ADVANCED FIGHTER TECHNOLOGY INTEGRATION (AFTI)
 
 
      Flight test of the Advanced Fighter Technology
Integration (AFTI), another project at Ames-Dryden,is a
NASA/Air Force program that involves investigation of the
military potential of the variable camber wing. The variable
camber wing is a wing whose camber, the fore to aft curve of
the airfoil, can be changed in flight.  Such a wing is known
as a Mission Adaptive Wing (MAW); it automatically
reconfigures, altering its lift characteristics to permit
maximum aerodynamic efficiency over the entire flight range.
 
     Built by Boeing Military Airplane Company under Air
Force contract, the AFTI/MAW system changes its shape in
flight by means of computer-controlled hydraulic actuators
that move a series of smooth-surfaced flaps on the wing's
leading and trailing edges.
 
     Fully developed, the MAW system could lead to a
military aircraft with an automatic flight control system
offering several modes of control, providing the wing its
optimum shape for a particular flight condition; for
example, approach and landing, cruise, maneuvering and
maximum speed operation.
 
      Equipped with variable sweepback as well as variable
camber, the AFTI/F-111 is being tested at subsonic,
transonic and supersonic speeds in a variety of simulated
combat scenarios. NASA's role, in addition to Ames-Dryden's
flight test responsibility, includes wind tunnel studies by
Langley Research Center.