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A question about the F-16 tailess canard design. Is there anything more on this canard configuration? I've only seen this image of it; was it a real proposal, or a misunderstanding on the part of the artist of what the canards on the F-16 AFTI proposal actually looked like?Here are two AFTI projects for modified F-15 and F-16
Source:
- Klaus Huenecke, Modern Combat Aircraft Design Airlife 1984 (based on article cited above)
Worked on this at Grumman, and no, it was unmanned.Grumman AFTI/HIMAT submission, shown as a manned fighter in this artwork.
Source:
Steve Pace, X-29, Aero Series, 1991
The proposal wasn't manned, agreed, but this artwork seems to have a cockpit and a pilot? There is similar artwork of Rockwell's HIMAT as a real fighter.Worked on this at Grumman, and no, it was unmanned.Grumman AFTI/HIMAT submission, shown as a manned fighter in this artwork.
Source:
Steve Pace, X-29, Aero Series, 1991
Remember HiMAT was a small thing that weighed in around 5-6,000 lbs, so any amount of control surface force is more significant than on a full-sized one...which, then would likely have all-moving canards.Nice!
I just can't understand how most of the HiMat designs would have adequate pitch control? They're laid out like canard-deltas but they use a higher aspect ratio wing, it seems like the elevons wouldn't have as much leverage as they would on something like a Gripen or Rafale?
It's not that simple. Generally speaking, the smaller vehicle would have lower control power as well. Go look at the model Grumman used for developing the X-29 flight controls. The wings and canards were substantially larger than fuselage, proportionally speaking. You have to use the Reynolds number to properly get a scale affect that is correlated. But they weren't trying to do that with HiMAT, they were just using it to demonstrate advanced technologies that could be applicable to full size vehicles.Remember HiMAT was a small thing that weighed in around 5-6,000 lbs, so any amount of control surface force is more significant than on a full-sized one...which, then would likely have all-moving canards.Nice!
I just can't understand how most of the HiMat designs would have adequate pitch control? They're laid out like canard-deltas but they use a higher aspect ratio wing, it seems like the elevons wouldn't have as much leverage as they would on something like a Gripen or Rafale?
Just Model.