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Everything You Need To Know About Boeing's Futuristic Fighter Jet X-36
By ALEX HEVESY
While most fighter jets have a tail or vertical stabilizer, NASA experimented with the Boeing X-36 to further its research on tailless aircraft in a fighter role.
The X-36 was never a full-size fighter jet. It was instead a 28 percent scale copy of what it might look like. It was 19 feet long with a 10-foot wingspan and weighed 1,250 pounds.
Although it was just a scale model, NASA learned valuable lessons and collected an abundance of data from the X-36.
The jet tested the Air Force's Reconfigurable Control for Tailless Fighter Aircraft software, allowing the X-36 to remain in flight even after losing control.
The X-36 only flew from May to November of 1997 for a total of 31 unmanned remote control flights, but the plane was promising.
Despite not having a tail, the X-36 excelled in performing at high speeds and low speeds, proving itself to be remarkably maneuverable and agile.