GSS EU Science Funding Gateway

Air vehicles operating in this range and operational environment (including regional aircraft with a capacity of up to 100 seats) are considered the first application in the scheduled air transport system that will adopt hybrid-electric propulsion technologies and associated complementary solutions for reducing the environmental footprint, toward climate-neutral aviation. Air vehicles operating at smaller distances or on thinner routes will also benefit from electric propulsion solutions tested on regional aircraft testbeds, by sharing the development of power modules and making use of different approaches to air vehicle integration. The future potential use of hydrogen as energy source requires the development and demonstration of compatible technologies and sub-systems that will have an impact on the wing system, as well as on the aircraft architecture.

A number of top-level goals will be the basis for performance targets, in particular:

• No less than 15% fuel burn reduction target at integrated wing level (taking into account the wing-fuselage effects but excluding the engine installation effects);
• Targeting 20% structure weight reduction at full wing level (excluding propulsion system)
• Maximum aerodynamic efficiency
• wing system: installed performance contributing to the a/c performance target of 50% fuel burn reduction, to be extended as much as possible to a target of 50% GHG emissions reduction at aircraft level (possibly expressed, for instance, in terms of overall GHG emissions per passenger kilometre);
• It is implicit that targets must be compatible with safety (compliant with certification aspects) as an overarching requirement.

The top level goals shall be broken down in a consistent manner at the different levels: from aircraft top level requirements to systems, sub-systems and components level requirements, from where pertinent performance targets including key performance indicators shall be derived.