Morphing wing for drones?

[Marty_d]

Interesting article (fairly light weight).

 

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/article/2024/aug/09/australian-kestrels-may-hold-the-key-to-helping-drones-hover

 

Obviously the weight and complexity of wing morphing is currently out of reach of full size aircraft, but possible for drones. 

[Litespeed]

Great in concept,  I have often watched  Kestrels up close gliding on a cliff into the airstream to hunt. They can stay in the same spot gliding into the wind even with gusting. 

 

Even getting the idea to work at drone scales seems hard, advantages will greatly depend mission profile. Changing the shape of a wing in area will still require strong fast servos and be complex for mechanisms. 

 

Essentially you need to change the wing area to provide  for a higher wing loading penetration into rough air. This for a bird means folding the wings in a not just changing  angle of the wing but greatly reduces the area.  

 

A blended wing body with variable retractable or folding tips would seem the answer. Retractable would reduce drag but folding tips would be more stable.  

 

It's all going to be mission profile dependant. 

 A drone can anything from a party killer for a tank hatch or a high speed winged missile.