Key Points and Summary – Largely forgotten, the X-44 MANTA (Multi-Axis No-Tail Aircraft) was an ambitious concept in the late 1990s by Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works, NASA, and the U.S. Air Force to create a tailless variant of the F-22 Raptor.
-The design aimed to eliminate all traditional flight control surfaces (rudders, elevators, ailerons) and rely entirely on advanced 3D thrust-vectoring nozzles for maneuvering.
X-44 MANTA concept art.
-This would have resulted in a lighter, stealthier airframe with greater fuel capacity.
-Though the program never progressed beyond the conceptual phase due to its technological risks and shifting Pentagon priorities after 9/11, its innovative ideas are conceptually linked to today’s sixth-generation fighter development.
X-44 MANTA Explained
The X-44 MANTA, an acronym for Multi-Axis No-Tail Aircraft, was a concept aircraft initially conceived in the late 1990s and early 2000s by Skunk Works, Lockheed Martin’s secretive test and research division.
In essence, the X-44 would have been an advanced variant of the F-22 Raptor, but further optimized for stealth, with a boost in range or payload anticipated due to the design.
Lockheed Martin hoped that by developing an effective and reliable thrust-vectoring system, they could harness and direct the jet engines’ exhaust for maneuvering, rather than relying on ailerons, elevators, rudders, flaps, slats, or spoilers — the traditional control surfaces used by other aircraft.
The promise held by the aircraft, then in the conceptual phase, was high.
Hopes and Dreams
“X-44 MANTA promises to leapfrog state-of-the-art,” wrote one commentator in 1999, adding that the makers of the F-22 would usher in a revolution in tailless aircraft.
“NASA and the Air Force have begun preliminary work on an advanced, tailless research aircraft proponents say will allow for the testing of revolutionary technologies that could benefit future military and commercial airplanes, according to officials and documents.”
“The X-44A Multi-Axis No-Tail Aircraft (MANTA) would feature an F-22 fuselage and engine coupled with new flight control propulsion and thrust-vectoring technologies that would allow designers to do away with all “moveable aerodynamic control surfaces,” which would reduce weight and increase space for fuel, according to NASA’s program manager for the effort.”
Continued Research, Potential Interest
A later report in July of 1999 said that the F-22A would be “deemed an X-series aerospace vehicle, a category that denotes a platform’s prototype, experimental nature, and a designation used for testing new aeronautical concepts and aerodynamic research.
That report, by Inside the Air Force, a publication focused on policymaking at the federal level, said that the F-22-esque aircraft would “include a host of leap-ahead technologies that could one day be used to augment the Raptor or the Joint Strike Fighter as well as other future aircraft, including commercial planes, according to proponents.”
“NASA is looking for nothing short of a wholly new way of building and flying advanced aircraft,” the magazine added, “attempting to make them faster, less expensive, no less safe than current aircraft,” as well as being “easier to assemble and build.”
Ink spilled later, in 2003, on the proposed research platform, both acknowledged that another F-22-modification program had not been successful, while also explaining the multiple benefits a tailless aircraft could expect to enjoy.
“The X-44 designation is reportedly reserved for a possible full-scale USAF/NASA manned tailless flight control demonstrator,” an aviation monograph compiled and published in 2003 explained. “The X-44 has been referred to as the MANTA, or Multi-Axis No-Tail Aircraft.”
“The plan is to convert an early prototype Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor with a large delta wing (similar to that proposed for the FB-22) and advanced thrust vectoring nozzles for flight control. Thrust vectoring—the ability to turn the jet exhaust—allows an aircraft to create forces with its engines similar to the forces created by aerodynamic surfaces such as flaps, rudders, and stabilators.”
“The result would be a structurally simple, light airframe, with increased fuel volume and better “stealth” characteristics since there would be no movable aerodynamic control surfaces. An X-44 feasibility study is in progress, with a team including AFRL, NASA, Lockheed Martin, and Pratt & Whitney.”
The publication conceded that “the X-44 is unlikely to fly before 2007, although the F-22 program will retire the first and second flying prototypes long before then. The X-44 technology, combined with fluidic nozzles and supersonic-cruise aerodynamics, could lead to a generation of high-performance, very stealthy aircraft, with exceptionally high aerodynamic efficiency.”
Unfortunately, however, the X-44 Manta never progressed beyond the conceptual phase.
Cancellation of X-44
The X-44 MANTA would have relied entirely on 3D thrust-vectoring in place of the traditional rudders to control pitch, yaw, and roll.
At the time of the proposed development, this was seen as technologically complex and particularly risky.
To be successful, the X-44 would have required extremely reliable flight controls without the redundant backup afforded by traditional flight control surfaces.
Although it never reached the prototype phase, the X-44 would likely have had a lower radar cross-section than its F-22 Raptor predecessor.
However, those gains in stealth came at a high cost due to the complexities of developing the technology.
Another factor that put the kibosh on the program was a significant shift in priorities for the U.S. Air Force and the Department of Defense more broadly.
Rather than investing in ultra-stealthy platforms like the X-44 prototype, Congress decided to let the F-22 Raptor production line close, thanks to both procurement and budgetary issues that left the jet’s future vulnerable, given the dearth of peer rivals to challenge American military supremacy in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
Rapid technological advancements related to the Global War on Terror, particularly in the utility of unmanned but armed UAVs.
The multi-role and multi-national nature of the burgeoning F-35 program was seen as a more practical alternative to a highly-specialized air superiority fighter like the F-22, let alone an even more exotic iteration of that jet.
X-44 MANTA Never Would Fly
Still, the program was not entirely in vain. The United States Air Force’s Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) program will reportedly incorporate similar thrust vectoring maneuverability into its controls.
Perhaps not a direct connection to the X-44, though on a conceptual level, the F-22 derivative was a conceptual bridge.
About the Author: Caleb Larson
Caleb Larson is an American multiformat journalist based in Berlin, Germany. His work covers the intersection of conflict and society, focusing on American foreign policy and European security. He has reported from Germany, Russia, and the United States. Most recently, he covered the war in Ukraine, reporting extensively on the war’s shifting battle lines from Donbas and writing on the war’s civilian and humanitarian toll. Previously, he worked as a Defense Reporter for POLITICO Europe. You can follow his latest work on X.
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