A Blended Wing Body Aircraft: Revolutionizing Military and Commercial Aviation
The concept of a blended wing body (BWB) aircraft has been making waves in the aviation world, promising not only to revolutionize military operations but also to spill over into the commercial airline sector. According to Aviation Week & Space Technology, the United States Air Force is gearing up to issue a Request for Information (RFI) to the industry for the development of a scale prototype of a blended wing body aircraft. This innovation could potentially create an aircraft capable of hauling massive cargo or fuel loads with unprecedented range and fuel efficiency.
To kickstart this ambitious endeavor, the Air Force and Department of Defense have allocated $56.9 million for an initial design study. The primary focus of this study is to pinpoint the expected fuel savings if the blended wing body design is adopted for tanker and transport aircraft. According to AvWeek, a more efficient tanker could not only reduce the service’s annual $2 billion fuel bill but also extend its capability to support a larger number of aircraft over longer distances.
Traditionally, large aircraft have a tubular fuselage with flattened wings and turbofan engines attached. In contrast, the blended wing body design resembles a flattened, thick body resulting from smushing a fuselage and wings together. The outcome is an aircraft that, in concept art, often appears as a cross between a wide-bodied passenger jet and the B-2A Spirit stealth bomber.
The blended wing body concept has been around since the 1990s but never gained widespread acceptance. The commercial aviation industry has remained content with the conventional tube and wing aircraft configuration, while the military has followed suit, mainly due to cost considerations. However, the potential benefits of the blended wing body cannot be ignored.
The BWB design offers several advantages over traditional tube and wing configurations. It creates a continuous wing that enhances lift and minimizes drag, thereby reducing fuel consumption. Additionally, it provides a vast internal cargo space suitable for various military cargoes, from vehicles to supplies. Moreover, it can carry a significant amount of aviation fuel, not only powering the aircraft but also extending its operating range and enabling fuel transfer to other aircraft. This feature could be instrumental in bridging the vast distances between North America and Asia, as well as the expanse of the Pacific Ocean.
Developing a new aircraft design of this magnitude would require extensive testing to ensure its safety for commercial use. Furthermore, airports worldwide would need upgrades, much like those required for the Airbus A380, to accommodate blended wing body aircraft. The roughly triangular configuration might necessitate longer passenger loading bridges to span the distance between the terminal and the aircraft boarding doors.
Both Boeing and Lockheed Martin have experimented with blended wing body aircraft designs in the past. These efforts have involved scale models and prototypes, demonstrating that this novel design can be flown as safely as traditional aircraft configurations while offering significant fuel savings.
In 2017, NASA unveiled concept art for Lockheed Martin’s Hybrid Wing Body (HWB) design, which combines features of blending the wing into the aircraft body while retaining a suggestion of a T-tailed tube-and-wing configuration. The Air Force has consistently expressed interest in the blended wing body concept over the years, often considering civilian designs. However, rising fuel prices may finally push it to embrace this innovative approach. If the fuel savings associated with blended wing body aircraft are substantial enough, we might soon witness bat-winged Air Force jets gracing the skies and, perhaps, even find them at commercial airports. The blended wing body concept could mark a pivotal moment in the future of aviation, transforming how both military and civilian aircraft operate.
