Airbus wing of tomorrow Farnborough 2026
Airbus will start flight-testing wing extensions on an A321neo test aircraft from HY2 next year to evaluate the effects of a longer wingspan. The test is part of the Wing of Tomorrow program, on which Airbus has been working since 2014. With a launch decision about the Next-Generation Single-Aisle (NGSA) due by the end of this decade, Airbus is now entering a new phase.
Airbus shared updates of WoT on Day 2 of the Farnborough Airshow. Since launching the program, Airbus UK in Filton and Broughton has completed three full-scale demonstrators. The first wing was built to test more than 100 different technologies to assess the best technology for the next-generation wing, including autoclave and out-of-autoclave production. The second is about to conclude aerostructure tests in Filton. The third has just been completed in the Advanced Manufacturing Centre in Broughton and is the “run-at-rate wing” to evaluate the industrial system of an advanced composite wing.
This includes automation options, the best built-cost technologies at high rates. Sue Partridge, Head of the Wing of Tomorrow program, said that the new wing must meet similar rates as the current narrowbodies of 70 to 80 wings per month. “We don’t have a specific target; we know that we have to make sure that we at least achieve today’s rate.”
Slender wing
Separately, Airbus is working on new, slender and thin wings with a high span for maximum efficiency. During an NGSA update early last year, the airframer identified this as an essential element of the new aircraft to meet the 20-25 percent better efficiency over the current A320neo family.
High-span wings require folding, five-meter-long wingtips, so the aircraft can park at Class C gates at airports. While the folding mechanism is under design, the form of the wingtips is also being studied. Over the next three years, Airbus will design, build and flight test full-scale wing extensions. This is where the A321neo test aircraft comes in.
Project leader Richard MacPherson said that a series of wing extensions with different geometries will be tested, which can vary even on the left or right wing. The extensions are built in Filton, then flown to Toulouse and fitted on the aircraft. After strict safety tests, the campaign will start in Q2.
“The extensions will replicate a folding wing that is latched and locked in its fully-extended position. That will allow us to evaluate the different geometries in a real-life environment.” This includes the handling of very long wings, although most of the wing will be identical to a standard A321neo wing.
“All the data we gather will be absolutely critical to de-risk the technology of folding wings, but also to unlock the potential of long, high-aspect ratio wings.” Extensive wind tunnel and computer simulation tests have already been done.
Open rotor
For NGSA, Airbus is seriously looking at the open rotor engine concept that is developed by CFM. Due to the high diameter of the rotor, this will require a gulled wing. “Whatever the engine choice is on the next generation aircraft, we expect it to be a very large engine that will require a highly gulled wing. All the Wing of Tomorrow we have done so far does anticipate that. We are looking at those integration challenges. We have gone a long way down that journey but are looking at even more ambitious options. The target of NGSA is to achieve a step-change in performance in the order of 20 to 25 percent overall at an aircraft level.”
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