Airbus will in the coming weeks begin work on a new scaled wing demonstrator under a project backed by the UK’s Aerospace Technology Institute.
While still part of the broader Wing of Tomorrow programme for its Next-Generation Single-Aisle (NGSA), the new project will explore the integration and manufacturing challenges around an open-rotor engine, says Sue Partridge, head of Wing of Tomorrow.
Airbus has yet to select an engine supplier for the NGSA but is working closely with CFM International on the integration of its RISE open-rotor demonstrator ahead of flight tests aboard an A380 later this decade.
Partridge says it is vital to “anticipate” the effects of the open-rotor installation, in particular its large fan diameter.
Airbus, she says, has already “launched the next phase of exploration” to understand the open-fan technology.
“We need to understand how we manage the vibration, noise and the aerodynamic flow over the wing,” she told FlightGlobal at the Airbus Summit in Toulouse on 24 March.
To ensure sufficient ground clearance for the fan, the wing will need to gull slightly towards the engine mount, she says, which in turn affects how the wing is made.
“From an industrialisation point of view there are different challenges to manage,” says Partridge.
The Wing of Tomorrow programme has already factored in the requirements of ultra-high-bypass-ratio ducted-fans, she says. While the engines proposed are all “at the top end of that [size]” and may “require a little bit of extra work”, the wing designs are “quite well-covered” due to the existing research.
Meanwhile, work is progressing on the wider Wing of Tomorrow effort, which is examining a variety of new technologies which could be incorporated into lightweight, long, slender wings, to improve performance and fuel efficiency for the NGSA.
It also seeks to determine whether such technologies can be introduced at sufficiently low cost and applied to high rates of aircraft manufacture.
Having already built two demonstrators, a third example is nearing completion at Airbus’s wing manufacturing site at Broughton in North Wales.
The so-called “run-at-rate” wing is intended to test the capability of the production system to support the high output levels expected from a future narrowbody programme.
That includes the use of advanced manufacturing technologies, including robotics and automation for the “dull, dirty and dangerous tasks” – for example cleaning, filling, fastening and drilling.
While Partridge foresees greater levels of automation in the production process, she still sees the need for workers on the shop floor: “Robots don’t work for everything.”
Another demonstrator – the second to be produced under the programme – is currently undergoing destructive load testing at its Aerospace Integrated Research & Test Centre in Filton near Bristol in southwest England.
Tests of the 17m (56ft)-long structure have been ongoing since last summer and will wrap up in early 2026 with the final test to destruction. “We are getting a lot of really good learning from that,” says Partridge.
System installation has also recently been completed on the first demonstrator, a fully equipped wing, which also remains in Broughton.
Airbus has been using this component to trial a “more modular approach” to the installation of the various wing systems, including the “moveables” – the slats, flaps, ailerons and spoilers, and their actuators.
She declines to say how quickly a composite wing could be built using the new production techniques but is confident it would be faster than the process for the A320neo’s metallic wings.
Overall, Partridge is pleased with the progress so far as the project begins to converge on the best technologies towards to the end of the decade.
Airbus has “really understood a huge amount about the best technologies, how they work together and how we can manufacture them, at rate, in the future”, she says.
“It’s really about exploring the different options and down-selecting the right ones.”
No decision has been taken on the final dimensions of the new wing as “we are still trading weight and complexity”, she notes, but says it will be 10-20% longer than the wing on the A320neo.
Airbus data shows the A320neo’s wingspan as 35.8m. Based on the suggested growth, the NGSA’s wingspan would be in the 39.4-42.9m range.
To accommodate the longer span at existing gates, Airbus will incorporate folding tips into the design, a similar concept to that seen on the Boeing 777X.
Airbus is “putting that [technology] through its paces in our test centres today”, Partridge adds.
Separately, Airbus UpNext, the company’s innovation unit, is working to demonstrate morphing wing technology through its ‘eXtra Performance Wing’ project.
This will see the technology – intended to adapt automatically and dynamically to flight conditions – installed on a Cessna Citation VII business jet which will serve as a testbed for the system.
Features include morphing ailerons and pop-up spoilers linked to gust sensors on the front of the aircraft, alongside hinged wing-tips.
Following baselining flights that began in late 2023, the jet has had its old wings removed ready for the installation of the new structures, which have been completed at Filton and shipped to Cazaux in southwest France for installation.
“The aircraft will be assembled over the next few months,” says Michael Augello, chief executive of Airbus UpNext. This will kick off a period of ground testing intended to culminate in a maiden sortie next year for the modified jet.
Should the testing prove successful, the technologies could be deployed on the NGSA. “We are working closely with Wing of Tomorrow,” he adds.
