Mar 302009
 

Studied at NASA-Ames in 1974 was an unmanned air-to-air “fighter” equipped with a variable geometry oblique wing and two Sidewinder missiles. Intended for ground launch (using either a catapult or zero-length rocket launch) or from a larger aircraft, the remotely piloted vehicle would cruise at Mach 0.9 and 30,000 feet for 200 nautical miles, dash to Mach 1.6 and fire its missiles, and cruise back to base at Mach 0.9 and 45,000 feet.

While the design seems to have been mostly theoretical – the drawing is crude and landing gear is not shown – the basic layout survived. Only recently DARPA cancelled the “Switchblade” unmanned bomber concept that was very similar in most respects to this design.

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