'Revolutionary' 36-year old jet engine designed for F-16 set to power world's first AI-piloted VTOL…
- The AVEN thrust-vectoring nozzle has been added to the X-BAT AI-piloted fighter with vertical take-off capabilities
- Thrust-vectoring allows a plane’s exhaust to be redirected, instead of relying purely on manipulating airflow across the wings for movement
- The engine was first trialed on an F-16 fighter in the 1990s
Shield AI has revealed the X-BAT AI-piloted fighter jet relies on a jet engine variation first developed over 35 years ago and tested on a General Dynamics F-16 in the 1990s.
The AVEN – Axisymmetric Vectoring Exhaust Nozzle – essentially replicates the actions of a wing, but instead of manipulating airflow across the airfoil, it directs the exhaust, in a process labeled “thrust-vectoring.”
Developed for the F-16 as part of a dedicated GE Aerospace program investigating Multi-Axis Thrust Vectoring (MATV), the nozzle was proved to work. The technology has recently been revived thanks to GE Aerospace and Shield AI, with the AVEN...
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