The NSRDC XBQM-108A was an experimental

VTOL A vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft is one that can 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-vectoring fixed-win ...

unmanned aerial vehicle An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft without any human pilot, crew, or passengers on board. UAVs are a component of an unmanned aircraft system (UAS), which includes adding a ground-based controller ...

developed by the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

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 is located in Carderock, Maryland with the historic David Taylor Model Basin. The division ...

.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 empennage, tail, then tilts horizontally for forward flight. Originating in the 1920s with the inventor Nikola Tesla, the first aircraft to adopt a tail-sitt ...

' flight profile for

remotely piloted vehicle An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft without any human pilot, crew, or passengers on board. UAVs are a component of an unmanned aircraft system (UAS), which includes adding a ground-based controller ...

s, as the Navy believed the increasing threat posed by

cruise missile A cruise missile is a guided missile used against terrestrial or naval targets that remains in the atmosphere and flies the major portion of its flight path at approximately constant speed. Cruise missiles are designed to deliver a large warhe ...

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 operationa ...

, 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 (Δ). Although long studied, it did not find significant applications until the Jet Age, when it proved suitabl ...

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 control the attitude or angular velocity of the v ...

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 used to slow the motion of an object through an atmosphere by creating drag or, in a ram-air parachute, aerodynamic lift. A major application is to support people, for recreation or as a safety device for aviators, who ...

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 Mi ...

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