Aerion Corporation attended the annual European Business Aviation Convention and Exhibition held in Geneva, Switzerland May 17-19. The company showcased the supersonic business jet (SBJ) and discussed its next phase development of engineering activities taking place at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center. Additionally, increased market demand from a variety of aircraft manufacturers for Aerion's natural laminar flow (NLF) expertise has driven the company to launch Aerion Technologies.

Company launches Aerion Technologies subsidiary at EBACE 2011

Reno, Nevada, May 16, 2011 – Aerion Corporation announced at this week's European Business Aviation Conference and Exposition (booth 839) that increased market demand for natural laminar flow (NLF) expertise has driven the company to launch Aerion Technologies a service than enables aircraft manufacturers to integrate Aerion NLF design technologies into faster and more efficient subsonic products. This activity will serve as a highly specialized aerodynamics consultancy for airframers, while Aerion also continues engineering activities for its planned 8-12 passenger supersonic business jet (SBJ).

"Discussions with multiple aircraft manufacturers, especially in recent months, have clearly demonstrated to us that there is demand to expand our services to include our natural laminar flow engineering for subsonic applications," said Robert M. Bass, chairman of Aerion and president of Keystone Group, LP. "The aviation industry is prepared to embrace and fund disruptive technology for significant, quantifiable gains."

Aerion has found that the same proprietary technologies and design tools that will enable a practical SBJ also can be a game-changer in subsonic and transonic applications. During the past 10 years, Aerion has developed one of the industry's most extensive portfolios of NLF test data and methods for optimizing its application to aircraft design, as well as assuring practical manufacturing and operational aspects. Aerion Technologies' NLF technology and design tools will help airframers push speed and efficiency limits for next-generation aircraft.

"Civil and military aircraft manufacturers are under increasing pressure to develop next-generation aircraft that can deliver enhanced range, efficiency and other performance parameters," said Aerion Vice Chairman Brian Barents. "And while I can't divulge which airframers are interested in our technology, I can say that the discussions are extremely promising and cover a wide range of emerging aircraft types and missions."

Laminar flow has been perhaps the most neglected variable available to aircraft manufacturers and yet it may be the single most beneficial way to squeeze further substantial improvements in efficiency, range and speed. Under laminar boundary layer flow conditions, the skin friction is reduced by about 90% compared to the default turbulent layer. Achieving the contours necessary to achieve extensive laminar flow conditions requires the coalescing of new technologies, including the ability to rapidly assess and optimize NLF configurations using computational fluid dynamics programs created specifically for the purpose. These have been developed by Aerion and verified in flight and wind tunnel tests, as have manufacturing and operational criteria to assure practical achievement of intended NLF advantages.

"While all airframers are becoming increasingly aware of this potential, the technology has not generally been available in usable form to business aircraft manufacturers," noted Dr. Richard Tracy, chief technology officer. "Thus, manufacturers who wanted to exploit this disruptive technology to remain competitive had no choice until now except to begin the long process of developing in-house expertise in integrating NLF into their design processes, requiring development of advanced viscous analysis and design optimization codes incorporating boundary layer transition analysis. Aerion Technologies offers ready-for-use, proven tools and expertise developed during more than a decade of analysis and tests."

Aerion attended the annual National Business Aviation Association Convention, held October 19-21 in Atlanta, Georgia. The company had a large booth featuring an 8 percent scale wind-tunnel model, a full-size cabin cross-section, a cabin layout map on the floor, and a video showcasing recent flight tests at Edwards Air Force Base. The company booth attracted a large number of visitors and meetings were held with representatives from numerous other companies. Media interviews were given to a large number of outlets, including: Aviation Week and Space Technology, BCA/AvWeek Show News, AIN Convention News, Aerospace International, Air & Cosmos, Aero International, Flight International and Professional Pilot. The photos below show the booth just before show opening.

A new round of flight tests were conducted in July and August 2010 in collaboration with NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center and achieved a top speed of Mach 2.0. Data gained from the initial series of five data flights aboard a NASA F-15B aircraft are being analyzed by comparing the static pressures recorded at 60 points on the flat plate at varying speeds and altitudes with those predicted by aircraft computer models, including the test pylon and flat plate test article. Engine inlet parameters are included in the model and are adjustable to achieve the best fit with the measured pressures during the F-15B tests.

This process has been completed and the design of a test article to be used in the next series of tests is well along. The design goals include achieving maximum extent of supersonic laminar flow, comfirmation of its robustness under realistic conditions and crossflow pressure gradients. When the aerodynamic optimization of the new test article has been completed, mechanical design and fabrication to NASA flight test criteria will be carried out by Aerion. Then, after ground and flight qualification tests by NASA, the second phase of the tests will be performed.

Aerion has collected over 50 orders for the $80 million jet. Each is secured by a $250,000 deposit. Total backlog now exceeds $4 billion.

This past March, Aerion completed a series of low-speed wind tunnel tests at the University of Washington. These tests are the fifth and sixth low-speed tests of Aerion low-speed configurations. The purpose was to continue the refinement of Aerion's flaps, strakes and tail surfaces.

These tests showed the ability of the Aerion configuration to meet the challenging goals of operating from 6,000-foot runways and achieving a 120-knot approach speed with a modified strake and flap system that is simpler and smaller than in previous designs. The tests also collected data for sizing the vertical and horizontal tail configurations. In addition to the configuration development, data from this test has shown that Aerion's analytical methods are accurate in predicting the performance of Aerion's low-speed configurations.

Scale versions of engine exhaust nozzle configurations have been tested at the University of California Irvine. Results indicate that Aerion will achieve sufficient noise reduction to meet Stage 4/Chapter 4 requirements with margin. Subsequent large-scale tests are planned at the United Technologies Research Center anechoic nozzle test wind tunnel in Connecticut. All of the nozzle configurations tested offer high efficiency from takeoff through Mach 1.6. Wind tunnel tests for the jet's supersonic engine inlets are planned for 2009.

Aerion conducted wind tunnel tests in August 2008 at the unique European Transonic Wind Tunnel (ETWT) near Cologne, Germany, simulating supersonic laminar flow wing performance at cruising altitude.

The test confirmed supersonic natural laminar flow at full-scale Reynolds numbers, equivalent to flying the actual aircraft at greater than 45,000 feet. The supersonic natural laminar flow (SNLF) wing is the enabling technology behind the aircraft's efficiency at both subsonic and supersonic speeds. Where supersonic natural laminar flow exists, drag is reduced by up to 90 percent. The Aerion wing achieves about a 50 percent drag reduction over conventional delta wing supersonic designs and a total airframe drag reduction of about 20 percent.

ETWT test runs at Mach 0.95, 1.2 and 1.35 (the tunnel limit) showed stable natural laminar flow, confirming the extent of laminar flow used in range predictions of more than 4,000 nautical miles subsonically and supersonically. Natural laminar flow becomes more stable as Mach number increases, so these speeds were considered the most challenging test conditions.

The ETWT is a cryogenic, pressurized wind tunnel cycling nitorogen gas in a closed loop at temperatures as low as 110 kelvin (minus 163 degrees celsius), and pressurizes up to 4.5 atmospheres. It is therefore able to provide full-scale flight Reynolds numbers on subscale models by virtue of increased density and decreased viscosity.

ETWT is the only facility with the demonstrated low noise level and low free-stream turbulence level needed to assess supersonic natural laminar flow at such high Reynolds numbers. In most supersonic wind tunnels, flow turbulence and acoustic noise radiating from tunnel walls destabilizes the laminar boundary layer on the model, but the characteristics of the ETWT facility eliminated these concerns.

Doug Nichols is Aerion's new Chief Financial Officer, overseeing the financial operations of the company and playing a key role in structuring partner and supplier relationships for the production of the Aerion supersonic business jet.

Nichols joined the company in 2008 following a distinguished 28-year career in a range of senior financial positions at Boeing. Among his roles there, Nichols served as Chief Financial Officer at the company's Commercial Airplane Group 747/767 unit and also for Boeing Business Jets. Over the course of his Boeing career he gained extensive experience in all aspects of the operational and financial management of airplane programs, as well as in new aircraft market evaluation and product development, aircraft preliminary and detailed design processes, advanced final assembly processes, supply base management, support logistics, marketing and sales.

Since leaving Boeing in 2002, Nichols worked as senior advisor to Bombardier on its CSeries program. He has an MBA in corporate finance from the University of Puget Sound, Graduate School of Business, and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from the University of Washington.

Aerion will add staff in various engineering disciplines to carry out this new phase of development. To lead the development program, the company has engaged John Holding as special advisor. He will work closely with Aerion Chief Operating Officer Mike Henderson, Chief Technology Officer Dr. Richard Tracy, and the growing Aerion engineering organization.

No one in civil aviation today has led more successful jet aircraft introductions than John Holding. Previously, he served as Bombardier Aerospace's Executive Vice President, Integrated Product Definition and Planning Engineering. Over a 16-year period, Holding led the introduction of at least one new aircraft product every year - an unprecedented performance in the aerospace industry. These programs included new certifications for Learjet, Challenger, Global Express and CRJ product lines. Holding was also involved in the preliminary engineering work for the recently launched CSeries airliner.

At Bombardier, he was instrumental in creating innovative supplier partnerships and processes for the development and engineering of new aircraft. His industry influence has exctended well beyond Bombardier. Among his many efforts to advance the field of aerospace engineering, Holding was a founding member of the Consortium for Research and Innovation in Aerospace in Quebec (CRIAQ), and is currently its chairman.

The company has held talks with major aerospace firms as well as government agencies on three continents. Discussions are ongoing, and much will hinge on the refined business case presented by Aerion, and on the available financial resources and strategic objectives of potential partners.

Potential partners have expressed great interest in the concept of supersonic laminar flow and the patented technology developed by Aerion in this area, viewing it as a key enabling technology for the development of an efficient supersonic aircraft.

Aerion has embarked on a "Proof-of-Concept" design phase as it continues to progress to a planned 2015 certification for its supersonic business jet design. Simultaneously, it is engaged in discussions with well-known aviation companies, with the intention of reaching agreement with one to serve as the lead manufacturer for the program.

During the Proof-of-Concept phase, Aerion will define systems, confirm weight build-up and further validate performance. The design program will focus on all key certification criteria to ensure the ability to certify the aircraft in a timely fashion. Previously, the engineering effort was focused mainly on the optimization and validation of the aerodynamics of an efficient supersonic business jet design.