Northrop Grumman B-21 Flying Wing (and others)

[CrisK]

Northrop Grumman and the USAF released their design for a new long range strike bomber yesterday. I set aside some time today to recreate it in KSP.

I used minimal mods: BDArmory, BD cockpit, B9 procedural wings, adjustable landing gear, and kerbpaint.

This is a true flying wing with no horizontal stabilisers. Yaw stability is generated with finely-tuned flaps. It's completely stable at speeds of up to Mach 1.8 at high altitudes, or Mach 1 at low altitudes (sub 5000km). It carries 6 JDAM bombs in a MK2 cargo bay.

It can turn very quickly for a bomber, and is extremely stable. The craft uses no reaction wheels (reaction wheels for the cockpit are disabled). It can supercruise without afterburners.

 

Full IMGUR album:

 

Edited February 28, 2016 by CrisK

[CrisK]

CrisK Northrop Grumman F/A-XX Air Superiority Fighter

Northrop Grumman has revealed multiple potential designs for their submission to the Navy's F/A-XX program. I've previously built a replica of their flying wing design. Here's a replica of their F/A-XX V tail. It looks like a combination of the YF-23 and the B-2 spirit to me.

The intakes and engines are on the top, and the engines are shielded. This is to reduce radar signature from the ground. The V-tail is flush with the body with minimal movement, again to maintain a minimal radar signature.

Supermaneuverable. Supercruises. Very stable. Reaction wheels disabled. Internal weapons bay holds 6 missiles.

I use this guy for BDArmory tournaments. It's fun to fly in formation with the B-21 in tow.

 

 

 

[Triop]

That is some nice work.

[selfish_meme]

Now I see why you were looking for help with KerbPaint, I'm sure we could fix up those cockpit masks if you wanted though being black sorta fits in with the whole Hotblack Desatio aesthetic

[CrisK]

Thanks guys!

@selfish_meme, the planes are actually a dark blue with 45% saturation, but outside of the SPH they look black. Grumble grumble. I actually spent a bit of time trying to match the shade of Northrop Grumman's B-2 Spirit. Just for you, here's the B-21 painted hot pink.

Here's a third plane. I shared this in one of the challenge threads already.

Boeing's F/A-XX entry.

It's not a flying wing, but rather a tailless delta wing. Their designs do not use ailorons and flaps to maintain stability like Northrop Grumman's. Instead, there are vertical stabilisers underneath the wing behind the engines.

There are also "feathers" on the engines to provide thrust vectoring without actually moving the engine. This is the same design that NASA and the Mitsubishi X-2 use to achieve supermaneuverability. Here's a link to a cool image of the X-2's feathers.

Boeing's first design incorporated large canards. They were supsequently mocked by most people in the defense industry for placing canards on a stealth fighter, and on a tailless plane. They removed the tail to lower the plane's radar cross signature, then put canards on the front, movable control surfaces that are impossible to make stealthy. I built a replica of their second mockup, a design without canards.

Ultimately, I don't think that Boeing has a shot at the F/A-XX or the F-X contracts. Their design is basically a tailless 4th generation fighter.

However, it flies incredibly well in KSP (using FAR). It's supermaneuverable, very stable, and has an internal weapons bay. The BDArmory AI can actually fly this tailless plane fairly well, so it has a good fun factor.

 

[Jackvony]

I have tried to create a similar flying wing but every time I roll it loses control and flips completely around. Please help.

[CrisK]

1 minute ago, Jackvony said:

I have tried to create a similar flying wing but every time I roll it loses control and flips completely around. Please help.

Jack, there are many ways of making a flying wing stable. I've found that the easiest is to use the method that Northrop Grumman uses on the B-2 spirit, X-47, etc. NG uses pairs of flaps that raise in opposite directions to provide stability.

I removed the V tail from my fighter and built a quick flying wing to give you some pointers. Here's an IMGUR album with screenshots so that you can replicate it.

 

In general, you'll need to use a swept wing or a delta wing to pull off a flying wing. The flaps must be behind the engine. The flaps should deflect more on the bottom than on the top. 10-40% on the bottom is a good range, 10% on the top is also good.

If you want to be stable above Mach 2, you'll probably want an additional pair of flaps. I've taken screenshots to show you the extra flaps on the top of the wing. Increase the deflection at higher speeds. This creates drag, so your top speed will probably be capped at Mach 2.2ish. I made it up to 2.16 before I chickened out - there's a high risk that the flaps will snap off due to the pressure.

As a last resort, I'd be happy to share my B-21 craft file, and you could then copy the wing configuration.

[Jackvony]

Ok thanks I'll try it out.

[CrisK]

Here's a flying wing version of Northrop Grumman's F/A-XX Air Superiority Fighter. This is the one that they featured in their recent ad:

It uses the same body as the Y wing, with no vertical stabilizers.

Again, stable without reaction wheels at speeds up to Mach 2.2. It loses yaw control beyond that. I could solve that if I made the wings wider and farther back but it wouldn't look cool. This version is not supermaneuverable. I don't think it's possible to make a pure flying wing supermaneuverable.

Because it uses the same body as the Y tail, I won't go over its internals.

This is the variant that Northrop Grumman is promoting towards the Navy, but I prefer the Y tail for the increased maneuverability.

[FlipNascar]

Some nice stuff!

Also if you hit Fn+F1 on your mac it'll take a screenshot of only KSP, whether it's windowed or fullscreen. Sorry I guess that's just my inner pedant coming out seeing that KSP bar at the top... !

[ftoc_tx]

gorgeous crafts!!

i've been having tons of trouble building my own b-2, x-47, and recently b-21 with FAR. Major stability issues

Would you be willing to share your b-21 craft file so i can take a look at your wings?

[CrisK]

Thanks, and no problem! I'll upload them all to KerbalX.

Northrop Grumman B-21 on Kerbal X

Northrop Grumman F/A-XX Y Tail on KerbalX

Northrop Grumman F/A-XX Flying Wing on Kerbal X

Boeing F/A-XX Stealth Fighter on KerbalX

I also added my MiG-35 replica. I use this as a BDArmory drone for when I feel like shooting at MiGs. It actually doesn't fly as well as my other Russian plane replicas, but it looks cool.

 

Edited February 29, 2016 by CrisK

[selfish_meme]

You know I've updated KerbPaint, the stock mk1 cockpits work now

[CrisK]

7 minutes ago, selfish_meme said:

You know I've updated KerbPaint, the stock mk1 cockpits work now

Cool! I've been updating it on my own install myself since I believed it to be abandoned. I'll download your additions and fixes. Thanks!

Edited February 29, 2016 by CrisK

[CrisK]

Here's a work in progress V-22 Osprey using infernal robotics rework, KAX, SXT. It flies (and hovers) without reaction wheels. I have an armed gunship variant too that I'll post on KerbalX once I'm done tweaking.

 

 

[CrisK]

Another flying wing. The Northrop Grumman X-47M (manned). Replace the cockpit with a drone core and an intake to make it into the X-47B.

Highly maneuverable. Perfect for high altitude bombing with hellfires or small bombs.

 

Here's the craft on KerbalX.

[CrisK]

I updated the B-21. It's now more maneuverable (pulls 6g turns / 20% aoa), and also far more stable. It can go up to Mach 1.4 without needing the rudder brakes / flaps. It's a very easy plane to fly now.

I'll upload the craft file to KerbalX later.

I'm still unsuccessful at designing a high-sweep flying wing fighter that's highly maneuverable.

[CrisK]

I got around to downloading @selfish_meme's update to kerbpaint. Thanks to @selfish_meme's changes, the parts look dark blue instead of black now.

I also rebuilt the body to dramatically lower the area and wave drag. I've gotten better at tuning flying wings. It's now just-about-supermaneuverable with FAR. It has better flight characteristics than an F-15. It's actually a competitive dogfighter. That's not at all what I set out to design. Strange, but fun.

[CrisK]

A simple Bell Venom.

 

Here's a link to the Bell Venom KerbalX page.

Edit: I uploaded my Osprey to KerbalX.

 

Edited March 24, 2016 by CrisK

[CrisK]

Here's a larger fighter with the US Navy VFA-103 Jolly Roger colors.

Link to KerbalX craft page.

[DarkOwl57]

On April 15, 2016 at 9:49 PM, CrisK said:

Here's a larger fighter with the US Navy VFA-103 Jolly Roger colors.

Link to KerbalX craft page.

REEEEEAAAALLLLLYYYYY Nice plane. 15/10

[CrisK]

21 hours ago, DarkOwl57 said:

REEEEEAAAALLLLLYYYYY Nice plane. 15/10

Thank you, @DarkOwl57. That's very nice of you to say.

[DarkOwl57]

I think that this would be awesome with BD Armory and maybe even Adjustable Landing gear. (I am just in love with those two lolol)

[Bloojay]

AH! MODS! *HissSSsssSSsssSSS*

[DarkOwl57]

22 minutes ago, Bloojay said:

AH! MODS! *HissSSsssSSsssSSS*

THE MODS SHALL OVERCOME!!!