X-31 Vector
In late April 2003, the VECTOR programme reached a successful conclusion at Patuxent River, Maryland with an extreme landing at a 24° angle of attack and a landing speed of only 121 knots.
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In the so-called VECTOR ESTOL (Extremely Short Take-Off and Landing) phase, the X-31 experimental aircraft achieved the world's first thrust-vectored automatic landings. For such a landing, during runway approach the aircraft's nose points steeply upwards. As soon as the rear end has approached to within 60 centimetres of the ground, the nose drops and the landing gear has ground contact. This is an extremely critical manoeuvre and it must therefore be possible for the process to take place fully automatically.
The US Navy, the German Federal Office for Defence Technology and Procurement (BWB), EADS and Boeing cooperated in this ambitious programme. In all, eleven test landings in the ESTOL mode took place. During these, the Flush Air Data System (FADS) developed by EADS proved that it can also reliably deliver accurate air data for extreme flight attitudes. These, plus all other results and findings, will be incorporated into both future developments and upgrade programmes.
