The conceptual design of deck-launched waverider-configured aircraft

Abstract

The results of five graduate classroom design teams are reviewed in order to assess the feasibility of carriercapable tactical waverider-configured aircraft designed for cruise Mach numbers in the range 3≤M_∞≤5. The efforts of the design teams suggests that such aircraft are probably feasible for combat radii of $\text{580}\text{nm}\text{<R<1500}\text{nm}$. Low-speed research to support the development of such aircraft indicates that within the subsonic flight regime, waverider planforms may be statically unstable, vortex lift may be less strong for waverider configurations than for similar simple delta wing planforms and lift, drag and pitching moment data appear to be well behaved within a large (−20°≤α≤20° data shown herein) angle-of-attack range.