When They Built a Strange Super Wide F-16

Рет қаралды 8,059

28 күн бұрын

From the sleek lineage of the F-16 Fighting Falcon came a visionary leap in aerospace design: the F-16XL.
Conceived in the late 1970s by the same General Dynamics team, this prototype featured a striking, massive cranked-arrow delta wing that delivered unparalleled agility and performance. The wing's innovative design provided a 25% higher lift-to-drag ratio in supersonic flight and a whopping 120% larger surface area compared to the standard Fighting Falcon.
Constructed with cutting-edge carbon composite materials, it saved 600 pounds of weight while boosting structural strength and aerodynamic efficiency.
The F-16XL could even carry twice the payload and travel 44% farther without external fuel tanks. But despite being arguably one of America's greatest fighters ever developed, in the world of aircraft design and production, better doesn't always mean more convenient.

Пікірлер: 50

@timtitus2532 25 күн бұрын

Great video. It has a 70s training video note to the commentary. I love it. Takes me back. Thanks

@Thunder_6278 24 күн бұрын

To this day, I'm baffled why the F-16XL wasn't given a limited production order by the USAF. This would have been a beast in the Desert Storm air campaign.

@gort8203 24 күн бұрын

They bought the F-15E Strike Eagle instead. There is no sensible reason to procure a limited number of what would have been a more expense aircraft that did not offer superior performance.

@kpal2946 24 күн бұрын

@@gort8203 XL had far superior performance over the F-16.

@gort8203 23 күн бұрын

@@kpal2946 The XL had superior performance over the F-16 in range as a fighter-bomber, mostly due to more internal fuel. It did not have superior performance over the F-15E that won the competition. It also did not outperform the F-16 in sustained maneuverability, which is what that airplane had been designed for and was why it didn't have a delta wing in the first place. It's not like the delta wing was a new invention that was not considered for the original F-16 design.

@ioannisdamianos4716 20 күн бұрын

Welcome to the club. Definitely a missed opportunity!

@knudkristensen4902 18 күн бұрын

Wings almost like the Saab f 35 Draken.

@kpal2946 26 күн бұрын

my new favorite channel.

@FNHaole 18 күн бұрын

Should’ve given it a cool name like “Draken”. Oh…wait a sec…

@sabercruiser.7053 26 күн бұрын

🔥🔥🤲🙏✨👑 outstanding work thank you much greatful

@someoneelse9271 19 күн бұрын

Couldn’t have called it the F-15 Beagle I bet

@bret9741 19 күн бұрын

I’m not sure how my peers felt at the time of this aircraft testing. But I felt it was not an attractive fighter bomber relative to the F-15E. I was also a big fan of the Strike Eagles second engine. I know this for certain, looks play a role in aircraft acceptance in peacetime. It’s less important during desperate wartime periods.

@gort8203 24 күн бұрын

SCAMP was a research program to gain information for future aircraft. Supercruise is useful at higher altitudes in the air to air mode. The airplane would never supercruise when loaded down with external stores. The XL didn't achieve much in the way of supercruise until many years later when NASA installed more powerful engines. The XL would have been a good fighter bomber, but it was not superior to the F-15E, which was less expensive, less risky, and more capable.

@jadams3427 18 күн бұрын

I bet Israel would have considered the XL.

@scottlichlyter1533 25 күн бұрын

It looks like the same delta wing design like the 3 copies might 21 I . I'm a Northrop person, even jack Northrop had a great delta wing design for the f-20 tiger shark on the back burner 2 wing application for the tiger shark. I never cared for anything that was made in the state of Texas, includeing the bush, Cheney, rumfields, . You can have them all. General dynamics, contain the whole god dam bunch.

@scottlichlyter1533 25 күн бұрын

Speaking about MIG-21 I ,FULL DELTA WING DESIGN. ONLY 3 COPIES EVER BUILT

@williamhudson4938 24 күн бұрын

Well, bless your heart.

@kpal2946 23 күн бұрын

You win funniest comment.

@JSFGuy 26 күн бұрын

We shall see, this might get reinvented.

@TypicalBritishperson4972 26 күн бұрын

Will it?

@sabercruiser.7053 26 күн бұрын

We never know@@TypicalBritishperson4972

@kpal2946 26 күн бұрын

I'm surprised that it hadn't been put in production, it would be cool to have in the inventory.

@JSFGuy 26 күн бұрын

@@TypicalBritishperson4972 they've been looking into it recently. With the advent of better materials, they can put a better engine in it and composites and make it even better. Very good possibility cuz they've already got the production tools just sitting in a warehouse.

@TypicalBritishperson4972 26 күн бұрын

@@JSFGuy Why have ‘they’ been looking into it?

@slotcarpalace 20 күн бұрын

too many ads, every 4 minutes!!! fuck this

@usa3526 26 күн бұрын

Its a racket. Its not about the best design its about the most expensive you can get it to help the industrial complex. Simple. Happens in Russia,China, USA. Just a tax payer racket. They get rich we pay for it.

@gort8203 24 күн бұрын

"Its not about the best design its about the most expensive you can get it to help the industrial complex." If that ignorant old saw were true they would have wanted to waste money on this unneeded airplane that would have been more expensive to develop than the F-15E they chose instead because it was more cost-effective.

@kpal2946 24 күн бұрын

@@gort8203 Every aircraft is expensive to start production but once up and running the XL would have been less expensive than the F-15 STRIKE EAGLE without doubt.

@MarniBrown-no3or 23 күн бұрын

But far less capable.

@gort8203 23 күн бұрын

@@kpal2946 No, it would not have been less expensive. Development and pre-production costs would have been much more than for the F-15, which had already been developed into a fighter-bomber and required no substantive changes. You guys just refuse to accept the official facts and think you get more accurate information from internet conspiracy theorists.

@kpal2946 23 күн бұрын

@@MarniBrown-no3or Yes, for sure.