Air Force STOL Tactical Transport Technology Program

An industry-assisted, state-of-the-art assessment of STOL tactical transport technology has been conducted by the Air Force. The assessment indicated that three turbofan concepts possessed the highest potential for satisfying the Air Force medium STOL transport mission. These concepts are the externally blown jet flap, internally blown jet flap, and mechanical flap with vectored cruise thrust. The Air Force has constructed a program to identify and fill the gaps in the technology, thereby reducing future system development risk. The program will also identify areas requiring future research.

The program is in three phases, with the first phase primarily small-scale wind tunnel tests, analyses, and ground-based simulation. Phase II consists of larger-scale wind tunnel testing, critical component testing, and further simulation. Phase III is scheduled to be development of a technology demonstrator vehicle. Inasmuch as approval has only been granted for phase I, detailed task descriptions for only that phase are given in this paper.