forward swept wing

(redirected from Forward-swept wing)
Also found in: Wikipedia.

forward swept wing

X-29 a forward swept aircraft.

A wing plan form in which the wings are swept forward (i.e., the tips of the wing are ahead of the roots, unlike in sweptback wings). This plan form enjoys the same advantages as a swept-back wing but requires a lesser sweep. The wing performs better at subsonic speeds and near transonic speeds than a swept-back wing. The wing shock wave is more highly swept, giving reduced shock strength and wave drag. This offers improved maneuverability.

Mentioned in ?

aeroelastic tailoring

References in periodicals archive ?

It was eveloped by a private Russian design bureau called KB SAT, the aircraft features a rather unusual moderate forward-swept wing (FSW) scheme: although widely tested since 1936, the FSW has never found applications in fast jets, mainly because of the instability and structural problems induced by the design.