The NSRDC XBQM-108A was an experimental

VTOL A vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft is one that can takeoff and landing, take off and land vertically without relying on a runway. This classification can include a variety of types of aircraft including helicopters as well as thrust- ...

unmanned aerial vehicle An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) or unmanned aircraft system (UAS), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft with no human pilot, crew, or passengers onboard, but rather is controlled remotely or is autonomous.De Gruyter Handbook of Dron ...

developed by the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

during the 1970s. Although the XBQM-108A successfully conducted unmanned,

tethered flight test A tethered flight test is a type of flight testing where a machine is connected by a tether to the ground. Tethered testing may be used when motion through the atmosphere is not required to sustain flight, such as for airship; VTOL, vertical take- ...

s and the project was canceled before any free flights could be conducted.

Design and development

The XBQM-108 project was initiated in 1975 by the Aviation and Surface Effects Department of the U.S. Navy's

David W. Taylor Naval Ship Research and Development Center The Carderock Division of the Naval Surface Warfare Center is one of eight Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) Surface Warfare Centers. The headquarters, located in Carderock, Maryland, includes the historic David Taylor Model Basin. The divisi ...

.Eilertson 1977 The project was intended to demonstrate the practicality of the 'Vertical Attitude Take-Off and Landing' (VATOL), or '

tailsitter A tail-sitter, or tailsitter, is a type of VTOL aircraft that takes off and lands on its tail, then tilts horizontally for forward flight. Originating in the 1920s with the inventor Nikola Tesla, the first aircraft to adopt a tail-sitter configu ...

' flight profile for

remotely piloted vehicle An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) or unmanned aircraft system (UAS), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft with no human pilot, crew, or passengers onboard, but rather is controlled remotely or is autonomous.De Gruyter Handbook of Drone ...

s, as the Navy believed the increasing threat posed by

cruise missile A cruise missile is an unmanned self-propelled guided missile that sustains flight through aerodynamic lift for most of its flight path. Cruise missiles are designed to deliver a large payload over long distances with high precision. Modern cru ...

s required that aviation assets be dispersed among additional ships of the fleet, which would possess limited space for aviation operations as opposed to conventional aircraft carriers. Based on the MQM-74 Chukar

target drone A target drone is an unmanned aerial vehicle, generally remote controlled, usually used in the training of anti-aircraft crews. One of the earliest drones was the British DH.82 Queen Bee, a variant of the Tiger Moth trainer aircraft operation ...

, the XBQM-108A was modified with a revised,

delta wing A delta wing is a wing shaped in the form of a triangle. It is named for its similarity in shape to the Greek uppercase letter delta (letter), delta (Δ). Although long studied, the delta wing did not find significant practical applications unti ...

with canard control surfaces. The XBQM-108A was fitted with a

thrust vectoring Thrust vectoring, also known as thrust vector control (TVC), is the ability of an aircraft, rocket or other vehicle to manipulate the direction of the thrust from its engine(s) or motor(s) to Aircraft flight control system, control the Spacecra ...

system based on the use of vanes that deflected the engine's exhaust; the aircraft retained the Chukar's recovery

parachute A parachute is a device designed to slow an object's descent through an atmosphere by creating Drag (physics), drag or aerodynamic Lift (force), lift. It is primarily used to safely support people exiting aircraft at height, but also serves va ...

and radio guidance system,Parsch 2002 with the addition of a

radar altimeter A radar altimeter (RA), also called a radio altimeter (RALT), electronic altimeter, reflection altimeter, or low-range radio altimeter (LRRA), measures altitude above the terrain presently beneath an aircraft or spacecraft by timing how long it t ...

and midcourse guidance unit based on that of the

AGM-84 Harpoon The Harpoon is an all-weather, over-the-horizon, anti-ship missile manufactured by McDonnell Douglas (now Boeing Defense, Space & Security). The AGM-84E Standoff Land Attack Missile (SLAM) and later AGM-84H/K SLAM-ER (Standoff Land Attack Mis ...

anti-ship missile.''Naval Engineers' Journal'', Volume 89
pp.164-169
(1977)

Operational history

The XBQM-108A undertook its first, tethered flight on September 29, 1976. The flight, using fuel supplied through the tether from drums, was successful and demonstrated that the VATOL flight profile for unmanned vehicles was practical. However, the project was canceled before further testing could be conducted; the XBQM-108A conducted no free flights, or transitions to horizontal flight.

Specifications

References

Notes

Bibliography