The aughts capped 100 years of powered flight, pushing the technologies introduced in the 20th century to their limits. This past decade has seen the development of the biggest passenger airplanes, the fastest, most agile and stealthiest fighters, and the joy of flight brought to the amateur pilot as never before. The coming decade promises breakthroughs such as combat-ready unmanned aerial vehicles, commercial rocket planes, hypersonic jets, and more. Here's a look back at the aviation milestones of the aughts and a glimpse of what the coming decade might hold.
Cargo
In the Aughts: Cargo aircraft carries unprecedented cargo long distances with a minimal crew.Next Step: Stepping up fuel efficiency via airship.
Lockheed Martin C-130J Super Hercules
The hundredth Lockheed Martin C-130J Super Hercules rolled off the line in 2003, sealing its status as the state of the art in cargo airplanes. The C-130J brags an 8000-mile range with 42,000-pound-plus cargo capacity and automated systems allowing for a crew of just three. The next big thing in cargo, however, may not strictly meet the definition of airplane at all. Hybrid airships combine the best features of airplanes (wings for lift) and dirigibles (lighter-than-air gas providing 50 to 80 percent of lift). Proponents say hybrids will be able to carry hundreds of tons of cargo faster than oceangoing vessels using less fuel than airplanes. Lockheed Martin's P-791prototype showed promise in test flights beginning in 2006. Will the 'teens be the hybrid airship's breakout decade?
UAVs
In the Aughts: UAVs take over military skies, likely outflying pilots for man-hours.Next Step: Carrier landings and a wider slate of missions.
Northrop Grumman RQ-4 Global Hawk
The aughts saw unmanned aerial vehicles come into their own, taking on reconnaissance and attack missions while keeping pilots out of harm's way. In a sign of things to come, an entire New York Air National Guard fighter wing switched over from manned to unmanned aircraft in 2008. The RQ-4 Global Hawk takes UAVs to new heights, fulfilling missions formerly assigned to manned spy planes. Now the fighter-size Northrop Grumman X-47 is ushering in a new era of naval UAVs by making autonomous aircraft carrier landings, planned for 2010. Concepts for the MQ-X, the next-generation UAV that will replace the MQ-9 Reaper, have stealthy features, more autonomy and a wider slate of missions, including air defense suppression and possibly even air defense against other aircraft.
Fighter Jets
In the Aughts: The fighter jet is perfected with the ultimate stealth and air-to-ground strike planes.Next Step: Taking the pilot out of the fighter.
Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II
The F-35 Lightning II, which rolled out in 2006, represents the culmination of all the best air-to-ground strike technology developed in the last century, and added stealth to the package. The last word in stealthy fighter technology, the F-22 Raptor excels as a combat plane, but the lack of demand given the ground-based, transport-reliant nature of fights in Iraq and Afghanistan and its enormous price tag caused Congress to put the brakes on production in 2009. The trend for fighter jets in the 21st century may turn out to be unmanned fighters, of which the X-47 and MQ-X are the precursors.
Fuel
In the Aughts: First steps with biofuels and batteries are made in the sky.Next Step: Finding the affordable fuel source and fuel-efficient technology.
Continental Airlines performed biofuel flight tests using this Boeing 737-800. (Photograph by David McNew/Getty Images)
If we want to wean ourselves off of foreign oil, aircraft as well as automobiles will have to switch to alternative fuels. But biofuels and batteries that are feasible for cars won't work for airplanes with their much more demanding power plants. Or will they? Beginning in 2008, flight tests with bio-blends by major airlines such as Virgin Atlantic and Air New Zealand show that they're serious about developing the tech, as is the Pentagon. In 2007, DARPA-funded researchers at the University of North Dakota's Energy and Environmental Research Center produced the first 100 percent renewable fuel to meet military jet fuel specs.
Passenger Planes
In the Aughts: The next-gen passenger planes gets developed, focusing on efficiency and strength.Next Step: Proving that composites represent the future of passenger aviation. Manufacturers hope that lighter, stronger and more fuel-efficient airplanes made with high percentages of composites will offset increased manufacturing costs and possible repair headaches.
An Airbus A380 touches down at JFK Airport in New York (Photograph courtesy of Air France)
The Airbus A380 made its first flight in 2005, ending the Boeing 747's 40-year reign as world's largest passenger airplane. Not to be outdone, Boeing debuted its 787 Dreamliner in a flight this December, and now seeks to bring its product line into the 21st century with 80 percent composite construction—which means a lighter, stronger, more corrosion-resistant plane—head-up displays in the cockpit, the industry's biggest passenger windows and more fuel-efficient engines. Operators of both aircraft hope these new designs usher in an era of more comfortable, more fuel-efficient air travel, with increased cabin pressure and bigger windows made possible by lighter, stronger fuselages and structural wing components made of composites instead of metals.
Air-to-Air Weapons
In the Aughts: These weapons get high-tech, taking the guesswork out of targeting.Next Step: Lasers.
Close up of an AIM-9X Sidewinder missile attached to a US Air Force McDonnell Douglas F-15C Eagle aircraft. (Photograph courtesy of USAF)
Raytheon's AIM-9X sidewinder entered service in 2003, bringing 21st-century capabilities to a venerable weapon that has seen service in one variation or another since 1952. Now pilots can strike targets remotely, with a pilot's head-up display that allows for remote targeting from the cockpit. The pilot targets the missile by turning his head to look at where he wants it to go, then presses a switch to fire the missile. (Previously, the pilot had to aim the entire nose of the aircraft to direct the missile to the target.) Thanks to advanced homing systems, the missile seeks the target on its own after that. Meanwhile, Boeing thinks it has what may turn out to be the last word in air-to-air missiles—lasers. The company demoed the first UAV-killing lasers in December 2008 and is hard at work on an airborne version. The coming decade may yet herald the age of practical laser weapons.
Private Flight
In the Aughts: Sports pilots get a boost.Next Step: The birth of the backyard electric plane.
ICON A5
Weekend pilots got a big boost in the aughts with the FAA's new Sport Pilot license and Light Sport Aircraft (LSA) category, both introduced in 2004. Production airplanes built to the spec quickly followed, with craft such as the ICON A5 and the Cessna 162 SkyCatcher putting private flight within the realm of affordability for a new generation of pilots. It seems inevitable that the FAA will relax rules that currently forbid any but reciprocating engines to power LSA production and kit planes. And when they do, look out, because electric- and solar-powered planes seem perfect for this small, low-power category. Makers of the experimental ElectraFlyer and the Sonex E-Flight planes are just waiting for their day in the sun.
Rocket Planes
In the Aughts: Burt Rutan and private aerospace make way for the suborbital rocket plane.Next Step: Working out the kinks in the suborbital business plan.
Virgin Galactic's WhiteKnightTwo carrying SpaceShipTwo.
In 2004, SpaceShipOne proved that a privately built craft could fly high enough and fast enough to leave the atmosphere. The experimental craft's successor, SpaceShipTwo, unveiled in December 2009, has not yet left the ground, but it has already proven the financial feasibility of routine commercial flights out of the atmosphere—with some 300 passengers already committed to $200,000 joy rides operated by Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic. These rocket planes, powered by a single rocket motor in place of a prop or jet, and with a top speed of Mach 3 and a ceiling of just over 62 miles, will never reach the speed (Mach 25) and altitude (200 miles or so) required for orbital flight. Instead, they could blaze the trail for rapid point-to-point travel on Earth, combining some of the best features of spacecraft and aircraft in a hybrid that may turn out to be the 21st century's answer to the Concorde.
Hypersonics
In the Aughts: Hypersonic technology comes of age with the success of the X-51A.Next Step: Manned hypersonic flight.
Launched from a B-52, the proposed X-51 hypersonic cruise missile could travel 600 miles in 10 minutes to strike elusive, fleeting targets. (Illustration by Render Room)
The aughts saw the first successful demonstrations of scramjet technology, which allows turbine-less, air-breathing engines to top Mach 5 speeds in flight. Those first experiments, notably NASA's X-43 demonstration in 2004, could sustain combustion in flight for only seconds at a time. But successful ground tests of the X-51A engine built with Air Force and DARPA funding should lead to the first flight tests—any day now—of scramjets that can keep flying as long as their fuel holds out. The coming decade could bring the first hypersonic cruise missiles, opening the door for manned flights. The storied Concorde—relegated as it was to transatlantic flights to spare innocent bystanders on the ground a constant series of sonic booms—pointed up the flaws in even supersonic jets as passenger birds, so hypersonics may remain military vehicles for the foreseeable future.
Michael Belfiore is the author of The Department of Mad Scientists: How DARPA Is Remaking Our World, from the Internet to Artificial Limbs, one of PM's Best Books of 2009.
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