Aerospace

The X-36 Was a Crazy Maneuverable Stealth Fighter. Why Wasn’t it Built?

In the late 1940s and early 1950s, several experimental aircraft were built that were semi-tailless. Post-World War II jet engine designs had improved, allowing for greater and greater speeds past the speed of sound, or Mach 1. Airframes of the time were struggling to get through the transonic range, from around Mach 0.8 to Mach 1. It was thought that a total or semi-tailless design would allow for greater stability when passing through the transonic range, but airplane technology and airframe designs during the 1950s were not yet sophisticated enough to safely control a tailless design.

In the 1970s and 1980s tailless designs were reexamined, as computer-controlled fly-by-wire systems could adjust a plane’s flight controls quickly enough to keep tailless airframes airborne. Tailless designs also had the added advantage of being stealthierthan their tailed cousins—sans tail, less radar is reflected back to a radar antenna. A tailless design also benefits from better range due to lower drag, and can under some circumstances be more maneuverable than traditionally-tailed planes.