In December 1980 Grumman received a US Air Force contract to develop a swept forward wing aircraft, and build two prototypes. Construction began in 1982, and the first plane flew in December 1984. using the forward fuselage of a Northrop F-5A and landing gear components from a General Dynamics F-16 the A-29A has a new rear fuselage, variable incidence canards and all composite swept forward wings of supercritical section, together with a triplex fly by wire system. The flight program has been remarkably successful, and the X-29As have proved to presses all the characteristics envisaged as well as the ability to sustain full controllability at extremely high angles of attack. This overhead view of the startling novelty of the X-29A's plan form. Overall, VFC, like the forward-swept wings, showed promise for the future of aircraft design. The X-29 did not demonstrate the overall reduction in aerodynamic drag that earlier studies had suggested, but this discovery should not be interpreted to mean that a more optimized design with forward-swept wings could not yield a reduction in drag. Overall, the X-29 program demonstrated several new technologies as well as new uses of proven technologies. These included: aero elastic tailoring to control structural divergence; use of a relatively large, close-coupled canard for longitudinal control; control of an aircraft with extreme instability while still providing good handling qualities; use of three-surface longitudinal control; use of a double-hinged trailing-edge flaperon at supersonic speeds; control effectiveness at high angle of attack; vortex control; and military utility of the overall design. 

Propulsion

Performance