Conceptual design of a STOVL fighter/attack aircraft

STOVL aircraft offer unique basing and operational advantages to improve the capabilities of military forces in future warfare. To develop a STOVL fighter design with supersonic capability requires the integration of an advanced propulsion system into the airframe design. A promising propulsion system for supersonic STOVL application is the relatively new Hybrid Fan Vectored Thrust (HFVT) concept. This advanced tandem fan concept incorporates a dual-cycle engine with front and rear fully vectorable nozzles of the three-poster type, to provide the required performance. In this paper, the HFVT STOVL design integration approaches for a conceptual fighter/attack aircraft, as well as some features of the resulting design, will be presented.