PHOTON --- NGAD PLANE OF THE FUTURE

[L Edge]

Looking for another plane that doesn't exist, came upon this one I am going to attempt.

I chose the name PHOTON because it looks to be fast. Did some initial testing and decided on a good set of cw/ccw 70mm EDF to handle the problems. Will shoot for not having a gyro, it all depends.

Gee, it looks somewhat familiar, isn't that a classy Dark Star that I now have in my hanger?

1) Extend the fuse down.
2) Widen and lengthen the top engine nacelles.
3) Move the EDF's upstairs.
4) Reshape wings to allow large inlets for EDF.
5) Remove tail.

Hey, at least I now have got the basic plan down and can start building(by paper the engine nacelle).

 

[Piotrsko]

No looks more-or-less like a B2 spent the night unsupervised with a B1, OR the ghost of Jack Northrop is in some AI design computer at DOD

 

[L Edge]

I am hoping that my trusty slide rule solves the problems. But to me, this is my passion. Hard part is the rudderless to solve.

Each company is throwing out pictorial views of what it should look like. Really a head game to keep us guessing. Latest I heard, the DARKSTAR can cove 2 miles/sec. How can you even prepare to defend?

 

[L Edge]

Have been exploring paper designs of both inlet and outlet of the EDF's. Not only that, been cutting out foam to see what it looks like. Also trying to working on coming up with a static and/or dynamic way to see how much thrust is lost ? Want to see if larger EDF is needed.

As for rudderless, thinking about temp rudder first to check out if EDF's give a stable platform. Might be able to use differential thrust approach to rid of the rudders. Otherwise, got a "outside the box" approach no one has tried to handle yaw.

 

[L Edge]

Have thought quite a bit the inlet and exhaust of "Photon" and decided that the inlet shouldn't be a problem. Due to the stealth shape exhaust, it is again a modified version of the my F-117 that I designed and flies having good stability. The big difference is going from rectangular to the splines type exit. Know that, it presents a new set of forces that will enter into the equation. So the net result is the sum of all forces(3 axis) must be zero to have stability. That how I got my SR-71, F-117, and A-10 Warthog to fly.


To have any success, need to see what happens to the forces as the come out the exhaust in the above model. So I decided that I will use 2 5 bladed 64 EDF's and reshape the Dark Star(made from Adams Redi-Board). This way, the amount of changes is at a minimum.

In the meantime, setting up a testbed plane to determine what is happening with the exhaust forces and if the results are positive or negative or neutral.

This is my EDF (Bobcat)trainer that I designed( very docile) and to adapt it, all I am doing is adding a circular tube changing from round to with the shape of Photon's exhaust. Just tape to EDF, ready to go.

One test I am trying is a short straight tube aft of EDF, to see if thrust improve, equal or less. HH SR-71 was adapted with short straight nozzle and the result stated by pilot was less thrust in flight. Then try the razor shape exhaust and see what happens.
My guess is that it will pitch up slightly and give a yaw effect.
.

 

[L Edge]

To show no problems, did a run with a 2.5 extension straight.

No problems, plane flew as usual.

Just as I predicted, it pitched the nose up. What I didn't expect is the amount of force it did produce. At full throttle, hands off pitch, it actually did a full loop!!!!!!!! So as I advanced the throttle, I actually had to push nose down to keep level.
To land, I actually was able to flare hand off pitch and just vary the throttle as it settled on the ground.

The incline was only 20 degrees.

Rule 1 for NGAD tailless and weird exhaust nozzles.

So, you heard it here first, if you change the angle from 90 degrees exit, you are imparting additional forces for stability. To further prove this, I took my design of the F-117 that I fixed to be real stable and undo that segment so that the exhaust segment causing pitching was back.
It sure was back, it proves that there is additional forces of weird exhaust shape.

If you compare the F-117 exhaust to the NGAD plane above, it has a fancier rectangular shape splines(2 of them), so maybe I can solve this shape and address the roll/yaw problem to developing a plane you can fly without a gyro. Heck, I solved the X-47B and it flies real stable.

 

[L Edge]

Explored a number of exhaust shapes and trying to find one I can use for the Photon, picked the ellipse exit where the bottom of the EDF fan matches the bottom of the ellipse exhaust. Using my EDF trainer, shaped it out of oatmeal container and flew it in the air on a couple of flights. Didn't seem to lose any noticeable thrust(vertical hovering in house or flying).

Using the NYGAD design shown above, I now have basically got the engine inlet to exhaust ducts(still will be problems with outward flow). Using the DarkStar frame, I am going to modify the same flat plate outline to get to the Photon. Decided to use 2 64's for thrust and save my only 70's for something else.

Onward to cut and tape paper, the original CAD system.

 

[L Edge]

Ran across a 6th generation drone called the Shepard(XRQ-73) that is being built and noticed that the inlet to exhaust segment is "sorta the same" as the Photon. So glad I picked that style and came up with 2 possible devices to explore on my EDF trainer. Feel I can solve the pitch problem but to address the yaw, it will be hit or miss.

Still undecided to either my X-47B concept or the Dark Star top shape.