#x-56a

X-56A MUTT

Meet NASA and Lockheed Martin’s MUTT! This is a remotely operated aircraft being used to research the preformance of lightweight, flexible airframes for high altitude, long endurance (HALE) flights. This, of course, has applications for stealth reconnaissance as well as a new aspect of commercial travel.

Edwards AFB, USA – A new U.S. Air Force X-plane designated X-56A will explore active control technology for potential use in future high-altitude, long-endurance (HALE) reconnaissance aircraft.

Designed by Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works, the X-56A flying wing will also later be flown by NASA, and is an innovative modular unmanned air vehicle designed to test active flutter suppression and gust load alleviation. These technologies are considered vital for the successful development of the slender, lightweight, high-aspect-ratio wings that could be used by future transports as well as intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance UAVs.

Formerly dubbed the Multi-Use Technology Testbed (MUTT), the UAV will test to the edge of the flight envelope where flutter occurs. Flutter is the potentially catastrophic dynamic coupling that can occur between the elastic motion of the wing and the aerodynamic loads acting on it. If a test goes too far and a wing fails in flight, the X-56A is fitted with a fuselage-mounted ballistic parachute recovery system.