ARDA Mk 8 - The Northrop N9M-b
Advanced Reduced Drag Aircraft
By Jean-Louis Naudin
created on August
23h, 2001 - JLN Labs - Last
update March 3, 2002
The ARDA flying wing Mk 8, a 1/10 scale of the Northrop N9M-b, is a mockup used for validating the flight model in real conditions. On August 25th, 2001, the ARDA wing has been tested successfully propelled with two electric engines.
| " The
flying wing airplane is the most evocative shape in
aviation : a pure wing, unencumbered by tail surfaces or
a fuselage, producing lift over every square meter of its
surface. ". Richard P. Hallion (PhD), the US
Air Force historian. " L'aile volante représente la configuration aéronautique la plus aboutie : une aile dont la pureté n'est pas altérée par des empennages ou un fuselage, et dont chaque mètre carré de sa surface génère de la portance ". Richard P. Hallion (PhD), directeur du service historique de l'US Air Force. |
Notes from JL
Naudin : I
really enjoy to pilot the N9M-b flying wing. The flight of a
flying wing is always magic for the eyes !!!...
I am grateful to Laurent Buissyne for his wonderful design (
RCM-224 )
See the VIDEOS of the N9M-b tests flights
Click
on the picture above to see the videos
ARDA Project planning :
ARDA mk5 ( an UAV glider, 1.65 m wingspan ) :
- Flights
Tests successful on July 17th, 2001
ARDA mk8
"N9-M" (
twin electric engines UAV, 2 m wingspan ) :
- Flights Tests successful on August 25th, 2001
ARDA
mk9 ( The UAV/EHD demonstrator , 4 m wingspan ) :
- 1st test flight scheduled for May 2002 ( may be earlier.. )
The
Northrop Shock Wave Reduction experiment
Additional notes :
For
those are interested to know more about the air drag reduction
researches conducted by Northrop, I suggest to read :
- AIAA 6th Aerospace Sciences Meeting " Electroaerodynamics
in supersonic flow" by M.S.Cahn and G.M.Andrew from Northrop
Coporation - N°68-24 January
22-24, 1968
- AIAA 3rd Fluid and Plasma Dynamics conference" Recent
experiments in supersonic regime with electrostatic charges"
by M.S.Cahn and G.M.Andrew
from Northrop Coporation - N°70-759 June 29-July, 1970
You will find also some interesting informations about some
projects on Hypersonic experiments at Mach numbers from 8 to 25
don by the RPI (
Reensselaer Polytechnic Institute ) at : http://lightcraft.meche.rpi.edu/Facilities/hypersonic_shock_tunnel.html
- AIAA 98-0991 "Pressure Investigation of the
Hypersonic "Directed-Energy Air Spike" Inlet at Mach
Number 10 With Arc Power Up to 70 kW", Toro, P.G.P,
Myrabo, L.N., Nagamatsu, H.T., January, 1998.
Email : JNaudin509@aol.com
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