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Rob1 a écrit :Autant que je sache, le MiG-37B "Ferret" c'est aussi sérieux que le F-19 Ghostrider...

The quest for new designs is relentless. In the 1960s NASA investigated the idea of flying an aeroplane without wings. Their ‘lifting bodies’ were a series of experimental wingless gliders built during the development of the Space Shuttle. The cross section of the aircraft body is similar to a wing, producing all the lift it needs to fly. Aircraft designers were determined to do away with conventional wings. At a once secret airbase outside Moscow, ingenious Russian engineers created what looked more like a ‘flying saucer’ than a plane. Called ‘Tarielka’, it was conceived during the height of the Cold War under the old Soviet Union.

The Russian methods were low-tech, but the results were remarkable. It looked impossible, but the Tarielka flew. Initial tests on scale models were so successful that construction quickly began on a full sized Tarielka. Looking like a spaceship from a Science Fiction movie the Tarielka was designed to carry up to a dozen passengers and was poised to become the new executive jet of the future. Its engines are housed inside the main body. The small wings, which provide no lift at all, help to stabilise and steer the machine. The aerodynamic lift comes from the wing-like cross sectional shape of aircraft itself. However, the investment required to transform the Tarielka from a promising prototype into a truly reliable and airworthy aircraft was immense. The cash poor Russian government was forced to withdraw it’s funding. Developing radical new technologies is never cheap.