At the Singapore Airshow on Tuesday, Airbus unveiled their blended wing aircraft demonstrator. The aircraft is called MAVERIC an acronym for Model Aircraft for Validation and Experimentation.
Airbus revealed their “blended wing body” aircraft demonstrator model at the Singapore Airshow 2020 on Tuesday. The demonstrator is 2 meters long and 3.2 meters wide with a surface area of around 2.25 square meters. The futuristic-looking MAVERIC features a “disruptive” aircraft design which is intended to reduce fuel burn by 20% as compared to currently available narrow-body aircraft. The design also opens a whole new world in terms of propulsion systems and onboard passenger experience. The MAVERIC project was launched in 2017 and first took flight in June 2019. Airbus expects to complete flight testing on the aircraft by the end of the second quarter of 2020. In Tuesday’s announcement, Airbus’ EVP – Engineering, Jean-Brice Dumont said,
“Airbus is leveraging emerging technologies to pioneer the future of flight. By testing disruptive aircraft configurations, Airbus is able to elevate their potential as viable future products. Although there is no specific timeline for entry-into-service, this technological demonstrator could be instrumental in bringing about change in the commercial aircraft architectures for an environmentally sustainable future for the aviation industry.”
Airbus is leveraging their core engineering and manufacturing capabilities to accelerate the traditional research and development cycles, which has enabled the rapid creation of proof of concepts. In addition to MAVERIC, through their Airbus UpNext research program, the company is also working on several other demonstrator projects including E-FAN X (hybrid-electric propulsion), fello’fly (V-shaped “formation” flight) and ATTOL (Autonomous Taxi Take-Off and landing).
Source: Airbus