NASA and Boeing said Monday that the plane, built as part of the agency’s Sustainable Flight Demonstrator project, has been designated the X-66A by the U.S. Air Force aircraft .
The new X-plane aims to inform a potential new generation of more sustainable single-aisle aircraft – the lifeblood of passenger airlines around the world. In cooperation with NASA, Boeing will build, test and fly a full-scale demonstrator aircraft with extra-long thin wings stabilized by diagonal struts, known as the Transonic Truss-Braced Wing concept.
“At NASA, our eyes are not only on the stars, but also on the sky. The Sustainable Flight Demonstrator builds on NASA’s world-leading aviation and climate efforts,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. “The X-66A will help shape the future of aviation, a new era where airplanes are greener, cleaner and quieter, creating new opportunities for the flying public and American industry.”
The X-66A is the first X-plane specifically aimed at helping the United States achieve the goal of zero greenhouse gas emissions from aviation, as articulated in the White House’s US Aviation Climate Action Plan.
“To achieve our goal of zero net emissions from aviation by 2050, we need transformative aircraft concepts like the ones we’re flying on the X-66A,” said Bob Pearce, associate administrator of NASA’s Aeronautical Mission Research Directorate, who announced the designation at the American Institute for Aeronautics and Astronautics in San Diego. “With this experimental aircraft, we are aiming high to demonstrate the kinds of energy-saving and emission-reducing technologies that the aviation industry needs.”
NASA and Boeing pursued the X-plane designation shortly after the agency announced the Sustainable Flight Demonstrator project award earlier this year. The Air Force grants X-plane status to development programs that aim to create revolutionary experimental aircraft configurations. The designation is for research aircraft. With few exceptions, X-planes are intended to test designs and technologies that can be adopted into other aircraft designs, not as prototypes for full production.
“We are incredibly proud of this designation because it means the X-66A will be the next in a long line of experimental aircraft used to validate breakthrough designs that have changed aviation,” said Todd Citron, Boeing’s chief technology officer. “With the insights gained from design, construction and flight testing, we will have the opportunity to shape the future of flying and contribute to the decarbonisation of aviation.”
For the X-66A, the Air Force has provided an aircraft designation that validates technology for the Transonic Truss-Braced Wing configuration, which, when combined with other advances in propulsion systems, materials and system architecture, can result in up to 30% lower fuel consumption and lower emissions compared to today’s best aircraft in its class.
Single-aisle aircraft account for nearly half of global aviation emissions today due to their widespread use. Developing designs and technologies for a more sustainable version of this type of aircraft has the potential to have a profound impact on emissions.
NASA’s history with the X-plane dates back to the 1940s, when its predecessor, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), jointly created an experimental aircraft program with the US Air Force and US Navy. The X-66A is the latest in a long line of NASA X-planes. In addition, NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, provided technical expertise and support for several other X-planets.
For the Sustainable Flight Demonstrator, NASA has a funded Space Act contract with Boeing, through which the agency will invest $425 million over seven years, while the company and its partners will contribute the rest of the funding, estimated at about $725 million. NASA will also contribute technical expertise and equipment.
The Sustainable Flight Demonstrator project is an activity within the NASA Integrated Aviation Systems Program and a key element of the agency’s Sustainable Flight National Partnership, which focuses on the development of new sustainable aviation technologies.
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