Thrust vectoring
Encyclopedia
Thrust vectoring, also thrust vector control or TVC, is the ability of an aircraft
, rocket
or other vehicle to manipulate the direction of the thrust
from its engine
(s) or motor in order to control the attitude
or angular velocity
of the vehicle.
In rocket
ry and ballistic missile
s that fly outside the atmosphere, aerodynamic control surface
s are ineffective, so thrust vectoring is the primary means of attitude control.
For aircraft, the method was originally envisaged to provide upward vertical thrust as a means to give aircraft vertical (VTOL
) or short (STOL
) takeoff and landing ability. Subsequently, it was realized that using vectored thrust in combat situations enabled aircraft to perform various maneuvers not available to conventional-engined planes. To perform turns, aircraft that use no thrust vectoring must rely on aerodynamic control surfaces only, such as aileron
s or elevator
; craft with vectoring must still use control surfaces, but to a lesser extent.
Thrust vectoring for many liquid rocket
s is achieved by gimbal
ling the rocket engine
. This often involves moving the entire combustion chamber
and outer engine bell, or even the entire engine assembly including the related fuel
and oxidizer pumps. Such a system was used on the Saturn V
and was employed on the space shuttle
.
Another method of thrust vectoring used on early solid propellant ballistic missile
s was liquid injection, in which the rocket nozzle is fixed, but a fluid is introduced into the exhaust flow from injectors mounted around the aft end of the missile. If the liquid is injected on only one side of the missile, it modifies that side of the exhaust plume, resulting in different thrust on that side and an asymmetric net force on the missile. This was the control system used on the Minuteman II and the early SLBMs of the United States Navy
.
A later method developed for solid propellant ballistic missile
s achieves thrust vectoring by deflecting the rocket nozzle using electric servomechanism
s or hydraulic cylinder
s. The nozzle is attached to the missile via a ball joint
with a hole in the center, or a flexible seal made of a thermally resistant material, the latter generally requiring more torque
and a higher power actuation system. The Trident C4
and D5
systems are controlled via hydraulically actuated nozzle.
Some smaller sized atmospheric tactical missile
s, such as the AIM-9X Sidewinder, eschew flight control surfaces and instead use mechanical vanes to deflect engine exhaust to one side.
s with rotating nozzle
s or vanes to deflect the exhaust stream. This method can successfully deflect thrust through as much as 90 degrees, relative to the aircraft centerline. However, the engine must be sized for vertical lift, rather than normal flight, which results in a weight penalty. Afterburning (or Plenum Chamber Burning, PCB, in the bypass stream) is difficult to incorporate and is impractical for take-off and landing thrust vectoring, because the very hot exhaust can damage runway surfaces. Without afterburning it is hard to reach supersonic flight speeds. A PCB engine, the Bristol Siddeley
BS100, was cancelled in 1965.
Tiltrotor
aircraft vector thrust via rotating turboprop
engine nacelle
s. The mechanical complexities of this design are quite troublesome, including twisting flexible internal components and driveshaft
power transfer between engines. Most current tiltrotor designs feature 2 rotors in a side-by-side configuration. If such a craft is flown in a way where it enters a vortex ring
state, one of the rotors will always enter slightly before the other, causing the aircraft to perform a drastic and unplanned roll.
Thrust vectoring is also used as a control mechanism for airship
s, with one of the earliest known fitments of such a control system being on the twin 1930s-era U.S. Navy rigid airships USS Akron
and USS Macon
that were used as airborne aircraft carrier
s, and a similar form of thrust vectoring is also particularly valuable today for the control of modern non-rigid airship
s. In this use, most of the load is usually supported by buoyancy
and vectored thrust is used to control the motion of the aircraft. But, designs have recently been proposed, especially for Project WALRUS
, where a significant portion of the weight of the craft is supported by vectored thrust. The first airship that used a control system based on pressurized air was Enrico Forlanini
's Omnia Dir in 1930s.
Now being researched, fluidic
injection nozzles divert thrust via fluid effects. Tests show that air forced into a jet engine exhaust stream can deflect thrust up to 15 degrees. Such nozzles are desirable for their lower: mass and cost (up to 50% less), inertia
(for faster, stronger control response), complexity (mechanically simpler, fewer or no moving parts or surfaces, less maintenance), and radar cross section
for stealth
. This will likely be used in many unmanned aerial vehicle
(UAVs), and 6th generation fighter aircraft
.
engine used in the Hawker Siddeley Harrier, as well as in the AV-8B Harrier II
variant.
Widespread use of thrust vectoring for enhanced maneuverability in Western production-model fighter aircraft would have to wait until the 21st century, and the deployment of the Lockheed Martin
F-22 Raptor
fifth-generation jet fighter, with its afterburning, thrust-vectoring Pratt & Whitney F119
turbofan
.
Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II
is currently in the pre-production test and development stage. Although this aircraft uses a conventional afterburning turbofan (F135 or F136) to facilitate supersonic operation, the F-35B variant, developed for joint usage by the US Marine Corps, UK Royal Air Force and Royal Navy
, also incorporates a vertically mounted, low-pressure shaft-driven remote fan, which is driven through a clutch during landing from the engine. Both the exhaust from this fan and the main engine's fan are deflected by thrust vectoring nozzles, to provide the appropriate combination of lift and propulsive thrust.
The Sukhoi Su-30 MKI, produced by India under license at Hindustan Aeronautics Limited
is in active service with the Indian Air Force
, and employs 2D thrust vectoring. The 2D TVC makes the aircraft highly maneuverable, capable of near-zero airspeed at high angles of attack without stalling, and dynamic aerobatics at low speeds. The Su-30MKI
is powered by two Al-31FP afterburning turbofan
s. The TVC nozzles of the MKI are mounted 32 degrees outward to longitudinal engine axis (i.e. in the horizontal plane) and can be deflected ±15 degrees in the vertical plane. This produces a corkscrew
effect, greatly enhancing the turning capability of the aircraft.
Examples of rockets and missiles which use thrust vectoring include both large systems such as the Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster
(SRB), S-300P (SA-10) surface-to-air missile
, UGM-27 Polaris
nuclear
ballistic missile
and RT-23 (SS-24) ballistic missile and smaller battlefield weapons such as Swingfire
.
The principles of air thrust vectoring have been recently adapted to military sea applications in the form of fast water-jet steering that provide super-agility. Examples are the fast patrol boat Dvora Mk-III craft, the HAMINA Stealth Attack craft and the new U.S. Littoral Combat Ships [LCS]. A few computerized studies add thrust vectoring to extant passenger airliners, like the Boeing 727 and 747, to prevent catastrophic failures, while the new experimental X-48C may be jet-steered in the future.
Two dimension vectoring (generally for the pitch
Three dimension vectoring (pitch and yaw
Aircraft
An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to fly by gaining support from the air, or, in general, the atmosphere of a planet. An aircraft counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or by using the dynamic lift of an airfoil, or in a few cases the downward thrust from jet engines.Although...
, rocket
Rocket
A rocket is a missile, spacecraft, aircraft or other vehicle which obtains thrust from a rocket engine. In all rockets, the exhaust is formed entirely from propellants carried within the rocket before use. Rocket engines work by action and reaction...
or other vehicle to manipulate the direction of the thrust
Thrust
Thrust is a reaction force described quantitatively by Newton's second and third laws. When a system expels or accelerates mass in one direction the accelerated mass will cause a force of equal magnitude but opposite direction on that system....
from its engine
Engine
An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert energy into useful mechanical motion. Heat engines, including internal combustion engines and external combustion engines burn a fuel to create heat which is then used to create motion...
(s) or motor in order to control the attitude
Attitude dynamics and control
Spacecraft flight dynamics is the science of space vehicle performance, stability, and control. It requires analysis of the six degrees of freedom of the vehicle's flight, which are similar to those of aircraft: translation in three dimensional axes; and its orientation about the vehicle's center...
or angular velocity
Angular velocity
In physics, the angular velocity is a vector quantity which specifies the angular speed of an object and the axis about which the object is rotating. The SI unit of angular velocity is radians per second, although it may be measured in other units such as degrees per second, revolutions per...
of the vehicle.
In rocket
Rocket
A rocket is a missile, spacecraft, aircraft or other vehicle which obtains thrust from a rocket engine. In all rockets, the exhaust is formed entirely from propellants carried within the rocket before use. Rocket engines work by action and reaction...
ry and ballistic missile
Ballistic missile
A ballistic missile is a missile that follows a sub-orbital ballistic flightpath with the objective of delivering one or more warheads to a predetermined target. The missile is only guided during the relatively brief initial powered phase of flight and its course is subsequently governed by the...
s that fly outside the atmosphere, aerodynamic control surface
Control surface
In the domain of digital audio, a control surface is a human interface device which allows the user to control a digital audio workstation or other digital audio application. Generally, a control surface will contain one or more controls that can be assigned to parameters in the software,...
s are ineffective, so thrust vectoring is the primary means of attitude control.
For aircraft, the method was originally envisaged to provide upward vertical thrust as a means to give aircraft vertical (VTOL
VTOL
A vertical take-off and landing aircraft is one that can hover, take off and land vertically. This classification includes fixed-wing aircraft as well as helicopters and other aircraft with powered rotors, such as cyclogyros/cyclocopters and tiltrotors...
) or short (STOL
STOL
STOL is an acronym for short take-off and landing, a term used to describe aircraft with very short runway requirements.-Definitions:There is no one accepted definition of STOL and many different definitions have been used by different authorities and nations at various times and for a myriad of...
) takeoff and landing ability. Subsequently, it was realized that using vectored thrust in combat situations enabled aircraft to perform various maneuvers not available to conventional-engined planes. To perform turns, aircraft that use no thrust vectoring must rely on aerodynamic control surfaces only, such as aileron
Aileron
Ailerons are hinged flight control surfaces attached to the trailing edge of the wing of a fixed-wing aircraft. The ailerons are used to control the aircraft in roll, which results in a change in heading due to the tilting of the lift vector...
s or elevator
Elevator (aircraft)
Elevators are flight control surfaces, usually at the rear of an aircraft, which control the aircraft's orientation by changing the pitch of the aircraft, and so also the angle of attack of the wing. In simplified terms, they make the aircraft nose-up or nose-down...
; craft with vectoring must still use control surfaces, but to a lesser extent.
Rockets and missiles
Liquid rocket
A liquid-propellant rocket or a liquid rocket is a rocket engine that uses propellants in liquid form. Liquids are desirable because their reasonably high density allows the volume of the propellant tanks to be relatively low, and it is possible to use lightweight pumps to pump the propellant from...
s is achieved by gimbal
Gimbal
A gimbal is a pivoted support that allows the rotation of an object about a single axis. A set of two gimbals, one mounted on the other with pivot axes orthogonal, may be used to allow an object mounted on the innermost gimbal to remain immobile regardless of the motion of its support...
ling the rocket engine
Rocket engine
A rocket engine, or simply "rocket", is a jet engineRocket Propulsion Elements; 7th edition- chapter 1 that uses only propellant mass for forming its high speed propulsive jet. Rocket engines are reaction engines and obtain thrust in accordance with Newton's third law...
. This often involves moving the entire combustion chamber
Combustion chamber
A combustion chamber is the part of an engine in which fuel is burned.-Internal combustion engine:The hot gases produced by the combustion occupy a far greater volume than the original fuel, thus creating an increase in pressure within the limited volume of the chamber...
and outer engine bell, or even the entire engine assembly including the related fuel
Fuel pump
A fuel pump is a frequently essential component on a car or other internal combustion engined device. Many engines do not require any fuel pump at all, requiring only gravity to feed fuel from the fuel tank through a line or hose to the engine...
and oxidizer pumps. Such a system was used on the Saturn V
Saturn V
The Saturn V was an American human-rated expendable rocket used by NASA's Apollo and Skylab programs from 1967 until 1973. A multistage liquid-fueled launch vehicle, NASA launched 13 Saturn Vs from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida with no loss of crew or payload...
and was employed on the space shuttle
Space Shuttle
The Space Shuttle was a manned orbital rocket and spacecraft system operated by NASA on 135 missions from 1981 to 2011. The system combined rocket launch, orbital spacecraft, and re-entry spaceplane with modular add-ons...
.
Another method of thrust vectoring used on early solid propellant ballistic missile
Ballistic missile
A ballistic missile is a missile that follows a sub-orbital ballistic flightpath with the objective of delivering one or more warheads to a predetermined target. The missile is only guided during the relatively brief initial powered phase of flight and its course is subsequently governed by the...
s was liquid injection, in which the rocket nozzle is fixed, but a fluid is introduced into the exhaust flow from injectors mounted around the aft end of the missile. If the liquid is injected on only one side of the missile, it modifies that side of the exhaust plume, resulting in different thrust on that side and an asymmetric net force on the missile. This was the control system used on the Minuteman II and the early SLBMs of the United States Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
.
A later method developed for solid propellant ballistic missile
Ballistic missile
A ballistic missile is a missile that follows a sub-orbital ballistic flightpath with the objective of delivering one or more warheads to a predetermined target. The missile is only guided during the relatively brief initial powered phase of flight and its course is subsequently governed by the...
s achieves thrust vectoring by deflecting the rocket nozzle using electric servomechanism
Servomechanism
thumb|right|200px|Industrial servomotorThe grey/green cylinder is the [[Brush |brush-type]] [[DC motor]]. The black section at the bottom contains the [[Epicyclic gearing|planetary]] [[Reduction drive|reduction gear]], and the black object on top of the motor is the optical [[rotary encoder]] for...
s or hydraulic cylinder
Hydraulic cylinder
A Hydraulic cylinder is a mechanical actuator that is used to give a unidirectional force through a unidirectional stroke. It has many applications, notably in engineering vehicles.- Operation :...
s. The nozzle is attached to the missile via a ball joint
Ball joint
In an automobile, ball joints are spherical bearings that connect the control arms to the steering knuckles.More specifically, a ball joint is a steel bearing stud and socket enclosed in a steel casing. The bearing stud is tapered and threaded. It fits into a tapered hole in the steering knuckle. A...
with a hole in the center, or a flexible seal made of a thermally resistant material, the latter generally requiring more torque
Torque
Torque, moment or moment of force , is the tendency of a force to rotate an object about an axis, fulcrum, or pivot. Just as a force is a push or a pull, a torque can be thought of as a twist....
and a higher power actuation system. The Trident C4
UGM-96 Trident I
The UGM-96 Trident I, or Trident C4 was an American Submarine-launched ballistic missile, built by Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Sunnyvale, California. First deployed in 1979, the Trident I replaced the Poseidon missile. It was retired in the Early 21st Century, having been replaced by the...
and D5
UGM-133 Trident II
UGM-133 Trident II, or Trident D5 is a submarine-launched ballistic missile, built by Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Sunnyvale, California, and deployed with the US Navy and Royal Navy. It was first deployed in 1990, and is still in service....
systems are controlled via hydraulically actuated nozzle.
Some smaller sized atmospheric tactical missile
Missile
Though a missile may be any thrown or launched object, it colloquially almost always refers to a self-propelled guided weapon system.-Etymology:The word missile comes from the Latin verb mittere, meaning "to send"...
s, such as the AIM-9X Sidewinder, eschew flight control surfaces and instead use mechanical vanes to deflect engine exhaust to one side.
Aircraft
Most currently operational vectored thrust aircraft use turbofanTurbofan
The turbofan is a type of airbreathing jet engine that is widely used for aircraft propulsion. A turbofan combines two types of engines, the turbo portion which is a conventional gas turbine engine, and the fan, a propeller-like ducted fan...
s with rotating nozzle
Nozzle
A nozzle is a device designed to control the direction or characteristics of a fluid flow as it exits an enclosed chamber or pipe via an orifice....
s or vanes to deflect the exhaust stream. This method can successfully deflect thrust through as much as 90 degrees, relative to the aircraft centerline. However, the engine must be sized for vertical lift, rather than normal flight, which results in a weight penalty. Afterburning (or Plenum Chamber Burning, PCB, in the bypass stream) is difficult to incorporate and is impractical for take-off and landing thrust vectoring, because the very hot exhaust can damage runway surfaces. Without afterburning it is hard to reach supersonic flight speeds. A PCB engine, the Bristol Siddeley
Bristol Siddeley
Bristol Siddeley Engines Ltd was a British aero engine manufacturer. The company was formed in 1959 by a merger of Bristol Aero-Engines Limited and Armstrong Siddeley Motors Limited. In 1961 the company was expanded by the purchase of the de Havilland Engine Company and the engine division of...
BS100, was cancelled in 1965.
Tiltrotor
Tiltrotor
A tiltrotor is an aircraft which uses a pair or more of powered rotors mounted on rotating shafts or nacelles at the end of a fixed wing for lift and propulsion, and combines the vertical lift capability of a helicopter with the speed and range of a conventional fixed-wing aircraft...
aircraft vector thrust via rotating turboprop
Turboprop
A turboprop engine is a type of turbine engine which drives an aircraft propeller using a reduction gear.The gas turbine is designed specifically for this application, with almost all of its output being used to drive the propeller...
engine nacelle
Nacelle
The nacelle is a cover housing that holds engines, fuel, or equipment on an aircraft. In some cases—for instance in the typical "Farman" type "pusher" aircraft, or the World War II-era P-38 Lightning—an aircraft's cockpit may also be housed in a nacelle, which essentially fills the...
s. The mechanical complexities of this design are quite troublesome, including twisting flexible internal components and driveshaft
Driveshaft
A drive shaft, driveshaft, driving shaft, propeller shaft, or Cardan shaft is a mechanical component for transmitting torque and rotation, usually used to connect other components of a drive train that cannot be connected directly because of distance or the need to allow for relative movement...
power transfer between engines. Most current tiltrotor designs feature 2 rotors in a side-by-side configuration. If such a craft is flown in a way where it enters a vortex ring
Vortex ring
A vortex ring, also called a toroidal vortex, is a region of rotating fluid moving through the same or different fluid where the flow pattern takes on a toroidal shape. The movement of the fluid is about the poloidal or circular axis of the doughnut, in a twisting vortex motion...
state, one of the rotors will always enter slightly before the other, causing the aircraft to perform a drastic and unplanned roll.
Thrust vectoring is also used as a control mechanism for airship
Airship
An airship or dirigible is a type of aerostat or "lighter-than-air aircraft" that can be steered and propelled through the air using rudders and propellers or other thrust mechanisms...
s, with one of the earliest known fitments of such a control system being on the twin 1930s-era U.S. Navy rigid airships USS Akron
USS Akron (ZRS-4)
USS Akron was a helium-filled rigid airship of the United States Navy that was lost in a weather-related accident off the New Jersey coast early on April 4, 1933, killing 73 of the 76 crew and passengers on board...
and USS Macon
USS Macon (ZRS-5)
USS Macon was a rigid airship built and operated by the United States Navy for scouting. She served as a "flying aircraft carrier", launching Curtiss F9C Sparrowhawk biplane fighters. In service for less than two years, in 1935 Macon was damaged in a storm and lost off California's Big Sur coast,...
that were used as airborne aircraft carrier
Airborne aircraft carrier
Airborne aircraft carriers are aircraft which can launch other aircraft. These typically are large aircraft that launch fighter-interceptor planes.-Dirigible aircraft carriers:...
s, and a similar form of thrust vectoring is also particularly valuable today for the control of modern non-rigid airship
Non-rigid airship
A blimp, or non-rigid airship, is a floating airship without an internal supporting framework or keel. A non-rigid airship differs from a semi-rigid airship and a rigid airship in that it does not have any rigid structure, neither a complete framework nor a partial keel, to help the airbag...
s. In this use, most of the load is usually supported by buoyancy
Buoyancy
In physics, buoyancy is a force exerted by a fluid that opposes an object's weight. In a column of fluid, pressure increases with depth as a result of the weight of the overlying fluid. Thus a column of fluid, or an object submerged in the fluid, experiences greater pressure at the bottom of the...
and vectored thrust is used to control the motion of the aircraft. But, designs have recently been proposed, especially for Project WALRUS
Walrus HULA
The Walrus HULA was a proposed Hybrid Ultra Large Aircraft. The goal was to create an airship capable of traveling up to 12,000 nautical miles in range, while carrying 500-1000 tons of cargo...
, where a significant portion of the weight of the craft is supported by vectored thrust. The first airship that used a control system based on pressurized air was Enrico Forlanini
Enrico Forlanini
Enrico Forlanini was an Italian engineer, inventor and aeronautical pioneer, well known for his works on helicopters, aircraft, hydrofoils and dirigibles. He was born in Milan...
's Omnia Dir in 1930s.
Now being researched, fluidic
Fluidics
Fluidics or Fluidic logic is the use of a fluid to perform analog or digital operations similar to those performed with electronics.The physical basis of fluidics is pneumatics and hydraulics, based on the theoretical foundation of fluid dynamics...
injection nozzles divert thrust via fluid effects. Tests show that air forced into a jet engine exhaust stream can deflect thrust up to 15 degrees. Such nozzles are desirable for their lower: mass and cost (up to 50% less), inertia
Inertia
Inertia is the resistance of any physical object to a change in its state of motion or rest, or the tendency of an object to resist any change in its motion. It is proportional to an object's mass. The principle of inertia is one of the fundamental principles of classical physics which are used to...
(for faster, stronger control response), complexity (mechanically simpler, fewer or no moving parts or surfaces, less maintenance), and radar cross section
Radar cross section
Radar cross section is a measure of how detectable an object is with a radar. A larger RCS indicates that an object is more easily detected.An object reflects a limited amount of radar energy...
for stealth
Stealth technology
Stealth technology also termed LO technology is a sub-discipline of military tactics and passive electronic countermeasures, which cover a range of techniques used with personnel, aircraft, ships, submarines, and missiles, to make them less visible to radar, infrared, sonar and other detection...
. This will likely be used in many unmanned aerial vehicle
Unmanned aerial vehicle
An unmanned aerial vehicle , also known as a unmanned aircraft system , remotely piloted aircraft or unmanned aircraft, is a machine which functions either by the remote control of a navigator or pilot or autonomously, that is, as a self-directing entity...
(UAVs), and 6th generation fighter aircraft
Fighter aircraft
A fighter aircraft is a military aircraft designed primarily for air-to-air combat with other aircraft, as opposed to a bomber, which is designed primarily to attack ground targets...
.
Operational examples
The best known example of thrust vectoring is the Rolls-Royce PegasusRolls-Royce Pegasus
The Rolls-Royce Pegasus is a turbofan engine originally designed by Bristol Siddeley, and now manufactured by Rolls-Royce plc. This engine is able to direct thrust downwards which can then be swivelled to power a jet aircraft forward. Lightly loaded, it can also manoeuvre like a helicopter,...
engine used in the Hawker Siddeley Harrier, as well as in the AV-8B Harrier II
AV-8B Harrier II
The McDonnell Douglas AV-8B Harrier II is a second-generation vertical/short takeoff and landing ground-attack aircraft. An Anglo-American development of the British Hawker Siddeley Harrier, the Harrier II is the final member of the Harrier family that started with the Hawker Siddeley P.1127 in...
variant.
Widespread use of thrust vectoring for enhanced maneuverability in Western production-model fighter aircraft would have to wait until the 21st century, and the deployment of the Lockheed Martin
Lockheed Martin
Lockheed Martin is an American global aerospace, defense, security, and advanced technology company with worldwide interests. It was formed by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta in March 1995. It is headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, in the Washington Metropolitan Area....
F-22 Raptor
F-22 Raptor
The Lockheed Martin/Boeing F-22 Raptor is a single-seat, twin-engine fifth-generation supermaneuverable fighter aircraft that uses stealth technology. It was designed primarily as an air superiority fighter, but has additional capabilities that include ground attack, electronic warfare, and signals...
fifth-generation jet fighter, with its afterburning, thrust-vectoring Pratt & Whitney F119
Pratt & Whitney F119
|-See also:-External links:* *...
turbofan
Turbofan
The turbofan is a type of airbreathing jet engine that is widely used for aircraft propulsion. A turbofan combines two types of engines, the turbo portion which is a conventional gas turbine engine, and the fan, a propeller-like ducted fan...
.
Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II
F-35 Lightning II
The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II is a family of single-seat, single-engine, fifth generation multirole fighters under development to perform ground attack, reconnaissance, and air defense missions with stealth capability...
is currently in the pre-production test and development stage. Although this aircraft uses a conventional afterburning turbofan (F135 or F136) to facilitate supersonic operation, the F-35B variant, developed for joint usage by the US Marine Corps, UK Royal Air Force and Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
, also incorporates a vertically mounted, low-pressure shaft-driven remote fan, which is driven through a clutch during landing from the engine. Both the exhaust from this fan and the main engine's fan are deflected by thrust vectoring nozzles, to provide the appropriate combination of lift and propulsive thrust.
The Sukhoi Su-30 MKI, produced by India under license at Hindustan Aeronautics Limited
Hindustan Aeronautics Limited
Hindustan Aeronautics Limited based in Bangalore, India, is one of Asia's largest aerospace companies. Under the management of the Indian Ministry of Defence, this state-owned company is mainly involved in aerospace industry, which includes manufacturing and assembling aircraft, navigation and...
is in active service with the Indian Air Force
Indian Air Force
The Indian Air Force is the air arm of the Indian armed forces. Its primary responsibility is to secure Indian airspace and to conduct aerial warfare during a conflict...
, and employs 2D thrust vectoring. The 2D TVC makes the aircraft highly maneuverable, capable of near-zero airspeed at high angles of attack without stalling, and dynamic aerobatics at low speeds. The Su-30MKI
Su-30MKI
The Sukhoi Su-30MKI is an air superiority fighter jointly developed by Russia's Sukhoi and India's Hindustan Aeronautics Limited for the Indian Air Force...
is powered by two Al-31FP afterburning turbofan
Turbofan
The turbofan is a type of airbreathing jet engine that is widely used for aircraft propulsion. A turbofan combines two types of engines, the turbo portion which is a conventional gas turbine engine, and the fan, a propeller-like ducted fan...
s. The TVC nozzles of the MKI are mounted 32 degrees outward to longitudinal engine axis (i.e. in the horizontal plane) and can be deflected ±15 degrees in the vertical plane. This produces a corkscrew
Corkscrew
A corkscrew is a kitchen tool for drawing stopping corks from wine bottles. Generally, a corkscrew consists of a pointed metallic helix attached to a handle. The user grips the handle and screws the metal point into the cork, until the helix is firmly embedded, then a vertical pull on the...
effect, greatly enhancing the turning capability of the aircraft.
Examples of rockets and missiles which use thrust vectoring include both large systems such as the Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster
Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster
The Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Boosters were the pair of large solid rockets used by the United States' NASA Space Shuttle during the first two minutes of powered flight. Together they provided about 83% of liftoff thrust for the Space Shuttle. They were located on either side of the rusty or...
(SRB), S-300P (SA-10) surface-to-air missile
Surface-to-air missile
A surface-to-air missile or ground-to-air missile is a missile designed to be launched from the ground to destroy aircraft or other missiles...
, UGM-27 Polaris
UGM-27 Polaris
The Polaris missile was a two-stage solid-fuel nuclear-armed submarine-launched ballistic missile built during the Cold War by Lockheed Corporation of California for the United States Navy....
nuclear
Nuclear weapon
A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission or a combination of fission and fusion. Both reactions release vast quantities of energy from relatively small amounts of matter. The first fission bomb test released the same amount...
ballistic missile
Ballistic missile
A ballistic missile is a missile that follows a sub-orbital ballistic flightpath with the objective of delivering one or more warheads to a predetermined target. The missile is only guided during the relatively brief initial powered phase of flight and its course is subsequently governed by the...
and RT-23 (SS-24) ballistic missile and smaller battlefield weapons such as Swingfire
Swingfire
Swingfire was a British wire-guided anti-tank missile developed in the 1960s and produced from 1966 until 1993.-Development:Swingfire was developed by Fairey Engineering Ltd and the British Aircraft Corporation. It replaced the Vickers Vigilant missile in British service...
.
The principles of air thrust vectoring have been recently adapted to military sea applications in the form of fast water-jet steering that provide super-agility. Examples are the fast patrol boat Dvora Mk-III craft, the HAMINA Stealth Attack craft and the new U.S. Littoral Combat Ships [LCS]. A few computerized studies add thrust vectoring to extant passenger airliners, like the Boeing 727 and 747, to prevent catastrophic failures, while the new experimental X-48C may be jet-steered in the future.
List of vectored thrust aircraft
Thrust vectoring can convey two main benefits: VTOL/STOL, and higher maneuverability. Aircraft are usually optimized to maximally exploit one benefit, though will gain in the other.For VTOL ability
- Armstrong Whitworth AW.681Armstrong Whitworth AW.681|-See also:-External links:*...
- Bell Boeing V-22 OspreyV-22 OspreyThe Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey is an American multi-mission, military, tiltrotor aircraft with both a vertical takeoff and landing , and short takeoff and landing capability...
- Boeing X-32Boeing X-32The Boeing X-32 was a multi-purpose jet fighter in the Joint Strike Fighter contest. It lost to the Lockheed Martin X-35 demonstrator which was further developed into the F-35 Lightning II.-Background:...
- Dornier Do 31Dornier Do 31-See also:-Bibliography:*Green, William. The Observer's Book of Aircraft. London. Frederick Warne & Co. Ltd., 1968.*Jackson, Paul A. German Military Aviation 1956–1976. Hinckley, Leicestershire, UK: Midland Counties Publications, 1976. ISBN 0-904597-03-2.-External links:**...
- EWR VJ 101EWR VJ 101-See also:-Bibliography:* Rogers, Mike. VTOL: Military Research Aircraft. New York: Orion Books, 1989. ISBN 0-517-57684-8.* Winchester, Jim. "EWR-Sud VJ 101C ". X-Planes and Prototypes. London: Amber Books Ltd., 2005. ISBN 1-904687-40-7....
- Harrier Jump JetHarrier Jump JetThe Harrier, informally referred to as the Jump Jet, is a family of British-designed military jet aircraft capable of vertical/short takeoff and landing operations...
- Hawker Siddeley Harrier
- British Aerospace Sea HarrierBAE Sea HarrierThe British Aerospace Sea Harrier is a naval VTOL/STOVL jet fighter, reconnaissance and attack aircraft, a development of the Hawker Siddeley Harrier. It first entered service with the Royal Navy in April 1980 as the Sea Harrier FRS1 and became informally known as the "Shar"...
- Boeing/BAE Systems AV-8B Harrier II
- BAE Systems/Boeing Harrier II
- Lockheed Martin F-35B Lightning IIF-35 Lightning IIThe Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II is a family of single-seat, single-engine, fifth generation multirole fighters under development to perform ground attack, reconnaissance, and air defense missions with stealth capability...
- VFW VAK 191BVFW VAK 191B|-See also:-References:NotesBibliography* Jackson, Paul A. German Military Aviation 1956-1976. Hinckley, Leicestershire, UK: Midland Counties Publications, 1976. ISBN 0-904597-03-2.-External links:* * * *...
- Yakovlev Yak-38Yakovlev Yak-38The Yakovlev Yak-38 was Soviet Naval Aviation's first and only operational VTOL strike fighter aircraft, in addition to being its first operational carrier-based fixed-wing aircraft...
- Yakovlev Yak-141Yakovlev Yak-141The Yakovlev Yak-141 , also known as the Yak-41, is a supersonic vertical takeoff/landing fighter aircraft designed by Yakolev. It did not enter production.-Design and development:...
Two dimension vectoring (generally for the pitchAircraft principal axesAn aircraft in flight is free to rotate in three dimensions: pitch, nose up or down about an axis running from wing to wing), yaw, nose left or right about an axis running up and down; and roll, rotation about an axis running from nose to tail. The axes are alternatively designated as lateral,...
axis)
- Lockheed Martin F-22 RaptorF-22 RaptorThe Lockheed Martin/Boeing F-22 Raptor is a single-seat, twin-engine fifth-generation supermaneuverable fighter aircraft that uses stealth technology. It was designed primarily as an air superiority fighter, but has additional capabilities that include ground attack, electronic warfare, and signals...
- Sukhoi Su-30MKI
- Sukhoi Su-30MKMSukhoi Su-30MKM-See also:...
- McDonnell Douglas X-36 (yaw only)
- Me 163 B experimentally used a rocket steering paddle for the yaw axis
- Boeing X-32Boeing X-32The Boeing X-32 was a multi-purpose jet fighter in the Joint Strike Fighter contest. It lost to the Lockheed Martin X-35 demonstrator which was further developed into the F-35 Lightning II.-Background:...
Three dimension vectoring (pitch and yawAircraft principal axesAn aircraft in flight is free to rotate in three dimensions: pitch, nose up or down about an axis running from wing to wing), yaw, nose left or right about an axis running up and down; and roll, rotation about an axis running from nose to tail. The axes are alternatively designated as lateral,...
axes)
- Sukhoi PAK FASukhoi PAK FAThe Sukhoi PAK FA is a twin-engine jet fighter being developed by Sukhoi OKB for the Russian Air Force. The Sukhoi T-50 is the prototype for PAK FA. The PAK FA is one of only a handful of stealth jet programs globally...
- Mikoyan MiG-29OVT (MiG-35)Mikoyan MiG-35The Mikoyan MiG-35 is a further development of the MiG-29M/M2 and MiG-29K/KUB technology. It is classified as a 4++ generation jet fighter by Mikoyan. The first prototype was a modification of the aircraft that previously served as MiG-29M2 model demonstrator. 10 prototypes have been built so far...
- Sukhoi Su-34Sukhoi Su-34The Sukhoi Su-34 is a Russian twin-seat fighter-bomber. It is intended to replace the Sukhoi Su-24.- Beginnings and testing :The Su-34 had a somewhat muddied and protracted beginning...
- Sukhoi Su-35BM
- Sukhoi Su-37Sukhoi Su-37The Sukhoi Su-37 is an experimental single-seat, supermaneuverable multirole jet fighter, designed by Sukhoi. A further development of the original Su-27 'Flanker', it was modified from the first-generation Su-35 prototypes...
- McDonnell Douglas F-15S/MTD
- Lockheed Martin F-16 VISTAF-16 VISTA|-See also:-External links:* * * * *...