Blended Wing UAV Unique unmanned craft’s robust composite design a plus for rough duty. By Staff | May 2007Page: 1 23The booming unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) market continues to expand with hundreds of designs competing for military and civilian contract dollars worldwide. While UAV wingspans range from commercial airliner size down to palm-sized micro flyers, small long-endurance “tactical” UAVs, those that support intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR), are becoming key components of military and homeland security missions. One of the more innovative tactical UAVs on the market is the compact (10-ft/3m wingspan) “blended wing” Killer Bee Unmanned Aircraft (KB-UA) produced by Swift Engineering Inc. (San Clemente, Calif.). Swift, founded in 1983, is well known among automotive enthusiasts for its winning open- wheel race car chassis designs and composite components. But, says Larry Reding, Swift’s Killer Bee program manager, the company wanted to diversify. “Our car-racing legacy and staff skills gave us solid experience that we were able to apply to other markets.” Mark Page, the company’s chief scientist and aerospace designer, together with aerospace engineer Matt McCue, developed the KB-UA. The current model, KB-UA-4, builds on previous experimental prototypes that first flew in 2003. Although a marketing partner relationship with Northrop Grumman Corp. (El Segundo, Calif.) ended several months ago, Swift continues to develop the KB-UA-4, says Page. “We’ve developed an inexpensive way to make a rugged UAV, and we think there’s a market for it.” Fusing the fuselage with the wings Page, who once worked at NASA and is the company’s expert on blended wing concepts, claims that Swift was the first to develop a blended wing UAV, which is similar to but subtly different from the “flying wing,” a design that has existed since the early days of aviation. A flying wing has no separate fuselage and is made up only of wing structure. Several flying wing variants have flown successfully, including Nazi Germany’s Horten Ho-229, Northrop’s YB-49 and probably the Page 1 of 2 CompositesWorld.com - High-Performance Composites - Blended Wing UAV - M... 7/13/2007 http://www.compositesworld.com/hpc/issues/2007/May/111537
