The All-Directional Flying Object, or ADIFO, looks exactly like a stereotypical flying saucer. However, ADIFO’s creators say the inspiration for their uniquely shaped aircraft doesn’t come from UFO lore. Instead, they say the disk is designed to mimic the back cross-section of a dolphin’s airfoil.
In his first interview with American media, inventor Razan Sabie said the ADIFO isn’t the work of audacious mad science.
“The aerodynamics behind this aircraft is the result of more than two decades of work and is very well reasoned in hundreds of pages and confirmed by computer simulations and wind tunnel tests,” Sabie explained. Sabie’s partner is Iosif Taposu, a former senior scientist at Romania’s National Institute for Aerospatiale Research, and Head of Theoretical Aerodynamics at the National Aviation Institute. On paper, the duo don’t appear to be a pair of rogue backyard engineers or hobbyists.
Operating like a quadcopter, ADIFO handles “take-off, landing, and slow speed maneuvers” through four ducted fans. A pair of jet engines located at the rear of the flying disc provide horizontal thrust. Sabie says the dual-propulsion system can vector individually, affording the ADIFO a high degree of agility during level flight. Rounding out ADIFO’s unique design are a pair of lateral thrust nozzles located on each side of the disc, which allow the disk to rapidly push itself sideways in either direction, or quickly rotate while in flight.
Sabie and Taposu unveiled a 4-foot operational prototype of ADIFO in spring of this year. According to Sabie, a full-scale model of the flying saucer would represent “a new and revolutionary flight paradigm.” Sabie claims the ADIFO’s unusual shape “is ‘natural born’ for supersonic flight.” He said the design should “reduce shock waves on the disk’s surface” thus preventing the occurrence of sonic booms during transonic flight. He believes the disk will be capable of “sudden lateral transitions and sudden yaw,” in addition to “smooth transitions during subsonic to supersonic flight.”
Sabie cautions the current ADIFO prototype, “is a very-very basic model of what we have in mind,” calling it “the peak of the iceberg,” for what they intend to do. Instead of the proposed jet engines, the current ADIFO prototype achieves thrust by using two small electrical fans. Sabie says the next stage of development will involve performing more complex simulations, wind tunnel tests, and developing the control system to demonstrate the disk will be capable of traveling at transonic and supersonic speeds.
So far, Sabie indicates one major aircraft manufacturer, two government entities and more than 10 possible partners and venture funds have reached out to express interest in the ADIFO, though Motherboard has not been able to independently verify those claims. With the prototype being completed using personal funds, “to proceed further we need partners,” Sabie said. At the moment, what they’ve made is a glorified quadcopter, albeit with features that current quadcopters don’t have.
Source: VICE