Reduced airframe fatigue life expenditureĪADS for tactical aircraft provides improved air data at high angles of attack or low airspeeds and reduced radar cross-section (RCS). Reduced life cycle cost of arresting gear and catapults Higher payload bring back and asymmetric stores loading capability Reduced carrier catapult/arresting gear demands or reduced wind over deck requirements

Reduced takeoff and landing distances/speedsīasing flexibility for expeditionary fields or damaged runway operations Potential pay-offs for such technologies and concepts include: Tailless/reduced vertical tail configurations The VECTOR Program will develop and demonstrate three technology areas In contrast to other program teams located here, the VECTOR Product Team brings together representatives of multiple engineering disciplines, as well as representatives from Boeing, DASA and the German government in one office. The program will be administered through a joint US/German program office located here. The capability of thrust vectoring to control and maneuver the X-31 at very slow speeds near the ground was demonstrated during the 1995 Paris Air Show. Simulated tailless X-31 flight tests conducted for the Joint Strike Fighter program successfully provided an initial demonstration that thrust vectoring could provide yaw control and, thus, reduce or eliminate the need for an aircraft vertical tail. In that flight regime, thrust-vectoring technologies have potentially significant pay-off in a number of critical areas, including operational capability, performance, safety, vehicle complexity, maintenance, and total cost of ownership. In this program, however, the aircraft will be exploring thrust vectoring technology in the take off and landing environment. In previous testing, the X-31 provided data for air combat maneuvering.

The use of thrust vectoring control integrated with the flight control system (FCS) provided safe, departure-free close-in combat maneuvering throughout the conventional and post-stall flight envelopes. The X-31 demonstrated outstanding controllability and agility over a range of flight conditions with the aircraft flying at very high nose up attitudes - angles of attack (AoA) greater than stall (up to 70 degrees) by using thrust vectoring. EFM explored the tactical utility of post-stall maneuvering using thrust vectoring for air combat. The EFM program, flying the only international X-plane at the time, conducted 580 flights, more than any other X-plane program. VECTOR is a follow-on to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)/Navy/German X-31 Enhanced Fighter Maneuverability (EFM) program completed in 1995. Current systems develop inaccuracies at high AoA. Germany is interested in the integrated FCS design and a major supporting technology, an Advanced Air Data System, which provides accurate air data information throughout the AoA range. The Navy is particularly interested in thrust vectoring benefits in its unique take-off and landing environment. The Vectoring Extremely Short Take-Off and Landing Control Tailless Operation Research program is a low-cost, highly leveraged approach to developing and demonstrating thrust vectoring and supporting technologies to enable complete flight control/engine/thrust vectoring integration for ESTOL and tailless flight. – A joint two-year U.S./German test program using thrust vectoring to develop short takeoff and landing capabilities using the X-31 thrust vectoring technology demonstrator began here recently. NAVAL AIR SYSTEMS COMMAND, Patuxent River, Md.

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