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Meeting	ACGS Committee Meeting 93 - Colorado Springs - March 2004
Agenda Location	8 SUBCOMMITTEE D – DYNAMICS, COMPUTATIONS, AND ANALYSIS 8.3 X-31 VECTOR, ESTOL Control Laws and Flying Qualities
Title	X-31 VECTOR, ESTOL Control Laws and Flying Qualities
Presenter	Marge Draper-Donley
Affiliation	Naval Air Systems Command
Available Downloads*	presentation video
	Downloads are available to members who are logged in and either Active* or attended this meeting.
Abstract	The primary purpose of the VECTOR program was to demonstrate autonomous high AOA approaches to a precise touchdown and landing using thrust vectoring to control trajectory and high-precision differential GPS for navigation. VECTOR was a joint program of the U.S and German governments, with Boeing and EADS as the prime contractors, RJK Technologies and SAIC as supporting contractors. The VECTOR program was the final incarnation for the X-31, which had previously been a successful research vehicle for the Enhanced Fighter Maneuverability (EFM) and Tailless Technologies programs. The ESTOL (Extremely Short Takeoff and Landing) control laws made use of an integrated autothrottle/thrust vectoring and data from an extremely accurate differential GPS, the Integrated Beacon Landing System (IBLS) to automatically follow a pre-programmed trajectory down the glideslope at AOA’s up to 24 degrees. At the end of the trajectory, the aircraft would automatically de-rotate to a landing attitude and touchdown at a normal sink rate, then return the aircraft to pilot control for rollout. The flight test results successfully showed that the approach speed decreased from 175 kts at the; normal 12 degree AOA approach, to 121 kts at 24 deg AOA and the landing rollout distance from 8000 ft to 1700 ft. Operationally, this could allow an aircraft to operate from short/damaged runways, decrease landing energy for shipboard approaches, thus saving wear on the ship’s arresting equipment, and allow the aircraft to bring back more fuel and stores.