General characteristics

Crew: 1
Length: 50.4 ft (15.67 m)
Wingspan: 35 ft[N 5] (10.7 m)
Height: 12.2 ft[N 6] (4.33 m)
Wing area: 460 ft²[178] (42.7 m²)
Empty weight: 30,600 lb (13,300 kg)
Loaded weight: 50,540 lb[139][N 7][361] (22,470 kg)
Max. takeoff weight: 70,000 lb[N 8] (31,800 kg)
Powerplant: 1 × Pratt & Whitney F135 afterburning turbofan
Dry thrust: 28,000 lbf[362][N 9] (125 kN)
Thrust with afterburner: 43,000 lbf[362][363] (191 kN)
Internal fuel capacity: 18,480 lb (8,382 kg)[N 10]

Performance

Performance

Maximum speed: Mach 1.6+[173] (1,200 mph, 1,930 km/h) (Tested to Mach 1.61)[279]
Range: 1,200 nmi (2,220 km) on internal fuel
Combat radius: 584 nmi[364] (1,080 km) on internal fuel[365]
Service ceiling: 60,000 ft[366] (18,288 m) (Tested to 43,000 ft)[367]
Rate of climb: classified (not publicly available)
Wing loading: 91.4 lb/ft² (446 kg/m²)
Thrust/weight: **With full fuel: 0.87
With 50% fuel: 1.07
g-Limits: 9 g

Highly Maneuverable Aircraft Technology

Highly Maneuverable Aircraft Technology (HiMAT) was a NASA-program to develop technologies for future fighter aircraft. Among the technologies explored were close-coupled canards, fully digital flight control (including propulsion), composite materials (graphite and fiberglass), Remotely Piloted Aircraft, Synthetic vision, winglet etc. The winning design was produced by Rockwell International.

The HiMAT were actually remotely piloted aircraft, as the design team decided that it would be cheaper and safer to not have a pilot on board who could be killed in the event of a crash. This also meant that no ejection seat would have to be fitted. According to a report by Sarrafian in 1984, the aircraft was flown by a pilot in a remote cockpit, and control signals up-linked from the flight controls in the remote cockpit on the ground to the aircraft, and aircraft telemetry downlinked to the remote cockpit displays. The remote cockpit could be configured with either nose camera video or with a 3D synthetic vision display called a "visual display" (Sarrafian 1984).

First flight was in 1979 and testing was completed in 1983 and the two HiMAT aircraft are now on display, one at the National Air and Space Museum and the other at the Dryden Flight Research Center.[1]