McDonnell Douglas X-36

The X-36 Tailless Fighter Agility Research Aircraft, historically the McDonnell Douglas X-36 and sometimes called the Boeing X-36, was an American stealthy subscale prototype jet unmanned aircraft built for NASA. It was designed without the usual tail surfaces to cut weight, drag and radar cross section while improving range, maneuverability and survivability. At 28 percent of the scale of a possible fighter, it was flown by a pilot in a ground-based virtual cockpit using a video camera in the canopy, and it was controlled by a canard, split ailerons and a thrust vectoring nozzle. It first flew on 17 May 1997 and made 31 successful research flights. The two aircraft are preserved at museums in Ohio and California.