Future Fighter Technology Tests Completed
he NASA/Boeing X-36 Tailless Fighter Agility Research Aircraft has successfully completed its flight research program and demonstrated the feasibility of future tailless fighters achieving agility levels superior to today's best military fighter aircraft. All project goals were met and exceeded—to develop and demonstrate enhanced technologies to improve the maneuverability and survivability of future fighter aircraft, according to Mark Sumich, X-36 project manager at NASA's Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California.
"We also achieved the final flight's goal to expand the X-36's speed envelope up to 206 knots (234 miles per hour)," Sumich said. The aircraft's stability, handling and agility qualities were excellent at both ends of the speed envelope, after being examined at low speed/high angles of attack and high speed/low angles of attack.
Thirty-one flights were completed in only 25 weeks, an unparalleled accomplishment for a remotely piloted aircraft, according to Sumich. The third phase of the program was completed in mid-November 1997 at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California. The X-36 flew a total of 15 hours, 38 minutes and used four different versions of flight control software. The aircraft reached an altitude of 20,200 feet and a maximum angle of attack of 40 degrees.
The 28-percent-scale X-36, built by the Boeing Phantom Works in St. Louis, Missouri, is designed to fly without the traditional tail surfaces common on most aircraft. The X-36 is 18 feet long with a 10-foot wingspan, stands 3 feet high and weighs 1,270 pounds. The aircraft is powered by a Williams Research F112 turbofan engine that provides 700 pounds of thrust. The aircraft is remotely controlled by a pilot in a ground station cockpit, complete with a headup display, eliminating the need for expensive and complex autonomous flight control systems.
"We now have a proven research aircraft that can be used for future tests. As people become aware of the aircraft's capabilities, interest is increasing in using it for future flight tests," said Gary Jennings, X-36 program manager for Boeing Phantom Works.
With the flight test program completed, the X-36 has been placed in flyable storage condition in a hangar at Dryden. "Discussions are under way about what to do next with both of the X-36 aircraft," said Gary Cosentino, X-36 deputy project manager at Ames. "There is potential for other technologies, such as a highly advanced reconfigurable flight control system, to be incorporated on the aircraft and possibly flight tested in the future."
The X-36 flight test program team consisted of employees from Boeing, Ames and Dryden. "The Dryden flight test infrastructure played a major role in supporting our operation and helped make us a success. The streamlined process of approval cycles allowed us to operate in a very efficient manner," Sumich said. NASA and Boeing are full partners in the project, which was jointly funded under a cost-sharing arrangement.
For more information, contact Michael Mewhinney at Ames Research Center.
Call (650) 604-3937, Fax: (650) 604-3953, E-mail: mmewhinney@mail.arc.nasa.gov
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The X-36 is a subscale prototype jet built by McDonnell Douglas that is designed to fly without the traditional tail surfaces common on most aircraft.
