UNMANNED COMBAT AERIAL VEHICLE

Current generation military Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are mostly optimised for extended flight duration with long, high aspect ratio wings. Although they are highly efficient and versatile, these UAVs do not have the high degree of agility and manoeuvrability required for air-to-air combat. The new generation of Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicles (UCAVs) are designed to have similar or better agility than the current manned fighter jets. 

AIM
To study the aerodynamics of new generation UCAV, including future morphing wings. 

METHOD
The study is looking into the lift and drag characteristics of the UCAV and assessing the turbulent physics behind it. The proposed UCAV is also designed to be imbedded with future morphing wing capability. Therefore, a significant part of the research component is to examine and evaluate various morphed wing geometries. The investigation will involve Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and experimental component via wind tunnel. 

RESULTS
B. Nugroho, J. Brett, B. T Bleckly, and C. Chin (2021). Numerical study of geometric morphing wings of the 1303 UCAV. The Aeronautical Journal. 1-17.  DOI:10.1017/aer.2021.15
​

Experiment figures