Suspended from a yellow frame, the manta-like shape shakes almost imperceptibly as the second X-48B demonstrator undergoes final testing before being shipped to Edwards AFB in California. The ground vibration testing is being conducted by Cranfield Aerospace, which has built the blended wing-body (BWB) unmanned research vehicle for Boeing’s Phantom Works in an unusual example of transatlantic cooperation.

“We are providing Boeing with a research tool in which to test their flight control system software,” says D J Dyer, Cranfield Aerospace’s general manager UAV systems. The X-48B will allow the BWB’s low-speed characteristics and complex control system to be explored in flight. “We are giving them the complete thing – two 8.5%-scale aircraft, a ground control station, support equipment and spares,” says Prof Ian Poll, business development director.

Boeing, which has worked on BWB design for several years, planned to build a larger 14%-scale demonstrator, the X-48A, but NASA budget cuts killed the project. “Boeing decided we still needed to demonstrate the flight controls, so we looked for people to work with,” says Phantom Works’ X-48B chief engineer Norm Princen. “We did not want to build the vehicle in-house, so we chose Cranfield.”

Source and more information: Flight International