Rutan, Rutan Aircraft Factory and Scaled Composites Project List

[flateric]

View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHdbTGG5bWs

 

[Stargazer]

Just for the record, and thought they have been covered elsewhere on the forum, the three latest known additions to the Rutan/Scaled list, all from 2017:

• Model 400: "clean-sheet" tandem-seating jet trainer prototype with single F404-GE-102D turbofan engine of 17700lbs thrust; planned by NG for T-X competition but eventually not entered. One single prototype [N400NT] (c/n 001).
• Model 401 "Son of Ares": single-seat jet demonstrator with P&WC JT15D-5D, cantilever low wing, V-tail; built for as-yet unnamed customer to demonstrate "advanced, low-cost manufacturing techniques" for production of research aircraft for both industry and government. Two prototypes [N401XD] (c/n 001), [N401XP] (c/n 002), named "Deimos" and "Phobos", after the names of planet Mars's two natural satellites (Mars being the Roman equivalent of the Greek god Ares).
• Model 406 Ardent Dragon: 15-foot remote-controlled flying wing drone built to demonstrate the effectiveness of Scaled Composites' rapid prototyping and engineering processes.

 

[flateric]

https://twitter.com/TheWoracle/status/1011286332281376768?s=19

 

[Bazinga]

View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHdbTGG5bWs

Still from the movie

 

[Bazinga]

 

[Orionblamblam]

View attachment 649639

Ha! I designed that. Oh, well...

 

[sienar]

I knew I'd seen that shape before...

Obviously Burt Rutan does not always start from scratch. He based the "Manta" on Vincent Burnelli's 1947 fighter design.

A sweet serendipity from the gallery at flateric's linked page: Burt Rutan working on his computer with the same bizarre model at his side...

Does anyone know what the drawing in the lower right might be? It looks like a delta with telescoping wings and centerline engine.

 

[quellish]

I knew I'd seen that shape before...

Obviously Burt Rutan does not always start from scratch. He based the "Manta" on Vincent Burnelli's 1947 fighter design.

A sweet serendipity from the gallery at flateric's linked page: Burt Rutan working on his computer with the same bizarre model at his side...

Does anyone know what the drawing in the lower right might be? It looks like a delta with telescoping wings and centerline engine.
View attachment 697105

Looks like X-47A with B exhaust and wing extensions

 

[CiTrus90]

I knew I'd seen that shape before...

Obviously Burt Rutan does not always start from scratch. He based the "Manta" on Vincent Burnelli's 1947 fighter design.

A sweet serendipity from the gallery at flateric's linked page: Burt Rutan working on his computer with the same bizarre model at his side...

Does anyone know what the drawing in the lower right might be? It looks like a delta with telescoping wings and centerline engine.

I see some similarities with his VTOL tailsitter, mostly in the wing shape, which might be hinged, I think?
But I'm not even completely sure on which side is the front and the rear, so...

 

[Forest Green]

[*]Model 401 "Son of Ares": single-seat jet demonstrator with P&WC JT15D-5D, cantilever low wing, V-tail; built for as-yet unnamed customer to demonstrate "advanced, low-cost manufacturing techniques" for production of research aircraft for both industry and government. Two prototypes [N401XD] (c/n 001), [N401XP] (c/n 002), named "Deimos" and "Phobos", after the names of planet Mars's two natural satellites (Mars being the Roman equivalent of the Greek god Ares).
[/list]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1813580918168461690

View: https://x.com/Task_Force23/status/1813580918168461690

 

[Stargazer]

Scaled Composites Model 429 "Dash-1"

A small UAV built to demonstrate a new construction technique. With a 9.5 foot wingspan, this small aircraft was catapult-launched into its first flight on February 6, 2020, but it could also be hand-launched.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7JLQ0EsCdE

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=1318462315508245

View: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1318462315508245

 

[publiusr]

Breakthroughs, the Product of Innovators By Burt Rutan

I think that everyone will enjoy this Burt's 2007 NDIA presentation

I seem to remember a "single stage to tether" deal where a shuttlecock design could make it to orbit and back without needing a thick heat shield...hooking up with a rotovator or something.

 

[Stargazer]

Scaled Composites new, fairly recent and "mystery" programs I've listed;

• unidentified MALE or HALE piloted jet aircraft with circular part of wingplan atop fuselage (see post #84);
• Model 357 — a model number assigned to a secret project mentioned in passing by Burt Rutan;
• "Masscott" — seemingly a hand-launched UAV which appears in a 2016 presentation (see post #83);
• "Great Horned Owl" (XRQ-72) — an all-wing UAV with four pusher fans atop fuselage;
• "Little Horned Owl" — a straight-wing UAV with twin-boom tail (booms extend aft of wing and beyond propeller);
• Model 412 "Encore" — a high-altitude optionally-manned Proteus derivative;
• XRQ-73 SHEPARD — Series Hybrid Electric Propulsion AiRcraft Demonstration (X-prime program) stealth hybrid uncrewed aircraft system;
• Model 432 — unspecified glider; five registrations reserved with FAA on Sep. 18, 2023 [N432XA, *XC, *XS, *XX, *XZ], that all expired on Oct. 18, 2024, and one registration active [N432SF, c/n 003], with certification issued August 13, 2024 for seven years;
• Model 444 — unspecified type; two registrations reserved with FAA on Sep. 9, 2024 [N444LX, *NS], expiring on Oct. 9, 2025.
• A transatmospheric variable geometry model mentioned by Corey Hixson as "based on the tests carried out by Scaled Composites, LLC, which now the company is sure to take to the next altitude when able. The flaps between the airfoils change the pressures involved and are effective at extremely high altitudes. GE will likely have viable powerplants soon."

Since we know that the XRQ-73 SHEPARD is due for flying in late 2024, it makes sense to me that this could be what Model 444 is about... We'll see. The glider, however, is a bit more of a mystery.

 

[boxkite]

Scaled Composites new, fairly recent and "mystery" programs I've listed;
...

• Model 412 Encore — a high-altitude optionally-manned Proteus derivative with a single top-mounted engine;

The attached picture of the Model 412 Encore shows a layout with two engines on top ...

 

[Stargazer]

The attached picture of the Model 412 Encore shows a layout with two engines on top ...

Oops! You're right! I was fooled by the other known photo of the model...
There NEVER was a single-engine project. I'm correcting this right away.

 

[boxkite]

Just a question of perspective.

 

[hesham]

From Aviation magazine 1979.

 

[Stargazer]

From Aviation magazine 1979.

This is a "Designations" topic. Since the article doesn't teach us any new designation, wouldn't it be preferable to place it in the "Postwar Projects" section?

 

[Andreas Parsch]

XR-73 SHEPARD — Series Hybrid Electric Propulsion AiRcraft Demonstration (X-prime program) stealth hybrid uncrewed aircraft system;

You might want to insert a Q here .

 

[Stargazer]

You might want to insert a Q here .

Sure would! And just did... Thanks for your vigilance.

 

[jsport]

Scaled Composites new, fairly recent and "mystery" programs I've listed;

• unidentified MALE or HALE piloted jet aircraft with circular part of wingplan atop fuselage (see post #84);
• Model 357 — a model number assigned to a secret project mentioned in passing by Burt Rutan;
• "Masscott" — seemingly a hand-launched UAV which appears in a 2016 presentation (see post #83);
• "Great Horned Owl" (XRQ-72) — an all-wing UAV with four pusher fans atop fuselage;
• "Little Horned Owl" — a straight-wing UAV with twin-boom tail (booms extend aft of wing and beyond propeller);
• Model 412 "Encore" — a high-altitude optionally-manned Proteus derivative;
• XRQ-73 SHEPARD — Series Hybrid Electric Propulsion AiRcraft Demonstration (X-prime program) stealth hybrid uncrewed aircraft system;
• Model 432 — unspecified glider; five registrations reserved with FAA on Sep. 18, 2023 [N432XA, *XC, *XS, *XX, *XZ], that all expired on Oct. 18, 2024, and one registration active [N432SF, c/n 003], with certification issued August 13, 2024 for seven years;
• Model 444 — unspecified type; two registrations reserved with FAA on Sep. 9, 2024 [N444LX, *NS], expiring on Oct. 9, 2025.
• A transatmospheric variable geometry model mentioned by Corey Hixson as "based on the tests carried out by Scaled Composites, LLC, which now the company is sure to take to the next altitude when able. The flaps between the airfoils change the pressures involved and are effective at extremely high altitudes. GE will likely have viable powerplants soon."

Since we know that the XRQ-73 SHEPARD is due for flying in late 2024, it makes sense to me that this could be what Model 444 is about... We'll see. The glider, however, is a bit more of a mystery.

IMHO anything from SC LLC involving transatmospheric variable geometry ...The flaps between the airfoils change the pressures involved and are effective at extremely high altitudes. GE will likely have viable powerplants soon."
should get a close AF/DoD look.

 

[robunos]

IMHO anything from SC LLC involving transatmospheric variable geometry ...The flaps between the airfoils change the pressures involved and are effective at extremely high altitudes. GE will likely have viable powerplants soon."
should get a close AF/DoD look.

Busemann Biplane . . . ?

cheers,
Robin.

 

[jsport]

Busemann Biplane . . . ?

cheers,
Robin.

 

[Stargazer]

A few Rutan/Scaled related news:

• The Model 432 [N432SF] is no longer a mystery: it is the Silver Fox, a glider UAS which is soon to be flight tested for NASA in five successive drops from a Cessna 208 Caravan. See related topic for more information:
  https://www.secretprojects.co.uk/threads/scaled-composites-model-432-silver-fox-uas.45394
  
  
• The Model 437 Vanguard [N437VN (c/n 001), N437VX (c/n 002)] was first flown on Aug. 30, 2024. Basically a manned version of the Loyal Wingman UAS concept, it is Northrop Grumman's entry in the Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) competition, likely to be a future candidate in the USAF’s Skyborg and the RAF’s Mosquito programs.
  
  
• Scaled Composites is due to build (for the Northrop Grumman parent company, after a JetZero design) the full-scale Pathfinder BWB demonstrator which should be flying in 2027, but no model number has circulated (yet).
  
  
• During one of his Oshkosh 2024 presentations, Burt Rutan developed the fascinating concept of a 68%-scale Homebuilt Starship, which would be the first new homebuilt Rutan design since the early 1980s, and smaller than Scaled's original Model 115 Starship demonstrator, which was an 85%-scale version. The presentation described four different versions: the Model 405 (two 100 BHP Rotax 912-iS recip engines, non pressurized); the Model 406 (two fuel injected, turbocharged, 141 BHP Rotax 915-iS recip engines, pressurized cabin); the Model 407 (two, not yet available small turboprop engines, pressurized cabin) and the Model 408 (two Williams International FJ-33-5A Turbofan engines, pressurized cabin). The problem here is that the designation "Model 406" was already used by Scaled Composites for the Ardent Dragon UAS (essentially a scaled-down XRQ-72). So, did Burt use that number in error, not knowing it had already been allocated... or does he follow his own parallel numbering system, separate from Scaled's?