BAE Systems MAGMA — First flight

[freebeard]

First MAGMA flight trials | BAE Systems | International

I've had interest in Coanda nozzles and plasma actuators for some time. So it was with intereest that I read about this single flight of an experimental drone.

The two technologies to be trialled first using the jet-powered UAV, MAGMA, are:

• Wing Circulation Control, which takes air from the aircraft engine and blows it supersonically through the trailing edge of the wing to provide control for the aircraft
• Fluidic Thrust Vectoring, which uses blown air to deflect the exhaust, allowing for the direction of the aircraft to be changed.

BAE Systems ujawni

So the infographic shows blacked-out trailing edges, but the actual airframe shows a copper-metallic sheen. What is the possibility that there are also plasma actuators involved?

[gone-ot]

...but, the flight-dynamics return to that of a "uncontrollable brick" when engine power is lost due to malfunction or loss during flight.

[freebeard]

Heh.

Eventually, they will have [to have] an airframe that when it fails, will split in half and spiral down like a Maple seed pod:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maple

The distinctive fruits are called samaras, "maple keys", "helicopters", "whirlybirds" or "polynoses". These seeds occur in distinctive pairs each containing one seed enclosed in a "nutlet" attached to a flattened wing of fibrous, papery tissue. They are shaped to spin as they fall and to carry the seeds a considerable distance on the wind. People often call them "helicopters" due to the way that they spin as they fall. During World War II, the US Army developed a special air drop supply carrier that could carry up to 65 pounds of supplies and was based on the Maple seed.