AAWSAP DIRD, Space Access: Where We’ve Been and Where We Could Go, March 2010

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Lifting body configuration
AFFDL-7C/D Lifting Body
Flight tested nose
eliminates thin wings with
tip design assures
Configuration Concept
wing-like lift. High lift-to-drag
100 °C temperature
ratio and global glide range
All-flying control
surfaces provide
stability and control
from Mach 02 to 22
Heat pipe leading
edges assures
high LID leading
edge radii.
Flat pane
TPS system
Trapezoidal cross
section increases
lift-to-drag ratio
and reduces side
Anhedral fixed fins
and upper surface
with trailing edge
heating by 1/3
flaps assure subsonic
lateral-directional
stability and control
Figure 10. FDL-7C/D and FDL-7MC Lifting-Body Configuration. Offers inherent stability and control with
sufficient volume and high lift-to-drag ratio.
The switchblade wing version of the FDL-7MC was the preferred version for 1983
studies that were part of the McDonnell Douglas TAV (transatmospheric vehicle) effort;
that vehicle was powered by either an Aerojet Sacramento air turboramjet or an air­
breathing rocket propulsion system. The inward-turning, variable-capture area inlet10
provides the correct engine airflow from landing speeds to mach 5.5, as illustrated in
Figure 11.
Figure 11. FDL-7C/D with a DuPont Retractable Inward-Turning Inlet
The propellant tanks were cylindrical-segment, multilobe structures with bulkheads and
stringers to support the flat, metal-radiative thermal-protection shingles (very similar to
those fabricated by Goodrich Aerospace for the now-defunct X-33). The nose was
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