Is a drone without flaps more stealthy?

摘要

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M - Flight is a fiddly affair filled with flaps. While early human attempts to create flying machines that generated thrust and steering by flapping didn't pan out, fixed-wing flight is still very much a field of flaps, of raised and lowered surfaces for directional control. Working with researchers at the University of Manchester, engineers from British defense giant BAE Systems successfully flew a flapless flier over the skies of northwest Wales. Dubbed "Magma," the drone tested two technologies with implications for stealthy flight and cheaper maintenance.