Rockwell XFV-12

File:Rockwell XFV-12A on gantry.jpg

File:XFV-12A mockup NAColumbus NAN9-73.jpg

In 1972, the Navy issued a request for proposals for a next generation supersonic V/STOL fighter/attack aircraft. Rockwell's design with the XFV-12 won against Convair's proposal with the Convair Model 200.Convair Advanced Designs II, Robert E Bradly, Special Press {{ISBN|978-0-8597917-0-0}} The XFV-12A, despite its concept being considered risky compared to that of the Harrier, was selected for development.{{cite web|url=http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/aircraft/xfv-12.htm|title=GlobalSecurity.org|work=XFV-12|access-date=13 January 2007|url-access=limited}}

To reduce costs, the nose from the Douglas A-4 Skyhawk and intakes from the F-4 were used. Engine rig testing began in 1974.{{dead link|date=July 2021|fix-attempted=yes}} Free-flight model tests conducted at the NASA Langley full-scale wind tunnel showed the projected thrust augmentation levels were highly optimistic, and that the aircraft would most likely be incapable of vertical flight on the thrust available, while the design remained suitable for conventional flight.

The XFV-12 used a thrust augmented wing concept{{cite web|url=http://www.things-with-wings.com/Prototypes/XFV12.htm|title=Historic Aircraft by Airborne Unlimited|work=Rockwell XFV-12|access-date=21 June 2010}} {{Dead link|date=July 2021|fix-attempted=yes}} in which exhaust would be directed through spaces in a wing opened up like venetian blinds to increase available lift, somewhat like Lockheed's unsuccessful XV-4 Hummingbird. Such arrangement restricted weapons carriage to under the narrow fuselage and two conformal missile mounts. Its canards were extremely large, almost 50% of the area of the wings, making it effectively a tandem wing. The 30,000 lbf (130 kN)-class afterburning turbofan engine was modified to provide enough thrust to lift the weight of the 20,000 lb (9,072 kg) aircraft. Some of these modifications included closing the rear engine exhaust and redirecting gases through ducts to ejector nozzles in the wings and canards for vertical lift.

Ground testing of the XFV-12A began in July 1977, and the aircraft was officially rolled out at the Rockwell International facility in Columbus, Ohio on 26 August. Due to increasing costs, construction of the second prototype was abandoned.

Tethered hover tests were conducted in 1978. Over the course of six months, it was determined that the XFV-12A design suffered from major deficiencies with regard to vertical flight, especially a lack of sufficient vertical thrust. Lab tests showed 55% thrust augmentation should be expected; however, differences in the scaled-up system dropped augmentation levels to 19% for the wing and a mere 6% in the canard. While the augmenters did work as expected, the extensive ducting of the propulsion system degraded thrust, and in the end the power-to-weight ratio was such that the engine was capable of vertically lifting only 75% of the weight of the aircraft in which it was mounted.

Following the tests, and with the program suffering from cost overruns, the Navy decided the XFV-12A was not worth further development, and cancelled the project in 1981. The October 6, 1975 issue of Aviation Week published an article about the Rockwell NA-382 which was an even more ambitious proposal to the Marine Corps to fit a similar wing to the Lockheed C-130 Hercules, but the plan never made it off the drawing board.{{cite magazine |last=Schneider |first=Charles E. |publication-date=6 October 1975 |title=Rockwell Proposes Vtol C-130 Version |url=https://archive.aviationweek.com/issue/19751006 |url-access=subscription |magazine=Aviation Week |location=United States |access-date=29 October 2021}}

Of the two prototypes built, only one was completed, while the second prototype was cancelled.Willis, 2006, p. 65

The United States Marine Corps eventually adopted the subsonic British-designed Harrier, the only truly successful V/STOL design of the 1960s.

Following program cancellation, the aircraft was disassembled and the cockpit section of the fuselage was stored at NASA's Plum Brook Station in Sandusky, Ohio. As of May 2012, a group of high school students at the EHOVE Career Center, with guidance from NASA contractor personnel, were to restore the fuselage for use as a museum display.{{cite web|url=https://appel.nasa.gov/2011/10/19/ata_4-8_maciej_zborowski-html/|title=NASA Ask the Academy Young Professional Brief -- Maciej Zborowski|publisher=NASA|volume=4|issue=8|date=28 October 2011|access-date=31 July 2021|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210731201311/https://appel.nasa.gov/2011/10/19/ata_4-8_maciej_zborowski-html/|archive-date=31 July 2021}}{{cite news|url=https://www.morningjournal.com/2012/05/28/nasa-ehove-students-team-up-to-restore-jet/|title=NASA, EHOVE students team up to restore jet|last=Payerchin|first=Richard|newspaper=The Morning Journal|location=Lorain, Ohio|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210731193355/https://www.morningjournal.com/2012/05/28/nasa-ehove-students-team-up-to-restore-jet/|archive-date=31 July 2021|date=28 May 2012|url-status=live|access-date=31 July 2021}}{{update inline|date=December 2020}}

{{Aircraft specs

|ref=Jane's All the World's Aircraft 1979–80,{{cite book |title=Jane's All the World's Aircraft 1979–80 |editor1-last=Taylor |editor1-first=John W.R. |editor2-last=Munson |editor2-first=Kenneth |date=1979 |publisher=Jane's Yearbooks |edition=69th |location=London |isbn=978-0531039151 }} Jane's All the World's Aircraft 1980–81{{cite book |title=Jane's All the World's Aircraft 1980–81 |editor1-last=Taylor |editor1-first=John W.R. |edition=71st |year=1980 |publisher=Jane's Publishing Co. |location=London |isbn=0-7106-0705-9 |page=430}}

|prime units?=imp

|crew=1

|length ft=43

|length in=11

|length note=

|span ft=28

|span in=6.25

|span note=

|height ft=10

|height in=4

|height note=

|wing area sqft=293

|wing area note=

|swept area sqft=

|swept area note=

|volume ft3=

|volume note=

|aspect ratio=

|airfoil=

|empty weight lb=13800

|empty weight note=

|gross weight lb=19500

|gross weight note=

|max takeoff weight lb=24250

|max takeoff weight note=

|fuel capacity={{cvt|2763|L|USgal impgal}} in two fuselage bladder tanks and two integral wing tanks

|more general=

|eng1 number=1

|eng1 name=Pratt & Whitney F401-PW-400

|eng1 type=afterburning turbofan engine

|eng1 hp=

|eng1 shp=

|eng1 lbf=

|eng1 note=

|power original=

|thrust original=

|eng1 lbf-ab=30000

|max speed mph=

|max speed note=

|max speed mach=2.2-2.4

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|never exceed speed mph=

|never exceed speed note=

|range miles=

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|endurance=

|ceiling ft=

|ceiling note=

|g limits=

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|climb rate note=

|time to altitude=

|wing loading lb/sqft=

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|fuel consumption lb/mi=

|thrust/weight=1.5 (conventional)

|more performance=

• Take-off run: {{cvt|300|ft|0}} at {{cvt|24250|lb}}

|guns= 1 20 mm M61 Vulcan cannon, 639 rounds

|missiles= 2 AIM-7 Sparrow (carried under fuselage) and 2 AIM-9L Sidewinder AAMs or 4 AIM-7s

|avionics=

}}

{{Portal|Aviation}}

{{Aircontent|

|related=

|similar aircraft=

• Convair Model 200
• Hawker Siddeley Harrier
• VFW VAK 191B
• Yakovlev Yak-141

|lists=

• List of fighter aircraft
• List of military aircraft of the United States
• List of VTOL aircraft

|see also=

• Sea Control Ship

}}

;Notes

{{reflist}}

;Bibliography

• Buttler, Tony. American Secret Projects, Fighters & Interceptors 1945-1978. Hinckley, UK: Midland Publishing. 2007. {{ISBN|1-85780-264-0}}.
• {{cite book|last=Winchester|first=Jim|title=X-Planes and Prototypes|publisher=Barnes and Noble Books}}
• {{cite journal |last1= Willis |first1= David |year= 2006|title= V for Variety, part one|journal=Air Enthusiast|publisher=Key Publishing|volume=July/August 2006|issue= 124|pages=55–65|issn=0143-5450 }}
• {{cite journal|url=http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1979/1979%20-%200177.html|title=XFV-12A V/Stol in need of a lift|journal=Flight International|date=20 January 1979|page=171|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120601002148/https://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1979/1979%20-%200177.html|archive-date=1 June 2012|url-status=dead|url-access=subscription}}

{{Commons category}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20090226220808/http://steeljawscribe.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/image/xfv-12a.jpg Line illustration of the Rockwell XFV-12]
• [https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EXGKnnHUcAE1d6m?format=jpg&name=4096x4096 Illustration of XFV-12 engine airflow]

{{North American Aviation aircraft}}

{{US STOL and VTOL aircraft}}

{{USAF fighters}}

Category:Cancelled military aircraft projects of the United States

Category:Canard aircraft

Category:Carrier-based aircraft

FV-12

Rockwell FV-12

Category:V/STOL aircraft by thrust vectoring

Category:Single-engined jet aircraft

Category:High-wing aircraft

Category:Aircraft with retractable tricycle landing gear