Army Researchers Testing Future Rotorcraft Technologies

By Tactical-Life

The following is a release from David McNally, ARL Public Affairs:

The U.S. Army is moving ahead with research on potential new component-level technologies for future rotorcraft.

A team from the U.S. Army Research Laboratory completed the first-ever live-fire test of a rotor blade with individual blade control technology in mid-January.

• RELATED STORY: Army Exploring Future Options For Medium Tactical Vehicles

Researchers fired three shots representative of typical ground fire on a 7-foot span, 10-inch chord rotor blade section with a 4-foot long Continuous Trailing Edge Flap, or CTEF, at ARL’s Survivability and Lethality Analysis Directorate’s Airbase Experimental Facility 6 and 7.

“The purpose of this program is to generate some limited ballistic data that could reduce risk and/or encourage Future Vertical Lift designers to consider CTEF technology,” said Brian G. Smith, ARL-SLAD aviation analysis team leader.

“We wanted to know what would happen to vehicle performance, or the rotor blade structural integrity, if it is hit by live fire in combat,” said Matthew L. Wilbur, ARL Vehicle Technology Directorate senior research engineer working at the NASA Langley Research Center. “This technology may provide reduced noise signature, reduced vibration, enhanced rotor performance and also offer a lighter and more efficient technology for flight …Read the Rest

Source:: Tactical Life