Pelican Ultra Large Transport Aircraft [ULTRA]
References
Big bird BY WILLIAM COLE Boeing Frontiers September 2002
The Pelican Ultra Large Transport Aircraft [ULTRA] would be the biggest bird in the history of aviation. Dwarfing all previous flying giants, the Pelican, a high-capacity cargo plane concept currently being studied by Boeing Phantom Works, would stretch more than the length of a U.S. football field and have a wingspan of 500 feet and a wing area of more than an acre. It would have almost twice the external dimensions of the world's current largest aircraft, the Russian An225, and could transport five times its payload, up to 1,400 tons of cargo.
When could the Pelican be flying? The answer may lie in the Army's Advanced Mobility Concepts Study, scheduled for release in April 2003. The Pelican has been offered by Boeing as part of a system-of-systems solution that would include the C-17 Globemaster III transport, the CH-47 Chinook helicopter and the Advanced Theater Transport. A favorable report would set the stage for a possible codevelopment effort between Boeing, the US military and interested commercial cargo carriers.
Designed primarily for long-range, transoceanic transport, the Pelican would fly as low as 20 feet above the sea, taking advantage of an aerodynamic phenomenon that reduces drag and fuel burn. Over land, it would fly at altitudes of 20,000 feet or higher. Operating only from ordinary paved runways, the Pelican would use 38 fuselage-mounted landing gears with a total of 76 tires to distribute its weight.
The Pelican currently stands as the only identified means by which the US Army can achieve its deployment transformation goals of deploying one division in five days, or five divisions in 30 days, anywhere in the world. If necessary, he said, the Pelican could carry 17 M-1 main battle tanks on a single sortie. Commercially, the aircraft's size and efficiency would allow it to carry types of cargo equivalent to those carried by container ships, at more than 10 times the speed.
The Pelican can broaden the range of missions for which airplanes are the favored way to deliver cargo. It is much faster than ships at a fraction of the operational cost of current airplanes. This will be attractive to commercial and military operators who desire speed, worldwide range and high throughput. The Pelican can multiply aircraft's 1-percent share in a commercial market now dominated by container ships.
It is attracting interest as a mother ship for unmanned vehicles, enabling rapid deployment of a network-centric warfare grid, a likely future mode of operation for modernized U.S. forces as demonstrated in Afghanistan. And it is attracting interest as a potential first-stage platform for piggybacking reusable space vehicles to an appropriate launch altitude.
By flying low, the Pelican, like its name-sake, exploits the aerodynamic benefits of a well-known phenomenon called ground effect. Flying close to water, the wing downwash angle and tip vortices are suppressed, resulting in a major drag reduction and outstanding cruise efficiency. It's an effect that provides extraordinary range and efficiency. With a payload of 1.5 million pounds, the Pelican could fly 10,000 nautical miles over water and 6,500 nautical miles over land.
Flying in ground effect demands the latest flight control technology. Reliable systems will provide precise, automatic altitude control and collision avoidance. Cruise altitude will be adjusted according to sea state, and if the seas get too rough, the Pelican can easily climb to high altitude to continue the flight
Boeing considers giant ocean skimmer plane
By Will Knight
A concept for a colossal cargo aircraft designed to skim a few metres above the surface of the ocean has been revealed by researchers at the aerospace company Boeing.
The concept aeroplane, called the Pelican Ultra Large Transport Aircraft (ULTRA), would exploit an aerodynamic phenomenon known as the "wing-in-ground effect" to glide just six metres above the waves.
Riding on top of a cushion of air, the airplane would experience 70 per cent less drag than a normal plane and could therefore travel further using the same amount of fuel.
The Pelican ULTRA would land on 38 double-wheeled landing gears Image: Boeing
Measuring 152 metres from nose to tail and with a wingspan of 109 metres, the Pelican ULTRA would be the largest plane to ever fly - if it is built. The world's largest existing plane, the Russian Antonov 225, is 84 metres long. The Pelican ULTRA is designed to carry 1400 tonnes of cargo over a distance of 16,000 kilometres in one journey.
The wing-in-ground effect occurs at an altitude equivalent to 10 to 25 per cent of the wing's width at the point where it joins the fuselage. The effect increases the ratio of lift to drag for a wing. The phenomenon has been investigated for a wide variety of aeroplanes in the past because it offers potentially large cost savings.
Rough seas
Over land, the Pelican UTLRA would travel at a more conventional altitude of 6000 metres or more.
John Skorupa, senior manager of strategic development for Boeing Advanced Airlift and Tankers, adds: "Cruise altitude will be adjusted according to sea state, and if the seas get too rough, the Pelican can easily climb to high altitude to continue the flight."
Engineers at Phantom Works, the Boeing research department responsible for Pelican ULTRA, say the airplane could have numerous military and commercial users. It could carry 17 tanks at ten times the speed of any container ship.
The Pelican ULTRA has been proposed as part of a military transport project and positive conclusions from the US Army's Advanced Mobility Concepts Study, due in 2003, could set the stage for development.
Many other wing-in-ground effect airplanes have been proposed and constructed. During the Cold War, the Soviet Union built a giant aeroplane 100 metres long that was captured on US satellite images. In 2000 Russian and Japanese scientists proposed developing a similarly huge aeroplane that could be used to place vehicles in space.
Boeing considers giant ocean skimmer plane
By Will Knight
A concept for a colossal cargo aircraft designed to skim a few metres above the surface of the ocean has been revealed by researchers at the aerospace company Boeing.
The concept aeroplane, called the Pelican Ultra Large Transport Aircraft (ULTRA), would exploit an aerodynamic phenomenon known as the "wing-in-ground effect" to glide just six metres above the waves.
Riding on top of a cushion of air, the airplane would experience 70 per cent less drag than a normal plane and could therefore travel further using the same amount of fuel.
The Pelican ULTRA would land on 38 double-wheeled landing gears Image: Boeing
Measuring 152 metres from nose to tail and with a wingspan of 109 metres, the Pelican ULTRA would be the largest plane to ever fly - if it is built. The world's largest existing plane, the Russian Antonov 225, is 84 metres long. The Pelican ULTRA is designed to carry 1400 tonnes of cargo over a distance of 16,000 kilometres in one journey.
The wing-in-ground effect occurs at an altitude equivalent to 10 to 25 per cent of the wing's width at the point where it joins the fuselage. The effect increases the ratio of lift to drag for a wing. The phenomenon has been investigated for a wide variety of aeroplanes in the past because it offers potentially large cost savings.
Rough seas
Over land, the Pelican UTLRA would travel at a more conventional altitude of 6000 metres or more.
John Skorupa, senior manager of strategic development for Boeing Advanced Airlift and Tankers, adds: "Cruise altitude will be adjusted according to sea state, and if the seas get too rough, the Pelican can easily climb to high altitude to continue the flight."
Engineers at Phantom Works, the Boeing research department responsible for Pelican ULTRA, say the airplane could have numerous military and commercial users. It could carry 17 tanks at ten times the speed of any container ship.
The Pelican ULTRA has been proposed as part of a military transport project and positive conclusions from the US Army's Advanced Mobility Concepts Study, due in 2003, could set the stage for development.
Many other wing-in-ground effect airplanes have been proposed and constructed. During the Cold War, the Soviet Union built a giant aeroplane 100 metres long that was captured on US satellite images. In 2000 Russian and Japanese scientists proposed developing a similarly huge aeroplane that could be used to place vehicles in space.
P.S. Первое - это globalsecurity.org , а второе New Scientist