The AirCraft Architecture Project (ACAP) is the most credible answer of an ambitious Consortium, engaged to deliver by early 2026 the first TRL3 (for the H2 configuration) and TRL4 (for the SAF configuration) for the pioneering aircraft able to bring to the fleet -30% of emission reduction from 2035 via the Short-and-Middle Range (SMR) class (reference 2020 aircraft).
The top-level objectives of the ACAP project will be the following:
- Provide to the SMR Clean Aviation community a collaborative framework, associated with a digital backbone approach, to enable the integration at aircraft level of the key identified technologies;
- Define the top-level requirements of the ultra-efficient and H2-enabled aircraft concepts, and cascade the target settings to the subsystems addressed in the parallel SMR pillar projects;
- Definition of absolute environmental targets or thresholds based on the planetary boundaries framework and other biogeophysical limits and the corresponding environmental breakdown on component and system level
- Management and establishment of central CA-SMR Life cycle inventory based on Clean Sky 2 - Eco Design activities and integration of Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul Data as central SMR Data Source for LCA work.
- Execute baseline LCA (mainly based on qualitative Data as Flow Charts, Design & Technology concepts, Bill of Processes and Materials etc) and Compile 1st issue of LCA results based on existing LCI datasets and result communication towards Demo Projects.
- Development of Environmental Co-Design approach for application in CA-Key technology demonstrators
- Identify the most promising technologies to be integrated in the future greener SMR, with a special focus within ACAP on the definition of relevant systems associated to propulsion and non-propulsive functions;
- And finally conduct the trade-off and down-selection of the most promising aircraft configurations with ultra-efficient airframe, both for SAF and H2-enabled energy carrier, up to a “pre-PDR” definition level of the aircraft, and including final impact monitoring.
