ANSWERS: 2
  • A number of countries have experimented with Forward Swept Wing (FSW) aircraft for many years. An early prototype was the German Junkers JU-287 built in 1944. Today the Russians are experimenting with the Sukoi S-37. No Forward Swept Wing aircraft have ever entered service. To date there have been more obstacles encountered with FSW aircraft than advantages.
  • Many of the problems with FSW designs have been overcome with composite fibres and fly-by-wire systems. Grumman flew a testbed aircraft - the X29 - for quite a while in the pursuit of research and information. Until recently, FSW has been unfeasible due to several major barriers (like wings ripping off from the stress), so there are no operational military or commercial FSW aircraft that I know of. I seem to remember several companies such as RUTAN and others like that experimenting with FSW personal aircraft, but I don't know if anything has reached fruition. These days other technologies have basically neutralised any advantages FSW may have had over conventional rear-swept wings, so it's probably unlikely that we'll see FSW aircraft.

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