Why The Boeing X-32 Failed

[Music] in 1991 the Cold War had ended but the world's geopolitical landscape remained fraught with new challenges and threats the US Department of Defense realized it had to improve its military strength to keep its lead worldwide in response to the changing needs of Modern Warfare the US government started a major project in 1993 to create a new type of affordable and lightweight stealth fighter jet this jet was intended to replace the current US military's Fleet of lighter fighter and attack aircraft at the same time they also began another project called The Joint Advanced strike technology by 1994 the US government chose to combine two major projects CF and jast into one big program called The Joint Strike Fighter JSF program this move was to bring together resources and expertise to develop a modern and versatile aircraft suited for the Air Force Navy and Marine Corps the start of the JSF program saw various companies competing by showing their Innovative aircraft designs to the Department of Defense this competition marched the beginning of a significant and intense battle in Aerospace technology McDonald Douglas suggested an airplane that used a special turbo fan engine which got extra power from a separate fan driven by gas this helps the plane lift off and land in short distances or vertically General Electric later showed how this engine setup could work in a real test on the ground northrop's design included an extra engine that worked alongside the main turbo fan engine which did not use afterburners this setup also had two nozzles that could move the direction of the thrust helping with vertical or short takeoffs and landings lock Heat's idea was an airplane with a turbo fan engine that like the others could increase thrust however it got extra lift from a fan that was driven by a shaft both chose a different path and did not use extra thrust for Lift they proposed a plane with a turbo fan engine that when in vertical or short takeoff and Landing mode could change its setup this engine had two nozzles that could direct thrust and were placed near the middle of the plane in the end the Department of Defense DOD decided to give contracts to only locked Martin and Boeing in November 1996 they were asked to make two prototype planes that could take off a land like regular planes which the Air Force mainly wanted take off in a short distance and land vertically mainly for the Marine Corps take off and land on aircraft carriers which was mostly a requirement for the Navy since the Joint Strike Fighter program was the biggest of its kind since the' 60s and70s when the F-16 and fa18 were developed there was a lot of pressure on Boeing and Lockheed to invest a lot of resources to win to make sure that these companies didn't go broke trying to win the contract the dod gave each of them them $750 million to build their prototypes they were not allowed to spend their own money on this project this rule was set to make sure the companies would focus on designing aircraft that were affordable which would help the dod save money when buying these planes later on Boeing started working on their design calling it The X32 they aimed to make a plane that was cheaper and easier to build their design featured a single piece carbon fiber Wing shaped like a Delta a triangle which was a attached high on the plane and tilted back at a 55° angle this shape helped reduce drag when the plane was going fast and the wind could hold up to 20,000 lb of fuel they chose to use a direct lift thrust vectoring system for the plane this system was key to meeting the requirements for vertical Landings and short takeoffs to make the system work Boeing had to place the engine very close to the cockpit making the front of the plane heavier this was a unique Choice as fighter jets usually have their engines towards the back this front heavy design was crucial for allowing the plane to hover in the air Boeing managed to make their unique design functional by using a pratt and Whitney engine capable of producing over 42,000 lb of thrust this engine was a modified version of the F22 Rapture turbo fan which includes afterburners for extra power the aircraft featured an air intake at the front below the cockpit resembling a chin this chin intake was crucial for drawing an enough air to allow the plane to hover in place although this air intake design gave the aircraft an unusual appearance it also contributed to its notoriety the distinctive look led to the plane being nicknamed Monica a reference to Monica Linsky the White House in turn involved in a scandal with President Bill Clinton this nickname highlighted the aircraft's unique characteristics and the Public's reaction to its unconventional design the 2 X32 aircraft had a deltawing design 8 month mon after they started building the concept's demonstrator aircraft the Navy asked for changes in the maneuverability and payload requirements for The Joint Strike Fighter program due to these new requirements Boeing's deltawing design did not meet the expectations engineers then modified the design to include a traditional caned twin tail which made the aircraft lighter and more agile however it was too late to make these changes to the aircraft itself they decided that the existing designs would be good enough to show off Boeing technology to address all of the Department of defense's DOD requirements Boeing decided to make two versions of the X32 the X32 Alpha for demonstrating conventional takeoff and landing and carrier trials and the X32 Bravo for showing the short takeoff and vertical Landing capabilities the X32 Alpha took to the skies for its first flight on September 18th 200000 it flew from pale plants to Edwards Air Force Base the flight was largely successful achieving 80% of its intended goals however there were some issues encountered during the flight that led to it being cut short from the planned 40 minutes to just 20 minutes during its first flight the X32 Alpha needed a Runway of 670 M about 2,200 ft to take off reaching a speed of 280 kmph 170 mph interestingly the fa18 chase planes had trouble keeping Pace with the X3 2 Alpha at the beginning showcasing the X32 Alpha's impressive performance right from the start over a 4month testing period the X32 Alpha successfully completed 66 flights it met the Air Force's requirements for conventional takeoff and landing and the Navy's criteria for Carrier takeoff the tests also confirmed the aircraft's capabilities in several critical areas including operations of the weapon Bay supersonic flight and handling qualities during inflight refueling proving the Design's Effectiveness and versatility following the success of the X32 Alpha the X32 Bravo began its initial flight in March 2001 to test the short takeoff and vertical Landing capabilities it followed a similar path from Palmdale to Edwards Air Force Base for its tests the X32 Bravo used an enhanced version of the engine known as the s14s tailored to meet the unique demands of stovl operations marking another important milestone in the development of The Joint Strike Fighter program the aircraft flew for 50 minutes to test what it could do unlike the earlier model This Plane had a special engine designed for vertical lift it used a unique valve to direct the engine's exhaust to nozzles positioned near the middle of the plane helping it to lift off the ground quickly or land vertically this setup was a lot like the Harrier 2 which also used its exhaust in a clever way to move up or down there was a special part in the plane that stops the hot gases from getting sucked back in which could make the plane too hot the X32 Bravo went through 78 test flights in four months one notable flight took it all the way across the country from Edwards Air Force Base to the Naval Air Station puent River just like the Harrier the X32 could hover in the air the X32 Bravo successfully met the Marine Corp specific needs for short takeoff and vertical Landing by adjusting the engine's thrust from cruising to lifting nozzles on the D-Day pilot Philip Yates was in charge of flying the X32 he had a team of 20 people to help with the plane's maintenance and two fa18 Jets to follow along during flights the pilots testing both Boeing's X32 and lockheed's x35 were there to show what these planes could do the Joint Strike Fighter program asked each company to come up with their own way of testing their planes this was to best show off what their aircraft could do and how well they could meet or even go beyond what was asked of them this gave the companies a chance to show off extra features of their planes that weren't originally asked for each company's tests were done separately allowing them to focus on highlighting their aircraft's unique strengths and capabilities the pilot noted that while the X32 handled well during tests it struggled to show it could do short takeoffs and vertical Landings and fly faster than the speed of sound without changing its setup before the plane could switch between these modes the maintenance team had to make some adjustments even though the design was smart the plane often had problems with not enough power and the engine getting too hot in short takeoff and vertical Landing mode this was because hot exhaust air would get socked back into the engine on October 26th 2001 the Department of Defense DOD declared that locked Martin's x35 was the winner of a contest this was mainly because the x35 could take off quickly and land straight up and down really well thanks to its powerful lift fan system the x35 showed its strength especially when it took off in a short distance of less than 150 M 500 ft flew faster than the speed of sound and then landed straight down doing better than the Boeing's X32 the lock heat entry seemed to be a smaller version of the F-22 Raptor stealth fighter choosing the direct lift system led to the need for a big air intake on the front this intake was necessary to supply enough hot air to the main engine to allow it to hover when when the plane wasn't moving forward and couldn't use air pressure from speed a side effect of this big intake was that it might let radar see the engines compressor blades more easily it wasn't considered a serious problem because it can easily be solved by using adjustable baffles that could block the radar waves without disturbing the air flow even though both planes did more than what was asked the x35 performed better than the X32 throughout the competition the loss of the JSF contract to locked Martin in 20 1 was a major blow to Boeing as it represented the most important International fighter aircraft project since the lightweight fighter program competition of the 1960s and 1970s which had led to the F-16 Fighting Falcon and fa18 Hornet at the time the production run of the JSF was estimated at anywhere between 3,000 and 5,000 prior to the awarding of the contract many pushed the idea of retaining the losing competitor as a subcontractor however the winner takes all principal was not changed and only the winning company loed Martin got to do it if you enjoyed this content don't forget to hit the like button subscribe for more and ring that notification Bell to stay updated on our latest posts thank you for your support

Channel: Dwaynes Aviation

Views: 60,368

Keywords: Joint Strike Fighter, JSF program, Boeing X-32, Lockheed Martin X-35, F-22 Raptor, F-16 Fighting Falcon, F/A-18 Hornet, Military Aviation, Stealth Aircraft, Vertical Takeoff and Landing, Aerospace Technology, Defense Industry, U.S. Department of Defense, Military Jets, Air Superiority, Advanced Combat Aircraft, Military Technology, Naval Aviation, Air Force Equipment, Marine Corps Aviation, Fighter Jet Competition, Aeronautics History

Id: r54P1hrpT5g

Length: 11min 49sec (709 seconds)

Published: Wed May 08 2024