For decades, the need for stealth and agility has driven the evolution of American fighter planes, pushing engineers and pilots to rethink what a fighter can accomplish. Perhaps the most exciting breakthrough along the way has been the creation of tailless fighter designs—fighter aircraft that dispense with traditional tail fins in favor of more aerodynamic, radar-absorbing shapes. It’s a story of risk-taking experiments, crashes, and successes that have rewritten the book on the future of air-to-air combat.
The story begins to soar with the McDonnell Douglas Phantom Works X-36 in the 1990s. This small, 28-percent model test plane, built in conjunction with NASA, was designed to prove that a fighter without a conventional tail would be able to fly—and do so very well. Tipping the scales at 1,250 pounds and driven by a Williams F112 turbofan, the X-36 substituted tail fins with canard foreplanes and divided ailerons, and steered direction through an enhanced thrust-vectoring nozzle.
Since a tailless aircraft is inherently unstable in pitch and yaw, the X-36 depended on a digital fly-by-wire system to stabilize it. Over 31 test flights at NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center, it broke expectations, showing breathtaking stability and handling over a vast range of speeds.
Lockheed Martin was, in the meantime, experimenting with similar ideas with its X-44 MANTA—short for Multi-Axis No-Tail Aircraft. Building on the design of the F-22 Raptor, the X-44 took stealth a step further by omitting vertical stabilizers altogether. Vertical fins emit radar, so cutting them ensured a drastic boost to low observability.
The plan was to combine the stealthy, blended-wing looks of bombers like the B-2 with the agility of fighter-class aircraft using thrust-vectoring engines that would be able to fully manage pitch, yaw, and roll. Although the X-44 never moved beyond the conceptual stage due to budget cuts, its ideas persist in later designs.
Mention the F-22 Raptor, and in 2005 came a quantum leap in air superiority. Designed to counter advanced threats, the Raptor combined stealth, supercruise (sustained supersonic flight using no afterburners), and advanced avionics. With two Pratt & Whitney F119 engines giving enormous power and low-radar-signature internal weapon bays, it was designed to be an avowed multirole force with sophisticated sensor fusion and electronic warfare capabilities. Despite its fantastic capabilities, production of only 195 Raptors was achieved before it was canceled, primarily due to shifting defense budgets and priorities.
Lockheed Martin also explored expanding the Raptor’s mission with the FB-22 idea—a regional bomber variant with longer wings and fuselage. This carried more fuel and a much greater payload—up to 35 small bombs or behemoth 5,000-pound bunker busters within. The design took into account removing vertical tails to continue refining stealth, much like the tailless designs of before.
This took away some maneuverability, which was acceptable because the FB-22 was designed to be a bomber rather than a dogfighter. Despite feeling the axe in 2006, the FB-22 has influenced current stealth bomber and fighter designs.
Today, the Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) program, embodied by Boeing’s F-47, is the culmination of all these lessons learned in tailless design. Though still secret, the F-47 makes no secret of the heritage of the X-36: a wide, shovel-nosed radome that must house a powerful radar, a bubble canopy for enhanced pilot lines of sight, and canard foreplanes—a compromise between stealth and stability. Thrust-vectoring engines in conjunction with extremely advanced flight control systems should make the aircraft stealthy as well as maneuverable.
The strategic impact of these technologies is immense. By reducing vertical tail surfaces, tailless fighters emit fewer radar reflections, making them harder to detect and lock onto. But at a loss of stability, requiring sophisticated computer controls to keep them flying smoothly. These trade-offs show just how far technology has come in striking a balance between stealth, speed, and control.
Fundamentally, the advent of tailless stealth fighter aircraft represents a shift in emphasis in air combat. Brute speed and tight turns are no longer sufficient; survival in the contested airspace depends upon stealth, sensor fusion, and networking. The technological advances of the X-36, X-44 MANTA, F-22, and FB-22 assisted in the development of NGAD’s strategy to ensure American air superiority remains strong in an ever more volatile world. As new threats emerge, the ability to innovate and evolve will remain the key to being the leader in the air.