Finlet Aft Body Drag Reduction Devices for AFSOC Aircraft

Application of our patented Finlet technology to AFSOC C-130 aircraft represents a low-risk and low-cost approach to significantly reduce fuel costs and / or improve mission performance. Finlets are small, aft fuselage mounted devices which are easily retrofitted and have been flight test demonstrated (in partnership with AFRL) to reduce AMC’s C-130 and C-17 aircraft fuel usage by 6% and 1.4%, respectively. In addition, we have analytically designed Finlets for the Boeing 737-700, we have partnered with a major airline to demonstrate over a 1% fuel savings from their installation using in-service operational flights with a newly developed “Big Data” analysis method, and we are in negotiations with several airlines for their transition. The primary goals of our proposed Phase I effort are to identify the critical AFSOC stakeholders and their resulting requirements for the successful transition of Finlets to their C-130 aircraft and to prove the feasibility of our Finlet technology for reducing the fuel usage and improving the mission performance of AFSOC C-130 aircraft. It lays the groundwork of a follow-on Phase II effort aimed at completing detailed Finlet design, fabrication, installation, and an in-service operational evaluation to validate their performance benefits.