bots don’t get you the drones will. Farnborough is awash with unmanned aerial vehicles or UAVs, ranging from delivery craft that guarantee to gently deposit a parcel by your door to the latest military types intent on blowing stuff up.
The Black Swan from Bulgarian brothers Svilen and Konstantin Rangelov stands out for bringing a touch of eco-cool to the sector. Pitched as a sort of anti-Amazon drone better suited to emerging economies, the gasoline-powered model uses a glider-like wing to carry 770-pound payloads for more than 1,500 miles and land on the short, unpaved runways common in Africa and other developing nations.
The Dronamics’ Black Swan prototype drone aircraft | Photo: Bloomberg
The industry is forging ahead with plans for the pilot-less plane. Experts will tell you it’s easier to fully automate an aircraft than a car (the chances of a collision while in motion are certainly smaller), but companies are hedging their bets and developing freight variants before trying to persuade passengers of that argument.
Boeing indicated that unmanned cargo craft will be a priority for NeXt, a new organisation formed to develop futuristic and disruptive products. On show at Farnborough was a rotorcraft model of the kind the company says could be buzzing over congested city streets within years -- not decades.
Speed Freaks
The race is hotting up between three companies seeking to channel the spirit of Concorde and reverse the untimely demise of supersonic passenger travel.
Fault lines between them have become clear. Texas-based Aerion is pitching an eight-to-12-passenger model that’s essentially a faster (Mach 1.4) version of today’s business jets. Boom Technology of Denver is pushing a jetliner-sized, delta-winged 55-seater it says would reach Mach 2.2. Spike Aerospace of Boston is targeting a Mach 1.6 plane sized somewhere between the other two.
Plastic Fantastic
The show’s biggest splash came not in the commercial sector but the military one, with the UK unveiling the Tempest fighter mock-up developed by BAE Systems and partners.
Britain hasn’t developed a combat jet without France or Germany since the 1960s and defense experts lined up to suggest the program will be merged with one underway across the English Channel once the Brexit dust has settled.