Plane of the Day: X-29

The Grumman X-29 was a truly radical aircraft, designed to test a concept that went against the very grain of conventional aeronautical engineering: a forward-swept wing. While forward-swept wings had been tried before, they were notoriously unstable and prone to structural failure. The X-29, built in the 1980s, was designed to overcome these challenges using cutting-edge technologies. Its wings were made of advanced carbon composite materials, preventing the "aeroelastic divergence" that plagued earlier designs, and it was a masterpiece of instability. The X-29 was so unstable, in fact, that it required a complex, triple-redundant, computer-controlled fly-by-wire system to make thousands of minute adjustments per second, making it fundamentally flyable. The two prototypes demonstrated incredible agility and maneuverability at high angles of attack, proving that a forward-swept wing could be a viable design for the future of combat aircraft.

Specifications

Country of Origin: United States

Max Speed: Mach 1.8 (1,190 mph / 1,930 km/h)

Armament: None (Research Aircraft)

Range: Classified (typically very limited for a technology demonstrator)

Max Takeoff Weight (MTOW): 17,800 lbs (8,074 kg)

Service Ceiling: 50,000 ft (15,240 m)

Powerplant: 1 × General Electric F404-GE-400 turbofan engine, 16,000 lbf (71.2 kN) thrust

Length: 48 ft 1 in (14.65 m)

Wingspan: 27 ft 2 in (8.29 m) (forward-swept)

Height: 14 ft 3 in (4.35 m) 

Crew: 1