The NASA/Boeing X-36 Tailless Fighter Agility Research Aircraft successfully completed a 31-flight research program at NASA Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, CA, in November 1997. The X-36 project team developed and demonstrated the tailless fighter design using advanced technologies to improve the maneuverability and survivability of possible future fighter aircraft. The X-36 program met or exceeded all project goals.
In a follow-on effort, the Air Force Research Lab (AFRL) contracted Boeing to fly AFRL’s Reconfigurable Control for Tailless Fighter Aircraft (RESTORE) software as a demonstration of the adaptability of the neural-net algorithm to compensate for in-flight damage or malfunction of effectors, i.e., flaps, ailerons and rudders. Two RESTORE research flights were flown in December 1998, proving the viability of the software approach…Learn more
X-36 #1 was transferred to the National Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton Ohio in April of 2003.