Message posted by Magoo on March 15, 2000 at 23:41:26 EST:
The wings do fold forward, and whilst this it theoretically feasible, it would certainly be technically challenging! There are certain unique aerodynamic characteristics produced by forward swept wings that are difficult to overcome (i.e. stall characteristics, high speed shock wave position, high- alpha handling, weapons carriage etc.). If the wing 'gloves' and the slit that they fold into can be kept to extreme tollerances or covered with a rubber skirt, it could theoretically (there's that word again!) remain quite stealthy, but will always be a compromise. therefore, it is mine (and others) opinion, that swing- wings have little technical merit these days. The original swing wing aircraft (the F-111) was designed that way because it needed to have good slow speed handling for carrier ops (which never eventuated), and for shorter relatively unprepared airstrips, as opposed to the hugely long concrete runways required by its predecessors. The other advantage of swing-wings in those days was to give the aircraft an 'adaptive' shape for different flight conditions, e.g. low-level high-speed (2/3 sweep), high-level long-range cruise (1/2 sweep), low to mid-level loiter (1/4-1/3 sweep), or mid to high-level high-speed dash (full sweep). These days, canard foreplanes (Su-37, Eurofighter, Rafale), vectored thrust (F-22, Su-37), high lift wing trailing and leading edges (Su-37, F-22, F/A-18E), delta wing planforms (Eurofighter, Rafale), trapezoid wing planforms (F-22, YF-23), and lifting body designs (Rafale, F-22, YF-23) can combine effectively without compromising stealth performance too much, and still give the aircraft a respectable all-round and airfield performance. Magoo
In Reply to: Re: Switchblade? posted by Joerg (Webmaster) on March 15, 2000 at 23:02:11 EST:
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