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U.S. Air Force backs supersonic UAV concept

Exosonic supersonic UAV concept. [Credit: Exosonic]

 

 

The United States Air Force (USAF) has awarded transport company Exosonic a Direct to Phase II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract to fund the development of a low-boom supersonic uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) demonstrator. The contract is in partnership with Air Combat Command and the Air Force Research Laboratory, and the Presidential and Executive Airlift Directorate.

The purpose-built supersonic UAV is aimed at aiding the USAF in its pilot training mission.

For Exosonic, the project is a step toward development of a bigger project: a quiet supersonic airliner. It will also build a short-term path to revenue for the Los Angeles-based company.

"Our vision at Exosonic is to fly people supersonic everywhere with our airliner designed to fly supersonic overland with a muted sonic boom," said Norris Tie, Exosonic's CEO. "The supersonic UAV work is critical to our company's strategy due to how much we'll learn about designing, manufacturing, and maintaining supersonic airplanes with our first UAV products. The UAV is also important to our company's longevity. It will provide profits that we can funnel back into our company and give investors, suppliers, and customers confidence that we can deliver supersonic aircraft to the market before anyone needs to make a multi-billion-dollar investment."

The supersonic UAV, built on an Open Software Architecture, will help the USAF pilot training missions by acting as a near-peer adversary fighter to challenge fighter pilots in live flight training. Due to constrained training budgets and a pilot shortage, the USAF cannot efficiently produce new, fully trained fighter pilots. As a result, a limited number of fighter pilots are receiving the adequate amount of live air training necessary to be prepared to defend our country against near-peer adversaries.

Exosonic's supersonic UAV will serve as a mock adversary to stress fighter pilots in live flight training exercises. Equipped with various payloads and sensors, training can be conducted at a fraction of the cost of existing live air training solutions.

This new approach could save taxpayers millions in training dollars and reduce wear and tear on existing USAF operational aircraft that serve as aggressors. Supersonic UAVs will also enable fighter pilots to focus their flight time on blue air training instead of flying as the enemy for their fellow pilots.

Exosonic is working with government contractors other than the USAF, such as Tactical Air Support, to understand how pilot training can be improved. "Tactical Air Support is excited to see an emerging supersonic UAV platform that can operate jointly with a piloted contract adversary like the Tactical Air Support F-5 Advanced Tiger," said Jim DiMatteo, Director of Communications and F-5 ADAIR pilot. These expanded capabilities will significantly enhance the DoD Blue forces training at a reduced cost."

Exosonic said it will also use the UAV for its own purposes to test its low-boom technology in flight. The research will help validate Exosonic's sonic boom loudness work. This data could be provided to civil aviation authorities as they look into replacing the supersonic overland flight ban with a sonic boom loudness restriction instead.

Artist concept of Exosonic's low-boom supersonic airliner converted into an executive transport aircraft. Note: the above image does not represent Exosonic's current configuration for proprietary concerns. [Credit: Exosonic]

 

 

 

 

Exosonic was also tapped in September 2020 to develop a low-boom supersonic executive transport aircraft concept by the USAF's Presidential and Executive Airlift Directorate.

Source: Exosonic

Published October 2021

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