Supersonic passenger. Illusion of possibilities: why do we need a supersonic passenger aircraft Supersonic aircraft flight speed
Exactly 15 years ago, the last three British Airways Concorde supersonic passenger aircraft made their farewell flight. On that day, October 24, 2003, these aircraft, flying at low altitude over London, landed at Heathrow, and thus ended the short history of supersonic passenger aviation. However, today aircraft designers around the world are once again thinking about the possibility of fast flights - from Paris to New York in 3.5 hours, from Sydney to Los Angeles - in 6 hours, from London to Tokyo - in 5 hours. But before supersonic aircraft return to international passenger routes, developers will have to solve many problems, among which one of the most important is reducing the noise of fast aircraft.
A short history of fast flights
Passenger aviation began to take shape in the 1910s, when the first aircraft specifically designed to transport people through the air appeared. The very first of these was the French Bleriot XXIV Limousine from Bleriot Aeronautique. It was used for pleasure air rides. Two years later, the S-21 Grand appeared in Russia, created on the basis of the Russian Knight heavy bomber Igor Sikorsky. It was built at the Russian-Baltic Carriage Works. Then aviation began to develop by leaps and bounds: first, flights began between cities, then between countries, and then between continents. Airplanes made it possible to get to your destination faster than by train or ship.
In the 1950s, progress in the development of jet engines accelerated significantly, and flights at supersonic speed became available for military aircraft, albeit for a short time. Supersonic speed is usually called movement up to five times faster than the speed of sound, which varies depending on the propagation medium and its temperature. At normal atmospheric pressure at sea level, sound travels at a speed of 331 meters per second, or 1,191 kilometers per hour. As the altitude increases, the density and temperature of the air decreases, and the speed of sound also decreases. For example, at an altitude of 20 thousand meters, it is already about 295 meters per second. But already at an altitude of about 25 thousand meters and as it rises to more than 50 thousand meters, the temperature of the atmosphere begins to gradually increase in comparison with the lower layers, and with it the local speed of sound increases.
The increase in temperature at these altitudes is explained, among other things, by the high concentration of ozone in the air, which forms an ozone shield and absorbs part of the solar energy. As a result, the speed of sound at an altitude of 30,000 meters above the sea is about 318 meters per second, and at an altitude of 50,000 - almost 330 meters per second. In aviation, the Mach number is widely used to measure airspeed. In simple terms, it expresses the local speed of sound for a particular altitude, air density and temperature. Thus, a conventional flight speed equal to two Mach numbers at sea level will be 2383 kilometers per hour, and at an altitude of 10 thousand meters - 2157 kilometers per hour. For the first time, the sound barrier at a speed of 1.04 Mach (1066 kilometers per hour) at an altitude of 12.2 thousand meters was overcome by the American pilot Chuck Yeager in 1947. This was an important step towards the development of supersonic flights.
In the 1950s, aircraft designers in several countries around the world began working on designs for supersonic passenger aircraft. As a result, in the 1970s, the French Concorde and the Soviet Tu-144 appeared. These were the first and so far the only passenger supersonic aircraft in the world. Both types of aircraft used conventional turbojet engines optimized for long-term supersonic flight. Tu-144s were operated until 1977. The planes flew at a speed of 2.3 thousand kilometers per hour and could carry up to 140 passengers. However, tickets for their flights cost an average of 2.5-3 times more than usual. Low demand for fast but expensive flights, as well as the general difficulties in operating and maintaining the Tu-144, led to the fact that they were simply removed from passenger flights. However, the aircraft were used for some time in test flights, including under contract with NASA.
Concorde served noticeably longer - until 2003. Flights on French liners were also expensive and not very popular, but France and Great Britain continued to operate them. The cost of one ticket for such a flight was, in terms of today's prices, about 20 thousand dollars. The French Concorde flew at a speed of just over two thousand kilometers per hour. The plane could cover the distance from Paris to New York in 3.5 hours. Depending on the configuration, Concorde could carry from 92 to 120 people.
The history of the Concorde ended unexpectedly and quickly. In 2000, the Concorde plane crash occurred in which 113 people died. A year later, a crisis began in passenger air travel caused by the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 (two planes with passengers hijacked by terrorists crashed into the towers of the World Trade Center in New York, another, third, into the Pentagon building in Arlington County, and the fourth fell into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania). Then the warranty period for Concorde aircraft, which was handled by Airbus, expired. All these factors together made the operation of supersonic passenger aircraft extremely unprofitable, and in the summer and autumn of 2003, Air France and British Airways took turns decommissioning all the Concordes.
After the closure of the Concorde program in 2003, there was still hope for the return of supersonic passenger aviation to service. Designers hoped for new fuel-efficient engines, aerodynamic calculations, and computer-aided design systems that could make supersonic flight economically affordable. But in 2006 and 2008, the International Civil Aviation Organization adopted new aircraft noise standards that, among other things, banned all supersonic flights over populated land during peacetime. This ban does not apply to air corridors specially allocated for military aviation. Work on the projects of new supersonic aircraft slowed down, but today they have begun to gain momentum again.
Quiet supersonic
Today, several enterprises and government organizations in the world are developing supersonic passenger aircraft. Such projects, in particular, are being carried out by the Russian companies Sukhoi and Tupolev, the Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute named after Zhukovsky, the French Dassault, the Japan Aerospace Research Agency, the European concern Airbus, the American Lockheed Martin and Boeing, as well as several startups, including Aerion and Boom technologies. In general, the designers are conditionally divided into two camps. Representatives of the first of them believe that it will not be possible to develop a “quiet” supersonic aircraft corresponding in terms of noise to subsonic airliners in the near future, which means that it is necessary to build a fast passenger aircraft that will switch to supersonic where it is allowed. Such an approach, the designers from the first camp believe, will still reduce the time of flight from one point to another.
The designers from the second camp mainly focused on the fight against shock waves. In flight at supersonic speed, the airframe of an aircraft generates many shock waves, the most significant of which occur in the nose and in the tail area. In addition, shock waves usually appear on the leading and trailing edges of the wing, on the leading edges of the tail, in the areas of swirlers of the flow and on the edges of the air intakes. A shock wave is a region in which the pressure, density, and temperature of the medium experience a sharp and strong jump. Observers on the ground perceive such waves as a loud bang or even an explosion - it is because of this that supersonic flights over the populated part of the land are prohibited.
The effect of an explosion or a very loud pop is produced by the shock waves of the so-called N-type, which are formed during the explosion of a bomb or on the airframe of a supersonic fighter. On the graph of pressure and density growth, such waves resemble the letter N of the Latin alphabet due to a sharp increase in pressure at the wave front with a sharp drop in pressure after it and subsequent normalization. In laboratory experiments, researchers at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency found that changing the shape of a glider can smooth out peaks in a shockwave graph, turning it into an S-type wave. Such a wave has a smooth pressure drop, which is not as significant as that of the N-wave. NASA experts believe that S-waves will be perceived by observers as the distant slam of a car door.
N-wave (red) before aerodynamic optimization of a supersonic airframe and similarity of S-wave after optimization
In 2015, Japanese designers assembled the D-SEND 2 unmanned glider, whose aerodynamic shape was designed to reduce the number and intensity of shock waves generated on it. In July 2015, the developers tested the airframe at the Esrange missile range in Sweden and noted a significant reduction in the number of shock waves generated on the surface of the new airframe. During the test, D-SEND 2, not equipped with engines, was dropped from a balloon from a height of 30.5 thousand meters. During the fall, the glider, 7.9 meters long, picked up a speed of Mach 1.39 and flew past tethered balloons equipped with microphones located at different heights. At the same time, the researchers measured not only the intensity and number of shock waves, but also analyzed the influence of the state of the atmosphere on their early occurrence.
According to the Japanese agency, the sonic boom from aircraft comparable in size to the Concorde supersonic passenger aircraft and made according to the D-SEND 2 scheme, when flying at supersonic speed, will be half as intense as before. The Japanese D-SEND 2 differs from the gliders of conventional modern aircraft in the non-axisymmetric arrangement of the bow. The keel of the device is shifted to the bow, and the horizontal tail unit is made all-moving and has a negative installation angle with respect to the longitudinal axis of the airframe, that is, the empennage tips are below the attachment point, and not above, as usual. The airframe wing has a normal sweep, but is made stepped: it smoothly mates with the fuselage, and part of its leading edge is located at an acute angle to the fuselage, but closer to the trailing edge this angle increases sharply.
According to a similar scheme, the supersonic American startup Aerion is currently being created and is being developed by Lockheed Martin by order of NASA. With an emphasis on reducing the number and intensity of shock waves, the Russian (Supersonic Business Aircraft / Supersonic Passenger Aircraft) is also being designed. Some of the fast passenger aircraft projects are scheduled to be completed in the first half of the 2020s, but the aviation regulations will still not be revised by then. This means that the new aircraft will initially perform supersonic flights only over water. The fact is that in order to remove the restriction on supersonic flights over the populated part of the land, developers will have to conduct many tests and submit their results to the aviation authorities, including the US Federal Aviation Administration and the European Aviation Safety Agency.
S-512/Spike Aerospace
New engines
Another serious obstacle to the creation of a mass-produced passenger supersonic aircraft is the engines. Designers today have found many ways to make turbojet engines more economical than they were ten or twenty years ago. This includes the use of gearboxes that remove the rigid coupling of the fan and turbine in the engine, and the use of ceramic composite materials to optimize the temperature balance in the hot zone of the power plant, and even the introduction of an additional - third - air circuit in addition to the already existing two, internal and external. In the field of creating economical subsonic engines, designers have already achieved amazing results, and ongoing new developments promise significant savings. You can read more about advanced research in our material.
But, despite all these developments, it is still difficult to call supersonic flight economical. For example, the promising supersonic passenger aircraft of the Boom Technologies startup will receive three turbofan engines of the JT8D family from Pratt & Whitney or J79 from GE Aviation. In cruise flight, the specific fuel consumption of these engines is about 740 grams per kilogram-force per hour. At the same time, the J79 engine can be equipped with an afterburner, which increases fuel consumption by up to two kilograms per kilogram-force per hour. Such an expense is comparable to the fuel consumption of engines, for example, of the Su-27 fighter, whose tasks differ significantly from the transportation of passengers.
For comparison, the specific fuel consumption of the world's only serial D-27 turbopropfan engines installed on the Ukrainian An-70 transporter is only 140 grams per kilogram-force per hour. The American CFM56 engine, the “classic” of Boeing and Airbus liners, has a specific fuel consumption of 545 grams per kilogram-force per hour. This means that without a major redesign of jet aircraft engines, supersonic flights will not become cheap enough to be widely adopted, and will be in demand only in business aviation - high fuel consumption leads to higher ticket prices. It will not be possible to reduce the high cost of supersonic air transportation by volumes either - the aircraft being designed today are designed to carry from 8 to 45 passengers. Ordinary planes can accommodate more than a hundred people.
However, in early October of this year, GE Aviation projected a new Affinity turbofan jet engine. These power plants are planned to be mounted on a promising supersonic passenger aircraft AS2 from Aerion. The new power plant structurally combines the features of jet engines with a low bypass ratio for combat aircraft and power plants with a high bypass ratio for passenger aircraft. At the same time, there are no new and breakthrough technologies in Affinity. The new GE Aviation engine is classified as a medium bypass powerplant.
The basis of the engine is a modified CFM56 turbofan gas generator, which, in turn, is structurally based on the gas generator from the F101, the power plant for the B-1B Lancer supersonic bombers. The power plant will receive a modernized electronic-digital engine management system with full responsibility. The developers did not disclose any details about the design of the promising engine. However, GE Aviation expects the specific fuel consumption of the Affinity engines to be not much higher than, or even comparable to, the fuel consumption of modern turbofan engines in conventional subsonic passenger aircraft. How this can be achieved for supersonic flight is not clear.
Boom / Boom Technologies
Projects
Despite the many projects of supersonic passenger aircraft in the world (including even the unrealistic project of converting the Tu-160 strategic bomber into a passenger supersonic liner, proposed by Russian President Vladimir Putin), the AS2 of the American startup Aerion, S-512, can be considered the closest to flight testing and small-scale production. Spanish Spike Aerospace and American Boom Technologies Boom. It is planned that the first will fly at Mach 1.5, the second at Mach 1.6, and the third at Mach 2.2. The X-59 aircraft, created by Lockheed Martin by order of NASA, will be a technology demonstrator and a flying laboratory; it is not planned to launch it into a series.
Boom Technologies has already said it will try to make supersonic flights very cheap. For example, the cost of a flight from New York to London was estimated at Boom Technologies at five thousand dollars. This is how much a flight on this route costs today in the business class of an ordinary subsonic airliner. The Boom liner will fly at subsonic speeds over populated land and go supersonic over the ocean. The aircraft, with a length of 52 meters and a wingspan of 18 meters, can carry up to 45 passengers. Until the end of 2018, Boom Technologies plans to select one of several new aircraft projects for implementation in metal. The first flight of the aircraft is scheduled for 2025. The company has postponed these deadlines; Boom was originally scheduled to take to the air in 2023.
According to preliminary calculations, the length of the AS2 aircraft, designed for 8-12 passengers, will be 51.8 meters, and the wingspan will be 18.6 meters. The maximum takeoff weight of the supersonic aircraft will be 54.8 tons. The AS2 will fly over water at a cruising speed of Mach 1.4-1.6, decelerating to Mach 1.2 over land. A slightly lower flight speed over land, coupled with a special aerodynamic shape of the airframe, will, as the developers expect, almost completely avoid the formation of shock waves. The flight range of the aircraft at a speed of Mach 1.4 will be 7.8 thousand kilometers and 10 thousand kilometers at a speed of Mach 0.95. The first flight of the aircraft is planned for the summer of 2023, and for October of the same year - the first transatlantic flight. Its developers will coincide with the 20th anniversary of the last flight of the Concorde.
Finally, Spike Aerospace plans to begin flight testing of the full S-512 prototype no later than 2021. Deliveries of the first production aircraft to customers are scheduled for 2023. According to the project, the S-512 will be able to carry up to 22 passengers at speeds up to Mach 1.6. The flight range of this aircraft will be 11.5 thousand kilometers. Since last October, Spike Aerospace has several smaller models of supersonic aircraft. Their purpose is to test design solutions and the effectiveness of flight controls. All three promising passenger aircraft are being created with an emphasis on a special aerodynamic shape that will reduce the intensity of shock waves generated during supersonic flight.
In 2017, the volume of air passenger traffic worldwide amounted to four billion people, of which 650 million made long-haul flights ranging from 3.7 to 13 thousand kilometers. 72 million "long-haul" passengers flew first and business class. It is these 72 million people that the developers of supersonic passenger aircraft are targeting first, believing that they will gladly pay a little more money for the opportunity to spend about half the time in the air than usual. However, supersonic passenger aviation is likely to develop rapidly after 2025. The fact is that research flights of the X-59 laboratory will begin only in 2021 and will last for several years.
The results of the research obtained during the X-59 flights, including those over volunteer settlements (their inhabitants agreed to have supersonic aircraft fly over them on weekdays; after the flights, observers will tell the researchers about their perception of noise), it is planned to transfer to US Federal Aviation Administration review. As expected, on their basis, it may revise the ban on supersonic flights over the populated part of the land, but this will not happen until 2025.
Vasily Sychev
"Turn on supersonic!"
Supersonic passenger aircraft - what do we know about them? At least the fact that they were created relatively long ago. But, for various reasons, they were not used for as long, and not as often as they could. Even today, they exist only as design models.
Why is that? What is the peculiarity and "secret" of supersonic? Who created this technology? And also - what will be the future of supersonic aircraft in the world, and of course - in Russia? We will try to answer all these questions.
"Farewell Flight"
So, since the last three functioning supersonic passenger aircraft made their last flights, after which they were decommissioned, fifteen years have passed. It was back in 2003. Then, on October 24, they all together "said goodbye to the sky." The last time they flew at low altitude, over the capital of Great Britain.
We then landed at London Heathrow Airport. These were Concorde aircraft owned by British Airways. And with such a “farewell flight” they completed a very short history of passenger transportation, at a speed exceeding the sound ...
That's what you might have thought a few years ago. But now it is already possible to say with certainty. This is the finale of only the first stage of this story. And probably - all its bright pages are yet to come.
Today is preparation, tomorrow is flight
Today, many companies and aircraft designers are thinking about the prospects for supersonic passenger aviation. Some are making plans to revive it. Others are already preparing for it.
After all, if it could exist and function effectively a few decades ago, today, with technologies that have seriously stepped forward, it is quite possible not only to revive it, but also to solve a number of problems that forced leading airlines to abandon it.
And the prospects are too tempting. The possibility of a flight, for example, from London to Tokyo, in five hours, seems very interesting. Cross the distance from Sydney to Los Angeles in six hours? And get from Paris to New York in three and a half? With passenger aircraft, which is capable of flying at a higher speed than sound travels, this is not at all difficult.
But, of course, before the triumphant "return" of such into the airspace - scientists, engineers, designers, and many others - there is still a lot of work to do. It is necessary not only to restore what once was by offering a new model. Not at all.
The goal is to solve many problems that are associated with passenger supersonic aviation. The creation of aircraft that will not only demonstrate the capabilities and power of the countries that built them. But they will also be really effective. So much so as to occupy their worthy niche in aviation.
History of supersonic. Part 1. What happened in the beginning...
Where did it all begin? In fact, from simple passenger aviation. And such is already more than a century old. Its design began in the 1910s, in Europe. When craftsmen from the most developed countries of the world created the first aircraft, the main purpose of which was to transport passengers over various distances. That is - a flight, with many people on board.
The first among them is the French Bleriot XXIV Limousine. It belonged to the aircraft manufacturer Bleriot Aeronautique. However, it was used mainly for the amusement of those who paid for pleasure "walks" - flights on it. Two years after its creation, an analogue appears in Russia.
It was the S-21 Grand. It was designed on the basis of the "Russian Knight" created by Igor Sikorsky - a heavy bomber. And the construction of this passenger aircraft was carried out by the workers of the Baltic Carriage Works.
Well, after that, progress was unstoppable. Aviation developed rapidly. And passenger, in particular. At first there were flights between specific cities. Then the planes were able to overcome the distances between states. Finally, aircraft began to cross the oceans and fly from one continent to another.
Developing technology and an increasing number of innovations allowed aviation to travel very quickly. Much faster than trains or ships. And for her, after all, there were practically no barriers. There was no need to change from one transport to another, not only, say, traveling to some particularly distant "end of the world."
Even when it is necessary to cross land and water expanses at once. Nothing stopped the planes. And this is natural, because they fly over everything - continents, oceans, countries ...
But time flew by quickly, the world changed. Of course, the aviation industry also developed. Aircraft over the next few decades, until the 1950s, changed so much, compared with those that flew back in the early 1920s and 30s, that they became something completely different, special.
And so, in the middle of the twentieth century, the development of the jet engine went very fast, even in comparison with the previous twenty or thirty years, at a pace.
A small information digression. Or - a little physics
Advanced developments have allowed aircraft to “accelerate” to a speed greater than that with which sound propagates. Of course, first of all, it was applied in military aviation. After all, we are talking about the twentieth century. Which, sadly to realize it, was a century of conflicts, two world wars, the "cold" struggle of the USSR and the USA ...
And almost every new technology created by the leading states of the world was primarily considered from the point of view of how it can be used in defense or attack.
So planes could now fly at speeds never seen before. Faster than sound. And what is its specificity?
First of all, it is obvious that this is a speed that exceeds that with which sound is carried. But, remembering the basic laws of physics, we can say that in different conditions, it may differ. Yes, and “exceeds” is a very loose concept.
And therefore - there is a special standard. Supersonic speed is the one that exceeds the sound speed up to five times, taking into account the fact that depending on temperature and other environmental factors, it can change.
For example - if we take normal atmospheric pressure, at sea level, then in this case, the speed of sound will be equal to an impressive figure - 1191 km / h. That is, 331 meters are overcome in a second.
But, which is especially important when designing supersonic aircraft, as you climb, the temperature decreases. This means that the speed with which sound propagates is very significant.
So let's say, if you rise to a height of 20 thousand meters, then here it will be already 295 meters per second. But there is another important point.
At 25,000 meters above sea level, the temperature begins to rise as it is no longer the lower atmosphere. And so it goes on. Or rather, higher. Let's say at an altitude of 50,000 meters it will be even hotter. Consequently, the speed of sound there - increases even more.
Interesting - how much? Rising 30 kilometers above sea level, you find yourself in the "zone" where sound travels at a speed of 318 meters per second. And at 50,000 meters, respectively - 330 m / s.
On the Mach number
By the way, it is interesting that in order to simplify the understanding of the features of the flight and work in such conditions, the Mach number is used in aviation. A general description of this can be reduced to the following conclusions. It expresses the speed of sound that takes place under given conditions, at a particular height, at a given temperature and air density.
For example, the flight speed, which is equal to two Mach numbers, at an altitude of ten kilometers above the ground, under normal conditions, will be 2,157 km/h. And at sea level - 2,383 km / h.
History of supersonic. Part 2. Overcoming barriers
By the way, for the first time he reached the speed of flight, more than 1 Mach, a pilot from the USA - Chuck Yeager. This happened in 1947. Then he "dispersed" his plane, flying at an altitude of 12.2 thousand meters above the ground, to a speed of 1066 km / h. Thus was the first supersonic flight on earth.
Already in the 1950s, work began on the design and preparation for serial production of passenger aircraft capable of flying at a speed - faster than sound. They are led by scientists and aircraft designers from the most powerful countries in the world. And they manage to succeed.
The same "Concorde", a model - which will be finally abandoned in 2003, was created in 1969. This is a joint - British-French development. The symbolically chosen name - "Concorde", from French, is translated as "consent".
It was one of two existing types of supersonic passenger aircraft. Well, the creation of the second (or rather - chronologically - the first) is the merit of the aircraft designers of the USSR. The Soviet analogue of the Concorde is called the Tu-144. It was designed in the 1960s and first flew on December 31, 1968. One year before the British-French model.
Other types of supersonic passenger aircraft, up to this day, have not been implemented. Both the Concorde and the Tu-144 flew thanks to turbojet engines, which were specially rebuilt in order to operate at supersonic speed for a long time.
The Soviet analogue of the Concorde was operated for a much shorter period. Already in 1977 it was abandoned. The plane flew on average at a speed of 2,300 kilometers per hour and could carry up to 140 passengers at a time. But at the same time, the price of a ticket for such a “supersonic” flight was two, two and a half, or even three times more than for an ordinary one.
Of course, these were not in great demand among Soviet citizens. And servicing the Tu-144 was not easy and expensive. Therefore, in the USSR they were so quickly abandoned.
Concordes lasted longer, although tickets for the flights they flew were also expensive. And the demand was also not great. But still, despite this, they continued to be exploited, both in the UK and in France.
If you recalculate the cost of a ticket for Concorde, in the 1970s, at today's rate, then it will be about two tens of thousands of dollars. For a one way ticket. You can understand why the demand for them was somewhat less than for flights using aircraft that do not reach supersonic speeds.
The Concorde could take on board from 92 to 120 passengers at a time. He flew at a speed of more than 2 thousand km / h and covered the distance from Paris to New York in three and a half hours.
So several decades passed. Until 2003.
One of the reasons for the refusal to operate this model was a plane crash that occurred in 2000. Then, there were 113 people on board the crashed Concorde. They all died.
Later, an international crisis began in the field of passenger air transportation. Its cause is the terrorist attacks that took place on September 11, 2001, on the territory of the United States.
Moreover, on top of that, the warranty period for the Concorde by Airbus is expiring. All this together made the further operation of supersonic passenger aircraft extremely unprofitable. And in 2003, all Concordes were written off in turn, both in France and in the UK.
hopes
After that, there were still hopes for an early "return" of supersonic passenger aircraft. Aircraft designers talked about creating special engines, which would save fuel, despite the flight speed. We talked about improving the quality and optimizing the main avionics systems on such aircraft.
But, in 2006 and 2008, new regulations of the International Civil Aviation Organization were issued. They determined the latest (by the way, they are valid at the moment) standards for permissible aircraft noise during flight.
And supersonic aircraft, as you know, did not have the right to fly over populated areas, which is why. After all, they produced strong noise pops (also for reasons of the physical characteristics of the flight) when they moved at maximum speeds.
This was the reason that the "planning" of the "revival" of supersonic passenger aviation was somewhat slowed down. However, in fact, after the introduction of this requirement, aircraft designers began to think about how to solve such a problem. After all, it also had a place to be before, just the "ban" focused on it - the "problem of noise".
But what about today?
But ten years have passed since the last "ban". And planning smoothly turned into design. To date, several companies and government organizations are engaged in the creation of passenger supersonic aircraft.
What exactly? Russian: Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute (the one named after Zhukovsky), Tupolev and Sukhoi companies. Russian aircraft designers have an invaluable advantage.
The experience of Soviet designers and creators of the Tu-144. However, it is better to talk about domestic developments in this area separately and in more detail, which we propose to do next.
But not only the Russians are creating a new generation of supersonic passenger aircraft. This is also a European concern - Airbus, and the French company Dassault. Among the companies of the United States of America that work in this direction are Boeing and, of course, Lockheed Martin. In the land of the rising sun, the main organization that designs such an aircraft is the aerospace research agency.
And this list is by no means complete. At the same time, it is important to clarify that the vast majority of professional aircraft designers working in this area are divided into two groups. Regardless of country of origin.
Some believe that it is impossible in any way to create a "quiet" supersonic passenger aircraft, at the current level of technological development of mankind.
Therefore, the only way out is the design of a “simply fast” airliner. He, in turn, will move to supersonic speed in those places where it is allowed. And flying, for example, over settlements, return to subsonic.
Such "jumps", according to this group of scientists and designers, will reduce the flight time to the minimum possible, and not violate the requirements for noise effects.
Others, on the contrary, are full of determination. They believe that it is possible to deal with the cause of noise now. And they made a lot of efforts in order to prove that a supersonic airliner flying quietly is quite possible to build in the coming years.
And some more boring physics
So, when flying at a speed of more than Mach 1.2, the airframe of the aircraft generates shock waves. They are strongest in the tail and nose areas, as well as some other parts of the aircraft, such as, for example, on the edges of the air intakes.
What is a shock wave? This is a zone where the density, pressure and temperature of the air experience sharp jumps. They occur when moving at high speeds, faster than sound.
People who are standing on the ground at the same time, despite the distance, it seems that there is some kind of explosion. Of course, we are talking about those who are in relative proximity - under the place where the plane flies. That is why the flights of supersonic aircraft over cities were banned.
It is with such shock waves that representatives of the “second camp” of scientists and designers, who believe in the possibility of leveling this noise, are struggling.
If you go into details, then the reason for this is literally a “collision” with air at a very high speed. At the wave front, the pressure is sharply and strongly increased. At the same time, immediately after it, there is a drop in pressure, and then a transition to a normal pressure indicator (such as it was before the "collision").
However, the classification of wave types has already been carried out and potentially optimal solutions have been found. It remains only to complete the work in this direction and make the necessary adjustments to the aircraft designs, or create them from scratch, taking into account these amendments.
In particular, NASA experts have come to realize the need for structural changes in order to reform the characteristics of the flight as a whole.
Namely, changing the specifics of shock waves, as far as possible at the current technological level. What is achieved by restructuring the wave, due to specific design changes. As a result, the standard wave is considered as the N-type, and the one that occurs during the flight, taking into account the innovations proposed by experts, as the S-type.
And with the latter, the “explosive” effect of pressure change is significantly reduced, and people below, for example, in a city, if an airplane flies over it, even when they hear such an effect, then only as a “distant slam of a car door”.
Shape is also important
In addition, for example, Japanese aviation designers, not so long ago, in mid-2015, created an unmanned glider model D-SEND 2. Its shape is designed in a special way, allowing you to significantly reduce the intensity and number of shock waves that occur when the device flies at supersonic speed.
The effectiveness of the innovations proposed in this way by Japanese scientists was proven during the tests of D-SEND 2. Those were carried out in Sweden in July 2015. The course of the event was quite interesting.
The glider, which was not equipped with engines, was raised to a height of 30.5 kilometers. With the help of a balloon. Then he was thrown down. During the fall, he "accelerated" to a speed of Mach 1.39. The length of the D-SEND 2 itself is 7.9 meters.
After the tests, Japanese aircraft designers were able to confidently declare that the intensity of shock waves, when flying at a speed exceeding the speed of sound, is two times less than that of the Concorde.
What are the features of D-SEND 2? First of all, its nose is not axisymmetric. The keel is shifted towards it, and at the same time, the horizontal tail unit is set as all-moving. It is also located at a negative angle to the longitudinal axis. And at the same time, the tail ends are located lower than the attachment point.
The wing, smoothly connected to the fuselage, is made with a normal sweep, but stepped.
According to approximately the same scheme, now, as of November 2018, they are designing a passenger supersonic AS2. Professionals from Lockheed Martin are working on it. The customer is NASA.
Also, the project of the Russian VTS / SPS is now at the stage of improving the form. It is planned that it will be created with an emphasis on reducing the intensity of shock waves.
Certification and... more certification
It is important to understand that some projects of passenger supersonic aircraft will be implemented already in the early 2020s. At the same time, the rules established by the International Civil Aviation Organization, in 2006 and 2008, will still be in effect.
This means that if by that time there has not been a serious technological breakthrough in the field of “quiet supersonic”, then it is likely that aircraft will be created that will switch to speeds above one Mach, only in areas where this is allowed.
And after that, when the necessary technologies do appear, in such a scenario, many new tests will have to be carried out. In order for aircraft to be able to obtain permission to fly over populated areas. But these are only speculations about the future, today it is very difficult to say anything for sure on this score.
A question of price
Another issue mentioned earlier is cost. Of course, to date, many engines have already been created that are much more economical than those that were in operation twenty or thirty years ago.
In particular, those are now being designed that can provide the aircraft with movement at supersonic speeds, but at the same time do not “eat up” as much fuel as the Tu-144, or Concorde.
How? First of all, this is the use of ceramic composite materials, which provide a decrease in temperatures, and this is especially important in the hot zones of power plants.
In addition - the introduction of another, third, air circuit - in addition to external and internal. Leveling of a rigid coupling of a turbine with a fan, inside an aircraft engine, etc.
But nevertheless, even thanks to all these innovations, it cannot be said that supersonic flight, in today's realities, is economical. Therefore, in order for it to become accessible and attractive to the general population, work on improving engines is extremely important.
Perhaps - the actual solution will be a complete redesign of the structure - experts say.
By the way, it will not be possible to reduce the cost by increasing the number of passengers per flight. Since those aircraft that are being designed today (meaning, of course, supersonic aircraft) are designed to transport a small number of people - from eight to forty-five.
New engine - a solution to the problem
Of the latest innovations in this area, it should be noted the innovative jet, turbofan power plant, created this year, 2018, by GE Aviation. In October it was introduced under the name Affinity.
This engine is planned to be installed on the mentioned passenger AS2 model. There are no significant technological "novelties" in this type of power plants. But at the same time, it combines the features of jet engines with a large and small degree of bypass. What makes the model very interesting for installation on a supersonic aircraft.
Among other things, the creators of the engine claim that during testing it will prove its ergonomics. The fuel consumption of the power plant will be approximately equal to that which can be recorded with standard airliner engines that are currently in operation.
That is, it is a claim that the power plant of a supersonic aircraft will consume approximately the same amount of fuel as a conventional airliner that is not capable of accelerating to speeds above Mach 1.
How this will happen is still difficult to explain. Since the design features of the engine, its creators do not disclose at the moment.
What can they be - Russian supersonic airliners?
Of course, today there are many specific projects for supersonic passenger aircraft. However, not everyone is close to implementation. Let's look at the most promising.
So - Russian aircraft manufacturers, who inherited the experience of Soviet masters, deserve special attention. As mentioned earlier, today, within the walls of TsAGI named after Zhukovsky, according to its employees, the creation of the concept of a new generation supersonic passenger aircraft has almost been completed.
The official description of the model, provided by the press service of the institute, mentions that it is a "light, administrative" aircraft, "with a low level of sonic boom." The design is carried out by specialists, employees of this institution.
Also, in the message of the TsAGI press service, it is mentioned that due to the special layout of the aircraft body and a special nozzle on which the noise suppression system is installed, this model will demonstrate the latest technological developments in the Russian aircraft industry.
By the way, it is important to mention that among the most promising projects of TsAGI, in addition to the described one, is a new configuration of passenger airliners, called the “flying wing”. It implements several particularly relevant improvements. Specifically, it makes it possible to improve aerodynamics, reduce fuel consumption, etc. But for non-supersonic aircraft.
Among other things, this institute has repeatedly presented ready-made projects that have attracted the attention of aviation enthusiasts from all over the world. Let's say - one of the latest - a model of a supersonic business jet that can cover up to 7,000 kilometers without refueling, and reach a speed of 1.8 thousand km / h. This was presented at the Gidroaviasalon-2018 exhibition.
"... designing is going on all over the world!"
In addition to the Russian ones mentioned, the following models are also the most promising. American AS2 (capable of speeds up to Mach 1.5). Spanish S-512 (speed limit - Mach 1.6). And also, currently under design in the US, Boom, from Boom Technologies (well, it will be able to fly at a maximum speed of Mach 2.2).
There is also the X-59, which is created by order of NASA, by Lockheed Martin. But it will be a flying scientific laboratory, not a passenger plane. And so far no one has planned to launch it into mass production.
The plans of Boom Technologies are interesting. Employees of this company declare that they will try to achieve the maximum reduction in the cost of a flight on supersonic airliners created by the enterprise. For example, they can approximate the price for a flight from London to New York. It is about 5000 US dollars.
For comparison, this is how much a ticket for a flight from the English capital to "New" York costs, on a regular, or "subsonic" plane, in business class. That is, the price of a flight on an airliner capable of flying at a speed of more than Mach 1.2 will be approximately equal to the cost of an expensive ticket for a plane that could not make the same fast flight.
However, Boom Technologies made a bet that it would not be possible to create a “quiet” supersonic passenger liner in the short term. Therefore, their Boom will fly at the maximum speed it can develop only over water spaces. And being above land, switch to a smaller one.
Given that the length of Boom will be 52 meters, at a time it will be able to carry up to 45 passengers. According to the plans of the company designing the aircraft, the first flight of this novelty should occur in 2025.
What is currently known about another promising project - AS2? It will be able to carry significantly fewer people - only eight to twelve people per flight. In this case, the length of the liner will be equal to 51.8 meters.
Over water, he, as planned, will be able to fly at a speed of Mach 1.4-1.6, and over land - 1.2. By the way, in the latter case, due to the special shape, the plane, in principle, will not form shock waves. For the first time, this model should take to the air in the summer of 2023. In October of the same year, the aircraft will perform its first flight across the Atlantic.
This event will be timed to coincide with a memorable date - the twentieth anniversary of the day the Concordes flew over London for the last time.
Moreover, the Spanish S-512 will take to the skies for the first time no later than at the end of 2021. And deliveries of this model to customers will begin in 2023. The maximum speed of this aircraft is Mach 1.6. It is possible to accommodate 22 passengers on board. The maximum flight range is 11.5 thousand km.
The client is the head of everything!
As you can see, some companies are trying very hard to complete the design and start building aircraft - as quickly as possible. For whose sake are they ready to hurry so much? Let's try to explain.
So, during 2017, for example, the volume of air passenger traffic amounted to four billion people. Moreover, 650 million of them flew long distances, having traveled from 3.7 to thirteen hours. Further - 72 million out of 650, moreover, they flew first, or business class.
It is these 72,000,000 people, on average, that those companies that are engaged in the creation of supersonic passenger aircraft are counting on. The logic is simple - it is possible that many of them will not mind paying a little more for a ticket, with the condition that the flight will be about twice as fast.
But, even despite all the prospects, many experts reasonably believe that the active progress of supersonic aviation, created for the transport of passengers, may begin after 2025.
In support of this opinion, the fact that the aforementioned “flying” laboratory X-59 will take to the air for the first time only in 2021 testifies. And why?
Research and perspectives
The main purpose of its flights, which will take place over several years, will be the collection of information. The fact is that this aircraft must fly over various settlements at supersonic speed. Residents of these settlements have already expressed their consent to the testing.
And after the laboratory aircraft completes the next “experimental flight”, people living in those settlements over which it flew should talk about the “impressions” that they received during the time when the airliner was over their heads. And especially clearly express how the noise was perceived. Did it affect their livelihoods, etc.
The data collected in this way will be transferred to the Federal Aviation Administration in the United States. And after their detailed analysis by specialists, it is possible that the ban on flights of supersonic airliners over populated areas of land will be canceled. But in any case, this will happen no earlier than 2025.
In the meantime, we can watch the creation of these innovative aircraft, which will soon mark the birth of a new era of supersonic passenger aviation with their flights!
Consider building a supersonic passenger aircraft. In his opinion, the liner could be built on the basis of the Tu-160 military strategic bomber.
At the beginning of 2018, Putin already proposed to return to the construction of such aircraft in Russia. However, at that time, experts were skeptical about the president's idea, considering the project too expensive. Later in the Tupolev company that the new aircraft could make its first flight no earlier than 2027. The cost of all work on the creation of a serial aircraft in the company was estimated at 105 billion rubles.
Info24 I spoke with aviation experts and found out whether Russia still needs a new supersonic passenger aircraft.
Bad experience
In the history of world aircraft construction, there were two supersonic passenger liners: the Franco-British Concorde and the Soviet Tu-144. These aircraft could reach speeds of more than 2.4 thousand km / h, while the maximum speed of the Airbus A320 is 840 km / h. At the same time, the cost of a flight, for example, from Europe to the USA reached 7 thousand dollars. The flights were popular with businessmen.
The Tu-144 was developed at the Tupolev Design Bureau in the 1960s. It began to be used in passenger transportation in 1977, but after several accidents, the design bureau management decided to freeze the project.
Supersonic passenger aircraft TU-144. Photo: RIA Novosti, wikimedia.org
Around the same time, the French company Aérospatiale and the British BAC developed a joint project called "Concorde". In total, 20 supersonic aircraft were produced, which were divided between British Airways and Air France. Over 3 million passengers have used supersonic flights in 27 years of scheduled and charter flights.
On July 5, 2000, one of the Concorde aircraft crashed on takeoff at Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport. Then 113 people died. After that, flights of supersonic aircraft were suspended for a year and a half. In 2003, they were completely stopped due to high fuel prices.
Since then, the world no longer uses passenger supersonic aircraft.
"Not economy, but prestige"
Maxim Pyadushkin, Managing Director of the Air Transport Review magazine, told Info24 that the production of supersonic airliners faces not only technical, but also other obstacles.
“The same Concorde was operated at supersonic speeds only over the Atlantic Ocean, because, for example, in the USA, due to the shock wave, it is forbidden to fly over land at supersonic speeds. These aircraft have had very limited use and the problem is still unresolved. The last "Concordes" were supplied almost for nothing, for a symbolic price, there the conversation was not about the economy, but about prestige. But they were no longer used shortly after the accident in Paris,” said Pyadushkin.
Franco-British supersonic airliner Concorde of British Airways. Photo: Les Chatfield, Flickr Why is the state
Aleksey Sinitsky, editor-in-chief of the Air Transport Review magazine, believes that by developing its own supersonic aircraft, Russia can stimulate the development of other industries.
“In the production of such liners, there are a large number of issues that have not been resolved or are not yet resolved. Of course, work on these issues is important, necessary and interesting for the creation of a new generation of highly efficient engines, so work needs to be done. But, in my opinion, this is not the main and not the strategic direction of civil aviation. There are much more mundane issues that, although they sound less romantic, still need to be addressed. But it is a completely different matter if we consider civil aviation as an opportunity to stimulate the development of the economy.
the development of aircraft construction entails improvements in other industries. therefore, it is strategically important for Russia, especially if it is not limited to import substitution, but, for example, to find its own areas of specialization and choose areas where it would be possible to act with competitive products on a global scale.
This does not necessarily apply to the whole aircraft, but, for example, to some assembly that we would do better than anyone else in the world,” Sinitsky said in a conversation with Info24.
Although the Concorde aircraft were sold to airlines at a ridiculous price, the expert does not believe that the money was lost: there were serious studies, the industry gained knowledge and technology. In addition, it was one of the first experiences of international cooperation, which subsequently led to a unified system of European aircraft construction.
Unprofitable and inconvenient
At the same time, Sinitsky does not deny that it is extremely difficult to make flights on supersonic liners pay off.
“If the country's leadership needs to improve transport accessibility, then this is one thing. But at the same time, world experience shows that efficiency wins over speed. The same Concorde program proved that in many respects economical flights turned out to be much more in demand, while supersonic flight is by definition uneconomical due to the generation of a compression wave under the aircraft. There are many questions about the economy of supersonic transportation, including how convenient it will be for passengers. For example, flying from Vladivostok to Moscow will be inconvenient in time due to the change in time zones - you will either need to fly out at an inconvenient time or arrive at an inconvenient time. In addition, if you have some comfort in a conventional aircraft, then it will be more crowded in a supersonic one, ”the expert said.
Illustration: Info24 The expert of the portal Avia.ru Vladimir Karnozov, however, is sure that it is possible to make flights profitable. True, for this it is "critical" for them to fly not only across the Atlantic, but also across the Pacific Ocean - for example, from Japan, China and Australia to the USA and Canada.
“It is believed that Concorde was unprofitable, but this is not entirely true. The project turned out to be unprofitable due to strong US opposition [on environmental regulations], which turned out to be effective, among other things, because the income from the commercial operation of the Concorde was formed mainly from ticket sales for flights to airports in New York and other large American metropolitan areas. . Concorde flew with stopovers from France to Latin America and from England to the Middle East and further to Southeast Asia, but these routes brought in significantly less revenue. As a result of US opposition, Western European industry produced fewer aircraft than planned, and the program was canceled ahead of schedule,” the aviation expert said.
For those who talk about free deliveries of Concorde to airlines and build on this argument about the insolvency of the liners, Karnozov offers to compare the cost of the first aircraft and the prices for subsonic airliners of that era. According to him, this is a huge amount of money that the airlines planned to return through many years of operation on flights from Europe to the United States, where the machine worked profitably.
Supersonic aircraft Concorde. Photo: nara.getarchive.net “If you open foreign aviation publications, then for the last 7-10 years this topic (the creation of supersonic passenger aircraft - approx. Info24) is constantly discussed, mainly in relation to business aircraft. But the problems in the development of such aircraft are not related to technology. Just under the influence of the United States, the aviation authorities of the countries of the Western world put forward excessive requirements for the environmental parameters of "supersonics" (supersonic aircraft, from the English supersonic - supersonic - approx. Info24), in particular, the noise level in the area and the magnitude of the sonic boom. There are no opportunities to influence the States, and certification requirements are put forward for the next generation of "supersonics" at their suggestion. If a solution is not found at the political level, then none of the idea to create a supersonic passenger aircraft will work. And if the requirements are softened, then a very interesting project will turn out, ”said Karnozov.
He added that the cost of creating such an aircraft is highly dependent on what requirements it will be created for. According to the expert, if the requirements are "reasonable", then the cost of the project will be several billion dollars, but if the creation of a supersonic liner is "customized" to the requirements of the United States, then "a budget of tens or even hundreds of billions of dollars will be insufficient."
Who can fly these planes
Flights on supersonic liners are extremely expensive - for example, the journey from London to New York can cost 7 thousand dollars. All experts agree that if such flights are in demand, then only among businessmen.
“If we are talking about the business transportation segment, then there may be a demand for speed here. But the fuel consumption in such aircraft will be very high, which is why even for wealthy people the cost can be quite high, ”said Info24 Fyodor Borisov, Leading Research Fellow at the Institute of Transport and Transport Policy, National Research University Higher School of Economics.
Illustration: Info24 Vladimir Karnozov agrees with him. According to the expert, supersonic aircraft are needed for "the upper segment, those who fly business class and first class today."
Attempts to create a new "supersonic"
Maxim Pyadushkin said that there are people and companies that are trying to enter the supersonic aircraft market, but they are focusing on business aviation, and a very limited circle of people will buy their aircraft.
Illustration: Info24 “Such projects started as startups, enthusiasts gathered and made blueprints. But no startup can build an airplane alone. For example, Aerion, which was supported by Boeing and other major manufacturers. This project has moved, perhaps, the furthest. This gives hope that since large manufacturers believe in it, the aircraft will be able to bring it to testing, a prototype and, in fact, a flight,” the aviation expert said.
Throughout history, man has been drawn to overcome all possible barriers. One of them has long been the speed of sound. At the moment, there are many supersonic aircraft, some of which are actively used by various states, while others, for one reason or another, no longer take to the skies.
In the course of developments that have been going on for many decades, not only supersonic military fighters were designed, but also civilian liners, which for some time carried passengers.
The development of aircraft capable of exceeding it began in the middle of the last century. This was during World War II, when German scientists were hard at work trying to develop a supersonic aircraft that could turn the tide of the war.
However, the war ended, and many of the German scientists who worked on these developments were captured by the Americans. Largely thanks to them, the United States developed a rocket-powered aircraft - the Bell X-1, on which in 1947 Chuck Yeager was the first in the world to exceed the speed of sound.
A year later, the Soviet Union came to a similar result, developing the LA-176, which first caught up with the speed of sound at an altitude of 9000 meters, and a month later, having received improved engines, it exceeded it at an altitude of 7000 meters.
Unfortunately, the project was closed due to the tragic death of O.V. Sokolovsky, one of the pilots of this aircraft. Further, progress in the design of supersonic aircraft slowed down due to some physical obstacles: air liquefaction at too high speed, changes in aerodynamics and streamlining. A serious obstacle was the overheating of aircraft breaking the sound barrier. This phenomenon is called flutter.
Over the next few years, designers worked on streamlining, aerodynamics, hull materials and other improvements.
Military aviation in the 1950s
At the beginning of this decade, the US and the USSR, competing in all areas, developed the F-100 Super Saber and MiG-19. At first, the American F-100 overtook the Soviet MiG, reaching a speed of 1215 kilometers per hour in 1953, but a year later the Soviet MiG was able to get ahead of it, accelerating to 1450 kilometers per hour.
Despite the absence of open military clashes between the US and the USSR, in the local conflicts of the Vietnam and Korean Wars, it was found that the Soviet MiG was in many ways superior to its American competitor.
The MiG-19 was lighter, took to the air faster, outperformed the competitor in dynamic performance, and the radius of its combat use was 200 kilometers higher than the F-100.
Such circumstances led to an increased interest in Soviet developments from the Americans, and after the end of the Korean War, officer No Geum Sok hijacked a MiG-19 from a Soviet air base, providing it to the United States, for which he received a reward of $ 100,000.
Civil supersonic aviation
The technical developments obtained during the war years gave impetus to the rapid development of aviation in the 60s. The main problems caused by breaking the sound barrier were solved, and the designers were able to start designing the first civil supersonic aircraft.
The flight of the first supersonic airliner designed to carry passengers took place in 1961. This aircraft was a Douglas DC-8, flown without passengers, with ballast placed on board to simulate their weight for testing in conditions as close to real as possible. At the time of descent from a height of 15877, a speed of 1262 km / h was developed.
Also, the speed of sound was unplanned by the Boeing 747 when the plane, heading from Taipei to Los Angeles, as a result of a malfunction and incompetence of the crew, entered an uncontrolled dive. Diving from an altitude of 125,000 meters to 2,900 meters, the aircraft exceeded the speed of sound, while receiving damage to the tail section and delivering serious injuries to two passengers. The incident happened in 1985.
In total, two aircraft were built that could truly exceed the speed of sound in regular flights. They were the Soviet Tu-144 and the Anglo-French Aérospatiale-BAC Concorde. Apart from these aircraft, no other passenger aircraft could maintain supersonic cruising speed.
Tu-144 and Concorde
The Tu-144 is rightfully considered the first supersonic passenger aircraft in history, because it was built before the Concorde. These liners were distinguished not only by their excellent technical characteristics, but also by their elegant appearance - many consider them the most beautiful aircraft in the history of aviation.
Unfortunately, the Tu-144 was not only the first supersonic passenger aircraft to take to the skies, but also the first airliner of this type to crash. In 1973, during the crash at Le Bourget, 14 people died, which was the first impetus for the cessation of flights on this machine.
The second Tu-144 crash occurred in the Moscow region in 1978 - a fire started on the plane, due to which the landing for two crew members turned into a fatal outcome.
During the inspection, it was established that the cause of the fire was a defect in the fuel system of the new engine, which was being tested at that time, otherwise the aircraft showed excellent performance, as it was able to land in the event of a fire. Despite this, commercial rails on it were discontinued.
Concorde served European aviation much longer - flights on it continued from 1976 to 2003. However, in 2000, this liner also crashed. While taking off in Charles de Gaulle, the plane caught fire and crashed to the ground, killing 113 people.
Concorde in the entire history of flights never began to pay off, and after the disaster, the flow of passengers decreased so much that the project became even more unprofitable, and three years later flights on this supersonic aircraft ceased.
Specifications Tu-144
Many people wonder what was the speed of a supersonic aircraft? Consider the technical characteristics of the aircraft, which has long been the pride of domestic aviation:
- Crew - 4 people;
- Capacity - 150 people;
- The ratio of length and height is 67/12.5 meters;
- Maximum weight - 180 tons;
- Thrust with afterburner - 17500 kg / s;
- Cruising speed -2200 km/h;
- The maximum flight altitude is 18000 meters;
- Flight range - 6500 kilometers.
The development of a second-generation supersonic passenger aircraft, abbreviated SPS-2, is entering the final phase. By 2025, the first flight of the Tu-244 is expected. The new Russian commercial airliner will be structurally different from the Soviet Tu-144 in terms of characteristics, flight range, comfort, capacity, size, engine power, and avionics. Its supersonic speed of Mach 2 will remain the same as that of its predecessor Tu-144LL Moskva, it is still the best indicator in the world in heavy civil aircraft construction. At an altitude of 20 km, the routes are free.
A limitation for aircraft designers and developers may be the length of the 1st class runway, at least 3 km is required. Such concrete strips are not available at all airports in the world and the country. There can be no illusions that the best aircraft will not be in demand by Western countries, which are more interested in selling their European Airbuses and American Boeings flying at a speed of 700-900 km/h, 2.5-3 times slower. You will have to rely only on the needs of Russia and the BRICS, as well as on wealthy customers who can afford such aircraft.
Project objectives
The first Tu-244 model is expected to see proven NK-32 engines, the same as those of the Tu-160M2 strategic bomber upgraded on 11/16/2017. The very first development of the SPS-2 started too early, in 1973, thanks to the developments of Soviet military designers of the 1950s, who were 50 years ahead of their time. Then there were no such high-quality composite materials to use them in large quantities, and the power plants had insufficient traction. In the 1960s there were engines with 20 tons of thrust, in the 1970s with 25 tons, and now 32 tons are already used.
Aircraft designers have 2 main tasks:
Flight range - 9,200 km.
Reduced fuel consumption for this class of equipment.
The first and second tasks can be solved following the example of the Tu-160 and Tu-22M3, apply a variable sweep of the wing, making the aircraft multi-mode. You can analyze the closed projects of T-4 and T-4MS Chernyakov, study Myasishchev's developments on modifications of the M-50, brilliant and fantastic then, more suitable today. The Tupolev Design Bureau has everything for this, here are collected materials from all the leading design bureaus of the USSR involved in heavy strategic aviation, on the basis of which the world's best long-range military "long-range" Tu-22M3M and Tu-160M2 were created.
Advantages of jet aircraft
The advantage of a jet aircraft is speed. This guarantees a comfortable flight and shortens the distance in time. To spend three times fewer hours in a chair is a good feeling for passengers, for example, on the Vladivostok-Kaliningrad flight. Save business time. Using the services of the Tu-244 airliner, you can spend 1 more day on vacation, and, upon arrival, immediately go to work without fatigue. It is also important to receive the moral satisfaction of our citizens from the prestige of the Tu-244, to experience pride in Russia. The release of civil jet aircraft from the military-industrial complex of the Russian Federation is more significant than the self-sufficiency of the country's defense enterprises, this is a commercial focus, jobs, a guarantee of stability and the accumulation of profits in harsh market conditions.
Disadvantages of high-speed passenger liners
In the Tupolev Design Bureau in the 1960s, they noticed that the creation of a civilian supersonic passenger liner according to military principles would not work because of the requirements for comfort and safety. In this regard, they began to study the experience of the United States, France and England, which was considered the best, then, according to the plan of the chief designer Alexei Andreevich Tupolev, went into work. The disadvantages of the first Tu-144 and Concorde include high fuel consumption, engine noise, sonic booms, and the amount of harmful emissions into the atmosphere.
The main drawback of the Tu-244 is the commercial, military and political institutions of the West, because their Concordes flew off in 2003, and there are no new ones in the plans, because our paths in aircraft construction diverge. The explanation for this: firstly, NATO does not need strategic supersonic aviation, because. their power is based on an aircraft-carrying ocean fleet, and it is enough to deliver nuclear bombs and missiles by aircraft with a range of 1.5 km (fighters) from military bases scattered around the world, which is why military projects of this class in the West are not very in demand. Also, the rather high cost of a flight sharply narrows the potential market segment for these aircraft, so there can be no talk of mass production. However, the simultaneous order for military and passenger transportation is exactly what can give a serious boost to supersonic passenger aviation.
What will be the Tu-244 in terms of flight performance
The design was delayed, the Tu-144 in the configuration of 1968 reached its first design characteristics by the mid-1970s. Work on its improvement since 1992 - the beginning of the Tu-244 project, since then 25 years have passed, it will take another 10 years to complete what we started. It is clearly seen that the involvement of the USA, England and France in the development of the Tu-244 program with the collapse of the USSR did not what good did not lead, as in all similar cases in the former USSR. Only the collection of scientific data from the Tu-144LL for the NASA military space program and the deceleration of our enterprises in development.
Today, there are many variants of Tu-244 projects. No one can say for sure what the plane itself will be like. Ambiguous information is being circulated from unofficial sources. The characteristics described below are conditional, compiled on the basis of current capabilities. Characteristics: length 88.7 m; wingspan 54.77 m, area 1,200 sq.m., and elongation 2.5 m; wing sweep along the edge - at the center section 75 degrees, - at the console 35 degrees; fuselage width 3.9 m, height 4.1 m, luggage compartment 32 sq.m.; takeoff weight 350 tons, including fuel 178 tons; engines NK-32 - 4 units; cruising speed 2.05 M; range 10 thousand km; Max. height 20 km.
Tu-244 design
Imagine a trapezoidal wing and a complex deformation of its middle trapezium. Aileron control in balance, roll and pitch. At the leading edge of the socks are deflected mechanically. In the design of the wing, there is a division into parts, front, middle and console. The middle and cantilever parts are with multi-spar and multi-rib power circuits, while there are no ribs in the front. In the vertical tail, the same as in the wing structure and the guide two-section rudder.
The fuselage with a pressurized cabin, nose and tail compartments - the dimension will be selected on order based on the number of passenger seats. For 250 and 320 passengers, a fuselage diameter of 3.9 to 4.1 m is suitable. The cabin will be divided into classes, 1st, 2nd and 3rd. In terms of comfort, the Tu-244 will be at the level of the latest modification of the Tu-204. The aircraft is equipped with a cargo compartment. There are four pilots, their chairs with catapults (in Russian), are shot up. On board, everything is newly automated and subordinated to the central program control.
The Tu-244 may lose its deflectable nose, similar to the Tu-144LL, due to the development of the latest optoelectronic equipment and the ability to deflect controlled thrust vectors in modern domestic power plants. In places of maximum load, titanium alloy BT-64 can be used, in the wheel area. The nose strut may remain the same, there will definitely be 3 new main supports for the concrete strip, designed for high loads. The navigation and flight equipment will comply with the meteorological minimum according to the IIIA ICAO international classification.
