Maneuvering Technology for Advanced Fighter Aircraft

The need for increased maneuverability has its genesis from the first aerial combat engagement when two adversaries entangled themselves in a deadly aerial dance trying to gain the advantage over the other. It has only been in the past two decades that technologies have been investigated to increase aircraft control at maneuver attitudes that are typically dominated by highly separated flows. These separated flow regions are aggravated by advanced fighter aircraft shapes required to defeat an electronic enemy. This paper discusses passive and active devices that can be used to enhance the maneuverability of advanced fighter aircraft through vortex flow control, boundary layer control, and innovative flow manipulation.