Inde i X-65, DARPA’s fly med aktiv flowkontrol

Hvordan aktiv flowkontrol kan omdefinere flydesign

Since the dawn of aviation, almost every component of an aircraft has evolved. Rotating blades were replaced by turbines, the sound barrier was broken, and piloting shifted to electronic controls.

Alligevel har ét element forblevet uændret i næsten et århundrede, nemlig flykontrolmekanismerne. Alle fly er afhængige af elementer som klaffer og roer for at styre flyets retning og vinkel (pitch, roll, and yaw).

Kilde: BoffinPanda

Den måde traditionelle flykontroller fungerer på er ved at ændre flyets aerodynamiske profil, ved at øge eller reducere modstanden i en given del af flyet. En radikalt anderledes metode, i det mindste i teorien, er aktiv flowkontrol (AFC). Denne metode fokuserer på aktivt at styre luftstrømmen ved hjælp af energi i stedet for blot passivt at øge eller mindske luftmodstand. Hidtil har dette været et lovende, men hovedsageligt teoretisk koncept, kun testet i laboratorier.

Dette vil snart ændre sig, med den nyligt annoncerede beslutning om at gå videre med X-65, en flyprototype med et unikt udseende, udtænkt som en demonstrator for AFC-teknologi.

Kilde: Aurora Flight Sciences

Built by Aurora Flight Sciences, a division of Boeing (BA ), the X-65 airplane might soon be ready and give back to engineers the real-life experience in building an AFC-controlled aircraft.
TL;DR: X-65 er det første fuldskala fly designet til at teste aktiv flowkontrol (AFC) — et system der styrer fly ved hjælp af luftstråler i stedet for bevægelige kontrolflader. Aurora Flight Sciences og DARPA har til formål at bevise, om AFC kan reducere drag, øge løft, forbedre stealth og efterhånden forenkle flydesign. Tidlige tests vil sammenligne AFC med traditionelle klaffer, før der overgås til fuldt aktiv kontrol. X-65 vil ikke gå i tjeneste, men teknologien kan forme næste generations militære og fremtidige kommercielle fly.

Aktiv flowkontrol forklaret

Aktive kontroller

The usual flight control systems use fixed shapes or surfaces to control air flow around an aircraft. In contrast, active flow control directly modifies the behavior of flow fields with tools like sensors, actuators, and control algorithms.

For example, puffs or streams of air are extracted from a jet engine through 1-4mm wide holes in the relevant parts of an aircraft’s skin. In theory, this allows AFC to be a lot more reactive and flexible, reacting in real time to changing conditions like turbulence. The method should also make the aircraft more efficient.

Udfordringer ved aktive flowkontrolsystemer

One issue with AFC is that the system is a lot more complex. In particular, it requires an almost perfect coordination between sensors, actuators, and control algorithms. And any error, lag, or improper reaction can quickly become deadly with a real aircraft.

Another issue is that due to the active nature of the system, any power or mechanical failure can drastically change the behavior of the plane. So redundancy and high levels of reliability are required, even more so than with traditional flight control systems.

Lastly, most AFC designs are more energy-demanding than traditional flight controls, which can be an issue in aircraft constrained by power supply and weight.

X-65 oversigt

The X-65 is a joint project between DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) and Aurora Flight Sciences, with an agreement to jointly develop the plane signed in august 2025. The program is part of CRANE (Control of Revolutionary Aircraft with Novel Effectors), a research program to develop “a novel X-plane that incorporates Active Flow Control (AFC) as a primary design consideration.”

“X-65-platformen vil være en varig flytestressource, og vi er sikre på, at fremtidige flydesign og forskningsmissioner vil kunne udnytte de underliggende teknologier og flytestdata.”
Larry Wirsing – VP for flyudvikling hos Aurora Flight Sciences.

So the X-65 is first and foremost a technology demonstrator, designed with AFC as a focus to learn more about how to deploy this technology in actual commercial aircraft.

The plane will have a 30-ft wingspan (9 meters) and 7000 lb gross weight (3,175 kg). It will be entirely unmanned and is expected to reach Mach 0.7.

AFC-design

The aircraft will initially be equipped with both traditional flaps and rudders, as well as AFC effectors.

This way, the scientists will be able to compare AFC to traditional flight controls as a baseline for performance comparison.

Later tests will progressively rely more on AFC effectors, minimizing the use of moving surfaces.

The plane will contain inner pipes and a power unit to control the air flow in the plane. The 14 different AFC effectors are built to be modular and possible to swap with other designs during the testing phase.

“We’ll have sensors in place to monitor how the AFC effectors’ performance compares with traditional control mechanisms, and these data will help us better understand how AFC could revolutionize both military and commercial craft in the future.”
Richard Wlezien – DARPA’s program manager for CRANE

Swipe for at rulle →

X-65 tidslinje

Aurora began to work on the CRANE program in 2020, with wind tunnel tests performed in 2022.

Programmet fik sin officielle betegnelse i maj 2023, after which further testing started.

Construction is now ongoing, with completion of the fuselage expected in januar 2026, at Aurora’s Bridgeport, West Virginia, manufacturing facility. The propulsion and AFC system components are also already built and waiting to be integrated into the plane.

Kilde: Aurora Flight Sciences

Hvad X-65-programmet sigter mod at bevise

Besides experimenting with AFC, the clear goal is to create a platform on which to build later designs of military and then civilian aircraft.

One key advantage of AFC is that it can handle turbulence a lot better and might ultimately allow for simpler designs, removing the need for large, complex mechanical control surfaces.

It should also reduce drag and increase lift, leading to fuel savings and increased flight range.

From a military perspective, by controlling wakes and aerodynamic signatures, AFC can help to improve stealth characteristics, an important factor as advanced semiconductors like GaN (Gallium Nitride) are used to create ever more efficient radars.

Lastly, AFC can help stabilize and boost the takeoff of a plane, which is very useful for fighter jets or drones taking off from an aircraft carrier.

Hvad X-65 betyder for fremtidige fly

The X-65 and its active flow control systems will not directly be a usable fighter jet or drone, but a technology platform from which future functional aircraft will be built.

It is yet to be seen how efficient and practical these systems will be, which is what the X-65 tests will clarify.

Most likely, the very first application will be for advanced military aircraft, as the requirements of a drone or manned aircraft taking off from an aircraft carrier or requiring stealth are a lot more demanding, and would benefit from AFC.

Later on, once the technology is proven and well established, it is likely that it can be deployed to civilian aircraft. At first, this might come as a complement to traditional flight control, and progressively replace them with newer airliner designs.

Investorindsigter: Boeings Aurora-division positionerer sig i centrum af næste generations flykontrolforskning gennem X-65-programmet. Selvom AFC forbliver eksperimentel, kan tidlig succes styrke Boeings langsigtede forsvars- og rumfartsplan, og differentiere den fra konkurrenterne, efterhånden som fremtidige stealth- og hangarskibsplatforme udvikles.

For investorer repræsenterer AFC en flerårig teknologimulighed indlejret i Boeings F&R-indsats — en, der på sigt kan forbedre marginerne, opgradere militære kontrakter og påvirke næste generations passagerflydesign, hvis den kommercialiseres.

Investering i aktiv flowkontrol

Aurora Flight Sciences / Boeing

Aurora Flight Sciences is not just developing the X-65, but also many other aircraft:

• Små flyvende droner (Unmanned Aircraft Systems – UAS) like the Skyron-X reconnaissance drone.
• The Centaur Optionally Piloted Aircraft is a flown-from-a-ground-station small airplane with an on-board safety pilot, enabling cost-effective flight testing in the National Airspace System (NAS).
• Many experimental aircraft, be it manned or unmanned, electric or traditional, thanks to rapid prototyping and advanced manufacturing methods, including 3D printing, CNC 5-axis machining, automated in-situ metrology, and automated fiber placement.
  • For example, the “Liberty Lifter” seaplane, the SPRINT, a vertical lift X-plane using fan-in-wing technology, NASA’s Electrified Powertrain Flight Demonstration (EPFD), or NASA’s X-66 Sustainable Flight Demonstrator (SFD)

This overall makes Aurora the experimental / R&D branch of Boeing.

Boeing, den større gruppe, har oplevet en hård periode for nylig, især med en række flystyrt and den højt profilerede fejl i deres Starliner rumkapsel.

Det er stadig, dog, en gigant inden for flyproduktion, med leveringsvolumen fra 777X-programmet, der øges, hvilket fører til indtægter på op til $23,5B i Q3 2025 sammenlignet med Q3 2024 ($17,8B) og et tilbagevenden til positivt frit cash flow.

De særligt kraftfulde motorer på 777X har især imponeret både eksperter og offentligheden på Dubai 2025 Air Show med flyets meget hurtige start og stærke manøvredygtighed.

Mens det kommercielle fly er den mest synlige del af virksomheden ($11,1B of revenues in Q3 2025), var forsvars-, rum- og sikkerhedssegmentet også en stor bidragyder ($6,9B of revenues in Q3 2025), with services, mostly parts and maintenance of existing aircraft, bringing $5.4B.

Så virksomheden er sandsynligvis stadig ikke helt ude af problemerne fra fortiden, og skal reformere mere af sin produktionsproces og omstrukturere sin forsyningskæde. Den har blandt andet genkøbt Spirit Aerospace for $4,7B i 2024.

Men virksomheden er på vej tilbage på sporet, og den solide række af militære ordrer, for eksempel en stabil strøm af ordrer på lufttankere og Apache-helikoptere fra Pentagon og Israel for $7B, bør holde virksomheden i gang, mens dens civile flyafdelings omdømme repareres.

Seneste Boeing (BA) aktienyheder og udviklinger