EDMONDS, Wash., Aug. 29, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Jetoptera has won a subcontract to support Freedom Flight Works’s recent award for the Phase I of the DARPA Canopies for High-Speed Ultra-Long Terrain Execution (CHUTE) program to research a novel flexible propulsion system that can be embedded on a parafoil.
Have you ever asked yourself what materials are predominantly used in propulsion systems for aviation? Except for the increasing incorporation of composite materials in recent decades, including ceramics and polymers such as composite blades, traditional systems use a lot of metal and high-temperature systems. All aircraft deploy mechanically moving parts such as blades or high-temperature nozzles. Obviously, one cannot make these systems compact or collapsible, as they are rigid and deploy high-temperature exhaust gas.
What if the propulsion system could not only take a non-round shape and be distributed along a wing to generate more lift, but could also be made of a collapsible material that can be packed away readily and hidden from view, only to be re-deployed when needed?
We are proud to announce that under the Phase I DARPA CHUTE program, Jetoptera has been selected as a subcontractor to Freedom Flight Works to work on the research of an elastic/flexible thruster concept system that can be packed in a parafoil leading edge to produce thrust and lift augmentation when deployed, drawing air from a small air compressor. Under this program, Jetoptera’s role is to design, build and test several subsystems that can be integrated with a parafoil canopy and packaged similarly to a normal parafoil. The benefits include better performance in speed, aeroacoustics, range and maneuverability.
This is a very important contract to us because the successful development of this technology has massive implications upon other systems that we are developing. Beyond parafoils, which will gain the ability to fly longer and faster, and silently, our integrated propulsion wing thrusters will be able to be repeatedly deployed when needed and retracted when not, within the profile of a relatively thin airfoil, offering a huge advantage over any other system such as the leading edge propellers used by virtually all of our competitors in STOL, HSVTOL and VTOL. Moreover, this program allows us to build and experiment with several flexible FPS thruster concepts that will give us the edge and full advantage of deploying the Adaptive Fluidic Propulsive System in ways never before attempted. Our ability to integrate the propulsion system with the wing and airframe in significantly diverse ways opens up aircraft capabilities that others cannot achieve when deploying traditional propulsors.
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For information about this press release please contact Todd Newton todd@jetoptera.com
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