The 1990s thrust-vectoring technology helping X-BAT ditch the runway

The 1990s thrust-vectoring technology helping X-BAT ditch the runway

A piece of aerospace hardware developed and flight-tested more than three decades ago is being given a very different job: helping an autonomous aircraft take off and land vertically without a runway. Shield AI and GE Aerospace have integrated and tested an Axisymmetric Vectoring Exhaust Nozzle (AVEN) with the GE F110-GE-129E engine being used in the development of Shield AI’s X-BAT unmanned combat aircraft. The unusual part is that the AVEN har…