photo #6280969

4-18-'24, WBR Live, “Daily Constitution”, What is wrong with the “Academia” process? It works its way into the military industrial complex to build battleships in an era of increasing air power, even if the aircraft start to become 'bullet magnets' like said battleships. Can a fighter (as much as is comparable these days) aircraft work with less than a dozen moving parts? What happens if the entire wing assembly can be moved from a central core of 'heavy' machinery next to the structural requirements of the assembly (a lot like the off-road bikes that bolt the frame pivots directly to the engine case). With no (very few) control surfaces, hydraulics, heavy electronics, activation machinery, on the flight supports, the weight, durability, required maintenance, flight stability with battle damage, and troubleshooting are all improved. The wing positions also contribute to storage of the aircraft with no added moving surfaces and can be scaled down to drone size. However, to test -most- of the flight reaction to what the 'at speed' craft would have to go through, it should be about, at least 4' long. Most of the flight controls are done with directed fan and exhaust thrust, with a set of screw gears(?) to move the primary lift surfaces, all located directly aft of the engine generator(s), hardened, independent of the assisted 'fly by wire', ...as the ship is flight stable. As for the smaller, personal, potential aircraft market, there are a lot of crash conditions that this design can improve, from stall speed, reduced with power application only. The separate cockpit area and ability to deplete the wing fuel quickly without flight disturbance makes crash survivable as well (at the result 'settle' speed air resistance to impact with the possible crush zone damage). Hell, one could rent the 'ballistic' -after launch-, (mostly) unfueled craft to a local location like a taxi service, piloted remotely, (what these 'geniuses' should be working on). then there is that 'sidearm/internal launch' in dogfights...