There is an error in the subtitle on video Laboratory’s vs. laboratories. Fly-by-wire should have hyphens (multiple times). :059 X-29’s needs possessive
The X-29 research vehicle illustrates two foundational technology areas that enable autonomous collaborative platforms
One of those key technologies is fly-by-wire. The Air Force Research Laboratory’s predecessor labs worked on fly-by0wire technologies in the 1960s and 70s leading the first production combat aircraft to use fly-by-wire, the F-16.
Fly-by-wire works by taking the control inputs from the pilot, sending them to a computer, which makes the appropriate adjustments and then sends signals to actuate the control surfaces. This approach helps allow very unstable aircraft like the X-29 to be able to fly.
The second technology is composite structures. The X-29’s forward swept wings generated powerful torsional, or twisting, forces, and so it needed a very strong but light structure. This problem was solved through the use of composite materials.
From these early beginnings, the labs have continued to advance fly-by-wire and composite structure technologies, and which today’s autonomous collaborative platforms now employ.
Air Force Historian, Jeff Duford, joins the AFRL “Discovery to Delivery” video series to uncover the historic scope and role of AFRL’s critical research, which delivers today’s warfighting capabilities More