WoT? Experimental Elongated Airbus Wings To Fly Next Year

Airbus has launched the next phase of its Wing of Tomorrow (WoT) development program, kicking off a three-year effort to assess the benefits and challenges of extended-length wingspans. With the first experimental folding wings due to commence assembly imminently, Airbus hopes to start testing the concept in flight on an Airbus A321neo testbed around the second half of next year.

Wing efficiency is “one of the biggest levers we have to improve the performance of our aircraft,” Airbus technology project lead Richard MacPherson told reporters during a briefing at the Farnborough Airshow on Tuesday, adding that Wing of Tomorrow “has the potential to give the same, if not more, efficiency gains than next generation engines.” This program phase will analyze the performance benefits and aerodynamic qualities of longer wings, helping inform future narrowbody design decisions.

Airbus has already started building various multi-meter-long devices intended to replace the upward-curving Sharklet wingtips that are standard on the A320 family. These will be built at Airbus’ Wing Technology Development Centre in Filton, England, before being flight-tested on its A321neo testbed in Toulouse, France.

“In the air, these extension devices are going to replicate a folding wing that is latched and fully locked in its fully extended flight position,” MacPherson said. Separate ongoing ground-based demonstrations are exploring the mechanism by which a future wing might fold.

Airbus validated early concepts through digital simulation, and MacPherson said the company has “performed intensive wind tunnel testing to really evaluate and optimize” different variants. Building on WoT concepts that pair a 17-meter (56-foot) main wing box with a five-meter (16-foot) folding section, he expects the extension devices “to be in that order of magnitude.”

While Wing of Tomorrow lead Sue Partridge acknowledged that folding wings are nothing new—including within military applications—this technology has never been applied to a high-rate single-aisle commercial aircraft before.

This phase comes as Airbus completes assembly of its first three ground-based wing demonstrators, which combine more than 100 technologies from 40 partners worldwide. Since 2014, the UK Aerospace Technology Institute program has put £227 million ($304 million) behind Wing of Tomorrow.