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Rockwell-MBB X-31 (EFM)

1990 COLD WAR X-PLANE

History

The X-31 experimental aircraft was jointly developed by Rockwell and Germany's Messerschmitt-Borkov-Blom (MBB) to test the feasibility of thrust vectoring hardware and software. Two prototypes were used throughout the life of the program, with the first flight recorded on October 11, 1990.

One of the two crashed during the test flight (the pilot crashed safely), and the surviving members ended their days as exhibits at the Deutsches Museum Flugwerft Schleissheim in Germany.

Many off-the-shelf components borrowed from designs such as the F-16, F-16XL, F/A-18 Hornet, and B-1 bomber make up the actual aircraft to reduce development costs and shorten manufacturing time for short-term hold. The result is a stylish, if largely traditional fighter jet design, with good swept, low-mounted monoplane wings (in a canard-delta configuration), a rudder, and no tail level (mounted on the fuselage). The duck wings of the head replace the role). ). A retractable landing gear supports ground operations.

Thanks to the higher seating position and teardrop-shaped canopy, the pilot gets an impressive view from the nose. The hull appears with rounded plate sides and a deep profile.

Power comes from a single General Electric F404-GE-400 series turbofan engine, rated at 16,000 pounds of thrust, giving the airframe a top speed of 900 miles per hour, a service ceiling of up to 40,000 feet, and a climb of nearly 43,000 feet per minute. The engine is drawn in through a rectangular air intake located under the cockpit floor behind the nose cone. A key design element of the X-31 is its jet tube exhaust structure, which contains three movable plates to direct the flow of output thrust.

The idea was to test high angle of attack (AoA) performance during manoeuvres - and in that regard, the program was a success.

580 flights completed between the two prototypes. Prototype 1 was lost on January 19, 1995 due to icing on the pitot tube, resulting in incorrect data being entered into the onboard computer. The Prototype 2 flew into 2003 before being grazed.