Russia Patent (RU MoD): Hypersonic Aerospace Drone with Plasma Propulsion Surface Arrays

Patent Number: Unknown (RU MoD filing, ~2014–2019, multiple views in Google Patents browser) Title: Hypersonic Aerospace Drone with Plasma Propulsion Surface Arrays Assignee: Russian Ministry of Defence Filed: ~2014–2019 Jurisdiction: Russia (foreign) Source: Google Patents (URL visible in tweet image: patents.google.com/patent/RU...) Track Directory (Physics_Math): 1_Track/ — distributed surface plasma actuation for MHD boundary layer control; J×B body force on atmospheric air as reaction mass; direct MHD propulsion family

Image files:

• patents_intl/tweets/raw_download/1948075676742865266_1.jpg (Google Patents view showing diagram thumbnails)
• patents_intl/tweets/raw_download/1948075676742865266_2.jpg (Figura 1 & 2 — three-quarter and plan views of the craft)

Structural Description

The two engineering drawings visible in the image show a dramatically unconventional aircraft form: a delta or double-delta planform with a broad swept leading edge, a highly flattened lower body (ventral surface nearly flat), and a sharply pointed nose. The vehicle has no visible vertical tail and no conventional engine nacelles. Along the entire lower ventral surface and the leading-edge strips, arrays of numbered components (1 through 9.3, with multiple sub-numbers) are distributed, indicating numerous independently-operated surface elements — the density and distribution pattern is consistent with distributed plasma-actuator arrays or surface electrode networks.

The Figura 2 detailed side/cross-section view shows component 1 (main fuselage shell), components 2, 3, 5, 6 (internal power and control electronics), components 4.1, 4.2, 4.3 (electrode or emitter groups), 7.1 and 7.2 (aft nozzle or trailing-edge emitter groups), 9.1, 9.2, 9.3 (sensor or plasma source sub-assemblies), and component 8 distributed across both surfaces. The label "Р_вх.1," "Р_вх.2" and "Р_кр." at the lower panels designate inlet pressure zones and the wing leading edge, confirming this is a hypersonic vehicle with plasma management of the boundary layer.

Physics Mechanism: Distributed Surface Plasma Aerodynamics and MHD Propulsion

The physics is plasma aerodynamics applied to hypersonic flight: at Mach 5+, a conventional aircraft suffers massive aerodynamic heating and shock-induced drag because the boundary layer transitions to turbulent or separates entirely. Plasma actuators — surface electrodes that ionize the immediate boundary layer by dielectric-barrier discharge (DBD) or surface arc — inject momentum into the boundary layer, delaying transition, attaching separated flow, and drastically reducing drag and heating.

At high enough plasma energy density, the surrounding shock structure itself is modified: a plasma "bubble" with elevated electron temperature modifies the effective γ (ratio of specific heats) of the gas, changing the shock standoff distance and reducing wave drag. The Lebedev Physical Institute and TsAGI (Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute) have published extensively on this effect for Russian MoD-funded programs since the 1960s.

The engineering accomplishment claimed by this patent design is a hypersonic vehicle that uses no conventional propulsion — no air-breathing jet, no rocket nozzle — but instead uses surface plasma fields to interact with the hypersonic airflow directly, producing thrust by accelerating air rearward via J × B body force (magnetohydrodynamic acceleration) while simultaneously managing heat loads via plasma boundary-layer control. The vehicle thus becomes a pure EM-propulsion platform that uses atmospheric air as the reaction mass.

This is the same principle described in the abstract of Lockheed Martin's US8006939B2 (over-wing traveling-wave axial-flow plasma accelerator), independently filed in 2006, but applied here to a full hypersonic vehicle design rather than a wing section.

Research Background

Key Russian institutions on plasma aerodynamics for hypersonic flight:

• Lebedev Physical Institute (ФИАН) — plasma boundary layer modification theory
• TsAGI (Центральный аэрогидродинамический институт) — aerodynamics testing and plasma drag reduction
• Moscow Physical-Technical Institute (МФТИ) — plasma actuator modeling

The MHD boundary layer control mechanism produces the Lorentz force density:

f = J × B

at the surface. For a conducting boundary layer current density J and applied field B, the body force accelerates the fluid in the direction J × B, which by choice of electrode geometry and field orientation can be directed rearward (producing thrust) or normal to the surface (thickening the boundary layer to protect against heating).

Sources

• Lockheed Martin US8006939B2 — parallel US development of surface plasma accelerator
• Lebedev Physical Institute publications on plasma aerodynamics, 1960s–present
• TsAGI publications on MHD drag reduction for hypersonic vehicles

This information was compiled from Break_thrus.mdx staging file.