Scaled Composites Model 437 Vanguard

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Northrop Grumman unveiled the Scaled Composites Model 437 on Sept. 8 as a low-cost, unmanned aircraft system (UAS) derived from the company’s four-year-old, manned Model 401 demonstrator. The Model 437, which remains a paper concept, gives Northrop a candidate design as the U.S. and allied

Northrop Unveils Model 437 UAS For Attritable Market | Aviation Week Network

The Model 437, which remains a paper concept, gives Northrop a candidate design as the U.S. and allied militaries develop requirements for a new class of autonomous UAS configured to be attritable.
aviationweek.com aviationweek.com
 
They always manage to get that Scaled air about their designs.
 
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and yet NG has plenty of highest dynamic maneuver BWB designs, as well as the Swift Engineering KillerBee BWB.
 
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Northrop Grumman Aeronautics Systems has an opening for a Configuration Analyst/ Principal Configuration Analyst to join our team of qualified, diverse individuals. This position will be located in Melbourne, Florida.

Digital Pathfinder is a collaborative engineering effort with Scaled Composites to design, build, and test an aircraft with a digital twin demonstrating complete digital thread development. The aircraft is based on the Scaled Composites’ Model 401 and the effort includes the design and build of a newly developed wing, the addition of a NG Mission Systems payload and associated interfaces with final assembly in 2024 to support the subsequent flight demonstration program.

The objective of Digital Pathfinder is delivery of this capability using established processes and cross-sector digital engineering tools which demonstrate expected improvements in cost, schedule and first-time quality.
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From

www.northropgrumman.com

Principal Configuration Analyst/ Sr. Principal Configuration Analyst

Northrop Grumman Aeronautics Systems has an opening for a Configuration Analyst/ Principal Configuration Analyst to join our team of qualified, diverse individu
www.northropgrumman.com www.northropgrumman.com
 
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Also, it may help with fuzzy logic type learning for onboard A.I. systems.
 
Is the tail wrapped with canvas?

Also, registration put it as a Scaled Composites owned a/c. I would guess that it´s a company plane offered for service with a strap on cockpit for deployment and transfer in controlled airspace (the canopy appears to be one piece monobloc design that would be replaced by a cover to mask the void).
 
TomcatViP said:
Is the tail wrapped with canvas?

Also, registration put it as a Scaled Composites owned a/c. I would guess that it´s a company plane offered for service with a strap on cockpit for deployment and transfer in controlled airspace (the canopy appears to be one piece monobloc design that would be replaced by a cover to mask the void).
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Tails have a camouflage pattern applied as paint or appliqué to hide something…. Which only draws more attention to them. Oh look a cockpit!

Scaled has a history of optionally manned aircraft and has flown UAVs manned during flight test to reduce risk and increase the fidelity of the data they collect.

Flying in a manned configuration is also useful for ferry flights within the national airspace system
 
B2Blain said:
CCA primes have been very coy about performance and payload. TWZ says model 437 supposedly has range of 3,000 nm, can go Mach .8, and carry two AMRAAM sized weapons internally. That is the sweet spot especially if it can be bought for $20 million.
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Hmmmm what if it can be bought for 12m?
 
quellish said:
Hmmmm what if it can be bought for 12m?
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I'd like to see that.

I am wondering whether those specs are very similar across the different primes - especially Increment 1. Its operational ceiling will be critical also. You would want the CCA to give its A2A missiles a kinetic boost.
 
Scott Kenny said:
Then USAF buys almost twice as many, probably!

Not sure I'd expect it to be that cheap, though. Whatever sensors and milspec weapons busses aren't cheap.
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437 is an exercise in risk reduction with new development and manufacturing techniques. It is also another exercise in how Big Northrop can utilized Scaled without Scaled losing its identity and becoming Big Northrop. If it results in an order for production aircraft they seem to believe they will be ready. And if that does happen I expect the unit cost to be…. Very competitive.
 
quellish said:
437 is an exercise in risk reduction with new development and manufacturing techniques. It is also another exercise in how Big Northrop can utilized Scaled without Scaled losing its identity and becoming Big Northrop. If it results in an order for production aircraft they seem to believe they will be ready. And if that does happen I expect the unit cost to be…. Very competitive.
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I'll buy competitively priced, but I'm thinking $18-22mil, not $10-14mil or $12-16mil.

If they really can get it down to ~$14mil +-, that's going to demolish whoever else is competing for that Increment!
 
Also on Scaled Composites website:

In partnership with Northop Grumman, Scaled Composites is proud to announce the first flight of their most recent vehicle, the Model 437 Vanguard.

The Model 437 began as a conceptual design, based on the Model 401, exploring a multi-mission low-cost attritable aircraft. The Model 437 Vanguard is a crewed variant of the original concept powered by a single Pratt & Whitney 535 engine with approximately 3,400 pounds of thrust. The aircraft has a wingspan of 41 feet and is 41 feet long with a gross takeoff weight of 10,000 pounds. After completion of envelope expansion, the M437 Vanguard will have a range of approximately 3000 nautical miles and an endurance of 6 hours. The aircraft can carry up to 2,000 pounds of payload in multiple locations including an internal weapons bay sized to accommodate two AIM-120s.
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SCM_8516-scaled.jpg


scaled.com

Model 437 Vanguard conducts first flight: the newest Scaled Composites Experimental Aircraft - News | Scaled Composites

Scaled Composites conducts first flight of Model 437 Vanguard aircraft in partnership with Northrop Grumman for Digital Pathfinder.
scaled.com scaled.com
 
After completion of envelope expansion, the M437 Vanguard will have a range of approximately 3000 nautical miles and an endurance of 6 hours. The aircraft can carry up to 2,000 pounds of payload in multiple locations including an internal weapons bay sized to accommodate two AIM-120s.
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Air policing fighter option?
 
Cruise SFC of the PW535 is about 0.44lb/h/lb. Let's cruise at half-throttle, so 1750lbf x 0.44 == 770lb/hr.

Six hours endurance would require 4,620lbs of fuel without any consideration for take-off / climb. Round it to 5,000lb and that's a 0.5 fuel-fraction.

Feasible?
 
dark sidius said:
Unable to do that , need to be supersonic to do this mission. This thing have zero interest or just to fight the narcos in the jungle.
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Yeah, probably. But it's close. Mach 0.8 cruise suggests Mach 0.9+ max. You won't run down an airliner from behind like that, for sure, but maybe for the counter-narcotics role?

Or drone-CAP using weapons smaller than AMRAAM.
 
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If you look closely at the wing and tail junctions with the fuselage, you can see that both are probably entirely field removable with even their attachment points projected outward from the fuselage sides. I guess that is for transport and storage ease.

Did somebody came around a potent theory for the digital camo?
 
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TomS said:
Air policing fighter option?
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Textron already tried to dip their toe in the light fighter market with their innovative clean sheet Scorpion aircraft that was supposed to be both affordable and versatile yet it was a complete flop. A clean sheet air policing aircraft could never compete with an armed trainer.

If they can truly build this thing more quickly and efficiently and offer it for a cheaper price, the unmanned loyal wing man version could be a massive success, seeing as the U.S. is clearly pivoting to the Pacific theater for the foreseeable future. But then again as Boeing's issues with the T-7 can attest, digital design has not been fully perfected and there are going to be some stumbling blocks along the way.
 
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One thing that seems different about this design is internal carriage of AIM-120. It is not clear to me how the Fury or XQ-67 will manage to carry an AAM that is 1/3 the length of the airframe. I suspect external/conformal carriage, but perhaps internal bays are a requirement.
 
alberchico said:
If they can truly build this thing more quickly and efficiently and offer it for a cheaper price, the
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Other companies which shall remain nameless are proposing to 3D print almost the entire aircraft at a forward location on demand. Northrop is not (yet) proposing this, but Northrop's price for the 437 and derivatives is..... cheap. Very cheap.
 

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