The existential threat to the air transport industry if it fails to achieve net-zero carbon emissions and the mounting dangers from military conflicts around the world were hard to ignore at the Farnborough Airshow this year.
Threats faced by the aerospace and defense industries beg for answers in the form of technology, technology, and yet more technology. This year the show has proved light on major product reveals, but the event has been packed with tidings of technological progress for the next decade and beyond.
Air transport’s challenge is simple to define but much harder to execute, requiring a mix of short- and long-term sustainability solutions. For the defense contingent, the emphasis seems to be on pooling an array of complex technologies, including artificial intelligence, to make warfare simpler.
Engine makers stand on the front lines of the war on carbon. Pratt & Whitney, Rolls-Royce, and the CFM International partners GE and Safran are all working on improving fuel and energy efficiency for their respective legacy turbofans in the GTF, Trent, and Leap families.
Even incremental progress can make a positive contribution when scaled up over large fleets, such as the 1% improvement in fuel burn efficiency Rolls-Royce is preparing to introduce on its Trent XWB-84 turbofan for the Airbus A350-900 with modifications to the compressor system.
For the past three years, CFM has advanced its planned Revolutionary Innovation for Sustainable Engines (RISE) program for the long-envisioned, next-generation single-aisle airliners meant to replace the ubiquitous Boeing 737s and Airbus A320s. The objective is to be ready with a propulsion solution whenever the airframe behemoths show their hand.
At the same time, they are placing longer-term bets on a variety of options for new hybrid-electric powertrains that could power aircraft ranging in size from general aviation aircraft to regional airliners, and potentially even single-aisle narrowbodies.
RTX, including Pratt & Whitney and Collins Aerospace, offer a prime example. Through programs including the European Union-backed HECATE (hybrid-electric regional aircraft distribution technologies), STEP-Tech (scalable turboelectric powertrain technology), and SWITCH (sustainable water injection turbofan comprising hybrid electrics), the group is drawing expertise not just in engine-making but in electrical systems to edge up from power ratings of 500 kilowatts to the 20-megawatt class needed for future narrowbodies.
Looking further ahead, Airbus sees hydrogen propulsion in its future. Behind the scenes, the company is evaluating which of three concepts from its ZeroE program it might pursue to meet the objective of delivering an aircraft capable of carrying 200 people around 2,000 nm by 2035. Rolls-Royce already has started evaluating hydrogen as a fuel in one of its Pearl business jet engines, as it explores options for scaling up the technology.
Then there are the impatient start-ups, including companies like ZeroAvia, pressing hard to convert existing regional airliners to hydrogen. Others like Heart Aerospace and Maeve are working on clean-sheet aircraft carrying 30 and 80 passengers, respectively, and settling for hybrid-electric propulsion—at least for now.
Sensors Are the Secret to Future Air Combat
In the defense sector, the main technological developments are all encapsulated in the Global Combat Air Program, a sixth-generation fighter under development by the industries of the UK, Italy, and Japan. A large model of the latest shape of the crewed fighter was on show in the BAE Systems hall, surrounded by individual displays of many of the contributing technologies.
While the new fighter naturally employs advanced aerodynamics and more powerful and efficient engines, and the shape reflects a continued need for stealthiness, it is what lies within—and around—the fighter’s skin where one would find the main technological advances.
Sensors such as radar, infrared, and electronic warfare systems provide a level of situational awareness that has hitherto been the stuff of dreams. All of the aircraft’s systems are linked, with data fused automatically within the system. Artificial intelligence is ubiquitous, handling the enormous amount of data that the sensors gather on board and presenting the pilot with clear information that is relevant to the mission.
That is not all: The GCAP fighter is intended to act as the core of a “system of systems” that includes numerous uncrewed air vehicles—variously called loyal wingmen, remote carriers, or collaborative combat aircraft—ranging in size from large complex fighter-type vehicles to smaller cruise missile-style systems. They support the combat force by undertaking the “dull, dirty, dangerous, and difficult” aspects of the mission.
All these systems—and many more offboard sources such as airborne early warning and reconnaissance aircraft, surface sensors, and even network-enabled weapons—contribute data into the overall network, or “combat cloud,” requiring even more computing power and AI algorithms to turn it all into actionable intelligence while devolving many of the less critical tactical decisions to the network itself.