Rockwell XFV-12

The Rockwell XFV-12 was a prototype supersonic fighter built in 1977 for the United States Navy. It tried to combine the Mach 2 speed and Sparrow missile armament of the F-4 Phantom II with vertical takeoff and landing for the small Sea Control Ship then under study. It used a thrust-augmented wing in which engine exhaust was ducted through slats in the wing and large canards, and borrowed the nose of the A-4 Skyhawk and the intakes of the F-4. A single Pratt and Whitney F401 afterburning turbofan powered it. Tethered hover tests in 1978 showed the thrust augmentation fell far short, so the aircraft never made an untethered vertical takeoff and the Navy cancelled the programme in 1981.