UK aerospace and defense contractor BAE Systems have taken the wraps off several concepts it envisions as possible tools for the military in the decades to come — and if these designs are any guide, future battlefields are going to look like the set of a science fiction movie.
The most interesting of the concepts is called the Transformer, a stealth aircraft that's actually composed of three airplanes — a large, diamond-shaped model, and two smaller flanking planes.
The Transformer is theoretically capable of longer flights that conserve fuel by reducing overall aerodynamic drag.
Right now, the most common aerial refueling techniques are the probe-and-drogue and the boom method, both of which require the delicate mid-air synchronization of separate aircraft. The Transformer would conceivably make the prospect of longer missions easier by requiring fewer mid-air fueling runs.
Alongside the Transformer, the firm also unveiled several other concept vehicles, including a self-healing aircraft called the Survivor (see video above). This plane repairs its exterior in mid-flight using a lightweight adhesive fluid within a pattern of carbon nanotubes.
BAE's concept videos also include an aircraft capable of shooting a concentrated energy beam to disable missiles as well as an aircraft (see video below) with the ability to fabricate and deploy UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) using on-board 3D printers.
But while BAE's advanced research group is known for coming up with fascinating innovations, the company is careful to mention that the concepts are mere predictions of what might be possible by 2040.
"[W]e don't know exactly what sorts of aircraft technologies will be used in 2040 with any certainty," said Nick Colosimo, an engineering manager from BAE's R&D team, in a statement. "But it's great to be able to show the public some concepts that might be possible through projecting where today’s technology could get to."
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