Boeing (McDonnell Douglas) X-36

The History of the Boeing (McDonnell Douglas) X-36

The Boeing X-36 (formerly McDonnell Douglas) is an unmanned technology demonstrator and has served NASA (Ames and Dryden Research Center) on approximately 31 total flights. The program seeks to evaluate tailless fighter designs for possible military applications and includes a unique wing plan to meet the requirements.

According to all published reports, the program was a great success and encouraged research into future tailless aircraft designs as well as improved maneuverability, unmanned design and airframe survivability. Design work began as early as 1989, culminating in the construction of a pair of airworthy aircraft for the program in 1994 using "rapid prototyping" techniques.

Overall, the aircraft had some traditional features, such as a forward-facing cockpit and internal turbofan engines, but was inherently unstable. The wing layout was largely unconventional, with the forward canards near the midship combined with the main wing assembly aft of the fuselage. Control is provided by a variety of equipment including fly-by-wire (FBW), dedicated correction software, canard positioning and thrust vectoring at the engine exhaust.

As a tailless aircraft, it lacks vertical tail surfaces. The single-engine unit was drawn in from two air intakes at the front of the layout, one mounted on either side of the fuselage near the cockpit. Being a radio-controlled design, the X-36 also lacked a "true" cockpit, where the operator controlled the aircraft from a ground control station (GCS). Because the cockpit does not require space or facilities to support human pilots, the entire aircraft is designed to be 28 percent larger to control costs, speed development and allow better access to critical interior components.

Therefore, the X-36 represents only a possible future fighter design.

The fuselage has a barrel length of 18 feet 2 inches, a wingspan of 10 feet 4 inches, and a height of 3 feet 1 inches. The specified maximum takeoff weight (MTOW) is 1,250 lbs.

Propulsion is provided by the Williams International F112 series turbofan engine, which produces 700 pounds of thrust, a top speed of 235 mph, and an operating altitude of nearly 20,500 feet.

The first test aircraft flew for the first time on May 17, 1997, beginning a 25-week evaluation period. At the end of the useful data collection day, the two planes were transported to museums - one resides at the National Museum of the United States Air Force (Wright-Patterson AFB) in Dayton, Ohio, and the other is on display at the Air Force Edwards, California Air Force Base's Flight Test Center.

The X-36 is built by Boeing's Boeing Phantom Works at its St. Louis, Missouri facility. The product and program is a 50/50 cost-sharing partnership between Boeing and NASA.

Specification

Basic

Production

Roles

Dimensions

Weight

Performance

Performance

Armor

Changes