Historical Essay © Andreas Parsch

NWC BQM-108

In 1975/76, the Naval Weapons Center built an unmanned VATOL (Vetical Attitude Take-Off and Landing) research vehicle designated XBQM-108A. The first successful tethered hover was demonstrated in September 1976, but the program was then terminated before any free-flight hovers or conversions to and from horizontal flight could be made.

The XBQM-108A consisted of the fuselage and vertical tail of an MQM-74A Chukar target drone and new delta wings and small foreplanes. The exhaust of the Teledyne CAE J402 turbojet engine was modified with a vane-type thrust-vectoring control system. Although the XBQM-108A was to land vertically on its tail, the parachute recovery system of the MQM-74A was retained for emergencies. The radio command guidance system was also unchanged from the MQM-74A. For hovering control, the XBQM-108A was equipped with the guidance unit and radar altimeter of the AGM-84A Harpoon, which controlled the thrust-vectoring vanes and the engine thrust.

Note: Data given by several sources show slight variations. Figures given below may therefore be inaccurate!

Data for XBQM-108A:

[1] Kenneth Munson: "World Unmanned Aircraft", Jane's, 1988

Manufacturer: NWC.