Preliminary Design of a Stealth Air Superiority Fighter: EXF

Abstract

This final degree project was centered around the preliminary design phase of the EXF “Estadea” air superiority fighter, intended to act as the primary striker in the European theater against all enemy aircraft present in a given airspace where air dominance has not yet been achieved. Estadea was designed with all-around stealth and thrust vectoring in mind, featuring a clipped and cropped delta wing for low wing loading and high fuel capacity, all-movable ruddervators for reduced RCS and added authority, an internal weapons storage and a lightweight, simple and reliable structural design and actuation mechanisms. This design, due to the combination of two powerful F-135 engines and its sleek profile, has demonstrated to be superior in many key metrics (specifically turn rate, initial climb rate, absolute ceiling and combat radius) against current fighters (F-22, F-35, Eurofighter, etc.) when compared with the publicly available specifications of the latter. Other considerations included the ability to use short runways, alternative runways such as highways and standardize equipment, therefore reducing the economic impact in constrained military Budgets.