As part of the Superman project on fighter maneuverability, a model has been tested in an Onera wind tunnel in Lille, France.
PARIS—The French aerospace research agency Onera is presenting its two newest defense innovations at the Paris Air Show.
The aim is to position itself as an important player in the field of air combat research.
The French aerospace lab has chosen to focus on two combat-aviation research programs: Superman, which will be used within the Future Air Combat System (FCAS), and Espadon, which explores the possibilities offered by hypersonic technologies.
"Both programs address the problems of detection and aircraft vulnerability, by exploring the technological fields of aerodynamics, materials and propulsion,” says René Mathurin, Onera’s director of defense programs.
The Superman research program is focused on studying the limits of a combat aircraft's flight envelope and developing knowledge on maneuverability. Among other things, the aim is to define the shape that will enable the Next Generation Fighter (NGF) to be as maneuverable as possible.
This way, Onera aims to position itself as a key contributor to the FCAS program. To strengthen its role in FCAS, Onera signed a partnership agreement in 2021 with the French procurement agency DGA to deepen relations and information sharing. FCAS-related wind-tunnel tests were then carried out by Onera at the end of 2021.
The Espadon program focuses on the study of hypersonic aircraft. The aim is not to develop an aircraft, but to anticipate post-2050 threats, work out the types of missions that could be carried out to nullify these threats and then develop the required technological solutions. Onera is working jointly with the French Air Force on this project.
In civil aviation, Onera will be presenting its Gullhyver project, an aircraft configuration designed to make progress on decarbonization, and its work on open fan engines. The aerospace research agency will also be presenting its work on space accelerometers, as well as its Feelings demonstrator, which is studying the feasibility of bidirectional ground-satellite optical links. Visitors to Onera’s stand are also able to take a virtual reality tour of the wind tunnels.
