SUMMARY
Using the effect of wingtip vortex from a leading aircraft, the formation flight of unmanned combataerial vehicles (UCAVs) can accomplish various tasks with much more efficiency. Combined withthe sliding mesh technique, this paper investigates a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) methodto simulate and analyze, in detail, the static and dynamic aerodynamic characteristics of formationwith two flying wing models named as SACCON. Besides, the dynamic derivatives indicating thedynamic stability of aircrafts in formation are identified and validated, and normal single flights arealso analyzed as a comparative study. The results demonstrate that, due to the wake of the leader,significant enhancements of the wingman are achieved, in terms of the lift-to-drag ratio, pitching,rolling, and yawing moments in steady states, but the static stabilities are reduced as unbalancedmoments. Moreover, compared with a single aircraft, the unsteady sinusoidal motions indicatethat the dynamic aerodynamics and its corresponding dynamic derivatives change in a much morecomplex manner. It is concluded that the initial angle of attack and distance in the formation flightare the main factors to evaluate the effect, which should be monitored and adjusted in real time forbetter use of the profit of formation, especially in dynamic maneuvering.