F-16XL The Fighter That Should Have Been Built | avgeek | #f-36

let's take a look at a fighter that should have been produced the f-16xl the f-16xl is a cranked arrow DeltaWing variant of a hugely successful f-16 Fighting Falcon or Viper initially conceived as a technology demonstrator for General Dynamics the f-16xl was entered into the enhanced Tactical Fighter competition let's take a look at some of the specifications for the f-16xl length 54 feet 2 inches height 17 feet 7 inches wingspan 34 feet 3 inches maximum speed 1,400 miles per hour or mach 2.0 + empty weight 22,000 pounds maximum takeoff weight 48,000 pounds range 2,850 miles engine thrust with the general electric f110 GE 100 turbofan 17,000 100 pounds of thrust dry or twenty eight thousand nine hundred pounds of thrust with afterburner similar to the production of 16 the f-16xl was armed with an internal m60 120 millimeter vulcan gatling gun which was capable of firing 6,000 rounds a minute or 100 rounds per second however due to its much larger wing the f-16xl had an incredible 27 hardpoints which were divided as follows one centerline station to wingtip stations 16 underwing stations each with a capacity of 750 pounds for semi recessed aim-120 amraam stations under the fuselage to wing heavy or wet stations and to chin lantern stations this allowed the f-16xl to carry an impressive 15,000 pounds of payload and give it its larger wing with more fuel capacity the f-16xl could carry it much farther than the production f-16 to learn how the f-16xl came about we first have to go back to the mid-1970s when new Soviet fighters and advanced air defense systems began to appear as a result the US Air Force began to realize that along with increased maneuverability and larger payloads high-efficiency supersonic performance over long ranges was needed after several conferences during 1976 and 1977 it was deemed that supercruise performance would significantly improve chances for mission success at the same time NASA concluded working on a supersonic transport or SSC program and while the SST program was canceled results of the SST and related studies illustrated the benefits of a cranked Aero or double delta wing the double delta wing provides high top speed while also maintaining good handling qualities at both high and low speeds this is done by having a wing which has both a high sweep on the inboard panel for low drag at supersonic speeds and a low sweep on the outboard panel to provide better handling and the new ability at subsonic speeds it is important to note that the double delta wing actually has its origins in Sweden where Saab pioneered the design in their j35 Drakon which first flew in 1954 following the research done for civilian airliner applications Langley soon initiated a study focusing on military applications known as the supersonic cruise integrated fighter or SCIF program the goal of SCIF was to cultivate the use of supercruise technologies in fighter aircraft the SCIF designs were numbered sequentially and were wind tunnel tested over a wide Mach number range the SCIF model for was optimized for cruise of mach 1.8 and envisioned as an air superiority variants both the SCIF 4 and SIF models were tested extensively and the results of the SCF program along with all the interests in super cruise technologies led NASA to collaborate with General Dynamics on the supersonic cruise a maneuver prototype or scamp program the scamp program was a natural fit for General Dynamics in the f-16 the f-16 makes use of a modular construction approach which lends itself to taking production examples and making structural changes for testing relatively quick and inexpensive the f-16 was the winner of the lightweight fighter program or lwf and was the result of extensive work by a group known as the fighter mafia which included John Boyd and Harry Hilliker Harry Hilliker is considered the father of the f-16 and was advocating improvements the design that fit with the scamp requirements as such General Dynamics teamed up with NASA to take enough 16 airframe and made it with a wing that would provide both supersonic cruise ability as well as subsonic maneuverability initial testing was done at the Langley Research Center starting with wind tunnel mock-ups and technical analysis this led to the development of the model 400 for the model 400 the inboard leading-edge sweep angles was seventy six point six degrees and the outboard wing had a sweep of 66 point six degrees additionally the model 400 had both inboard and outboard leading-edge flaps that could extend up to sixty degrees and finally the model 400 made use of a movable vertical tail and all moving wingtips for stability when these tests showed promising results general dynamics internally funded development of a flight demonstrator to further explore this concept and vision was in advance f-16 that could fly farther carry more payload and supercruise further testing led to refinements of the scamp design and along with funding from the Air Force ultimately two flying examples were developed and produced these became known as the f-16xl the f16 excels wing had evolved to have an inboard leading edge sweep of 70 degrees and an outboard crank section of 50 degrees additionally in order to accommodate the larger wing the fuselage was also lengthened by over 50 inches as compared to the production of 16 the xl's drag during wings level acceleration and 1g flight was comparable and lift-to-drag ratio z' were better across the entire supersonic speed range the larger wing of the f-16xl increased fuel capacity by an astounding 82 percent and allowed it to carry twice the payload of the f16 while delivering at 40% farther in 1981 the Air Force officially announced the program to replace the f-111 this program became known as the enhanced Tactical Fighter or ETF the ETF requirements were to produce a single fighter which could operate deep strike missions without the need of escort or jamming aircraft the requirements emphasize both long range and large weapon payloads ultimately to final designs were submitted the f-15e and the f-16xl while the f-15e was very similar to the already existing in production two-seat f-15d trainer the f-16xl was basically a major redesign despite promising results from the f-16xl ultimately the Air Force went with the f-15e Strike Eagle as the winner of the competition so why did the f-16xl lose out one of the main issues was related to cost since the f-16xl was significantly structurally different from the production version substantial costs would be incurred to create a production line to mass-produce the new wing additionally as these requirements called for a long-range strike fighter the air force felt that having only one engine was too risky as a strike fighter would likely be exposed to substantial anti-aircraft fire furthermore while the double delta wing of the f-16xl added much more range in payload during tight sustained turns air speed and energy bled off rapidly this was seen as a major disadvantage by the Air Force despite all these shortcomings some have asked why the Air Force didn't just choose both the f-15e and the f-16xl after all the f16 was designed to complement the f-15 in the air force's favored low high mix and a derivative of the f-15 should also be accompanied by a derivative of the f-16 in fact some of the team members who worked on the f-16xl recognize the need for the f-15e and that the excel was forced into competition with the f-15e so there could be a winner additionally is important to note that along with the etf program the Air Force had some simultaneous and highly secret programs running concurrently namely the f-117 Nighthawk and the Advanced Tactical Fighter or ATF program the atf program would go on to produce the f-22 and much of the wing research data obtained by the f-16xl was applied to the f-22 at the end of the day there were just too many competing projects in fact many have referred to the f16 excel as a great idea at the wrong time while the f-16xl did not make it into production the two flying examples were pressed into nasa service as research vehicles after several years in storage initially partaking in the high-speed research or HSR program it was felt that NASA was best suited to study the effects and feasibility of commercial supersonic travel and although supersonic travel had been studied and implemented an aircraft like the Concorde the HSR was looking to develop new technologies to take supersonic travel into the 21st century it was hoped that a cranked Errol DeltaWing passenger jet could achieve speeds of mach 2.2 and carry 300 passengers ironically it was this research that saved the two flying of 16 X ELLs from destruction by live-fire exercises by the Air Force NASA recognized the f-16xl as an ideal research platform for supersonic laminar flow control or s LFC and requested the 2x ELLs as part of their research efforts the Air Force agreed and the first f-16xl known as xl1 was given the NASA designation 849 with 8 representing a Dryden research aircraft aircraft 849 initially flew test flights with an sr-71 to study sonic boom properties the second f-16xl or xl2 was redesignated by nasa as aircraft eight for eight i'm not sure why it has a lower sequence number but that's what they did and powered by the more powerful GE f110 GE one to nine engine it is interesting to note that eight four eight achieved supercruise with this improved engine I'll be it too late for the competition with the f-15 getting back to the SL lefse research after testing a smaller aerodynamic glove on aircraft 849 aircraft eight for eight was then fitted with an experimental titanium glove which contained 12 million tiny holes to study laminar flow over the wing interestingly enough the glove used induced suction which was generated by a modified Boeing 707 turbo compressor located where the ammunition be for the Vulcan cannon resided these experiments showed that it was possible to achieve laminar airflow over most of a highly swept wing at supersonic speeds by using an active suction system along with he studies the f-16 xl's were also used to research noise associated with supersonic travel and in the vicinity of airports while the research was promising it turned out that the cost to produced such a glove on a civilian airliner were deemed far too expensive for commercial aviation use in the end it was decided that supersonic laminar flow control was not a near-term attainable technology and so the program was cancelled however this was not the end of the s16 exhales contribution to research the crank Tara wing aerodynamics program or CAW ap effort conducted extensive Studies on vortex flows over highly swept wings ultimately the program became international in scope with several nations participating in the research effort and data analysis one of the more interesting studies conducted as part of the CAW ap program were the flow visualization studies which mounted several cameras on the f-16xl this data was then used to create and modify computer models which modeled vortex flow over and around the wings in addition extensive pressure and temperature analysis studies were conducted using sophisticated instrumentation and data capture techniques all of this led to enormous contributions to the relatively new field of computational fluid dynamics or CFD along with its related design tools which are still used today the f-16 xl's contribution to the art and science that is aerospace cannot be understated and finally the f-16xl made extensive use of aeroelasticity taylor composite laminates this improves stiffness which made the wing more rigid and durable today the aerospace industry sees wide use of these applications which were largely pioneered by the f-16xl by 1999 all testing had concluded and both f-16xl were placed into storage at NASA Dryden however for a time it looked like the Excel program would once again be resurrected in 2007 Lockheed Martin was approached by NASA to determine the cost of returning aircraft 849 to airworthiness and upgrade the avionics to more modern standards aircraft eight for nine and was taken out of storage powered up and taxied this would be the last time in Excel operated under its own power the effort was cancelled and both excels were finally retired in 2009 today they are stored and displayed at Edwards Air Force Base in the end f-16xl one logged over 530 hours while exhale two logged over 400 hours putting their combined flight time at just under 940 hours what do you think should the f-16xl have been put into production was it unfairly compared to the f-15e let me know in the comments below thanks for watching I immensely enjoyed researching this wonderful aircraft and making this video please subscribe and click on the valve for notifications if you'd like to see more there's also a link to my discord server in the description below stay safe everyone and see you next time

Channel: PilotPhotog

Views: 568,560

Keywords: F-16XL, F15, F15E, F22, F22 Raptor, SST, XL, aerospace, afterburner, avgeek, aviator, concorde, development, documentary, dryden, dryden flight research center, edwards air force base, experimental, f 16xl fighter, f16, f16xl, f36, fighting falcon, flight, fly, general dynamics, hillaker, history, laminar flow, lockheed martin, nasa, photography, pilot, pilotphotog, plane, raptor, research, specifications, specs, supercruise, supersonic, test aircraft, us military news, viper, weekly dose of aviation, kingsnake, F36

Id: 6l3Ixa_WmSg

Length: 15min 54sec (954 seconds)

Published: Mon Jul 13 2020