Preliminary Study of a New UAV Concept: the Variable Geometry Vehicle

Since 1989 the military scene has substantially changed: there are many nimble and dynamic threats as opposed to the former deployment of each state army. Therefore, this leads to the need of permanent surveillance and monitoring of large areas associated with the capability of a fast combat reaction and this demand is usually performed by deploying both surveillance and ground attack aircrafts. Fighter employment increases the mission costs, because of their poor flight endurance, so it is necessary to use many aircraft; moreover, these vehicles are requested to have a very low radar and infrared signature. On the other hand, surveillance aircraft usually have a very limited attack capability, so there is a dead time between the detection of a threat and the action, with a consequent tactical inefficiency. This paper shows a preliminary analysis referred to an unmanned vehicle with a variable geometry configuration, named VGV (Variable Geometry Vehicle), that aims at matching the high endurance capability of surveillance aircrafts with the high performances and survivability of fighter-ground attack aircraft. The performance analysis of an open and a closed configuration has been undertaken and a conceptual study has been afforded in order to find a mechanical solution to move the outer portion of the wing and inserting it into the trailing edge of the fixed part in order to change the geometry of the aircraft in flight. The proposed design solution is innovative because it matches two different configurations in a unique aircraft. A new unmanned system concept is proposed, with a variable wing geometry which can move from a typical surveillance configuration to a combat one.