NASA-Boeing X-66A TTBW

Technology Demonstrator

United States | 2025

"A McDonnell Douglas MD-90 airliner will be converted by Boeing to serve in the NASA Transonic Truss-Braced Wing program."

Authored By: Staff Writer | Last Edited: 08/22/2023 | Content ©www.MilitaryFactory.com | The following text is exclusive to this site; No A.I. was used in the generation of this content.

In January 2023, NASA handed out an award covering its "Sustainable Flight Demonstrator" program to longtime aero-company Boeing. The program seeks to flesh out the qualities required for a new generation of single-aisle regional passenger airliners. Key to the program's maturation is the development of the "Transonic Truss-Braced Wing" (TTBW), an advanced wing mainplane concept which looks to revolutionize commercial flight in the United States. The partnership between the agency and the company means shared resources in the design, development, and construction of the full-scale "X-66A" flyable technology demonstrator to come.

In March of 2023, a computer-generated simulation encompassing a "virtual wind tunnel" and the intended TTBW arrangement were revealed. Then followed the formal designation of X-66A in June of that year - the aircraft set to become the first such airframe to be focused on America's Net-Zero greenhouse gas goals as it pertains to aviation.

The framework of the program will be built atop an existing McDonnell Douglas MD-90 passenger airliner. The key change will be replacement of its low-mounted, swept-back monoplanes with the long and thin TTBW members, each braced through elegantly-shaped thick struts against the fuselage. Many of the original physical characteristics of the MD-90 are expected to remain including the single-rudder tail unit, tricycle landing gear, and over-nose cockpit with side-by-side seating for two. Unlike the MD-90s original arrangement, the X-66A will feature its new mainplanes more forward with each carrying an underslung non-afterburning turbofan engine for the required propulsion - shifting the center mass concentration of the aircraft.

In August of 2023, the MD-90 specimen set to serve as the foundation for the flyable X-66A was flown from Boeing's Victorville facility to Palmdale, California to begin the conversion process.

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Power & Performance
Those special qualities that separate one aircraft design from another. Performance specifications presented assume optimal operating conditions for the X-66A Technology Demonstrator.

2 x IAE V2525-D5 non-afterburning turbofan engines developing 25,000lb of thrust each.
Propulsion

531 mph
855 kph | 462 kts
Max Speed

36,991 ft
11,275 m | 7 miles
Service Ceiling

2,576 miles
4,145 km | 2,238 nm
Operational Range

Structure
The nose-to-tail, wingtip-to-wingtip physical qualities of the X-66A Technology Demonstrator.

3
(MANNED)
Crew

152.6 ft
46.50 m
O/A Length

107.8 ft
(32.85 m)
O/A Width

30.7 ft
(9.35 m)
O/A Height

88,405 lb
(40,100 kg)
Empty Weight

166,008 lb
(75,300 kg)
MTOW

Variants
Notable series variants as part of the NASA-Boeing X-66A TTBW family line.

X-66A - Base Series Designation.

Operators
Global customers who have evaluated and/or operated the NASA-Boeing X-66A TTBW. Nations are displayed by flag, each linked to their respective national aircraft listing.

Total Production: 1 Units
Contractor(s): Boeing Company / NASA - USA

[ United States ]

1 / 1

Image from NASA press release.

Similar
Developments of similar form-and-function, or related, to the NASA-Boeing X-66A TTBW Technology Demonstrator.

Boeing TTBW

Going Further...
The NASA-Boeing X-66A TTBW Technology Demonstrator appears in the following collections:

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