Future Multi-Mission Transport Aircraft: Requirements and Design Possibilities

Projected mission requirements, the application of advanced technologies, and the use of innovative design concepts will all influence the next generation military transport aircraft. This paper presents our assessment of the trends in future needs for possible civil and/or military aircraft and a discussion of three candidate systems developed by Lockheed-Georgia to satisfy these future requirements. The first, a near-term 1985 IOC derivative designated the Lockheed Multi-Role Strategic Aircraft (the LX-MRSA), is a single aircraft configuration offering the flexibility to perform a variety of missions. The baseline configuration is that typical of an outsize military airlifter requiring little change to fill the roles of strategic or tactical airlifter, cruise missile carrier, ICBM carrier/launcher, aerial tanker, and others. A 1995 IOC advanced-technology large aircraft is presented along with an assessment of desirable design features for a common military/commercial transport as desired in the C-XX concept. Finally, an innovative aircraft design concept, known as Flatbed, is described which has been configured primarily for multi-role operations with a novel backbone fuselage capable of carrying a passenger module, intermodal containers, or alternatively, outsize vehicles in the open.