Aircraft With No Control Surfaces Taking Shape

An odd-looking prototype of an aircraft without control surfaces is taking shape in a Boeing facility in Bridgeport, West Virginia, and is scheduled to fly in 2027. New Atlas is reporting the X-65 Control of Revolutionary Aircraft with Novel Effectors (CRANE) uncrewed demonstrator is being developed by Boeing subsidiary Aurora Flight Sciences. It will test the use of puffs of air to disrupt the flow over lifting surfaces to effect pitch roll and yaw instead of changing the shape of the airfoils themselves with elevators, ailerons, and rudders. The problem with the conventional approach is that even the most stealthy design will light up radar when a control surface moves even slightly. All those gaps, hinges, and actuators also add weight and drag to the airframe.

The X-65 employs a compressed air system that uses 14 nozzles to disrupt airflow to create the control inputs. It can also increase lift by altering airflow on the wing leading edges. For safety’s sake, the prototype has movable control surfaces in case the air puffs don’t quite do the job. The weird shape of the wings and tail helps make the most of the disrupted airflow in controlling the aircraft, and it’s very much a test bed and not the precursor of a functional aircraft. “The X-65 platform will be an enduring flight test asset, and we’re confident that future aircraft designs and research missions will be able to leverage the underlying technologies and flight test data,” Larry Wirsing, Aurora’s VP of aircraft development, told New Atlas.