posted on Sep, 8 2013 @ 03:07 PM
The advantages of the flying wing shape are the inherit instability which makes it extremely maneuverable - the equivalent in nature would be swallows
that dart around eating flying insects. Imagine the reaction speeds that must be need to fly after something like a bluebottle fly and catch it while
flying. 50 years ago, we had the designs but couldn't make them fly because fly-by-computer systems didn't exist. It's only when computers got faster
that these became possible.
Another advantage was being able to reflect radar scans in a direction other than back towards the transmitter.
But once it became possible make the skin surfaces radar absorbing the need for flat angled surfaces went away, and they could go back to regular
aerodynamic shapes like the F-35
Incidentally, I saw a job ad the other day for mathematicians with knowledge of computational fluid dynamics and magnetohydrodynamics (motion of
magnetic fields in liquids and gases) to work on military projects in the South of England. Makes we wonder how far they really are ahead.
edit
on 8-9-2013 by stormcell because: (no reason given)