Message posted by Peter Merlin (Member since 11/13/2003) on July 01, 2023 at 12:44:21 PST:
"X-plane" designations are part of the Mission Design Series (MDS) designation system. Assignment of such numbers is regulated by Department of Defense (DoD) Direction 4120.15, "Designation and Naming Defense Military Aerospace Vehicles," and under the same title for each service: Air Force Joint Instruction 16-401, Army Regulation 70-50, and Navy NAVAIRINST 8800.3A. Headquarters Air Force Materiel Command Cataloging and Standardization Center (HQ AFMC/CASC) in Battle Creek, Michigan serves as the control point for DoD MDS designators and aerospace vehicle popular names and assigns such designations as requested. Headquarters U.S. Air Force (HQ USAF/XPPE) at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. administers the MDS Designator Program for the DoD and exercises approval authority for all new MDS designations. The process for requesting MDS designators is as follows: The most recent acknowledged X-planes X-62, X-65, and X-66. An NF-16D used by the USAF Test Pilot School was designated X-62 in 2021 following a major research systems upgrade. The X-65 designation was allocated to the DARPA Control of Revolutionary Aircraft with Novel Effectors (CRANE) project in 2023. Around the same time the NASA/Boeing Transonic Truss-Braced Wing project was designated X-66. The X-63 and X-64 designations are conspicuously missing. Perhaps they were given to classified programs.
“The Military Departments must submit a written request for assignment of a distinctive MDS designator as early as possible in the development cycle. Coordinate requests with the Military Department point of contact and CASC as soon as possible to have an MDS designator assigned. CASC will assign and reserve the next available consecutive design number within each basic mission for new vehicles. Do not use MDS designators before approval. NOTE: Air Force agencies must coordinate MDS requests through the applicable system program office (SPO). CASC will assign the MDS designator and transmit the request to HQ USAF/XPPE for processing and approval.”
In Reply to: Re: YF-220 and X-273 removed from Dan Javorsek resume posted by Altner on July 01, 2023 at 10:15:06 PST:
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