Figure 4.4. Range versus passengers

2,000 4,000 6,000 8,000 10,000

Statistics for 70 aircraft

of passenger movement. Lower acquisition costs, lower operational costs, and improved safety and environmental issues would act as design drivers. The SST would attempt an entry and HST operations still could be several decades away.

Military aircraft design: Very agile aircraft incorporating extensive micro- processor-based control and systems management operating below Mach 2.5, high altitude (> 60,000 ft), and BVR capabilities would be the performance demand. The issue of survivability is paramount – if required, aircraft could be operated unmanned. The military version of hypersonic combat aircraft could arrive sooner, paving the way to advance civil aircraft operations. Armamentand missile-development activities would continue at a high level and would act as one of the drivers for vehicle design.

4.4 Civil Aircraft Mission (Payload-Range)

The payload-range capability constitutes the two most important parameters to represent commercial transport aircraft. It is the basic aircraft specification and requirement as a result of market studies for new aircraft designs.

Figure 4.4 shows the payload-range capabilities for several subsonic-transport aircraft (i.e., turbofans and turboprops). The figure captures more than fifty different types of current designs. The trend shows that the range increases with payload increases, reflecting the market demand for the ability to fly longer distances. Longrange aircraft will have fewer sorties and will need to carry more passengers at one time. The classic debate on the A380 versus the B787 passenger capacity is captured within the envelope shown between the two straight lines in Figure 4.4. It is interesting that there are almost no products carrying a high passenger load for shorter ranges (i.e., < 2,000 nm). At the other extreme, the high-subsonic, long-distance executive jets, the Bombardier Global Express and Gulfstream V, are already on the market (not shown in Figure 4.4) carrying executives and a small number of passengers very long ranges (> 6,500 nm) at a considerably higher cost per passenger. It is obvious that because of considerably lower speeds, turboprop-powered