NATO STO

Military requirements differ significantly now than they did just a decade ago. Vital to meeting the new and ever-changing demands is the ability to develop new weapon systems quickly, economically, and with maximum competitive advantage; requiring a thorough assessment of the design space. To this end Air Vehicle Technologies (AVT) and the broader community have identified Multidisciplinary Design and Analysis Optimization (MDAO) as a key enabler. AVT, through the activities detailed below, recently completed and is currently engaged in several assessments of this and related needs. A key challenge in implementing new design methodologies is the timely integration of new technologies into the MDAO process. Examples of such technology is the integration of novel materials (e.g. multiscale materials, metamaterials, smart materials, architected materials, structural batteries, and hierarchical materials) made possible by novel additive manufacturing techniques (e.g. additive, agile, unitized structures, substrate integration, and reconfigurable processes). Significant improvements in other critical areas such as lifecycle cost, procurement, and logistics could also be greatly improved by incorporating into the design process an understanding of manufacturing process implications on failure modes and digital twin simulations enabling tailored maintenance and repair processes. Current design methodologies use structural requirements to assign materials and iteratively solve for coupled phenomena such as flexural modes, largely ignoring manufacturability until late in the design process. Ultimately, greater performance may be achievable through intelligent design of the materials and related manufacturing processes within the vehicle/system optimization loop.