The share of the budget devoted to aeronautics in the EU’s 7th framework programme for research and technological development (FP7 2007-2013) is 2.2 billion euros. More than a third of this - 800 million euros - will be spent on a high-profile programme called ‘Clean Sky’. The name speaks for itself: to give a boost to research into cleaner, less noisy, more aerodynamic, less fuel-guzzling airplanes. Technologies developed under Clean Sky will equip the next generation of planes. And this is no small matter: by 2026 for example, more than 90% of the Airbus fleet currently in circulation will have to be replaced, including the medium-range A320, a real money-spinner for the European manufacturer.

Using technologies that will be on the market between 2015 and 2025, Clean Sky aims to reduce CO2 emissions of the different types of aircraft by 20% to 40%, nitrogen oxide (NOx) by 20% to 60% and noise by 10 to 20 decibels. In other words, it is the true environmental pillar of the response to the Strategic Research Agenda of ACARE, the Advisory Council for Aeronautics Research in Europe, which has set a goal for the European aeronautical industry of cutting airplanes’ fuel consumption and CO2 emissions by 50% by 2020, NOx emissions by 80% and aircraft noise by 50%. According to estimates, Clean Sky will enable savings of between two and three billion tonnes of CO2 to be made between 2015 and 2050. The majority of the budget is focussed on the areas where the environmental gains are potentially the most promising: research into engines and aerodynamics.

NOT A TRADITIONAL PROGRAMME

Clean Sky is not a traditional research programme. It is referred to as a “joint technology initiative” (JTI), a new public-private partnership created by FP7 that steers financing for big research programmes into a few key areas, such as cleaner aviation for example. A JTI assumes a large financial investment by industry. This comes to at least 800 million euros in the case of Clean Sky, with the European Commission financing an equivalent share. That allows critical mass to be attained. The approach is multidisciplinary, involving aircraft manufacturers, motor operators and equipment makers, with research carried out in parallel on pretty well everything that makes up an aircraft and how it is made (see the research areas in the box on this page). The JTI brings together everything of importance in the aeronautical sector in Europe. The big names taking part in the project include Airbus, Saab, EADS, Alenia, AgustaWestland, Eurocopter, Rolls-Royce, Thales, Dassault Aviation and Safran.

Currently, more than 50 companies are involved, including a lot of SMEs, as well as more than about thirty research centres and universities. New partners will join the project by responding to calls for proposals during the programme’s seven years.

What type of interest is there in this kind of mega-project? “It will allow the exploration of new technologies that will enable real environmental gains,” explained Loïc Michel, head of civil aviation at the Aerospace and Defence Industries Association of Europe (ASD), which helped to get the project on track. “That cannot be done by traditional research programmes that don’t have the critical mass and sufficient finances. Without Clean Sky, manufacturers could not allow themselves to take the risks connected with this type of research and the introduction of these new technologies would take a lot more time. Clean Sky is really going to speed up putting very innovative technologies onto the market.” Another advantage is its multi-disciplinary nature. “An airplane is a whole and it’s an advantage to be able to work on the different components at the same time. This allows us to see whether there are “potential conflicts”. To put it simply: if the engine is developed in a particular way, the wing needs to be compatible and vice versa.”

Ultimately, Clean Sky will allow several demonstrators to be developed in an operational situation, in other words all the technologies developed will be brought together on airplanes to be tested in a representative situation (test flights are planned for 2012 and 2013). This is the most advanced stage of research, so-called “pre-competitive” research because it is not meant to provide prototypes. Technologies developed and approved on demonstrator airplanes will be able to be used both by Airbus and its main competitor Boeing.

Test flights are planned for 2012 and 2013. 

Research topics

- Intelligent wings. In other words wings whose shape and position change according to the air flow to improve the aerodynamics and therefore reduce fuel consumption. Today, this technology is purely conceptual. If it is successfully tried and tested, it could be ready at the end of the programme. Almost a quarter of the Clean Sky budget will be put aside for this technical area. The heads of the projects are Airbus (France, Germany, United Kingdom, Spain) and Saab (Sweden).

- Regional (short-haul) airplanes. This is an area that includes research on advanced composite structures to make the aircraft as light as possible, on technologies to reduce the noise impact of aircraft and on systems that optimise the aircraft’s navigation. Although designed for regional (short-haul) airplanes, the technologies developed will also be able to equip medium- and long-range carriers. This area of research accounts for 11% of the Clean Sky budget. The leaders are Alenia Aeronautica (Italy) and EADS CASA (Spain).

- Helicopters. Research in this area (10% of the Clean Sky budget) is focused on innovative blades and engines aimed at reducing noise and fuel consumption. Leaders: AgustaWestland (Italy, United Kingdom) and Eurocopter (France, Germany).

- Green engines. This is the research area that comprises the largest share of the Clean Sky budget: 27%. Rolls-Royce (United Kingdom) and Safran (France), the two leaders, want to spend the package on research linked to the “open rotor”, a new design of engine (with quick propellers with curved profiles, distant relatives of conventional propellers) that will allow a considerable reduction in fuel consumption.

- Eco-design. Teams work on choosing the best materials – the lightest, least polluting (paint), most recyclable etc. – for each phase in the chain of the aircraft’s life. The leaders in this area are Dassault Aviation (France) and Fraunhofer Gesellschaft (Germany). 7% of the Clean Sky’s budget is devoted to this.

- Systems for environmentally friendly operations. Here, the teams work on mechanisms to optimise the aircraft’s trajectory and manage energy flows in the airplane (the idea is to create an airplane equipped with the largest possible number of pieces of electrical equipment in order to get rid of pipes, pumps and other polluting fluids and reduce fuel consumption, and therefore CO2 emissions). Virtually 20% of the Clean Sky budget is devoted to this type of research, with Thales (France) and Liebherr (Germany) as leaders.